The Mysterious Dr. Glidden

[CMD]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324683/The-strange-mysterious-Dr-Glidden-Callousness-archaeologist-raided-hundreds-Native-American-graves-set-macabre-museum-remembered-California.html

[chase]

Charlie, very interesting read. The pictures of the people looking at the bones, seem to be more inquisitive than anything. This shows an acceptable practice for the era, and not thought of as sacrilegious. It does seem even for the time period, a lot over the top to frame windows and ceiling tiles with bones. Through mans quest to become more civilized, and less barbaric, the practice of such acts, are viewed as desecration,(and I see it way as well) but how will future society's view the practice of the collection of artifacts during our time span.

[Paleolution]

That's pretty wild!  There's an unexplored world of anthropology in our own culture, relating to archaeology and how we treated it in the early days of science.  I can't wait til' someone tackles such a subject, it would be interesting to study the cultural changes in archaeology.  Nice post, I enjoy all the vintage articles and reads, thanks for sharing Charlie!

[painshill]

Thanks Charlie.
As always, the Archaeologist with the skulls gets the gals!:

  Palaeontologists do pretty good too:

  But Geologists trump them all:

[rmartin]

Very interesting how times have changed and for the better. I am adding a scan of a 1940-50's postcard that is part of my collection. I have refrained from posting these but this seems like an appropriate time...if there is one. This is a photo of the burial chamber at Dickson Mound. This site was excavated by the Dickson brothers beginning in 1927. It became a State park in 1945. This is the first Native American site I ever visited, in 1961 with my parents. The burial chamber was closed to the public in 1994.

[CMD]

Interesting thoughts, gentlemen. Quite a bit has changed in our lifetime. Roger, I can't believe I didn't lead with the photo of the good doctor!

[gregszybala]

The thought processes of humans and how we bring those thoughts to life, spooky sometimes.
You think cows do that?!

[Hoss]

So have any of you ever seen a burial up close and personal. Ray you have that post card but did you go in the chamber when it was open to public?
I only ask because we went to look at a burial on some property in my old home town. A guy was adding on to his old farm house and hit a burial.  My Dad was a local historian so the first thing they did was call him.
My Dad  spotted a filling in the skull, There was a shirt and buttons too. The guy had the skull out already My dad told him it back and call the police it might be a missing person..Turned out to be a young boy maybe 11 or 12 died at home and they buried him out back. Like I said old farm house. Yup things have changed al right.
Archaeology and anthropology are constantly evolving. In the grand scheme of things how new is this science compared to what is being studied. It is a mere fly spec compared to the many cultures and hundreds of thousands of years globally under study.

[rmartin]

Hoss, actually I was in the burial chamber a few times. There could be several people in there and you could still hear a pin drop. There was a feeling of reverence that overtook everyone the second they walked in. No cameras were allowed. I was also at an archaeological dig at the Wear Site on the Illinois River in the early 80's. It was a Middle Archaic mortuary site. That was pretty strange too.

[TexasHarper]

On occasion, I still see skulls for sale at Antiques shows.  I'm not even going to bother repeating the garbage the sellers tell me as to the how and where they obtained the remains.  Grotesque doesn't even come close.  As a mother it sets something off in me.  That WAS someones child..someone's brother...someone's sister, someone's father or mother. 
Yeah...I'm going to be cremated!!!

[clovisoid]

I have most of the old Central States archaeological journals and hundreds of old books, it's interesting how the attitude towards burials has changed.  What I will say is that you can obviously see the care with which Dickson and other sites were excavated.  I had the chance to see the Slack Farm after it was dug up, and seeing freshly broken bones tossed aside in the throw piles was shocking.

[rmartin]

You are right Joshua, for the most part. The Dickson Brothers painstakingly excavated the Mound. Each individual was uncovered and left as they lay with all the grave goods left were they were originally placed. It was not a dog and pony show, they thought they were honoring the dead! On the other hand, you had the Spiro site that was commercially mined by the Pocono Mining Company. This was probably the richest prehistoric burial in North America. To me, that is the saddest moment in our Archaeological history and was a travesty!