In Cornwall, England they find iron age stones very similar to the stone donuts found in the Hohokam ruins around the Salt River. The royal Museum of Cornwall has identified them as loom weights. The purpose of the stone donuts in the Southwest have not yet been identified.
There are a lot of stone donuts at S’edev Va’aki Museum. Some are grooved and some are more bagel like. At the beginning of this month they were taken out of the artifact carts because they might be objects of cultural significance and as such are regulated under the new NAGPRA rules issued in December. I objected and paused my volunteer activity at the museum.
The stone donut shown above was found at an archeological dig in Guatemala in the 1950’s. There are thousands of them in collections throughout the Southwest and Central America.
I object to the removal of the stone donuts from the artifact cart. I think that the rule issued in December 2023 is a federal agency reinterpreting law and issuing new “rules” that violate the original intent of Congress when the law was passed in the 1980’s. The right to reinterpret Federal law is being challenged at the Supreme Court by some herring fishermen in New England. They claim that Congress didn’t give the Commerce Department the right to charge the fishermen to regulate themselves. They might win.
I think that if something as ubiquitous and innocuous as a stone donut can be considered a “cultural item” and removed from a museum display then there is little point in having a museum. Certainly the canals can be considered a cultural item and it can go on. The logical conclusion is to turn the museum over to the Native Americans. And then we are on the way to the “PHX Airport Casino.” An idea that I don’t object to.