IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN ARCHAEOLOGY: GEORGE MCJUNKIN
Alright everyone, in honor of Juneteenth, I would like to tell you the story of Mr. George McJunkin, an African American Cowboy and archaeologist!
McJunkin was born into slavery on a ranch in Texas in 1851. His father worked on that same ranch as a blacksmith after he purchased his own freedom; and no sources online can seem to provide any information on his mother.
Growing up, McJunkin learned many skills as a ranch hand and he also frequently interacted with Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) who taught him how to handle horses.
On a night in 1867 he packed up some food, an extra pair of pants, took a mule from his master’s ranch, and set out to become a cowboy. McJunkin had many jobs as a horse and cattle wrangler as well as a manager of various ranches in both South and West Texas, Northeastern New Mexico, and in Northwestern Oklahoma.
It was during this time that he learned how to read and write from other cowboys; but he also picked up quite a bit on his own. He taught himself how to speak fluent Spanish, and how to play the fiddle. He was also very interested in science and history, and educated himself in archaeology.
In the early 1900s McJunkin was offered a job as the foreman on the Crowfoot Ranch near Folsom, New Mexico (yeah THAT Folsom, New Mexico my fellow Prehistoric North American archaeology nerds).
Then, on August 27th, 1908 Folsom was hit with a harsh and heavy rainstorm which ended up causing massive flooding. McJunkin and a friend Bill Gordon were surveying damage to fences along the Dry Cimarron River, and it was in the Wild Horse Arroyo that McJunkin noticed huge bones sitting in the newly exposed sediment.
McJunkin’s life experience allowed him to recognize these bones were not from any modern day cattle or buffalo species, and therefore were probably a significant archaeological discovery. He tried to get the scientific community interested in the site with no luck.
George McJunkin passed away in 1922 at the age of 71 without having known just how significant this discovery was going to be.*
While the realms of American anthropology and archaeology have made significant progress and improvements in the past 100 years (though they still have a long way to go), the disciplines during the early 1900s were inundated with racism and prejudice. Scientific authorities at the time were hard-set in their understanding that Indigenous prehistory only extended approximately 3,000 years B.P. (before the present). This relatively young date range helped to justify academic views at the time that Indigneous peoples were ‘savage’ and ‘uncivilized’, and therefore inferior white western culture.
Several months after McJunkin’s death in 1922 a team of amateur archaeologists ended up excavating the arroyo site and discovered more bones and associated projectile points (projectile point is the general term to refer to spear or arrow heads).
Then, in 1926 the director of the Colorado Museum of Natural History (now the Denver Museum of Nature and Science) J.D. Figgins was shown bones from the site and he proceeded with formal excavations in that same year.
The Folsom site is monumental for how it changed the way western academics understood North American prehistory. These excavations turned up approximately 30 individual skeletons from the extinct bison species Bison antiquus. This is a species that dates from 10,000 to 18,000 years ago.
In the following year, 1927, a skeleton was found with a spear point lodged in situ (in place/in context) between the bison’s ribs (what is known as a Folsom Point). This find meant that prehistoric people existed within the North American continent at least 11,000 years B.P.
Again, there is no way to overstate how significant this site is, and how frankly cool it is that a Black cowboy and former slave was the one to initially find it. Though, I would also like to note that The Denver Museum of Nature and Science does not mention George McJunkin and his association with the Folsom archaeology site that made them well-known; and if the information is present it is not easily accessible.
There are no doubt countless unsung brilliant anthropologists and archaeologists throughout American history, people who have made incredible contributions to these disciplines without ever knowing the true impact they would have.
George McJunkin is certainly one of these people, but as time goes on I am hopeful that his story and importance will be taught alongside all the big names in American anthropology, because his life is certainly one that deserves to be celebrated.
*Brief aside from the author: the word ‘discovery’ never really feels appropriate to me when discussing prehistoric Indigenous sites. I don’t know about anyone else, but to me the idea of ‘Discovering’ seems to imply that Indigenous people didn’t already know a site was there. I am sure many nations did/do know the location of important cultural sites but may not want to disturb them for various reasons. Anyway if you stuck through this mini-soapbox thank you, please continue on with your regularly scheduled reading.*
Refs
“George McJunkin and the Discovery That Changed American Archaeology.” Archaeology Southwest, 20 Oct. 2020, www.archaeologysouthwest.org/2015/02/23/george-mcjunkin-and-the-discovery-that-changed-american-archaeology/.
“George McJunkin: Standing at the Intersection of Black History and American Archaeology.” Archaeology Southwest, 5 Mar. 2021, www.archaeologysouthwest.org/2021/03/04/george-mcjunkin-standing-at-the-intersection-of-black-history-and-american-archaeology/.
Matt Doherty, Matt. “George McJunkin – Black Cowboy & History Changing Amateur Archaeologist.” Legends of America, www.legendsofamerica.com/george-mcjunkin/.
Peterson, Heather. “George McJunkin (1851-1922) •.” BlackPast, 25 Feb. 2020, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/mcjunkin-george-1851-1922/.
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