Underground History

Continued from previous page up of roughly 3,000 stones that predate Stonehenge. The standing stones align in rows that span for miles, forming a liminal space between the land and the sea that has been revered by residents and tourists for centuries. O’Malley observed the way sound and light moved across this ancient landscape, how it bounced or was absorbed by the standing stones, and created a series of bespoke compositions that were presented from dawn to dusk, tailored to various locations across the site. O’Malley’s decades of practice manipulating sound and space to create sensory musical experiences allowed him to make observations about this mysterious site and the way people could have used it are valuable insights to modern scholars like Agogue. While archaeoacoustics, or the study of the relationship between humans and sound over time, has been applied to studies of the pyramids, Stonehenge, and caves in an effort to determine how noise moved through these spaces centuries ago, it is an underutilized line of inquiry, and one that does not always incorporate the expertise made available by musicians and other non-traditional knowledge holders.

O’Malley’s collaboration with Carnac is an effort worth duplicating. Inviting in and allowing folks to see and experience heritage sites with fresh and creative eyes can not only lead to innovative ways in which these resources can be shared with the public, but also provide important insights into the ways in which they may have served historical communities and expand the ways in which they can add value to modern ones. Similarly, I encourage archaeologists to find an artist to embed into your projects. Having Roxas-Chua on the OCDP team has taught all of us so much and led to new ways to present our findings. Po- ems and paintings are now added to the reports and conference papers, undeniably expanding and enhancing the ways in which Chinese heritage in Oregon is shared and made available to its modern residents.

Coordinates

With a line from H. Alexander

Dedicated to Chelsea Rose, Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project, The Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology, Oregon State Parks, Malheur National Forest, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Portland Chinatown Museum, and the Oregon Historical Society

We have to walk these hills in the rain or under a hot canopy of blue over bright forecasts. We do it for the butterfly that lands on fingers to ask which way is home. We must continue to walk these hills to touch bone or tin or fragments so old it holds back like a hand of a friend who once brought us a cup of cool river water.

Throats thirst like a river.

When I walk these hills. I carry a photograph of my mother. It’s folded inside my right shirt pocket. It guides me the way her soft hands used to. It takes me to places where pools dry under trees—a found shelter for a shoelace, a button, or pieces from tools made from other broken things.

I admire salvaged geometries.

When I walk these hills, I am found. When I walk these hills, I’m taught to see the perimeters of a home or daytime shelters where rock piles shaped into half-moons protect fire from wind and wind from flipping pages on my field journal where I write the location of my body.

We are strengthened by the backbones of history.

My teachers are archaeologists. They teach me to sift through the day, the way the sun reflects its face on a broken lip of a cup or a piece of a bird’s breast bone or the galaxies inside of stone. Yes, let it be beautiful when I sing the last song.