Editor's Note

This summer the Arctic community lost a gifted researcher, generous colleague, thoughtful editor and mentor, and wonderful friend with the death of Allen P. McCartney. Allen died June 15, 2004 at the age of 63.

I first met Allen in 1977 when I was a graduate student and attended the tenth annual meeting of the Canadian Archaeological Association. That conference, held in Ottawa, was dominated by a two-day symposium, Thule Eskimo Culture: An Archaeological Perspective, organized by Allen to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Therkel Mathiassen's Archaeology of the Central Eskimo (1927). The symposium and the resulting Mercury Series volume, Thule Eskimo Culture: An Anthropological Retrospective (1979), featured an international array of researchers giving papers concerning the Thule culture. The symposium sent this graduate student's head spinning because of the diverse topics covered. People presented detailed discussion of faunal remains and sod house forms, argued about the nature of Thule interaction with the Dorset and Norse, reported on various aspects of whaling, tried to understand the dynamics of migrations, used ecological and paleo-climate approaches to examine Thule culture change, and explored the nature and meaning of Thule art. I soon realized that the conference and its proceedings were examples of Allen's vision of anthropological archaeology.

Over the years I have relied heavily on that Mercury Series volume, as well as on Allen's dissertation, and the numerous articles he authored and volumes he edited. Papers and symposia might have been regionally specialized or topically focused, and may have pulled information from a multitude of disciplines, but Allen never forgot that he was doing anthropology and dealing with people.

I always looked forward to meeting Allen at conferences, to catch up on developments and hear about his new projects. Many people wanted to spend time with Allen, so I was particularly pleased that he visited me when I worked at The University Museum at the University of Pennsylvania and later at Bowdoin College, for we had large blocks of time when we could pour over collections together and have in-depth conversations.

Allen visited Bowdoin College twice, most recently in the Spring of 2000, which is the last time I saw him. He came to Maine to study The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum's photographic collections featuring West Greenland meteorites, in connection with his work on Inuit use of meteoritic iron. While here, he kindly agreed to deliver lectures about Aleut prehistory and Inuit whaling cultures, and consult with my students and me about whale bones excavated from a communal sod house and midden in Labrador. It was a delight to be around him and witness his thoughtful interaction with undergraduates, and an inspiration to listen to him discuss the diverse range of archaeology-related topics that interested him so much-in that characteristically soft voice and southern accent. When we were alone Allen spoke about my career trajectory. This busy man had taken the initiative to review my work before visiting, and he offered me invaluable advice.

Allen was generous and kind, but he was also astute. He would periodically call me to discuss Arctic Anthropology business, and then wonder aloud whether Bowdoin College might not be a suitable home for the journal should he decide to step down as editor. It was during preparations for this last visit to Bowdoin that he sprang the trap and I found myself enthusiastically agreeing to serve as editor of Arctic Anthropology!

But Allen was not all business. He delighted in eating lobster and sampling my husband's collection of single malt scotches. His one request during his stay was that we interrupt our busy schedule to visit the L. L. Bean store in Freeport. Here, he spent hours carefully examining various kinds of outdoor gear. In the end, he gleefully emerged from the store carrying a great pair of field boots he had found on sale.

Many of the papers in this volume were initially presented at a workshop in Allen's honor held in Fayetteville, Arkansas in November 2002. The guest editors and I had hoped to be able to present the volume to Allen, who knew...