Archaeology of College Hill 2009

Final Project Assignments

The Basics:

Each student will complete one of the following projects (10-12 pages* – exclusive of images and bib), and 3 object biographies (700-1000 words each). *In cases where projects don't take a conventional paper-based format, the page length will be adjusted accordingly, but all projects will include some form of a write-up.

Note: All final projects MUST include specific references to excavations / excavated material culture

Topics

• Mapping and Stratigraphy - (Sarah Baker) Construct site-wide map of stratigraphic relations - Work on GIS map of the property

• Multimedia Contexts (Laura Sammartino and Sarah Roberts) - Digital media (videos and images) - Create multimedia presentation - Collaborate with digital context form project - Archaeotechnics

• Excavation summary - Unit 6 - (Elizabeth Merchant) Discuss in detail excavations, stratigraphy, and artifacts. Date the deposits based on diagnostic artifacts

• Excavation summary - Unit 7 - (Ben Colburn) See above

• Excavation summary- Unit 8 - (Andrew Seiden) See above

• Excavation summary - Unit 9 and STP3- (Michael Camarillo) and Mitigation - archaeological impact of proposed geothermal well - STP3 - Excavation summary for STP3, with assessment of proposed impact of geothermal well - Consider also GIS data, historical maps, and previous excavations in assessment

• History of the John Brown House - (Alyssa Thelemaque) History of the house, and its construction over time - Also, social history - who lived there, who worked there - Involves work with primary documents, tax records, deeds + myths of the "slave tunnel" - JBH Contact: Morgan Grefe, [email protected] - 401-331-8575

• Landscape Archaeology of the John Brown House property - (Julie Pridham) Identifying structures in the current JBH lawn from: archaeological data, geophysical surveys - And creating a list of structures based on primary documentary research to compare with this information JBH Contact: Dan Santos - [email protected]; 401-273-7505 ext.60

• The JBH during Marsden Perry’s time - (Alex Mittman) Examine documentary and archaeological evidence relating to Marsden Perry - How did he change the landscape and John Brown House - What do the artifacts tell us about this period of occupation; JBH Contact: Dan Santos - [email protected]; 401-273-7505 ext.60

• Public Presentation - Interpretive Landscape/Archaeology Tour (Bridget Smith) - Based on historical and archaeological research from this year and last, create an interpretive walking tour of the JBH property - This should be something visitors can use and access, so may take the form of a podcast, flip video, map, or all of the above (creativity and accessibility are pluses)

• Research into materials from old excavations 1960s (Siham Abed & Carol Bercovitch) - Examine the previously excavated materials from the 1960s - Create an inventory of these materials in database form (excel) and a photographic inventory - Discuss historical and archaeological significance of the artifacts - Determine possible location of previous excavations; JBH Contact: Dan Santos - [email protected]; 401-273-7505 ext.60

For advising on these topics see Krysta for the JBH History, Marsden Perry, and old excavations; Alex for mapping, landscape archaeology, and public presentation, and Elise for excavation summaries and multimedia.