Re: The Iceman is my uncle

Monte Kay Wagner (mkw5@COLUMBIA.EDU)
Sat, 4 Feb 1995 14:18:44 -0500

Have you ever considered that those two European countries have more
common history and culture than most Indian tribes? The site from where the
"ice man" was recovered has changed national affiliation more often than
can be remembered, as can the requests for compensation for this or the
other.
On the other hand: what is a "proto-american?" The first inhabitant of the
continent, should't it? Mr. Dark seems to confuse two issues: the
affirmation of cultural identity in Native American populations and the
pun of an American of Austrian ancestry.
I wonder who is out of luck.

> On Thu, 2 Feb 1995, joseph stimpfl wrote:
>
> > In my family (Austrian by the way), there is a very old family story
> > of my very distant uncle going over the mountains between Italy and
> > Austria and never being heard from again. It seems logical to assume
> > (at least as logical as what the rest of you are saying) that this is
> > my uncle. Wouldn't that therefore make him a proto American?
>
> Yet another abstract counterexample instead of reality (or are you
> serious?). No matter, the issues are NOT addressed by these European
> examples. Just as no one has yet suggested that one Indian tribe pay
> compensation to another tribe for past wars, Austria hasn't apparently
> been griping with Italy for the theft of cultural property. It seems
> logical to assume this is because Austria and Italy, although very
> different, hold similar ideas about archaeology, museums, and digging up
> very old dead people. So you're out of luck, precisely because you're
> Austrian.
> ______________________________ ____________________________
> Alx V. Dark Department of Anthropology
> internet: avd5863@is.nyu.edu New York University
> "Wash your brains, think 25 Waverly Place
> again, double check" -- H3O New York, NY 10003 USA
>


Monte Wagner
mkw5@columbia.edu