Aggie Almanac; 176; Digging Up the Past, NMSU Welcomes the World, and National Champ

You Coming up on Aggie Almanac, an anthropology professor and his student crew on earth a piece of regional history. This is a real pristine, untouched, pointless, so they're very excited about it. And an NMSU PhD student who took her sport to the very top. Hi, I'm Gary Worth and thanks for watching Aggie Almanac.

First on today's show, we take you back to a time before the Spanish colonizers arrived in our region. And it's all thanks to an NMSU archaeologist and his students who over the past couple of years have been digging up an important piece of this region's past. About 600 years ago, there were people living here in the shadow of the Florida mountains, maybe as many as 200 of them. They occupied rooms like this one. And while they lived here relatively recently, we don't know much about them. Well, we call them by various names. We consider them part of the Costa Grande's sort of culture. We also sometimes are, they're called salato culture. Salato is named after a style of pottery that's found out here. Dr. William Walker is determined to know more about these people. They're believed to be descendants of the members and their culture extended across southern New Mexico, southeast Arizona, and northern Chihuahua.

This also looks like it has a snake decoration right here. And this is part of it. Here's part of its tail there. And there's another piece of it I saw before. And that's very characteristic of this pottery style is to have serpent imagery. Walker is a professor of anthropology at New Mexico State University. And he came to this site near Deming at the request of Rex and John Kip. Rex Kip bought this land about eight years ago. And being amateur archaeologists, the two brothers got curious about who might have lived here before them. This hill was completely covered with grass and soil. And the ruin was not visible.

We just accidentally happened to have a backhoe out here with a front end blade. And we scraped it along and saw a doby wall. And then we removed all of the fill and discovered this pueblo. I don't know how many rooms, but there's a several dozen for sure. They tinkered around at the site for four years until they convinced the expert from the university to take over. When I finished the last project that I was on, I thought, well, we'd come out for a summer and just get a test of it and see if there's intact information, at least as much as we thought there was. And it actually has turned out pretty well. More than just pretty well, it is, in fact, one of the few intact sites from the time period in all of southern New Mexico. This is a real pristine, untouched pueblo, so they're very excited about it. Excited because finding an unspoiled site isn't easy in this region.

Others have come before, scavenged and looted artifacts and left behind a mess. I think it was published in 1912, 1913, a very famous anthropologist named Jesse Walter Fuchs came out from the Smithsonian, and he wrote about the members. And in that volume, he said in reference to this region, I mean, there's a very famous member of site just about 100 meters to the south of here. He said, well, it's extremely dug up and disturbed from people digging here, and that was 1912. So this untouched site provides a priceless opportunity for Dr. Walker to continue his research into the people who lived here six centuries ago. And he's not doing the difficult work all alone. Walker decided to turn the dig into an educational opportunity for NMSU Anthropology students. They were eager to earn credit in this one-of-a-kind real-life classroom.

What are you sweeping up there? Well, we have a hard surface under here. We don't exactly know what it is yet. But it was underneath the uppermost floor. It came down on. There was a little basin here before it had taken out. Under the blazing hot sun, the group toiled away from seven in the morning until four each afternoon, scraping, digging, sifting, and measuring. Basically when we came out here, we just started uncovering walls. And there were a couple of walls that were uncovered. So we just followed from what we knew that was there. We just brushed out. So we'd brushed out certain walls, and then you'd find, like, another wall running perpendicular from it. And then we'd follow that wall, and you'd just keep brushing the surface and, you know, see what you can see, and then you can work down. The work is tedious, slow, and careful, requiring lots of documentation. I don't remember them teaching us so much about paperwork in classes.

And we do so much paperwork out here. They've only uncovered a handful of rooms so far. But they believe this Pueblo once consisted of 100 enclosures. That was kind of worried. We wouldn't find any intact walls when we first started giving all the disturbance you could see at the surface. But in fact, we found as multiple floors with multiple features of different kinds of hearths and things that we've been able to use to take arachio-magnetic samples for dating. And given our depository, this arachio-magnetic dating, we may actually be able to narrow down a pretty good understanding of when the Pueblo was occupied. It's not brittle, is it? Oh, that's a strong one, man. The young archaeologist discovered quite a few artifacts, too. Sometimes turning up something rare. It's a bone all over the place. It's like a leather punch if you want to make a hole in a piece of leather.

Findings like this one help paint an ever clearer picture of the people who lived at this location. Why they suddenly packed up and left and what became of them. They experienced the most unpredictable weather in the history of the recorded weather history in this region. In the late 1300s, early 1400s. And so here, as well as many other parts of the southwest, you see a lot of abandonments in reorganization. By the time people are actually out here and recording what's going on, there's no one here but some Apache people who've moved into the territory from farther north. So it's a real open question, really, what happens to them? I don't think they disappeared in any ultimate sense. All we know for sure is that by the time the Spanish got here, these Pueblo dwellers had already moved on. The student workers also get the sense that people who lived here were not much different from us. These are Pueblo's, they're not pit houses.

So there's so much like what the Dobie houses in Las Cruces are like. It's very similar and people kind of separate Native Americans from themselves and they need to realize that it's all so similar. Everybody's pretty much the same. As you can see, each time we filled out a form, it was for a specific item. This one was for a particular room and it's listing everything of importance that we have found. And hopefully somebody in the future will be able to come back to this with the database and further research this. The pure research information is invaluable to know what happened in the same place we live under environmentally stressful conditions, not that much, and some ways different from the drought we're in at this very moment. So knowing the past and how people have both damaged their own environment

and successfully adapted in their own environment could certainly teach us lessons. It's also interesting from a sort of culture historical perspective, many of the members of our own state are descendants of these people who lived here. And so just from the perspective of our own population, I mean this is a wealth of knowledge about ourselves. When the archaeological team is not working on the site, it is covered up protected by plastic sheets from rain and the elements. We'll be right back. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Yes. Where are you from? From China? And where are you from? Iran? Iran. Yes. Welcome back. If you want to meet people from around the world, no need to travel any farther than NMSU.

The university attracts students from dozens of countries. And every year the newest arrivals get a warm welcome from the local community. It's an all-american meal for hundreds of people who call some other country their home. I'm from Japan, and how long have you been here? Just three weeks. I'm trying to have an English, so hot, and also take jamming. Well, the purpose of this is to invite international students to make them feel welcome to the Las Cruces community, and to show that this community cares about international students. We want them to come, we want them to go to school here, we want them to succeed here. Sharing food is common in all countries. And once you open up literally your kitchen or your home to people, you break down the barriers. Breaking your breads is one of the greatest ways to get to know people. I remember the gatherings that I was invited to when we first, my husband and I first lived in it on their country,

and it makes so much difference. It just makes you feel welcome and comfortable in a society. And so we wanted to do that here. And so with the help of three local chapters of the Rotary Club. They threw out the welcome man for people from around the globe who have come to NMSU to study. Where are you from? From China. And where are you from? Iran. How long have you been here now? Almost seven years. Seven? Yeah, from my pizza. Last semester from my PhD. It wasn't just the classic American hot dogs and burgers. Traditional Mexican food was also served. Yeah, because I love Mexico. And also because I have a good friend from Mexico, so that's reminding me. Along with the dose of traditional regional music.

For this newcomer from France, it was not the cuisine he used to. Nothing, not food. It's fast food. That's it. We normally cook Thai food at home. But sometimes we eat hamburger. I hear that a lot from international students. They mean they have wonderful cuisines at home. And we're kind of the fast food people of the world. And that's hard to get used to. Not sure some of them ever do, actually. Some of these students are brand new to the USA. And it takes time adjusting not only to the food, but every aspect of life. The first thing is the language. But I think that whenever you get to know some people, you get to get more involved in the community. It was very hard.

The culture especially is very different. We are more like outgoing people in a way that it's very different the culture. People here are more reserved and more into themselves until you get to know them very well. There are more things for our students. We care more about students. I think with the computers and the libraries and everything. And there is more pride about this school. We're proud to be an MSU students. But the classes are hard. Because in France we have one exam at the end of the semester. And you have to work every day. So I have been out of the classroom for quite a while. So getting back and sitting on the other side of the room. Because I'm a teacher back in the decent. And I think I have adjusted to that. The first 30 days are the hardest. But when they get receptions, they meet people. After about 30 days, they learn the system.

They calm down. And then they come back a year later or so and just rave about the experience that they have. And Maya knows exactly how tough coming to a new country can be. She first arrived in the US from Brazil as a high school exchange student. Then she got offered a scholarship to attend an MSU. She's now earned her bachelor's degree in international business marketing. And has a job in El Paso that she loves. What I like best is that because if you perform very well at school or at work, you're very well awarded. So by yourself, performance, you can go very far. And I like that. You have so much opportunity to grow as a person, as a professional. I really like that. That's been the experience as well for this graduate student from Thailand. He spent five years at New Mexico State working on a PhD in education. You know, United States gives me a lot of things. Not only the knowledge from the university. But my kids go to school for free.

And they have food for free over there. They have transportation for free. And this is what United States gives us. We are international students. We are not American people. But they treat me like we are American. So I'm very impressed. I'm very impressed. So I have to thank you, America, on that. But it's a two-way street. The foreign students are not the only people who benefit from these kinds of exchanges. Most of these students are graduate students. And they're not only studying themselves. Many of them are doing research, high-level research with professors. Or they're teaching. They're teaching our undergraduates in labs. So it's an amazing transition that they have to do very quickly and very well. We welcome international students. They really contribute a lot to this university. And obviously they affect this community, not only in terms of interacting with the community, but also the financial impact on this community is tremendous. We get a lot.

I think we get a really rich new perspective on the world. We get their talents. They often come very well-prepared, educationally. And we get to have the advantage of that. They bring a different perspective to the classroom. They can talk about things from their point of view. There's different political systems, different belief systems. And that gives our new Mexico students an opportunity to experience the world without going abroad. I think it gives you a new perspective about life and about the world. You know, the world is changing so much. And there's so much globalization going on. And it is so important to know things. Know people from other countries and the culture from other countries. You can see the world in many different ways. You can see what are the needs and what are the things they need to do for some other people. Now, at any given time, there are about 800 international students from some 80 countries attending NMSU.

And while the number of foreign students attending many other universities has dropped since 9-11, NMSU has been able to keep its enrollment steady. Well, finally, this week we meet an NMSU student we first introduced you to on Aggie Almanac nearly two years ago. Her name is Meryl Sapp, and she definitely sets the pace when it comes to a sport we don't often hear much about at New Mexico State. When Meryl Sapp isn't doing work on her PhD. I get the point. You'll no doubt find her getting ready for another bike ride. But Meryl isn't heading out to enjoy the view. Or to stay in shape.

She's out to win. I started off like I said in 2002 racing locally and I was really bad. I mean, I was terrible. Through hard work and determination, she got better, much better. Just gradually I started to get better and I thought, well, you know, I'm actually okay at this. And so then when I started training with them intensity, I just kind of made leaps and bounds. And so I started, I guess I started doing my first national races in 2003. And I was collegiate stuff. And then in 2004 was when I won the collegiate national championship. That's right, the championships. What started out as a fascination with cycling just six years ago. My dad has always been a fan of cycling. And I remember watching Gregor Monde and the Tour de France and I was a child. Ended up with Sapp as one of 40 finalists in the 2004 collegiate road national championships division two road race in Wisconsin. Her friends kept tabs on her with their video camera as she completed each lap, cheering her on.

And there to capture her first place win for herself and the NMSU cycling team. The victory led to interviews. When you were kind of coming to that straightaway and it kind of became clear that it was going to be just a two-up straight sprint. What did you think? Did you think you had a chance? Yeah. And national recognition. The winner of the women's division two road race. Merrill Sapp from the Mexico State. I guess it did a lot for me in terms of confidence. And it got me a lot of attention. Maybe more than what I really deserved from it. Back at home she also serves as an inspiration to the up and coming NMSU cycling team. Merrill is great.

I mean, I think she was a leader for everyone on the squad this past year. She still is. She's a person you can ask questions to. I mean, there's a lot of strategy involved. I mean, we had people show up to meetings that thought it was just like a triathlon or a running race. The fastest guy that can go the farthest in the amount of time is going to win. And so Merrill really helps with explaining that type of stuff to people. And also, I think, is just being there from living in Las Cruces and having the race resume that she does. I mean, it's a real motivating thing for younger riders to see success. And helps them learn that winning in this sport is often about teamwork. There is a lot of learning involved. And there's a lot of strategy involved. And it's hard to explain to somebody who doesn't race or who doesn't write in a group. But there's a lot of team tactics involved. And like in mountain biking and triathlon, the fastest person wins, the strongest person wins.

But in road racing, the strongest person doesn't always win. There's a lot of tactics and like blocking people. Like those kinds of tactics. Well, road racing is all about aerodynamics. So like, for example, they say if you're riding behind somebody else, you're doing 30% less work than the person in front of you. So that's partly where the teamwork comes in. Like say you have four women on a team. And it'll depend on the race too. Let's say you're doing a short flat race. So you're going to work for your sprinter that day. So if I'm a sprinter on the team, my team will protect me, cut the win for me, you know, ride in front of me. So I'm protected from the wind. If there are attacks that where someone tries to get away from the group, they'll chase that down. And I'm safe protected. So when it comes down to the sprinter, I'm the freshest. If your team is not a strong team, by strong, I don't mean the strongest output at one time. I mean endurance, all aspects of the sport.

Your team, you're going to have members that are going to fall behind, fall off the back on a climb. Once you're off the back of the pack, most of the time you will never see the pack again. You're in the back of the race, you will place near the back. So you have to have strong members that you can hide behind if you're the person that they're trying to get to the line first. It's also a sport that requires top notch equipment, a bike with excellent tires. The wheels are probably the most important part of the bike, I think, because it's what rolls. So the differences in the weight are really important in the wheels and the tires that you have and the aerodynamics of the wheels. There's so much technology and design that goes into the wheels. And there, in a lot of ways, I think, like I said, what's most important. So it's good to have a good set of racing wheels. And what's called the fork? This is what absorbs a lot of the shock. So when you're riding, a big part of what fatigues is your shoulders and your arms, which you wouldn't think of when you're riding a bike,

because you're not really using your arms, but you absorb a lot of shock and the upper part of your body. And so it's important to have a good fork. But where riders get particularly picky is over the seat. You have to break them in for sure, and everyone has their own shape and what they prefer in a shape. And once they stop making the saddle, you like your own trouble, because then you have to find something new. And it's really hard to get used to a new saddle, but it takes dedication. You'll be uncomfortable at first, and then it just takes some time, and you'll get used to it. Pedals, I guess, would be the other thing that people are pretty picky about, the type of pedals that they use. Because your shoes clip right into one more. You have shoes with a cleat on the bottom that snaps in here. So you can pull up and push down on your pedals. So ideally, you'll have a perfect revolution in your pedaling. You'll be putting the exact same amount of pressure on the pedals at every part of your stroke. You can easily spend more than $8,000 for a good set of wheels. It's an expensive sport, and also a dangerous one.

When I crashed, I hit a guardrail with my right leg, which threw me over it. And that snapped my femur right at the end. Ryan Blicken was on the NMSU team 10 years ago, and started racing professionally in 2001. He had a perfect safety record until this year. I was doing the tour of the Hila bike race in Silver City, New Mexico. And about a kilometer from the finish line of one of the stages, it's a five-day stage race. At the third stage, I hit a piece of wood in the road, and next thing I do, my hands were off the handlebar. And I was creeding off into a guardrail where, you know, I landed on the side of the road and wasn't able to move my leg and found out later that I had a broken hip. Blicken brushes off his mishap and says he's healing quickly. As for Merrill, she's moved on to bigger and better things. She's now got a sponsored spot on the Landis Trek VW team out of Phoenix. After I won the collegiate title, they offered me a spot on their team. And so now I'm a sponsored rider, and, you know, I don't have to pay for anything anymore. And she's encouraging the NMSU team to improve.

We are competing mostly against Arizona State and the University of Arizona. The Northern Arizona University also has a mountain bike team, but they don't do much road racing. So since we're new in that conference, we haven't competed against them yet. But mountain bike racing isn't a fall and road racing isn't a spring. So right now we're in the mountain bike season, and so hopefully our guys will be able to compete against the Northern Arizona University team and see what they're all about. I love competing, I love improving. Cycling is a sport where there's always people better than you. So there's always room to improve, and there's always somebody to look up to. And for now, it's Merrill's national victory that keeps the NMSU team pumped. Merrill says it's not likely cycling will become an official sport at NMSU. But the many young cyclists on the team are getting better all the time.

And Merrill says they are good enough to race at what's called the A level, and face top teams from universities in Colorado and California. And that's our show for this week. If you have questions or comments, we'd love to hear from you. Give us a call at 646-2818 or send an email to AggieAlmanac at Yahoo.com. I'm Gary Worth. Thanks for watching. Bye. Bye.

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