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 C.Vitae
Cave crawler
Finding human and plant remains in southeastern
U.S. caves, Patty Jo Watson trekked from archaeology’s fringes
to prominence.
Human feces may not seem like an
exciting find, but to archaeologist Patty Jo Watson, AM’56,
PhD’59, it ranks pretty high. Well-preserved fecal specimens
she found in the dry, upper passages of Kentucky’s Salts Cave
date to 1000–300 B.C., in the early Woodland period. More
important, sunflower-seed shells found in the paleofeces provide
evidence that early American Indians in that region farmed the plants
before they were brought from Mexico—and thus had formed their
own, previously unknown agricultural system.
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From
Our Pages
1913 The
June issue was devoted to the 37 original faculty members still
teaching at Chicago two decades later. Among the group was a lone
female: Dean of Women Marion Talbot. Born in Switzerland in 1858,
Talbot earned degrees from Boston University and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Previously an instructor at Wellesley,
she came to Chicago as both the dean of women and an assistant professor
of sanitary science; in 1894 she became a full professor of household
administration. As dean she always lived in one of the women’s
dormitories: the “Beatrice,” Snell, Kelly, or Green.
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Cultural
Studies
Life of the eccentric
Jump rope using human ropes. Recite monologues
from Glengarry Glen Ross. Explain string theory using only sock
puppets. Build a rickshaw and carry passengers around the quads
as part of SHAT, the ScavHunt Authority for Transit.
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Between
the lines
In the May 4 New York Times writer
James Atlas traced an intellectual genealogy much in the news this
spring: the connections between “the cohort of journalists,
political philosophers, and policy wonks known as Straussians.”
Classicist and political philosopher Leo Strauss, who taught at
Chicago from 1949 until 1967, was known for his critiques of value-free
social science. How influential are Straussians? Here are some with
U of C degrees.
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