Alonzo W. Pond

Alonzo William Pond
Born	(1894-06-18)June 18, 1894 Janesville, Wisconsin,U.S.
Died	December 25, 1986(1986-12-25)(aged 92) Minocqua, Wisconsin,U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Beloit College(B.S., 1920) University of Chicago(M.A., 1928)
Occupation(s)	Archaeologist,Speleogist
Employer(s)	Logan Museum of Anthropology,Mammoth Cave,Cave of the Mounds
Spouse	Dorothy (Long) Pond

Alonzo W. Pond(1894–1986) was an American archaeologist and speleogist.

Career

Born inJanesville, Wisconsin,he was assistant curator of theLogan Museum of AnthropologyinBeloit, Wisconsinin 1924. Between 1925 and 1930 he conducted four excavations of prehistoric (paleolithic) sites in northeasternAlgeria,the first of which is described, along with his portrayals of extensive encounters withthe Tuareg,in his narrativeVeiled Men, Red Tents, and Black Mountains: The LostTomb of Queen Tin Hinan.His M.A. thesis, “A Contribution to the Study of Prehistoric Man in Algeria, North Africa,” was completed in 1928 at the University of Chicago, presenting the results of his excavations of theMechta-Afalouand published in the Logan Museum Bulletin (vol 1, no. 2) under the same title. Two years later the same bulletin published its fifth issue,Prehistoric Habitation Sites in the Sahara and North Africain which Pond expands his studies on Algerian prehistory based on subsequent excavation findings in Algeria. He then published a study on making flint arrowheads after the manner of the pre-Columbian Indian entitledPrimitive Methods of Working Stone.After 1931 he served as "an archaeologist and project supervisor for theNational Park Service,theCivilian Conservation Corps,andCave of the MoundsatBlue Mounds, Wisconsin."Pond'sIllustrated Guidebook of the Newly Discovered Cave of the Mounds(1941) was the first speleological publication about the cave, written primarily for tourists. Between 1934 and 1936, along with John T. Zaharov, H. Summerfield Day, and W.J. Winter, Pond directed theCivilian Conservation Corpsexcavations of colonialJamestown.With his multiple excavation experiences in Algeria, Pond helped prepare future combat soldiers to contend withdesertconditions, serving as the Chief of the Desert Branch of the Arctic, Desert, Tropic Information Center (ADTIC) at Alabama'sMaxwell Air Force Base,with his lecture notes subsequently published as a 51-page booklet in 1951.

He delivered lectures illustrated with lantern slides and filmson such topics as "WithAndrewsin the Gobi ","Nomads of Algeria", "Lost John of Mummy Ledge",andMammoth Cave.Over a thousand of his photographic slides have been archived in the Gottesman Research Library at theAmerican Museum of Natural Historyin New York,while over thirty film reels are archived in the Human Studies Film Archives of theSmithsonian Institutionin Washington, D.C.He supported numerous younger scholars, for example supplying all the data he had gathered for an article published by Georg Neumann on two mummies discovered in Mammouth Cave which Pond preserved, named "Lost John" and "Fawn Hoof."He wrote a pictorial guide on natural and man-made landscape features entitledWisconsin Nooks and Corners(1947), with all photographs taken by himself. A highly regardedspelunker,Pond was a member ofthe Explorers Cluband the Adventurer's Club of Chicago. In 1970, he was awarded the "Distinguished Service Citation" from hisalma materBeloit College.

Personal life

Born to William Samuel Pond and Maria Olson Pond in 1894, Alonzo grew up in Jamesville with his younger brother Edwin. He married Dorothy Long (1900–1987), on July 20, 1926, five weeks after their first meeting, and immediately joined Alonzo on an Algerian expedition. Dorothy Pond later became the author ofIf Women Have Courage: Among Shepherds, Sheiks, and Scientists in Algeria(2014). Their daughter Chomingwen (1927–2019) was ordained in theUnited Church of Christministry in Wisconsin after graduating from Beloit College in 1950 and became a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries in Africa; their son Arthur (1932–2012) was employed byUS Forest Service;both were born inMadison, Wisconsin.

Photos

• "Alonzo Pond Riding Ole Olson" (1925) inAïn Salah,(central) Algeria—in the Alonzo W. and Dorothy L. Pond papers collected at theWisconsin Historical Society<https://wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM135307>
• "The Logan Museum team" (1930) from theAfrican Archaeological Review<https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-Logan-Museum-team-at-Camp-Logan-6th-from-the-left-Alonzo-Pond-at-his-left-Dorothy_fig2_369758747>
• "Steps Taken to Preserve the Body in Cave." Associated Press Photo (undated, but in the early to mid 1930s) in Mammoth Cave. In: "The Mummies of Mammoth Cave" by Dan Wagner. (Pond photo is in the section titledLost John Mummy) <https://www.greatamericanhikes.com/post/the-mummies-of-mammoth-cave>
• "Pond, Alonzo W." (1930s) Alonzo William Pond, 1894-1986 (left) with Frank G. Logan, 1851-1937 (right) at Beloit College. University of Chicago Library, Special Collections Research Center. <https://storage.lib.uchicago.edu/ucpa/series1/derivatives_series1/apf1-06866r.jpg>

Documentary film

• Algerian History Channel (Alonzo Pond, American Explorer to AlgeriaonYouTube)

Further reading

• Alonzo Pond and the 1930 Logan Museum Expedition to North Africa-The Beloit College Symposium,Lawrence B. Breitborde (ed.),Logan Museum Bulletin (new series),vol. 1, no. 1, 1992.
• Judith Siers-Poisson: "A Dash through the Sahara: Alonzo Pond's First Algerian Expedition." In:The Wisconsin Magazine of History101:3 (Spring 2018): 12–27. <https://www.jstor.org/stable/44843437>