B 26 AT PIMA AND HARWOOD'S ARTIFACTS.

On Wednesday,December 5th, 2007 My son James and I came continued our adventure in Arizona by dropping by The Pima Air and Space Museum, 6000 East Valencia Road, Tucson, Arizona 85706. Mr. Andrew Boehly; Marauder Archivist. Mr. Boehly was kind enough to show my son James and I, my fathers' WWII, B26 artifacts. One canvas flight helmet, two pieces of German flak- that was pulled from his B26, one B26 clock form his ship, and three 50 Cal rounds that had been hit by said flak fragments. Furthermore, there was my fathers throat mic. Also, was a fairly large file of my fathers original WWII documents and a training manual. These phtotos are pulled from the video tape I made at this meeting.

My father, 1st LT. Theodore V. Harwood, B 26 Pilot, he had mailed these artifacts to the another museum and they had at some point been sent to the Pima archives. Mr. Andrew Boehly; Marauder Archivist, has an MA degree in museum science and undergraduate degree in History and Political science. Mr. Andrew Boehly; Marauder Archivist is very passionate about the artifacts and responsibilities at Pima. He is also sensitive to the feelings of Marauder Men and their relatives and treated my son and I very kindly and my father affects with dignity and respect.

“In Pima Air & Space Museum, where history takes flight, is one of the largest air and space museums in the world, and the largest non-government funded aviation museum. You'll see more than 275 aircraft and spacecraft including many of the most historically significant and technically advanced craft ever produced, both from the United States and throughout the world.” I took fairly detailed digital, still photos and video of my dad's artifacts at the Pima Air Museum here in Tuscan, AZ . Andrew Boehly , the B 26 Archivist in Tuscan.

FEED BACK ON ancient copper billet

There are 163 different copper species presently known from Arizona; twenty-eight of these species were discovered here, and many are not found outside the boundaries of the state.
Archeological copper artifacts are extremely rare in Arizona. The only documented pre-Columbian copper artifacts are some small musical bells (Ross 1963). The bells, which have been found at several sites, notably Casa Grande and a site in the Catalina Mountains near Tucson, are probably no older than A.D. 1000 and more likely date from the fourteenth century. The copper bells found in Arizona may well have been bartered from the various Mexican Indian empires.
Although native copper was rarely used by Arizona Indians, other copper minerals were widely exploited. Many archeological sites report caches of azurite, malachite, and turquoise. Turquoise was especially prized and was mined and traded to the Aztecs. Blake (1898) documented an extensive pre-Columbian mining operation on Turquoise Mountain, located about 20 miles north of the present-day town of Kingman, Arizona. These ancient mines were a series of benches and terraces cut in a series of quartz veins that contain gem-quality turquoise. The mining was accomplished with very crude methods; the rock was fractured by heating it with a wood fire and then suddenly quenching it with water. These ancient mines have now disappeared, removed by modern mining at the Mineral Park open-pit copper mine.


Ray,

I finally got a look at the copper artifact from Montezuma's castle. It
is indeed unusual in that it appears to have been socketed for a handle
ala Old Copper Culture of the Upper Peninsula Michigan. I am not
convinced this was used in flintknapping. It may have been a scepter,
or
some other specialized symbolic implement used to devine power but
there
is little evidence on this example to demonstrate patterned battering
and
or abrasion.
In my assessment the rough, irregular surface appears more a byproduct
of
manufacture than use wear. The highlighted portion where the copper is
highly smoothed on a ridge like surface is questionable as ancient
wear.*
This would have been dulled by patination and the whole artifact would
have been more deeply patinated. * Undoubtedly this was cleaned, buffed
and shined by some well meaning NPS curator. gg
Of course close analytical optical and chemical testing would go a long
way toward unraveling its mysteries. e.g. if used on stone, microscopic
pieces of such would be embedded. Spectrographic and trace mineral
analysis would be able to determine if the copper was natural, and it
source location. It would be very interesting if the material was not
from the locale or region. Native copper occurs all through the
mountain
building orogenies both north and south of the find location.
Do you know if any more intensive research was conducted on this
specimen? If not it should be, considering the long since ongoing
controversy over copper percussion instruments.

Thanks for sharing,

Jack Cresson

Arizona Trip

I started at the Grand Canyon and zig-zagged all the way to the Mexican border ,
I saw all the Indian ruins, geologic features, route 66 oddities, flora and fauna and historic ghost towns, most of the museums along the way. I even went ghost hunting in Tombstone. My father's WWII artifacts are there in the Pima Air Museum in Tuscan, he was a Pilot.

ARIZONA POEM BY RAY HARWOOD

With her fire red cliffs and her turquoise blue sky and her snow capped peaks where spirits fly. With her Apache heart and her old west persona, I fell in love and her name is Arizona.
With her mighty river that cut deep into the earth, exposing ages that proceeds our very birth. With her Apache heart and her old west persona, I fell in love and her name is Arizona.
It was a romantically harsh beginning; it seems there was no piece. With the deadly gun of Wyatt Earp; and the charging war horse of Cochise. With her Apache heart and her old west persona, I fell in love and her name is Arizona.

TED HARWOOD'S B26 MARAUDER ARTIFIACTS

Andrew Boehly, Marauder Archivist and Ray Harwood, son of B26 Pilot Ted Harwood.



Pops’s WWII artifacts and a B26 Marauder restoration at the Pima Air Museum
“In Pima Air & Space Museum, where history takes flight, is one of the largest air and space museums in the world, and the largest non-government funded aviation museum. You'll see more than 275 aircraft and spacecraft including many of the most historically significant and technically advanced craft ever produced, both from the United States and throughout the world.”
I took fairly detailed digital, still photos and video of dad's artifacts at the Pima Air Museum here in Tuscan, AZ . We must decide as a family if dad's other B 26 artifacts, documents , letters and photos should be in the museum under professional care or in our care? I have the expected mixed feelings. We must remember that dad himself sent the best artifacts here himself. I would like to stay in close contact with Mr. Boehly , the B 26 Archivist in Tuscan. He is very passionate about his role in the protection of these artifacts. He knew what was in the box and a lot about dad when I came in unannounced- just from my last name. The artifacts were sealed and tagged for curation and further research. In the museum, researchers from around the world and for decades to come will have access to this data. It is quite rare for the full context of artifacts to be known and stored with the official and personal data of the historic personality.

Copper hammer head for billet flintknapping.

According to the park ranger at Montezuma Castle, Arizona this copper anomaly was discovered here. The artifact is now on display at the visitors' center at Montezuma Castle, Arizona.

Nestled into a limestone recess high above the flood plain of Beaver Creek in the Verde Valley, stands one of the best preserved and most easily accessible cliff ruins in North America. This 5-story, 20-room cliff dwelling served as a "high-rise apartment building" for prehistoric Sinagua Indians more than 600 years ago.

Montizuma's Castle

Nestled into a limestone recess high above the flood plain of Beaver Creek in the Verde Valley, stands one of the best preserved and most easily accessible cliff ruins in North America. This 5-story, 20-room cliff dwelling served as a "high-rise apartment building" for prehistoric Sinagua Indians more than 600 years ago. Here my son is James and I at the castle this week.