Smithsonian Magazine - December 2014 USA

SmithsonianDecember 2014 | smithsonian.com

He had malaria. Or he had epilepsy. He died in a chariot race. Or he was murdered. More than 3,000 years after he reigned and nearly a century after he was rediscovered, the boy king has the world of Egyptology in an uproar again

PLUSLAST ROAR OF INDIAS LION-TAILED MONKEYS?

THE BOY WHO WAS SWALLOWED BY A SAND DUNE

THE STEALTHIEST U.S. SPY PLANE

SAND CREEK: THE CIVIL WARS FORGOTTEN TRAGEDY

THOMAS HART BENTONS STUNNING PORTRAIT OF AMERICA TODAY

Outback. Well-equipped at $24,895**

Introducing the all-new 2015 Subaru Outback. At 33 mpg,* its the most fuel-efficient midsize

crossover in America. Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive with X-MODE provides go-anywhere

traction and stability. Being named a 2014 IIHS Top Safety Pick provides peace of mind. All

to better help you explore the season. Love. Its what makes a Subaru, a Subaru.

Subaru and Outback are registered trademarks. *EPA-estimated hwy fuel economy for 2015 Subaru Outback 2.5i models. Actual mileage may vary. Based on EPA-estimated hwy fuel economy for 2015 model vehicles within the IHS Automotive, Polk Non-Luxury Midsize CUV segment. **MSRP excludes destination and delivery charges, tax, title, and registration fees. Retailer sets actual price. 2015 Subaru Outback 2.5i Limited pictured has an MSRP of $29,995. Vehicle shown with available accessories.

Reach places previously only accessible by paw.

December 2014 | SMITHSONIAN.COM 1

30The Strange Afterlife of King TutThe famous boy

king continues to

stir the theories

and passions of

Egyptologists as

scienti c tests

generate new

speculation about

his life and death

BY MATTHEW SHAERKYLE B

EA

N (D

ETA

IL); CO

VER D

ETA

ILS: N

UEN

GIN

E /

SH

UT

TERSTO

CK (E

DG

E); A

LO

HA

_17 / IS

TO

CK.C

OM

(P

APY

RU

S)

Contents

The Lions of the Trees A few thousand lion-tailed macaques still

exist in the wildbut for how much longer?

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANUP SHAH & FIONA ROGERS

TEXT BY TRISHA GUPTA

58

COVER: Tutankhamuns death mask, the Egyptian

Museum, Cairo Photo by Kenneth Garrett

THIS PAGE: A male lion-tailed macaque in Indias Western

Ghats mountains Photo by Anup Shah & Fiona Rogers

50Massacre at Sand CreekThe opening of a

national historic

site in eastern

Colorado helps

restore to public

memory one of

the worst atroc-

ities ever perpe-

trated on Native

Americans

BY TONY HORWITZ

70The Mystery of Mount BaldyWhen a young

boy vanished

down a hole while

playing on the

popular Indiana

sand dunes, a

stunned geologist

was determined

to nd the

explanation

BY ARIEL SABAR

Raw MaterialThomas Hart

Benton drew on

his own extensive

travelsin the

rural South,

the Midwest,

and the rising

metropolises of

the Eastto paint

his masterwork,

America Today

BY PAUL THEROUX

68Ninja WarriorCapable of ying

more than three

times the speed of

sound, the sleek

and shadowy

SR-71 Blackbird

spy plane still

commands awe

50 years after its

rst test ight

BY ANDREW CHAIKIN

Contributors 2

Discussion 4

Phenomena 7American Icon: Rudolph

Art: Life, Interrupted

Essay: The Mark of Zero

Adaptation: Rules of Thumb

Small Talk: Cheryl Strayed

Environment: Unsafe Passage

Ask Smithsonian

Look Both Ways 19The driverless car may take a while to

catch onjust as the automobile did a

century ago BY CLIVE THOMPSON

Bully for Baristas 25Teddy Roosevelts family was 50

years ahead of Starbucks in bringing

fresh-roasted beans and European

co eehouse culture to New York City

BY JANCEE DUNN

Fast Forward 96Twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly

get ready to launch a new mission

DECEMBER 2014 Volume 45, Number 8

40

2 SMITHSONIAN.COM | December 2014

Paul Theroux

The celebrated travel

writer has always been

fascinated by Thomas

Hart Bentons imagery

(Raw Material, p.

58). Its been in my

consciousness since

I was very young. To

see someone painting

a place I knew so well

was very important for

me, says Theroux, who

grew up near Boston

and often traveled to

Marthas Vineyard,

where Benton spent

summers. Theroux has

published more than

40 books; his latest is

Mr. Bones: Twenty Sto-

ries. His last piece for

the magazine was Soul

of the South (July/Au-

gust 2014).

Anup Shah and Fiona Rogers

For seven years, the husband-and-wife team

have photographed wildlife in Asia and Afri-

ca. Drawn to lion-tailed macaques because

of their visually arresting faces, Rogers

says, the duo spent four weeks in Kerala, the

southwest coastal region of India, getting

acquainted with the animals (p. 40). After a

week they tolerated us, then they ignored us

and then, I think we became honorary mem-

bers, Shah adds. Their recent book, Tales

from Gombe, documents the chimpanzees of

Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania.

Joanna B. Pinneo

As I photographed the

dawn light just touching

the grass, the artist

says of her e ort to

capture the mood of

Sand Creek Massacre

National Historic Site (p. 50), a seasonal ranger

named Je Campbell narrated the story of

the soldiers coming upon the Native American

settlement and waiting for that same morning

light to hit so they could carry out their attack. It

was a moving and chilling experience. Pinneo is

a recipient of a 1998 Alfred Eisenstaedt Award

and her work has been featured in National

Geographic 100 Best Pictures.

Jancee DunnAs the journalist toured Theodore Roos-

evelts birthplace in Manhattan, her guide

offhandedly mentioned a coffeehouse run

by the family. Dunn dug into the subject

and was surprised to find how an experi-

ence 100 years ago mirrored the experience

you can have today at a coffeehouse (p.

25). Dunn, a former staff writer for Rolling

Stone, for which she wrote 20 cover sto-

ries, has also written for GQ, the New York

Times and Vogue, and worked as an enter-

tainment correspondent for Good Morning

America. She also published a memoir, But

Enough About Me, and helped Cyndi Lauper

with her autobiography.

Ann Hodgman

As a child, she never

watched the 1964 ani-

mated TV show about

the plucky sleigh-pull-

ing ungulate Rudolph

(Reindeer Games,

p. 7). I was grossed

out by the look of

the lm, she recalls.

Everything about

Rudolph is weirdly

creepy. Formerly

a food columnist for

Spy and Eating Well,

Hodgman has written

more than 50 chil-

drens books as well

as several cookbooks

and humor books, in-

cluding I Saw Mommy

Kicking Santa Claus.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY Robert Ball

Contributors

Tony Horwitz

The Pulitzer

Prize-winning

journalist says he

has been a Civil War

nerd since boyhood,

but he only recently

learned that soldiers

slaughtered Indians

on the frontier in

1864 (p. 50). The

war was rooted in

Western expansion,

so while slaves

were winning their

freedom back East,

Indians were losing

theirs on the Plains.

Ariel Sabar

We live in an era

where we now have

the technology to

send a rover to Mars

and run an analysis on

the soil there, but that

leaves us at risk of

thinking we have the

surface of Earth g-

ured out, says Sabar,

a Smithsonian cor-

respondent. For me,

Earth is full of mystery

and we kid ourselves

if we think we have it

all down. Mount Baldy

is a reminder of that

(p. 70). Sabars latest

work, the 2014 Kindle

single, The Outsider:

The Life and Times

of Roger Barker, was

a best-selling non c-

tion short story.

1-800-460-6187Reservations of ce open 7 days a week

www.americancruiselines.com

OREGON

IDAHO

WASHINGTON k R

Astoria

Portland

ClarkstonLewiston

PendletonStevenson

MultnomahFalls

The DallesUmatilla

RichlandMt. St. HelensFortClatsop

Mt. Hood

Pac

ific

Oce

an

Explorers Lewis & Clark followed an epic course along the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

Discover these iconic rivers for yourself aboard the elegant paddlewheeler, Queen of

the West. From the high desert canyons of the interior to the dense mountain forests of

the Pacific Coast, the dynamic landscape is filled with history and natural beauty. This

fabulous 8-day cruise features the finest cuisine, regional entertainment, and exciting

land excursions. Call today for information about this incredible experience.

Columbia & Snake Rivers Cruise

On the Trail of


Discussion

Thank you, @SmithsonianMag for the great honor @rosannecash ON TWITTER

educated is more prone to changing

his life and to feeling that he deserves

a change in his life, a better life. Most

of the men and women in prison have

either not been given the opportunity

or never grasped it themselves when

they needed it. This is where reform

will happen.

Joann Confeiteiro SarcinellaON FACEBOOK

I do not think it is fair to all the non-

criminals saddled with hefty student

loans from the time

they graduate into mid-

dle age. Its about it be-

ing free for them (the

offenders) but not for

law-abiding citizens,

most of whom have re-

sponsibilities that they

try to meet honorably

and other struggles. I

can see a short and prac-

tical certi cation course

for inmates and I think they should be

granted a low-interest student loan to

pay for it, payable after they are out in

the world and working, same as any-

one else. And it is a fallacy that educa-

tion always improves character.

Dee DunckleyON FACEBOOK

The article cited some results from a

recent Rand Corporation study that I

led. It noted our estimate of a 43 per-

cent reduction in the likelihood of

returning to prison for inmates who

participate in education programs

and then mentions that [o]f course,

the inmates who enroll in an education

program and stick with it are self-se-

lected for high motivation, so even that

success rate comes with a statistical

FROM THE EDITORS Innovation often

sparks controversy, and so it wasnt

surprising that social media ignited in

response to our annual American Inge-

nuity Awards issue. Our story about ex-

periments by Steve Ramirez and Xu Liu,

in which they implanted a false memory

in a mouse, delighted some readers, who

called the research amazing and in-

credible. Others echoed Cyndy Bowman

Odenwald, who cautioned, The possi-

bilities for helping PTSD patients seems

plausible, but the possibilities for mis-

use seems much larger

to me, rather frightening

actually. Some break-

throughs seemed overdue.

On Facebook, Namaste

Adrienne and others ap-

plauded Kimberly Bry-

ant, founder of Black

Girls Code, for working

to improve racial, ethnic

and gender diversity at

high-tech companies. An-

other reader was moved to thank Oculus

Rift founder Palmer Luckey for initiat-

ing a unique perceptual tool that realizes

not only your dream, but what dreams

may come by all of us to be shared on

into the future!And one fan tweeted to

Rosanne Cash about Geoff rey Himes

pro le of the artist, Sometimes, a great

write-up can help me appreciate your

gifts in whole new ways.

Prison EducationThis is a great idea [The Great Es-

cape] and will help us all in the long

run. Its not about whether its free or

not. An educated mind is a mind that

makes better choices, a mind that is

more tolerant of others (their opin-

ions and their beliefs), a mind that is

more open. A criminal that has been

asterisk. Actually, this latter point is

not correct. Our estimates are based

on studies that used rigorous methods

to adjust for selection bias and elimi-

nate it as an explanatory factor. Thus,

the 43 percent estimate of reduced re-

cidivism is unlikely to be driven by the

self-selection of motivated inmates

into education programs.

Lois DavisSENIOR POLICY RESEARCHER

RAND CORPORATION

SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA

Epic PoemJeff MacGregors masterwork about

Bill Morrison [Flood of Time] was

an utterly transformative piece of art,

and certainly the rst of its kind in the

pages of Smithsonian magazine. I am

amazed at what I just read and whats

more, I cant stop rereading it. Pure ge-

nius on both fronts.

J.D. BraytonSILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

CONTACT US

Send letters to [email protected] or to

Letters, Smithsonian, MRC 513, P.O. Box

37012, Washington, D.C. 20013. Include a

telephone number and address. Letters

may be edited for clarity or space.

Because of the high volume of mail we

receive, we cannot respond to all letters.

Send queries about the Smithsonian

Institution to [email protected] or to OVS,

Public Inquiry Mail Service, P.O. Box

37012, Washington, D.C. 20013.

FOLLOW US

@Smithsonianmag

Facebook.com/smithsonianmagazine

EDITORIAL OFFICES: MRC 513, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012,

(202) 633-6090

SUBSCRIPTIONS & CUSTOMER SERVICE: (800) 766-2149, P.O. Box 62170,

Tampa, FL 33662-0608, Smithsonian.com

Outside the United States: (813) 910-3609

MAIN ADVERTISING OFFICE: 420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 2335,

New York, NY 10170, (212) 916-1300

Shown in Platinum White with Multi-CD Changer.

The Bose Wave music system III and Multi-CD Changer. Give that special someone the acclaimed Wave music system III and see them smile. Give it together with the Multi-CD Changer for hours of uninterrupted music, and watch that smile grow.

Premium sound quality makes it a great gift. The Wave music system III brings new life to music. And now, it has an improved AM/FM tuner for better radio reception. Radio text for song and station information. Convenient touch-top controls for on, off and snooze. And dual alarms so you can set two different wake-up times. You enjoy an audio system like no other, an improvement on what was already the most highly acclaimed system in its class.

The Multi-CD Changer makes it even more appreciated. Designed exclusively for the Wave music system III, the optional Multi-CD Changer allows you to enjoy convincingly accurate sound for hours on end. One CD or MP3 CD goes in the Wave music system III, and three more go in the changer. They work as one. Whats more, a credit card-style remote easily operates every feature. Its all-in-one

*In-stock items only. Not responsible for delivery service delays. Some exceptions may apply. Bose payment plan available on orders of $299-$1500 paid by major credit card. Separate financ-ing offers may be available for select products. See website for details. Down payment is 1/6 the product price plus applicable tax and shipping charges, charged when your order is shipped. Then, your credit card will be billed for 5 equal monthly installments beginning approximately one month from the date your order is shipped, with 0% APR and no interest charges from Bose. Credit card rules and interest may apply. U.S. residents only. Limit one active financing program per customer. 2014 Bose Corporation. The distinctive design of the Wave music system is a registered trademark of Bose Corporation. Financing, free shipping and savings offers not to be combined with other offers or applied to previous purchases, and subject to change without notice. Offers are limited to purchases made from Bose and participating authorized dealers. Offer valid 11/1/14-12/31/14. Risk-free refers to 30-day trial only, requires product purchase and does not include return shipping. Delivery is subject to product availability. CC015329

Last chance for the holidaysOrder by December 17 for free delivery by December 24*

1-800-901-0180 | Bose.com/Wave

convenience from a system that provides an elegant addition to the living room, kitchen, bedroom or office.

Take advantage of our 30-day, risk-free trial. Choose your favorite color: Platinum White, Graphite Gray or Titanium Silver. And use our 30-day, risk-free trial to experience the performance in your own home. Order it now and youll save $50. Youll also receive free shipping. And when you call, be sure to ask about making 6 easy payments, with no interest charges from Bose. Order the Wave music system III today. Better yet, order it with our Multi-CD Changer. Youll make their holidays even more special.

The gift that lets them enjoy their music.

Even more.

SAVE $50 when you order the Wave music system III by December 31, 2014.


RA

NK

IN / B

AS

S P

RO

DU

CT

ION

S

There was his nose, to begin with. In the rst version of Ru-

dolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, it glowed like the eyes of a cat,

and Rudolphs friends nicknamed him Ruddy because of it. When

Santa came in on Christmas Eve, he found Rudolphs bedroom

alight with a rosy glow that Santa pretended was coming from

his forehead. (To call it a big, shiny nose would sound horrid!)

Rudolph was born 75 years ago this Christmas season, at the

Montgomery Ward department store headquarters in Chicago.

He was the star of a hum-

ble coloring book, written

by a copywriter, Robert

May, who almost named

the protagonist Reginald.

May, whod been lonely as

a child, based the character

on himself. Store execu-

tives fretted that shoppers

might think Rudolphs nose

was red because he was

drunk, but something about

Rudolphs story spoke to

people. He was an outcast,

down on his luck. When

ReindeerGames

AMERICAN ICON

henomena

After Bing Cros-

by turned down

Rudolph, Gene

Autrys recording

became an all-

time best seller.

The very shiny

life of a 75-year-

old marketing

gimmick

A C U R A T E D L O O K A T S C I E N C E , H I S T O R Y & C U L T U R E


Santa gave him a job (it was

the Great Depression, after

all)well, something clicked.

That Christmas, the company

passed out two and a half mil-

lion copies of the book.

And so a sales ploy about

an oddball redeemed by his

big red honking disadvantage

became centrally enshrined

in American lore. The story

became a hardcover chil-

drens book, then a Disney-

esque cartoon short created

by Max Fleischer (who also

turned Popeye and Betty

Boop into stars), then a Little

Golden Book. Rudolph gained

and lost various family mem-

bers over the years. Once he

had a son named Robbie; an-

other time, a brother called

Rusty. Later he was given a

diff erent brother, the cranky

and overweight Ralph.

His genealogy was absent

in Johnny Marks famous

song, but that didnt stop

Gene Autrys recording from

selling almost two million

copies in its rst Christmas,

in 1949. To date, 150 million

copies have been sold, and

by mid-December, youll

feel as though youve heard

all of them. For some people,

meanwhile, Christmas isnt

Christmas without the 1964

stop-motion animated lm.

Its 100 percent horrifying.

Why was Rudolphs best

friend an elf who dreams of

being a dentist and knocks

out the Snow Monster to ex-

tract his teeth?

Another mystery sur-

rounds the relationship

between Marks (the song-

writer) and May (the ad man),

given that Marks happened

to be married to Mays sister.

In interviews, Marks never

mentioned the connection.

May spoke of testing out cou-

plets on his young daughter,

Barbara. After a second mar-

riage, Barbara stopped com-

ing up in interviews, until his

second wife died and he mar-

ried her sister.

Well, families are never at

their best around the holi-

days. But theres a happy foot-

note: After May and Marks

had both taken their final

sleigh rides into the sky, their

children agreed to share the

riches Rudolph brought in

forevermore. Which seems

pretty Christmas-spirited

to me. ANN HODGMAN


A painter celebrates the places we ignore

Life, Interrupted

How often do you notice that brownish building

around the corner from your dentists o ce? For

the artist Kim Cadmus Owens, the answer is not

enough. Owens is deeply mindful of the places we

pass by day after day without paying any attention

to them. And so she paints them, rst sketching

a site from memory and then photographing it

through the seasons. Its a process that can take

years. In her 4- by 13-foot diptych Smoke and Mir-

rors: Coming and Going (below), now on exhibit at

the Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas, Owens

shows, on the right, an anonymous landmark (later

torn down) near her studio in Dallas, while the

left side gestures at what the empty space might

become. The landscape is woven with brightly

colored lines that call to mind the ltering role that

technology plays in how we experience modern life.

It takes glitches to bring us back to the physical

world, Owens says. I want to take these disrup-

tions and use them to engage people. SABA NASEEM

ART

CO

UR

TES

Y O

F C

RY

STA

L B

RID

GES

M

US

EU

M O

F A

MER

ICA

N A

RT,

BEN

TO

NV

ILLE,

AR

.


AM

IR A

CZ

EL (2

)

Im convinced that the

creation of numerals to

represent the abstract en-

tities we call numbers was

our greatest intellectual

achievement . The simple

sign 3 represents all trios

in the universe; it is the qual-

ity of being threedistinct

from being ve or being

seven. Numerals allow us

to keep track of belongings,

record dates, trade goods,

calculate so precisely that

we are able to y to the moon

and operate on the brain .

We use them with such

ease that we take them for

granted. Surprisingly, our

number system took hold

in the West only in the 13th

century, after the Italian

mathematician Leonardo of

Pisabetter known as Fibo-

nacciintroduced the nu-

merals to Europeans. Hed

learned them from Arab

traders, who presumably

adopted them during travels

to the Indian subcontinent.

Of all the numerals, 0

alone in green on the roulette

wheelis most signi cant .

Unique in representing ab-

solute nothingness, its role

as a placeholder gives our

number system its power.

It enables the numerals to

cycle, acquiring different

meanings in diff erent loca-

tions (compare 3,000,000

and 30). With the exception

of the Mayan system, whose

zero glyph never left the

Americas, ours is the only

one known to have a numeral

for zero. Babylonians had a

mark for nothingness, say

some accounts, but treated

it primarily as punctuation.

Romans and Egyptians had

no such numeral either.

ESSAY

Four miles from the great

temple of Angkor Wat, deep

in the Cambodian jungle, I

opened the door of a make-

shift shed with a corrugated

tin roof and walked into a

dusty room painted in pale

gray. Thousands of chunks

and slabs of stone covered

the dirt oor: smashed heads

of statues of Khmer kings

and Hindu gods, broken lin-

tels and door frames from

abandoned temples, the

remains of steles with an-

cient writing. After years of

searching , Id nally arrived

here, hoping to nd a single

dot chiseled into a reddish

stone, a humble mark of in-

credible importance, a sym-

bol that would become the

very foundation of our num-

ber systemour rst zero .

It was a lifelong love that

led me to this threshold. I

grew up on a cruise ship in

the Mediterranean that of-

ten called at Monte Carlo,

and I was drawn to the al-

luring numbers on roulette

wheels: half of them red, half

black. My fascination led to

a career as a mathematician,

and, dabbling in mathemati-

cal archaeology, Ive tracked

down many ancient numer-

als, including a magic square

(those mysterious numerical

grids in which the sum of ev-

ery column, row and diago-

nal is the same) on the door-

way of a tenth-century Jain

temple at Khajuraho, India.

The Mark of ZeroA circle inscribed at a

temple in Gwalior, India,

dating to the ninth century,

had been widely considered

the oldest version of zero in

our system, the Hindu-Ara-

bic. At the time it was made,

trade with the Arab empire

connected East and West, so

it could have come from any-

where. I was after an older

zero, a particular instance

arguing for an Eastern origin.

Found on a stone stele,

it was documented in 1931

by a French scholar named

George Coeds. Assigned the

identifying label K-127, the

inscription reads like a bill

of sale and includes refer-

ences to slaves, ve pairs of

oxen and sacks of white rice.

Though some of the writ-

ing wasnt deciphered, the

inscription clearly bore the

date 605 in an ancient cal-

endar that began in the year

A.D. 78. Its date was thus A.D.

683. Two centuries older

than the one at Gwalior,

it predated wide-ranging

Arab trade. But K-127 dis-

appeared during the Khmer

Rouges rule of terror, when

more than 10,000 artifacts

were deliberately destroyed.

I describe my obsession

with nding this earliest zero

in my forthcoming book, Find-

ing Zero. I spent countless

hours poring over old texts

in libraries from London to

Delhi and emailing and call-

ing anyone who might know

someone who could help me

locate K-127. I made several

Deep in the jungle, an intrepid scholar locates a symbol of power and mystery

This inscription, written in

Old Khmer, reads The Caka

era reached year 605 on

the fth day of the waning

moon. The dot (at right) is

now recognized as the oldest

known version of our zero.Zero

Options shown. *Vehicle life is dependent on a variety of factors. Toyota basic warranty covers 3 years or 36,000 miles, whichever occurs rst. Actual Prius owner made previously aware their likeness and statement may be used for advertising. 2014 Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

After nine years, four Priuses, and over 300,000 miles, we wouldnt drive anything else.* The Huangs, Prius owners

toyota.com/prius


unsuccessful trips to Cam-

bodia, spending a signi cant

amount of my own money.

On the verge of giving up,

I received a grant from the

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

and forged ahead. Cam-

bodias director general

of the Ministry of Culture

and Fine Arts, Hab Touch,

directed me to the sheds

at Angkor Conservation, a

restoration and storage site

closed to the public. When

I was turned away twice,

Touch graciously made a

phone call, and in early Jan-

uary 2013, I was invited in.

I still didnt know if K-127

had even survived.

And yet, within two hours,

the roulette wheel had spun

in my favor. My eye caught

a piece of tape with a pen-

cil-scribbled K-127, and

then I recognized that single

dot on the 3- by 5-foot slab,

intact but for a rough break at

the top. I was elated. I dared

not touch the stone surface

for fear I might harm it.

Since that fortuitous mo-

ment, Ive pondered the feat

that brought us numerals,

this time wondering not

where and when, but how?

Ive asked dozens of math-

ematicians a long-debated

question: Were numbers

discovered or invented?

The majority view is that

numbers exist outside of the

human mind. Unlike Bee-

thovens Symphony No. 9,

they dont require a human

creator. What gave numbers

their power was the very act

of naming them and writing

them down. Im now work-

ing with Cambodian offi cials

to move K-127 to a museum

in Phnom Penh, where a

wide audience can appreci-

ate the incredible discovery

it represents. -AMIR ACZEL

Of all the motions the hand

can perform, perhaps none is

so distinctively human as a

punch in the nose. Other ani-

mals bite, claw, butt or stomp

one another, but only the spe-

cies that includes Muham-

mad Ali folds its hands into

a st to perform the quintes-

sential act of intra-species

male-on-male aggression.

David Carrier, an evolu-

tionary biologist at the Uni-

versity of Utah, believes our

key advantage is the dexter-

ity and con guration of our

thumb, which folds over the

second and third ngers as a

buttress, concentrating the

striking power and protecting

the delicate hand bones. (Cru-

cially, male index ngers are

short relative to the ring n-

gers, so they t snugly behind

the bulge of muscle at the

thumbs base; in women, the

second and fourth ngers are

typically the same length.) In

a recent paper in the journal

Biological Reviews, Carrier

speculated that the bones of

the masculine face may have

co-evolved with the thumb to

be able to withstand a punch.

Its not settled, he said in an

interview, but the evidence

suggests that the male hand

evolved to be a better club,

while the female hand maxi-

mizes dexterity.

Carriers controversial hy-

pothesis is part of a reassess-

ment of the human thumb by

anthropologists, who for a long

time focused on its role in ac-

tivities like picking up a grape.

The two- nger precision grip

was important in evolution,

says physical anthropologist

Mary Marzke of Arizona State

University. But if you think

about it, you dont really use

it that much. Even surgeons

dont. Marzke has researched

other grips, especially the

cupping, or wraparound,

grip, work followed by Alastair

Key of the University of Kent,

who used sensors to measure

the forces on the digits of

knappers as they chipped at

rocks to replicate primitive

tools. His recent paper in the

Journal of Human Evolution

suggests that an overlooked

factor in thumb evolution is

the nondominant handthe

one that holds the rock while

the dominant hand shapes it

into a stone tool.

A rock for throwing is a

kind of tool, of course, and the

cupping grip a way of using it.

I may throw like a girl, says

Suzanne Kemmer of Rice

University, but I throw better

than any chimpanzee. Kem-

mer, a linguist, thinks that

by enabling ne motor skills

the thumb promoted the de-

velopment of the brain. Take

away the thumb, she says,

and Facebook would need a

diff erent icon for Like, you

couldnt thumb your nose at

anyone, and umpires would

have to nd a less satisfactory

gesture for throwing players

off the field. So never take

your thumbs for grantedes-

peciallynotwhenyouretyping.

-JERRY ADLER

Evolving ideas about our most important digit

Rules of Thumb

ADAPTATION

ILLUSTRATION BY Harry Campbell

How much does Thomas Paine matter? More than Harriet Beecher Stowe? Less than Elvis? On a par with Dwight Eisenhower? In a culture so saturated with information, how do we measure historical significance?

ON SALE NOW

Order online at smithsonian.com/100americans

or by phone 800-250-1531

Steven Skiena, a professor at Stony Brook University and Charles B. Ward, an engineer at Google, have worked together to develop an algorithmic method, based on high-level math, of ranking historical figures according to their historical significance. Their rankings account not only for what individuals have done, but also for how well others remember and value them for it.

For this Smithsonian Collectors Edition: The 100 Most Significant Americans of All Time, we asked Skiena and Ward to separate figures significant to American history from the world population. We then developed categories and highlighted the most interesting choices. We hope our list will spark a few passionate discussions.


WA

LT

ER

M

CB

RID

E / CO

RB

IS;

MA

P:

GU

ILB

ER

T G

AT

ES

Cheryl

StrayedAuthor of Wild: From Lost to Found

on the Paci c Crest Trail, about

her three-month solo hike. The

movie version, starring Reese

Witherspoon, debuts this month.

When construction crews

begin digging a new canal

this month across Nicara-

gua, connecting the Paci c

and Atlantic , itll be a boon to

global shipping and, the gov-

ernment says, to the econ-

omy of the second-poorest

nation in the Americas. But

activists, scientists and oth-

ers are increasingly alarmed

by the environmental impact

of a 173-mile arti cial water-

waywider, deeper and three

and a half times the length of

the Panama Canal.

Developed by Wang Jing,

an enigmatic Chinese indus-

trialist with ties to Chinas

ruling party, the Grand Nic-

aragua Canal will cost an es-

timated $40 billion and take

ve years to build. At 90 feet

deep and 1,706 feet across at

its widest, the channel will

accommodate the newest

cargo supertankers , which

are longer than the Empire

State Building is tall and carry

18,000 shipping contain-

ers. The vessels are too big

to pass through the Panama

Canal (even after a $5 billion

expansion is completed) or to

dock in any U.S. port.

The new canal and its in-

frastructure, from roads to

pipelines to power plants,

will destroy or alter nearly

one million acres of rainfor-

est and wetlands . And that

doesnt include Lake Nicara-

gua, a beloved 3,191-square-

mile inland reservoir that

provides most Nicaraguans

with drinking water. The

canal cuts through the lake,

and critics say ship traffic

will pollute the water with

industrial chemicals and in-

troduce destructive invasive

plants and animals.

Plus, the canal route lies

in the middle of a hurricane

belt, says Robert Stallard, a

research hydrologist with the

U.S. Geological Survey and

the Smithsonian Tropical

Research Institute. Youre

likely going to be looking

at hurricanes vastly more

powerful than anything that

ever hit Panama, and ever

will, Stallard says. A storm

like Hurricane Mitch, which

killed 3,800 people in Nica-

ragua in 1998, would proba-

bly cause the canal to ood,

triggering mudslides that

would breach locks and

Unsafe Passage

Why do you think people who

feel lost are often drawn to the

natural world?

In nature there is constant

evidence of destruction and

rejuvenation. Its proof that were

all part of the web of living things

thats greater than our own small

lives. People feel a sense of be-

longing, rather than isolation.

Is there a place you dream of

visiting even though you believe

you never will?

I dont suppose Ill ever get to

Antarctica. The only way there

is by boat and Im terribly prone

to getting seasick, so Ill stay

home and watch the slide show.

Are humans a part of nature,

or separate from it?

Nature doesnt always

accommodate us, but it

includes us. One of my favorite

bumper stickers reads Nature

bats last. It reminds us that

we arent in control of our lives

to the extent that most of us

would like to believe.

If you could pick any two

figures to go on a journey with

you, who would they be?

Sacagawea and Alexandra

David-Neel, a no less astound-

ing adventurer. Her book My

Journey to Lhasa, about her

trek to the forbidden Tibetan

city in 1924which she did

disguised as a traveling beg-

garis perhaps my favorite

travel memoir of all time.

A man, a plan, a controversial new canal through Central America

dams. Communities, homes,

roads and power lines would

be swamped.

The Nicaraguan gov-

ernment has yet to release

promised analyses of the

canals likely environmen-

tal impacts, and has even

dodged neighboring Costa

Ricas request to share di-

saster plans. Weve got a

lack of information and a

potentially big threat to the

environment, says Jorge A.

Huete-Prez, vice president

of the Academy of Sciences

of Nicaragua. The govern-

ment just wants to rush the

thing through. The canals

true bene ts cant be calcu-

lated, Huete-Prez and oth-

ers argue, as long as the costs

to Nicaraguas forests, wa-

terways and wildlife remain

hidden. -MATTHEW SHAER

SMALL TALK

ENVIRONMENT

COSTA RICA

N I C A R A G U AManagua

Caribbean

Sea

Pacic

Ocean

20 MI.

Lake

Nicaragua

PROPOSED ROUTE

OF THE CANAL

AREA OF

DETAIL

A GIFT TO THE SMITHSONIAN IS A

GIFT TO THE NATION, THE WORLD AND

THE FUTURE

LEARN MORE AT SMITHSONIANCAMPAIGN.ORG


Submit your queries at Smithsonian.com/ask

ILLUSTRATION BY Franois Avril

Whats the di erence

between a street and an

avenue? Seth R. Digel,

Smethport, Pennsylvania

A street is a basic paved

traffi c link within an urban

area; an avenue was orig-

inally grander, wider and

often lined with trees or

other ora. But the distinc-

tion has eroded over time,

as when, for example, real

estate developers indis-

criminately call new roads

avenues to make a more

grandiose impression.

Nancy Pope, curator,

National Postal Museum

Did the Viking settlers of

Greenland grow grapes

there during the Medieval

Warm Period (c. 950-

humans to hear. In addi-

tion, sounds are compres-

sion waves and need some

medium to travel through,

such as air, water or metal;

they cant travel through

empty space. Thats why

I chuckled at the opening

scene of the rst Star Wars

movie, in which the giant

spacecraft is accompa-

nied by a rumble. David

Latham, astrophysicist,

Harvard-Smithsonian

Center for Astrophysics

How e ective is an air horn

as a defense against an

animal attack? Edward

John Hinker, Arlington,

Virginia

Some animal facilities have

used a pressurized horn sys-

tem, but we use bear spray

and other measures when

we work near large carni-

vores. Bear spray (stronger

than mace) off ers longer

protection than a horn.

Juan Rodriguez, animal

keeper, National Zoo

Why did Alexander Gardner

move soldiers bodies for

his Civil War photographs?

Charlie Ian, Los Angeles,

California

1250)? Could

gooseberries have

grown there at the

time, accounting

for the references to

grapes in Norse sagas?

Leo Leone, Tampa, Florida

No, on both counts. Those

settlerswho are more cor-

rectly called Norse after

they became established

in Greenland and adopted

Christianitynever grew

grapes in Greenland. It was

too cold, even during the

Medieval Warm Period.

However, Norse explor-

ers likely found grapes in

northern Nova Scotia and

New Brunswick. Gooseber-

ries were introduced from

Europe to the Americas in

post-Norse times. William

Fitzhugh, anthropologist

and co-author, Maine to

Greenland: Exploring the

Maritime Far Northeast,

National Museum of

Natural History

Do stars make sounds?

Kristin Fankhauser,

Phoenix, Arizona

Stars do vibrate and gener-

ate acoustic waves, but at

frequencies way too low for

Gardner was seeking to

create dramatic tableaux

of the aftermath of battle.

The best known of his ma-

nipulations was of the so-

called Rebel sharpshooter

at Devils Den at Gettys-

burg, for which he moved

an ordinary soldiers

corpse some distance to a

nook in the rocks to give

him the status of a sharp-

shooter. In eff ect, he cre-

ated a narrative about an

individual; it was his way

of coping with the mass,

anonymous casualties of

modern warfare. Now, we

justi ably deplore this as

an aff ront to historical fact.

David C. Ward, senior

historian, National

Portrait Gallery

Your Questions Answered by Our Experts

ASK SMITHSONIAN

Coach to First Class.

JHLFRFRP_$872_ORFDORIFH

Change for the better.

Switch and you could save with GEICO.

Some discounts, coverages, payment plans and features are not available in all states or all GEICO companies. GEICO is a registered service mark of Government Employees Insurance

Company, Washington, D.C. 20076; a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary. GEICO Gecko 1999-2014. 2014 GEICO

E H R M A N N E E DL E P O I N T K I T S

More and more people are taking up stitching. It seems surprising that such a traditional pastime should nd

itself back in fashion but in our busy world this has to be

one of the most relaxing and creative ways to unwind.

Like all the best hobbies it can be picked up and put

down whenever you want. Like reading a book you do it

at a pace to suit yourself and with only one simple stitch

involved no technical expertise is required to get started.

At the end of the day, you have something unique and

personal you have made yourself.

The design is printed in color on the canvas. The kit itself comes

complete with all the 100% pure new wool, packed by color for

easy identi cation, a needle, a simple instruction booklet, the 100%

cotton canvas and a color chart as an additional guide.

MAGIC CARPET AboveRaymond Honeyman.

17.5 x 17.5.

12 holes to the inch canvas.

$130.00 now $105.00

Softer Colors

FANTIN LATOUR ROSES Right Kaffe Fassett.

16 x 16.


$98.00 now $80.00

LICHEN AURICULAS Above Kaffe Fassett.

14.5 x 14.5.


$110.00 now $88.00

EHRMAN TAPESTRY

TOLL FREE ORDER LINE 888 826 8600www.ehrmantapestry.com

DUTCH BARGE RightCandace Bahouth.

14 x 11.


$95.00 now $72.00


illustration by Kyle Bean

Look Both Ways

With driverless cars zooming toward us, its time to remember the rst American automotive revolution

f you visit Mountain

View, California, and if youre lucky, you

might see the strangest vehicle in Amer-

ica: a small bubble-shaped car. Peer in-

side as it rolls by, and youll nd that the

people inside arent drivingbecause

they cant. Its a car with no steering

wheel, no brakes and no gas pedal.

It is one of Googles new self-driving

cars, designed to navigate city streets

all by itself. Equipped with an array of

sensors that scan nearby traffi c and

pedestrians with laserlike precision, a

GPS-brokered sense of the road, and a

slew of algorithms frantically working

to avoid collisions, these carsGoogle

hopesare the future of driving.

How would a robotic car transform

the way we travel? Theyd certainly

change what youd do during a ride.

Passengers could read, nap, watch

movies or peck away on a laptop; new

forms of car-sharing might emerge,

since a vehicle could drop you off and

then zip itself over a few blocks to pick

someone else up. Cars could be stand-

alone couriers. Indeed, we might see

many cars empty of any humans at all.

Its a prospect straight out of

Ray Bradbury, by turns capti-

TECHNOLOGY CARS

BY CLIVE THOMPSON

TRAVEL THE WORLDwith

More than 200 worldwide cruises and land explorationsWorld-class experts to enrich your experienceAccess to places you cant easily visit on your own

FIND YOUR JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME

Request Your FREE Catalog

SmithsonianJourneys.org I 877-338-8687

SMITHSONIAN.COM 23

Drive the Way We Do (And What It

Says About Us).

Things changed dramatically in

1908 when Henry Ford released the

rst Model T. Suddenly a car was af-

fordable, and a fast one, too: The Model

T could zoom up to 45 miles an hour.

Middle-class families scooped them

up, mostly in cities, and as they began to

race through the streets, they ran head-

long into pedestrianswith lethal re-

sults. By 1925, auto accidents accounted

for two-thirds of the entire death toll in

cities with populations over 25,000.

An outcry arose, aimed squarely at

drivers. The public regarded them as

murderers. Walking in the streets?

That was normal. Driving? Now that

was aberranta crazy new form of

sel sh behavior.

Nation Roused Against Motor Kill-

ings read the headline of a typical New

vating and goosebump-inducing. And

if it comes to pass, itll be the apothe-

osis of how cars have utterly remolded

the way cities work. Because when au-

tomobiles entered American life a cen-

tury ago, their rst trick was to start a

war between humans and machines:

They drove people off the streets.

When you visit any city in America to-

day, its a sea of cars, with pedestrians

dodging between the speeding autos.

Its almost hard to imagine now, but in

the late 1890s, the situation was com-

pletely reversed. Pedestrians domi-

nated the roads, and cars were the rare,

tentative interlopers. Horse-drawn car-

riages and streetcars existed, but they

were comparatively slow.

So pedestrians ruled. The streets

were absolutely black with people,

as one observer described the view

in the nations capital. People strolled

to and fro down the center of the ave-

nue, pausing to buy snacks from ven-

dors. Theyd chat with friends or even

manicure your nails, as one chamber

of commerce wryly noted. And when

they stepped off a sidewalk, they did it

anywhere they pleased.

Theyd stride right into the street,

casting little more than a glance around

them . . . anywhere and at any angle, as

Peter D. Norton, a historian and author

of Fighting Traffi c: The Dawn of the

Motor Age in the American City, tells

me. Boys of 10, 12 or 14 would be sell-

ing newspapers, delivering telegrams

and running errands. For children,

streets were playgrounds.

At the turn of the century, motor

vehicles were handmade, expensive

toys of the rich, and widely regarded

as rare and dangerous. When the rst

electric car emerged in Britain in the

19th century, the speed limit was set

at four miles an hour so a man could

run ahead with a ag, warning citizens

of the oncoming menace, notes Tom

Vanderbilt, author of Traffi c: Why We

York Times story, decrying the homi-

cidal orgy of the motor car. The edito-

rial went on to quote a New York City

traffi c court magistrate, Bruce Cobb,

who exhorted, The slaughter cannot

go on. The mangling and crushing can-

not continue. Editorial cartoons rou-

tinely showed a car piloted by the grim

reaper, mowing down innocents.

When Milwaukee held a safety

week poster competition, citizens

sent in lurid designs of car accident

victims. The winner was a drawing of

a horri ed woman holding the bloody

corpse of her child. Children killed

while playing in the streets were par-

ticularly mourned. They constituted

one-third of all traffi c deaths in 1925;

half of them were killed on their home

blocks. During New Yorks 1922 safety

week event, 10,000 children marched

in the streets, 1,054 of them in a sep-

arate group symbolizing the number

killed in accidents the previous year.

Drivers wrote their own letters to

newspapers, pleading to be under-

stood. We are not a bunch of murder-

ers and cutthroats, one said. Yet they

were indeed at the center of a ght that,

clearly, could only have one winner. To

whom should the streets belong?

By the early 1920s, anti-car sentiment

was so high that carmakers and driver

associationswho called themselves

motordomfeared they would per-

manently lose the public.

You could see the damage in car sales,

which slumped by 12 percent between

1923 and 1924, after years of steady

increase. Worse, anti-car legislation

loomed: Citizens and politicians were

agitating for speed governors to limit

how fast cars could go. Gear them down

to fteen or twenty miles per hour, as

one letter-writer urged. Charles Hayes,

president of the Chicago Motor Club,

Middle-class families scooped up a ordable and speedy Model Ts. As they began to race through the streets, they ran headlong into pedestrianswith lethal results.

fretted that cities would impose un-

bearable restrictions on cars.

Hayes and his car-company col-

leagues decided to ght back. It was

time to target not the behavior of

carsbut the behavior of pedestrians.

Motordom would have to persuade

city people that, as Hayes argued, the

streets are made for vehicles to run

uponand not for people to walk. If

you got run over, it was your fault, not

that of the motorist. Motordom began

to mount a clever and witty pub-

lic-relations campaign.

TECHNOLOGY CARS


Their most brilliant stratagem: To

popularize the term jaywalker. The

term derived from jay, a derisive

term for a country bumpkin. In the

early 1920s, jaywalker wasnt very

well known. So pro-car forces actively

promoted it, producing cards for Boy

Scouts to hand out warning pedestri-

ans to cross only at street corners. At a

New York safety event, a man dressed

like a hayseed was jokingly rear-ended

over and over again by a Model T. In the

1922 Detroit safety week parade, the

Packard Motor Car Company produced

a huge tombstone oatexcept, as Nor-

ton notes, it now blamed the jaywalker,

not the driver : Erected to the Memory

of Mr. J. Walker: He Stepped from the

Curb Without Looking.

The use of jaywalker was a bril-

liant psychological ploy. Whats the

best way to convince urbanites not to

wander in the streets? Make the behav-

ior seem unsophisticatedsomething

youd expect from hicks fresh off the

turnip truck. Car companies used the

self-regarding snobbery of city-dwell-

ers against themselves. And the cam-

paign worked. Only a few years later, in

1924, jaywalker was so well-known

it appeared in a dictionary: One who

crosses a street without observing the

traffi c regulations for pedestrians.

Meanwhile, newspapers were shift-

ing allegiance to the automakersin

part, Norton and Vanderbilt argue, be-

cause they were pro ting heavily from

car ads. So they too began blaming pe-

destrians for causing accidents.

It is impossible for all classes of

modern traffic to occupy the same

right of way at the same time in safety,

as the Providence Sunday Journal

noted in a 1921 article called The Jay

Walker Problem, reprinted from the

pro-car Motor magazine.

In retrospect, you could have pre-

dicted that pedestrians were doomed.

They were politically outmatched.

There was a road lobby of asphalt

users, but there was no lobby of pe-

destrians, Vanderbilt says. And cars

were a genuinely useful technology.

As pedestrians, Americans may have

feared their dangersbut as drivers,

they loved the mobility.

By the early 30s, the war was over.

Ever after, the street would be monop-

olized by motor vehicles, Norton tells

me. Most of the children would be gone;

those who were still there would be on

the sidewalks. By the 1960s, cars had

become so dominant that when civil en-

gineers made the rst computer models

to study how traffi c owed, they didnt

even bother to include pedestrians.

The triumph of the automobile changed

the shape of America, as environmen-

talists ruefully point out. Cars allowed

the suburbs to explode, and big sub-

urbs allowed for energy-hungry mon-

ster homes. Even in midcentury, crit-

ics could see this coming too. When

the American people, through their

Congress, voted for a twenty-six-bil-

lion-dollar highway program, the most

charitable thing to assume is that they

hadnt the faintest notion of what they

were doing, Lewis Mumford wrote

sadly in 1958 .

This is precisely what makes mod-

ern critics nervous about self-driving

cars. Will they, too, create radically

new driving patternsand dangerous

changes to society?

Norton sees two roads forward, one

good and one dreadful. If were lucky,

self-driving cars could reduce over-

TECHNOLOGY CARS

Imagine a system thats half Zipcar and half taxi service, where you buy access to a private

eet of vehicles that work out sharing on the y. Stoplights could become obsolete.

all driving by allowing supereffi cient

ride-sharing. Imagine a system thats

half Zipcar and half taxi service, where

you buy access to a private eet of ve-

hicles that work out sharing on the

y. Stoplights could become obsolete:

Some computer models suggest that

self-driving cars could navigate inter-

sections simply by weaving around

each other, reducing emissions from

idling. Maybe we could cross the street

wherever we wantedbecause the

cars would stop and ow around us.

But theres a dystopian view, too.

Self-driving cars, Norton warns, could

usher in an explosion of driving and

even more far- ung exurbs. If you can

now work on your laptop while com-

muting, why not live even farther away?

That scares me, he says. We might

pave the whole country that way. But

Vanderbilt isnt as worried. The [com-

puter] models Ive seen suggest wed

drive less, he says, and he suspects

most people have an upper limit on how

much time theyre willing to commute,

even if theyre not driving. I dont envi-

sion two-hour commutes. Auto deaths

would likely shrink dramatically; Goo-

gles prototype self-driving cars have

been on the road for ve years, and,

Google says, havent had a single acci-

dent under computer control.

But when the rare accidents do occur,

itll createas with 100 years agoa

big public debate about whos to blame.

The passengers (who werent piloting

the car)? The carmaker, who wrote the

algorithms? A cloudy day that tempo-

rarily occluded the cars GPS?

And carmakers may again need to

mount a big public-relations cam-

paignthis time to convince us to

trust the cars. Would you put your faith

in a self-driving robot to stop in time

when your children step into the street

against the light? The cars may change,

but the dtente between them and us

may always be uneasy.

MIL

DR

ED

A

ND

P

HIL

IP SA

WY

ER

PA

PER

S / N

EW

-Y

OR

K H

IST

OR

ICA

L S

OC

IET

Y

and many decades before Brooklyn

native and Starbucks mogul Howard

Schultz got the idea to bring European

coff ee culture stateside, the Brazilian

Coff ee House, in Midtown Manhattan,

was intended to bring quality coff ee

and a sociable public space to harried

New Yorkers.

The siblings were part of a tight-knit

group who had spent their boisterous

early years in the White House. Their

43-year-old father, the youngest pres-

ident to date, not only tolerated his six

childrens antics but frequently en-

couraged them. (Although he did draw

the line when a portrait of President

Andrew Jackson was decorated with

spitballs.) Upon hearing that his brood

was planning an attack on the White

House, he sent the children a message

through the War Department advising

them to call it off . Adding to the

general chaos were dozens of

heodore Roosevelt was famously

possessed of such formidable natural

energy that he was known at Harvard

as a locomotive in human pants. But

something else might have fueled his

vigor. As a sickly child, he was given

strong cups of coff eealong with puff s

of cigarto ease his terrible asthma at-

tacks. As president, he was so devoted

to the stuff that his huge custom coff ee

cup was described by one of his sons as

more in nature of a bathtub.

So perhaps its not a jolt to learn

that his sons Kermit, Ted and Archie,

along with daughter Ethel, her hus-

band, and TRs cousin Philip, opened

a chain of coff eehouses in New York

City. Long before goateed baristas

pulled single-origin shots in Brooklyn,

BY JANCEE DUNN

Bully forBaristasA half-century before Starbucks,Teddy Roosevelts family importedcoffee culture to the United States

CULTURE COFFEE

As Prohibition shut bars, an ad touted the

familys co eehouse as a place to linger.


PR

INT

CO

LLEC

TIO

N,

MIR

IAM

A

ND

IR

A D

. W

ALLA

CH

D

IVIS

ION

O

F A

RT,

PR

INT

S A

ND

PH

OT

OG

RA

PH

S / N

EW

Y

OR

K P

UB

LIC

LIB

RA

RY,

AS

TO

R,

LEN

OX

A

ND

T

ILD

EN

FO

UN

DAT

ION

S

pets, among them a small bear, a bad-

ger named Josiah, a hyena and Archies

Shetland pony, Algonquin, who had

free access to the childrens bedrooms.

So by the time the Roosevelts de-

cided to go into business together,

their bond was rmly established. It

was Kermit, then 29, who rst pitched

the idea to the others, who ranged in

age from 31 to 21. Having spent a few

years in South America (exploring the

Amazon Basin of Brazil with his father,

managing a bank in Buenos Aires), he

became intrigued by the regions cof-

feehouses, which not only served up

fresh-ground beans but also had a

much more leisurely pace than those

in the States did.

Coff eehouses were not new to New

York City, says Joshua Reyes of the

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site,

CULTURE COFFEE

Meet the Roosevelts (from left): Quentin, TR, Ted, Archie, Alice, Kermit, Edith and Ethel.

The walls were hung with portraits of celebrated co ee lovers, such as Voltaire

(who allegedly downed 50 cups a day), Shakespeare and the Bull Moose himself.

Theodore Roosevelts former home,

but they catered to recent immi-

grants, or what was then called more

of the foreign element. So I think

with Prohibition, they were thinking,

Maybe we can cater to a more main-

stream audience.

At the time, the idea of encouraging

customers to linger was virtually un-

heard of. Do the managers really in-

tend to have their patrons stay beyond

the conventional period required to

gobble and git? a bemused reporter

wrote in the Outlook magazine. Ap-

parently they do. Using premium,

fresh-ground coff ee was similarly rare.

Most coff ee served in restaurants or

at home was preground and came in

a can, or, worse, was instanta habit

picked up by soldiers who had been

liberally supplied with coff ee powder

during World War I.

The Roosevelts Brazilian Coffee

House opened in November 1919 in a

brownstone building at 108 West 44th

Street to great fanfare (Roosevelts

Start Coffee House Chain; Houses

Similar to the Ancient Institutions

of London to be Established, began

a multitiered New York Times head-

line), with interior design reportedly

handled by Ethel Roosevelt. The walls,

papered with a green and gold print of

Brazilian bamboo, were hung with por-

traits of celebrated coff ee lovers, such

as Voltaire (who allegedly downed 50

cups a day), Shakespeare and the Bull

Moose himself.

Thirty small oak tables and chairs

were grouped around the room. As an

analog precursor to Starbucks lap-

top brigade, each table at the Brazil-

ian Coff ee House had a compartment

furnished with ink, envelopes and pa-

per (inscribed with Brazilian Coff ee

House). Dictionaries and encyclope-

dias (the free Internet of the day) were

kept within reach. What we desire to

do, Philip Roosevelt told a reporter, is

to provide a place for people to come,

where they can talk, write letters, eat

sandwiches and cake, and above all,

drink real coff ee.

Coff ee beans were roasted on the

premises, then prepared at a large

counter in the center of the room. The

stores manager, A.M. Salazar, a young

Brazilian, was an ahead-of-his-time

coff ee snob. He sniff ed that Americans

dont really know how to appreciate

good coff ee and killed the taste by

boiling it too long.

Salazar schooled customers on

proper preparation with elaborate

demonstrations in which he ground the

coff ee while they waited and poured wa-

ter over a specially prepared strainer.

Like the exacting, if at times insuff er-

able, baristas of the 21st century, he

lectured them on proper temperature

and roasting. Salazar also counseled

against adding milk or cream, which he

felt caused indigestion, but he surren-

dered if customers asked.

The timing for the Roos-

evelts venture was ideal: Pro-

Scienti callyENGINEERED toDEFYGRAVITY

The Ultimate Shock Absorbing FootwearAs featured in hundreds of magazines, on radio and TV nationwide, Gravity Defyer shoes are changing lives every day. They have become a comfort phenomenon, and are being used and recommended by professionals in hospitals, the food service industry, board rooms across the country and more.

A Decade of Science in Every Pair The patented VersoShock system was developed by Impact Research Technology and is found exclusively in Gravity Defyer footwear. It absorbs harmful impact relieving discomfort from every step before returning energy that propels

you forward. Stay more active on your feet and experience unparalleled comfort and performance.

Feel WeightlessStanding, walking, and running are easier as the VersoShock systems energy return makes you feel lighter, like youre walking on clouds.

Absorbs Shock on Impact

Energy Return Propels You

G-DEFY

SUPER WALK

AVAILABLE

0KLJPKLK[VM\SSSHSPMLZKYLHTHUKNV[V*OPUH^P[OV\[T`.YH]P[`+LM`LYBZOVLZD[OPZ^V\SKOH]LILLUPTWVZZPISL Eleanor W

(M[LYVYKLYPUNHUK^LHYPUN`V\Y.YH]P[`+LM`LYBZOVLZD0OH]LYLUL^LKMHP[O[OH[0^PSSILHISL[VJVU[PU\LT`WHZZPVUMVYZLUPVYZVM[IHSS;OHUR`V\ Ron B

0^VYRPUHYLZ[H\YHU[-PUHSS`MV\UK[OLZOVLZ[OH[KVU[RPSST`SLNZHUKMLL[.YH]P[`+LM` LYZOVLZHYLH^LZVTL Diana B

SOOT

HES SENSITIVE

SKIN

SMOOTH LINING AND

COLL

AR

NATU

RAL SH

APED SUPPORT

REMOVABLE ORTHOT

IC

FIRM GRIP

SPECIAL RUBBER OU

TSOL

E

PROP

ELS YOU FORWARD

ROCKER TOE

U.S

. PATENT #US

8,5

5,52

6 B

2

ABSO

RB

S HA

RMFU

L SHOCK

KEEP

S FEET COOL

AVS3 VENTILATION

SYST

EM

WIG

GLE RO

OM FOR

TOES

WIDE

EURO-STYLE

TO

E BOX

SHOES THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE... GUARANTEED!Absorb harmful impactStay comfortable & activeSupport & protect your bodyStand & walk with greater ease

Gravity Defyer Corp.10643 Glenoaks BlvdPacoima, CA 91331

TRY A PAIR FREEFOR 30 DAYS!

PLUS

FREE SHIPPING*&REE2ETURNSs&REE%XCHANGES

COUPON CODE: MF9MFW5

OR

3 PAYMENTS OF $49.99

Call 1 (800) 429-0039 GravityDefyer.com/MF9MFW5

*Offer valid for new customers only. Billing options selected during checkout. Shoes must be returned within 30 days and in like new condition for refund or exchange. Free shipping on orders over $100 within the continental US; excluding AK, HI and Puerto Rico. Credit card authorization required. See website for complete details.

Super Walk $129.95

Medium & Wide WidthsWHITE TB9004MWSBLACK TB9004MBS

Medium WidthsBLUE TB9004MUSGREY TB9004MGSBLK/RED TB9004MBR

MEN SIZES 7.5-15Medium & Wide Widths

BLK/PURP TB9004FBPWHT/BLU TB9004FWSUWHT/PNK TB9004FWSP

Medium WidthsGRY/PNK TB9004FGP

WOMEN SIZES 5-11


MIL

DR

ED

&

P

HIL

IP SA

WY

ER

PA

PER

S / N

EW

-Y

OR

K H

IST

OR

ICA

L S

OC

IET

Y

hibition hit two months after opening

day, and coff eehouses lled the vac-

uum left by shuttered bars. New York

has to thank Prohibition for one bless-

ing, opined a writer at the Janesville

(Wisconsin) Daily Gazette, and that is

the establishment of a modern coff ee

house, where it is possible to obtain a

cup of coff ee that is coff ee and not tan-

nic acid soup. It also has to thank the

Roosevelt family . . . [for its] new and

picturesque enterprise.

The Brazilian Coffee House was

forced to change its name in 1921.

Salazar, it turned out, had once owned

a Brazilian Coffee House on Pearl

Street, and when he sold it, the new

owners retained the name and served

legal notice to the Roosevelts. Eager

to avoid litigation, they settled in-

stead on the Double R Coff ee House,

for Roosevelt and TRs nephew Mon-

roe Douglas Robinson, who had also

joined the venture.

The Double R eventually grew to

four locations in New York City, all

named after South American regions:

the original Brazilian branch, which

moved a few doors up 44th Street, and

survived a re (TRs widow, Edith, hap-

pened to be there, and calmly sipped

her coff ee as it was brought under con-

trol); an Argentine outpost; a Colom-

bian (where thieves once tried to steal

an oil portrait of TR); and an Amazon.

The siblings planned on taking their

chain nationalArchie scouted sites

in Chicago and planned similar trips

to Boston and Philadelphia.

They ended up staying local, but the

coff eehouses did achieve Philips wish

CULTURE COFFEE

Real co ee was the boast of the house.

The siblings planned on taking their chain national. One potential buyer was the Maxwell

House company, which credited their father for the slogan, Good to the last drop.

of bringing diff erent people together.

The Brazilian location, in the theater

district, was a favorite gathering place

for actors, artists, newspapermen and

musicians. Among its patrons was the

then little-known purveyor of pulpy

American gothic ction, H.P. Love-

craft; his circle of friends, known as

the Kalem Club, was known to fre-

quent the Double R. Lovecraft even

wrote a fevered ode, On the Double R

Coff ee House.

Here may free souls forget the grind

Of busy hour and bustling crowd

And sparkling brightly mind to mind

Display their inmost dreams aloud

Despite the chains success, by the

end of the 20s, the Roosevelts atten-

tion shifted elsewhere. In 1928, Ted

Jr. and Kermit were making compli-

cated plans for the most Rooseveltian

of expeditions, sponsored by Chicagos

Field Museum: a lengthy exploration

of Indochina to collect plant and ani-

mal specimens, among them the elu-

sive giant panda, one of which they

shot (the skin endures in a museum

diorama). And in the late 20s Ted

Jr.s political career started to take

off , Reyes points out. So that may

also be why he wanted to dump it.

One potential buyer was the Max-

well House company, which, accord-

ing to a memorandum in Kermits pa-

pers at the Library of Congress, made

inquiries in 1927. The company had

maintained a Roosevelt affiliation

for years, claiming that when T.R., as

president, visited Andrew Jacksons

estate near Nashville, on October 21,

1907, he took a sip of Maxwell House

and declared it good to the last drop.

Teddy Roosevelt Gave Popular Slo-

gan to Maxwell House Coff ee, the

company boasted in what reads like

sponsored content in the Southwest-

ern Railway Journal in 1921.

Probably not, says Heather Cole,

curator of the Theodore Roosevelt

Collection at Harvards Houghton Li-

brary. T.R. did stop in Nashville in Oc-

tober 1907, and was a notoriously big

coff ee drinker, she says. But unfor-

tunately, there is no reliable evidence

that he did utter the phrase good to

the last drop. (Nonetheless, the web-

site of Kraft Foods, current owner of

the Maxwell House brand, cites the

legend in its list of fun facts about

the coff ee.)

In the end Maxwell House did not

take over the Double R. It was bought

in 1928 by a couple whose romance

had begun there ve years earlier.

Unlike T.R., whose likeness would

be featured in Maxwell House ads

through mid-century, his relatives

moved on from the coff ee business.

New Yorkers would have to endure

nearly a century of mostly mediocre

coff ee before that guy from Brooklyn

had the new-again idea of serving

good fresh-ground beans in a relaxed

atmosphere.

You may think you understood the concept of priceless jewelry. For years, priceless meantastronomically expensive. Owning priceless treasures was a rare privilege reserved forcelebrities, billionaires, and royalty. The best most of us could do was dream. Until now...

Stauer smashes the luxury status quo with the release of our FREE* 200-Carat LussoAmethyst Necklace. Thats right, we said FREE... as in priceless. No charge.* ZEROdollars.* Call now and well send you this impressive helping of genuine amethyst(independently appraised at $295) for FREE. We cut the price 100% and youpay only $19.95, our charge for shipping, processing and insurance. Thereare no tricks or gimmicks. You arent obligated to spend another dimeor dollar with us... although we make it VERY hard to resist.

Why give away jewelry? We want your attention. Once youget a closer look at our rare gemstone treasures and vintage-inspired watches, and once you discover the guilt-free fun of getting Luxury for Less, were betting thatyoull fall in love with Stauer. If not? Keep your FREE LussoAmethyst Necklace anyway. No hard feelings.

A collection of purple perfection. Your LussoAmethyst Necklace is a 200-carat symphony ofsmooth purple genuine gemstones. Each gemstonesshape and translucence ignites the velvety, violethues. The polished amethysts are hand-set on dou-ble-knotted jewelers thread, and the stunning 18"necklace (with 2" extender) secures with a gold-finished lobster clasp. Once you wear it, youll see thatit hangs with the same weight and elegance as similarstrands that sell for hundreds more.

One more surprise... If we had our way, wed send yourLusso Amethyst Necklace with no shipping charge. Unfortunately, the rising cost of gas and freight makes thatimpossible. But, to sweeten the deal, well include a $20Stauer Gift Coupon with your FREE necklace.Amethyst is one of the worlds most coveted gemstonesand our supply is extremely limited. An offer this good willnot last very long. Call to reserve your FREE LussoAmethyst Necklace today and treat yourself (or someone youlove) to a brilliant new definition of priceless luxury!

Smart LuxuriesSurprising Prices

Necklace enlarged toshow luxurious detail.

This Necklace is NOT for SaleIts yours for FREE*No kidding. Only Stauer can give you 200 carats of genuine amethyst for NOTHING.

* This offer is valid in the United States (and Puerto Rico) except in TX, FL, CO, OK, RI,NH, WV, OR, SC, VA and ID. These state residents will be charged one cent ($.01) + ship-ping & processing for the item. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Offer subject tostate and local regulations. Not valid with any other offers and only while supplies last. This offer is limited to one item per shipping address. ** Free is only for customers who usethe offer code versus the original Stauer.com price. For more information concerning the appraisal, visit http://www.stauer.com/appraisedvalues.asp.

200 carats of pure luxury

appraised at $295...

yours FREE!*

200 ctw of genuine amethyst Gold-finished spacers 18"+2" length necklace

Necklace enlarged toshow luxurious detail.

14101 Southcross Drive W., Dept. LAN192-01, Burnsville, Minnesota 55337 www.stauer.comStauer

Lusso Amethyst Necklace (200 ctw)

Your Cost With Offer Code FREE**pay only shipping & processing of $19.95.You must use the offer code below to receive this special free necklace.

1-800-859-1680Offer Code LAN192-01Please mention this code when you call.

Rating of A+

Advertisement

30 SMITHSONIAN.COM | December 201430 SMITHSONIAN.COM | December 2014

THE

CONTROVERSIAL

AFTERLIFE OF

P H O T O G R A P H S B Y D A V I D D E G N E R

by Matthew

Shaer

A frenzy of conflicting scientific analyses have made the famous pharaoh more mysterious than ever


The Valley of the Kings lies on a bend in the Nile River, a short ferry ride from Luxor. The valley proper is rocky and

wildly steep, but a little farther north, the landscape gives way to gently

rolling hills, and even the occasional copse of markh trees. It was here, in a

humble mud-brick house, that the British Egyptologist Howard Carter was

living in 1922, the year he unearthed the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun,

forever enshrining both the boy king and himself in the annals of history.

These days, the house serves as a museum, restored to its nearly original

state and piled high with Carters belongingsa typewriter, a camera, a

record player, a few maps, a handful of sun hats. Toward the back of the

museum is a darkroom, and out front, facing the road, is a shaded veranda.

On the September day I visited, the place was empty, except for a pair of

tographya process that took five

weeks. The resulting data was taken

to Madrid, where it was processed

and used to precisely carve the sur-

face of the tomb and other structures,

which were covered by slightly elas-

tic printed acrylic skins; artists fash-

ioned the sarcophagus facsimile of

hand-painted resin.

Lowe had originally hoped to open

the exhibit in 2011, but the Egyptian

revolution threw everything into

chaos, and it wasnt until 2013 that

the pieces made their way to Luxor.

Meanwhile, the number of visitors en-

tering the Valley of the Kings dwindled

signi cantly because of the threat of

terrorism and political unrest.

Mahmoud predicted that soon there

would be an upswing in tourism. And

then, he said, hopefully, the original

tomb will close, and lots of people will

come to us. For now I was the only vis-

itor. Mahmoud pointed at his favorite

painting: a mural of 12 seated baboons,

each representing a diff erent hour of

the night. Above the baboons, a scarab,

here representing the coming dawn,

sailed on a solar barque.

The detail was astonishing to be-

hold. Not only had the murals been

perfectly reproduced, so had the mot-

tled spores of mold that grew on them.

I ran my ngers through the grooved

hieroglyphs on the sarcophagus and

across a painting depicting Tuthis

skin Frankenstein greenbeing wel-

comed into the afterlife.

Standing there, it was possible to

feel one step closer to history, and to

the young king whose life and appar-

ently untimely death around 1323 B.C.

continue to bedevil Egyptologists of all

stripes. In that sense, advances in tech-

nology have brought us closer than ever

to understanding who King Tut was. But

in another, profound sense, three mil-

lennia after his deathand with a spate

of philosophical and scientific argu-

ments still roiling the eld of Tut stud-

iesweve never seemed further away. AR

T M

ED

IA / P

RIN

T CO

LLEC

TO

R / G

ET

TY

IM

AG

ES

; A

PIC

/ G

ET

TY

IM

AG

ES

caretakers, Eman Hagag and Mah-

moud Mahmoud, and an orange kit-

ten that was chasing its own shadow

across the tiled oor.

Most of the lights had been turned

off to conserve electricity, and the ho-

lographic presentation about Carters

discovery was broken. I asked Hagag

how many visitors she saw in a day.

She shrugged, and studied her hands.

Sometimes four, she said. Some-

times two. Sometimes none.

Mahmoud led me outside, through a

lush garden overhung with a trellis of

tangled vines, and toward the entrance

of what appeared to be a nuclear fall-

out shelter. An exact replica of Tut-

ankhamuns tomb, it had opened just a

few months earlier, and Mahmoud was

keen to show it off .

We knew that tourism in the real

tomb was having a disastrous eff ectall

that foot traffi c, all that breath, all those

hands, Adam Lowe, the British artist

whose company, Factum Arte, created

the facsimile, told me. We wanted to

encourage a more responsible tourism

before the decay progressed.

The rst step in creating the replica

was closely studying the surfaces of

the original tomb and then scanning

every inch with laser and light de-

vices as well as high-resolution pho-

Discovered tomb, Howard Carter

(above) noted in his diary on November

5, 1922 . Today, near the house he lived in,

a replica tomb (opposite) awaits visitors.

the plac


Tutankhamun has been a projec-

tion screen for theories for almost

a hundred years, the Egyptologist

Salima Ikram, co-author of a key 2013

paper that sizes up a long century of

Tut theorizing, told me over coff ee

in Cairo. Some of that, frankly, is re-

searchers egos. And some of it is our

desire to explain the past. Look, were

all storytellers at heart. And weve

gotten very much addicted to telling

stories about this poor boy, who has

become public property.

Egyptology has always been a game

of conjecturesome of it well-rooted,

and some of it decidedly not. As the

protagonist of Arthur Phillips 2004

novel The Egyptologist writes of the

bygone pharaohs, these once-great

men and women now cling to their

hard-won immortality by the thin-

nest of laments . . . while, across that

chasm of time from them, historians

and excavators struggle to build a

rickety bridge of educated guesses for

those nearly vanished heroes to cross.

Since Howard Carter discovered the

tomb now known as KV62, in 1922, no

pharaoh has inspired more educated

guesses than Tut. He probably came

of age during the reign of Akhenaten,

a ruler who famously broke from cen-

turies of polytheistic tradition and en-

couraged the worship of a single deity:

Aten, the sun. Born Tutankhaten

literally, the living image of Aten

Tut is thought to have become king at

age 9, and ruled (likely with the help

of advisers) until his death at 19 or 20.

Compared with the long reigns of

powerful pharaohs such as Ramses

II, Tuts rule can seem insigni cant.

Considering how much attention we

pay to Tut, said Chuck Van Siclen, an

Egyptologist at the American Research

Center in Egypt, its as if you wrote a

history of the presidents of the United

States and devoted three long chapters

to William Henry Harrison.

Even so, it doesnt take a Jungian ana-

lyst to understand why Tut has captured

the worlds attention for so long. Egyp-

tologists had long been forced to make

do largely with scraps and fragments,

but Tutankhamuns tomb was found

nearly intact and piled high with fantas-

tical treasures. There was the absurdly

beautiful burial mask, with its jutting

false beard and coiled serpent, poised

to strike. There were the rumors of the

curse that had supposedly claimed the

life of Carters deep-pocketed backer,

Lord Carnarvon. And above all, there

was the mystery of Tuts deathhe per-

ished suddenly, it seems, and was placed DAV

ID D

EG

NER

/ R

EP

OR

TA

GE


Tuts sarcophagus is

in its original resting

place in the Valley

of the Kings. The

mummy is displayed

in another case.


in a tomb constructed for another king.

No one can be blamed for hoping

that modern science, with its ever-in-

creasing powers to reconstruct the past,

would come to the rescue of this tanta-

lizing mystery. The most recent phase

of scienti c Tut-ology began in 2005,

when Zahi Hawass, then the head of the

Egyptian antiquities service, used the

latest technologies to study Egyptian

mummies. He began with CT scans on

a few royals at the Museum of Egyptian

Documents

Smithsonian Magazine - December 2014 USA