Alabama Museum Research Articles

Professionalization of Archaeology in the Alabama Museum of Natural History: 1929-1950

Professionalization of Archaeology in the Alabama Museum of Natural History: 1929-1950

Bring the past to the future: adapting stereoscope images for use in the Oculus Go.

The purpose of this project was to explore methods for adapting images originally created for the analog stereoscope to use in contemporary virtual reality headsets. The Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences holds in its collections a set of medical images for the stereoscope published by Dr. S.I. Rainforth in 1910. We scanned 3 stereoscope cards from the collection at a resolution of 1200 dots per inch, then adapted the images for use in virtual reality using Adobe Photoshop and Unity. We successfully created a working application for the Oculus Go that displays the images stereoscopically in the headset. The current application allows only static display of the images. Our next steps in developing this project will be to add additional images from the collection to the virtual reality application, optimize parameters related to image display, and develop scripting that would allow users to dynamically select images from the collection. More information on this project is available on the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences Virtual Exhibits website, and a short video demonstration is available on Vimeo.

The Ethics and Untoward Challenges of Exhibition Loans: An Alabama Extraterrestrial in Paris and the Return? of a Native American Relic

Every collection, no matter its size, contains some item of antiquity that is highly valued. Loaning these items for exhibition often raises questions of ethics and the dilemma of putting a valuable artifact at risk. Sharing these prized possessions for the enjoyment of a wider audience, exposes them to a variety of potential threats in an era when public vandalism has become almost routine. The Mona Lisa hangs behind bullet-proof glass, while soldiers with assault rifles guard the entrance to the Louvre. Nothing quite so dramatic protects the collections of the University of Alabama; nonetheless, the recent request to loan our Sylacauga Meteorite to the Paris Museum of Natural History (MNHN) came out of the blue just like the meteorite. Once famous throughout the world because of its unique status of being the only meteorite documented to have struck a person, its notoriety has gradually receded in prominence, save for meteorite aficionados or roadside-curiosity seekers. Displayed at the Alabama Museum of Natural History next to the Philco radio it grazed on impact, it was in need of some good old-fashioned PR to restore it to its former notoriety. Loaned once a year to the town of Oak-Grove near Sylacauga, where the rock struck home, it seldom, if ever, was sought for exhibition elsewhere. Indeed, the meteorite seemed almost forlorn, overshadowed by the University of Alabama’s legendary football prowess and Walk of Champions. The Moundville Duck Bowl, by comparison, is owned by the Smithsonian and housed in the National Museum of the American Indian. Like the Sylacauga Meteorite, it is an artifact of unique status, excavated from the mounds here in Alabama, and touted as our “finest representation of Native American craftsmanship.” In the early 1900’s under the auspice of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, an amateur archaeologist plundered Alabama’s Indian mounds and hauled away more than 200 artifacts from Moundville alone. Several years passed before Alabama put a stop to the looting, too late to prevent the loss of one of the most valuable discoveries in its territory. Since 2010, the Duck Bowl has been on “indefinite loan” at the University of Alabama’s Moundville Archaeological Park after much lobbying and support from archaeological scholars and the Native American community; a hard-won agreement that was not without expense and a multitude of obstacles. Two Alabama artifacts, both unique in their value and importance, have been made available for public appreciation. The challenge is to share them responsibly.

Rediscovery of the type series of the Carboniferous ichnospecies Attenosaurus subulensis (Aldrich in Aldrich & Jones, 1930) and Cincosaurus cobbi (Aldrich in Aldrich & Jones, 1930) with comments on the designation of neotypes

Abstract. The purpose of this note, under Article 75.8 of the Code, is to set aside the neotype for the ichnospecies Attenosaurus subulensis Aldrich in Aldrich and Jones, 1930. It was believed that the type specimens for Attenosaurus subulensis were lost; however, a recent search through the collections at the Alabama Museum of Natural History in Tuscaloosa led to the rediscovery of one of the two syntypes. Furthermore, the rediscovery of the syntype of the ichnospecies Cincosaurus cobbi Aldrich in Aldrich and Jones, 1930 should also be recognized. The discovery of a portion of the Attenosaurus subulensis type series negates the previously erected neotype.

THE TIMING AND DISTRIBUTION OF CADDO SALT PRODUCTION IN NORTHWESTERN LOUISIANA

In the fall of 2012, the Alabama Museum of Natural History’s Gulf Coast Survey conducted an archaeological survey of four major salt domes in northwestern Louisiana. In total, 13 discrete “salt licks” were visited at these salt domes. The results of this survey indicate that along with Potter’s Pond, the Drake’s Salt Works Site Complex was one of northwestern Louisiana’s most intensively utilized salines during the protohistoric and early historic periods. It is argued here that salt production in this area developed largely in response to an increased demand for salt and salttreated commodities following European contact. Although numerous salt licks would have been known to the Caddo, only a fraction of these licks were involved in salt making. While there were likely many factors involved in determining which licks were favored over others, the availability and strength of liquid brine, resistance to flooding, fuel availability, and proximity to European traders would have been several important considerations.

A Preliminary Checklist of the Cerambycidae and Disteniidae (Coleoptera) of Alabama

ABSTRACT A faunal study of the Cerambycidae and the related Disteniidae (Coleoptera) is currently being conducted for the state of Alabama. Field surveys began in 2006 and are ongoing. Additional specimens were examined from the Auburn University Entomological Museum, Alabama Museum of Natural History at the University of Alabama, the University of North Alabama, and the private collection of Howard Grisham. To date, 234 taxa of Cerambycidae have been recorded, representing 119 genera and 48 tribes from seven subfamilies. The family Disteniidae is represented by only one species in Alabama. Fifty-one taxa are reported from Alabama for the first time.

Motherhood Undone: A Magical Teaching Tool

This image is of an anatomical manikin (approximately 18 cm long) carved in ivory by an anonymous sculptor circa 1600. Many types were carved for physician and midwife teaching in France, Germany, and Italy during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. The thoracic and abdominal walls may be removed to reveal the viscera. The internal organs are carved into the original block of the sculpture, and the red silken threads represent the umbilical cord. One can only imagine the discussions that took place over this small representation of a pregnant human body. The manikin is in the collection of the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham,1.Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham [web site]. 2013http://www.uab.edu/amhsGoogle Scholar and is depicted in the US National Library of Medicine.2.US National Library of Medicine. Dream Anatomy gallery. 2013http://www.nlm.nih.gov/dreamanatomy/da_g_Y-2.htmlGoogle Scholar Next month, watch for a more modern take on the same theme, but from a patient’s perspective, by the artist Frida Kahlo.

Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences and Reynolds Historical Library • Birminghim, Alabama

Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences and Reynolds Historical Library • Birminghim, Alabama

Fossil Remains of 28,000-Year-Old Hominids from Sri Lanka

tems, in Mississippian settlement patterns. Edited by B. D. Smith, pp. 479-503. Orlando: Academic press. . I986. archaeology of the Southeastern United States: From Dalton to de Soto, I0,500 B.P.-500 B.P. in Advances in world archaeology, vol. 5. Edited by F. Wendorf and A. E. Close, pp. I-92. Orlando: Academic Press. SMITH, R. W., JR., AND R. R. WALKER. I964. Femoral expansion in aging women: Implications for osteoporosis and fractures. Science I45:I56-57. SUMNER, D. R., B. MOCKBEE, K. MORSE, T. CRAM, AND M. PITT. I985. Computed tomography and automated image analysis of prehistoric femora. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 68:225-32. SWANTON, J. R. I928. Social organization and social usages of the Indians of the Creek confederacy. Bureau of American Ethnology Annual Report 42:23-472. . I946. The Indians of the southeastern United States. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin I 37. TUGGLE, W. 0. I 97 3. Shem, Ham, and Japheth: The papers of W. 0. Tuggle. Edited by E. Current-Garcia and D. B. Hatfield. Athens: University of Georgia Press. WALTHALL, J. A. I980. Prehistoric Indians of the Southeast. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. WEBB, W. S., AND D. L. DE JARNETTE. I942. An archeological survey of Pickwick Basin in the adjacent portions of the states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin I29. . I948a. The Perry Site Lu025, Units 3 and 4. Alabama Museum of Natural History Museum Paper 26. . I948b. Little Bear Creek Site Ct?8. Alabama Museum of Natural History Museum Paper 26. WOLFF, j. i892. Das Gesetz der Transformation der Knochen. Berlin: A. Hirchwild. WOO, S. L-Y., S. C. KUEI, D. AMIEL, M. A. GOMEZ, W. C. HAYES, F. C. WHITE, AND W. H. AKESON. I98I. The effect of prolonged physical training on the properties of long bone: A study of Wolff's law: ournal of Bone and joint Surgery 63A:78o-87.

Selmasaurus rosselli, a new plioplatecarpine mosasaur (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from Alabama

ABSTRACT A mosasaur recently rediscovered in the collections of the University of Alabama Museum of Natural History represents a new genus and species of plioplatecarpine, Selmasaurus russelli. No accurate locality or stratigraphie data are available for the specimen, but it was collected from a chalky facies of the Selma Group (early Campanian-late Maestrichtian) in western or west-central Alabama. Selmasaurus displays an almost complete loss of intracranial mobility compared with the kinetic skulls of more generalized plioplatecarpines. It differs markedly from other known members of this subfamily of mosasaurs, but shares some characters with the North American genus Ectenosaurus and the African genus Goronyosaurus.

Indian Pottery from Clarke County and Mobile County, Southern Alabama. Steve B. Wimberly, with “The Geographic and Historic Background” by Christine Wimberly, “The Lithic Material” by Daniel W. Josselyn, and “A Study of Indian Skeletal Material from Clarke and Mobile Counties” by Marshall T. Newman. Alabama Museum of Natural History, Museum Paper 36, University, 1960. vii + 214 pp., 71

Indian Pottery from Clarke County and Mobile County, Southern Alabama. Steve B. Wimberly, with “The Geographic and Historic Background” by Christine Wimberly, “The Lithic Material” by Daniel W. Josselyn, and “A Study of Indian Skeletal Material from Clarke and Mobile Counties” by Marshall T. Newman. Alabama Museum of Natural History, Museum Paper 36, University, 1960. vii + 214 pp., 71 figs., 7 pls., 37 tables, n.p. - Volume 29 Issue 2

The Whitesburg Bridge Site, Mav10. W. S. Webb and David L. DeJarnette. Alabama Museum of Natural History, Museum Paper, No. 24. University, Alabama, 1948; 44 pp., 14 figs.

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The Flint River Site, Ma°48. W. S. Webb and David L. DeJarnette. Alabama Museum of Natural History, Museum Paper, No. 23. University, Alabama, 1948. 87 pp., 35 figs.

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Significant Foraminifera From the Ripley Formation of Alabama

A study of foraminifera from the Cretaceous sediments of Alabama undertaken for the Alabama Geological Survey has revealed certain species from the Ripley formation that merit special consideration. They include several established species that appear to be somewhat confused in recent American literature and three new species that occur frequently in the Ripley formation. These forms may be useful to workers in nearby areas for purposes of correlation and for establishing faunal relationships. They are particularly likely to appear in cuttings from deep wells -located in the eastern part of the Gulf Embayment. The writer is indebted to the Geology Department of Princeton University for financial assistance in the preparation of the illustrations. Holotypes of the new species, and plesiotypes of other species, will remain in the possession of the author. Topotypes will be deposited in the Alabama Museum of Natural History and at Princeton University. The localities from which the described species were obtained are as follows: Locality 53, Barton's Bluff.-About 8 miles above Moscow on the Tombigbee River there is an exposure of about 60 feet, in which both the Selma chalk and Ripley occur. This is a fault zone, where vertical displacement has brought the two facies into juxtaposition. The Ripley at this point is highly calcareous but presents the usual sandy, glauconitic aspect, and is very similar to the exposure at Boguechitto Creek. It contains a very rich formaniniferal fauna. Locality 87, Prairie Bluff.-This upper Ripley locality on the Alabama River, made classic by the early work of

Holt on the Avery Bird Collection Annotated List of the Avery Bird Collection in the Alabama Museum of Natural History Ernest G. Holt

Holt on the Avery Bird Collection Annotated List of the Avery Bird Collection in the Alabama Museum of Natural History Ernest G. Holt