Dear HCN,
I read with interest
James Bishop’s “Bones of Contention.” I was struck by the comment
of Kurt Dongoske: “What he has demonstrated is that people were
hacked apart, their bones dismembered. He presents no evidence of
ingestion.” Mr. Dongoske is angered by Mr. Turner’s assertion that
the Anasazi, particularly at Chaco Canyon, practiced
cannibalism.
I’m amazed that anyone would
consider ingestion to be a more culpable “pretty terrible thing”
than hacking people (even corpses) apart and dismembering their
skeletons. I suggest that these abuses are of the same order of
magnitude. I would also assure Mr. Dongoske that some of us do not
believe the interpretation of cannibalism in Anasazi culture
“denigrates Indians.” All of us descend from primitive cultures. We
must hope that our behavior continues to evolve away from hacking,
dismembering and ingesting our fellow beings, both literally and
figuratively.
Peggy
Wenrick
Tucson,
Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline All of us come from primitive cultures.
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