From Plant Press, Vol. 7, No. 3 from July 2004.
William Fitzhugh, Bruno Frohlich, Paula DePriest and six other Smithsonian Institution specialists participated in a four‑week multi‑disciplinary expedition in Mongolia in June that produced major accomplishments in outreach, education, science, and humanitarian aid.
Funded by grants from the Trust for Mutual Understanding and the State Department, “Project Deer Stone” began with a week of seminars and workshops that brought together more than sixty Mongolian researchers and museum curators from fifteen institutions in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The conference and workshops—the first museum training ever conducted in Mongolia—were facilitated by the Council of American Overseas Research Centers’ (CAORC) new AmericanCenter for Mongolian Studies directed by Peter Marsh. The tremendous public response emphasized the urgent need for training Mongolian museum and research specialists in museum curation, conservation, and collection management, as well as in specialized research techniques.
Smithsonian field projects were equally successful, with major accomplishments in archaeology, ethnography, and botany. High‑tech surveys of ancient burial mounds and excavations at Neolithic and Bronze Age ‘deer stone’ sites suggest early Mongolian cultures played important roles in cultural developments in Central Asia between 5,000‑2,000 years ago, long before the 13th century empire begun by Genghis Khan. Botanical work resulted in more than 300 samples of newly‑documented lichens and vascular plants from one of the least‑known regions of northern Mongolia. Ethnographic and geographic studies of the Tsaatan reindeer herders produced new evidence of their remarkable adaptation and their tenacity in maintaining a way of life that originated more than 2,000 years ago, when their ancestors were likely the first people ever to domesticate reindeer.
Perhaps the most exciting moment of the expedition was the expedition team’s final meeting with the Tsaatan, who rode out of the mountains for a final ‘goodbye’ and gift‑exchange. The Tsaatan gave the expedition team antler and soapstone carvings and good luck charms; the team gave them knives, clothes, children’s toys, and photos of the team’s 2003 visit. This year each Tsaatan family received 40 meters of new tent canvas and sacks of flour and other provisions provided by the US military and aid programs, through the US Embassy. The translator’s Mormon Church in Ulaanbaatar went one step further, donating scores of rubber boots and winter foot‑gear, as well as some surprise items—fancy high‑heeled ladies’ shoes that the Tsaatan immediately dubbed “marrying shoes.” Much to the team’s surprise, this produced a flurry of excitement as the Tsaatan began to debate who would be the first to try them out into town. Another coup for science: Style ranks, even in remote northern Mongolia.
This year’s American participants included William Fitzhugh, Bruno Frohlich, David Hunt, and intern Andrea Neighbors from Anthropology; Paula DePriest, Deborah Bell, and Gregory McKee from Botany; Paul Rhymer from National Museum of Natural History Exhibits; Carolyn Thome from the Smithsonian’s Office of Exhibits Central; and Rae Beaubien from the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education. Mongolian participants included twenty‑two students, researchers, drivers, Tsaatan horsemen and guides, and cooks.
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