Virginia Steen-McIntyre
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Virginia Steen-McIntyre is an American archeologist credited with the excavation of Hueyatlaco in Valsequillo, Mexico during the 1960s. She is at the center of a controversy surrounding the excavation site.
[edit] Biography
Virginia Steen-McIntyre was born in Chicago, Illinois. She received her bachelor degree from Augstana College, her masters from Washington State University, and her PhD from the University of Idaho.
[edit] Hueyatlaco
Hueyatlaco is an archeological excavation site that is in the middle of an academic controversy. At the site sophisticated Clovis tools were found that predate any in known existence. The artifacts and archeologists from the site have created controversy over the dates of the objects found at the Hueyatlaco. These dates are inconsistent with other evidence of human origins and ancestry. Current evidence suggests that humans did not come to the Americas until some time around 15,000 years ago when they crossed the Bering Strait. These artifacts, pointed tools and the like, were dated at 250,000 years ago. Four distinct tests were used to determine the date including uranium series dating, fission track dating, tephra hydration dating, and study of mineral weathering. This date surpasses the oldest known artifacts of human origin, which were found in Africa and date around 100,000 ago.
There is also some controversy over who originally found the artifacts and began the excavation. Though the dig is associated with Virginia Steen-McIntyre in most cases, it was in fact discovered by Juan Armenta Camacho with Cynthia Irwin-Williams. Cynthia Irwin-Williams is cited in some places as being the first to excavate the site. However, Virginia Steen-McIntyre is indisputably recognized as the one who published the controversial paper. Irwin-Williams did share her findings but was not hit by the maelstrom of critics like Steen-McIntyre. She continued on to have a successful career after Hueyatlaco. Steen-McIntyre’s career has been described as effectively finished in archeology after her controversial paper on the findings.
The article categorizing the findings at Hueyatlaco was held up inexplicably for years. When it was finally published in 1975 it was hit with criticism from everyone. The team was accused of being publicity seekers and opportunists. According to sympathizers of Steen-McIntyre certain evidence and findings that do not support the popular theory can be blacklisted and kept out of site. Scientists of all genres will manipulate articles of information that they deem contradicts their evidence. For most academic journals several peers have to read an article before it is published. With a controversial topic like Hueyatlaco it isn’t hard to imagine more than a few scientists withholding peer review.
Today Steen-McIntyre stands by her dating of the artifacts at Hueyatlaco. There is a new team working on the excavation site, as she states on her web page. Hopefully the two teams will come to the same conclusive evidence and work together on the future findings and implications of Hueyatlaco.
