Final Projects

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 (750-1000 words each). *In cases where projects don't take a conventional paper-based format, the page length will be adjusted accordingly, but all projects must include some form of a write-up.

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

Please Note: In cases where projects rely on other institutions' or individuals' time and resources, it is imperative that students arrange meetings with the relevant contact people well ahead of time. Failure to gain access to materials or assistance due to last-minute or late attempts will not be excused. All students are required to make initial contact and arrangements with their contacts by November 5. Also, it will be useful to identify the other students in the class who have topics that are relevant to yours, as it may be necessary to consult with one another in the process of developing your own project to the fullest extent.

Archaeology of College Hill – Final Project Assignments

Final projects will consist of two components: 1) an independent research project based on the findings and/or general contexts of the John Brown House excavations (below); 2)Object Biographies (3 objects of your choosing, to be reported on in 750-1,000 words each).

Next Step: Please schedule a short (~10 minute) meeting with Krysta and Jessica this week (preferably Thursday). In this meeting we will review the scope of your topic and answer any questions you might have. It is then expected that you will make the necessary arrangements to access materials for your project during the first week of November by contacting the point people listed with your individual assignment.

• LAURA: Unit 10 excavation summary and interpretation
o Contact: Krysta
o Scope: report on the objectives, methods, stratigraphy, and interpretation of finds from the unit’s excavations. Include date of each stratigraphic layer (using TPQ), scale drawings of wall profiles and features, discussion of any significant finds, and recommendations for future work (or not) in the vicinity.

• ALICIA: Unit 11 excavation summary and interpretation
o Contact: Krysta
o Scope: report on the objectives, methods, stratigraphy, and interpretation of finds from the unit’s excavations. Include date of each stratigraphic layer (using TPQ), scale drawings of wall profiles and features, discussion of any significant finds, and recommendations for future work (or not) in the vicinity.

• BRANDON: Unit 12 excavation summary and interpretation
o Contact: Krysta
o Scope: report on the objectives, methods, stratigraphy, and interpretation of finds from the unit’s excavations. Include date of each stratigraphic layer (using TPQ), scale drawings of wall profiles and features, discussion of any significant finds, and recommendations for future work (or not) in the vicinity.

• EVIE: GIS and historic maps – georeferencing
o Contact: Jessica
o Scope: gather historic maps showing the JBH property in order to digitize, georeference, ad overlay them sequentially in GIS. The purpose of this project is to examine subtle and major transformations in the historic landscape, property configuration, roads, and building distributions at and in the immediate vicinity of the JBH over time.

• MAX: GIS and landscape / site topography and land use over time and integrated site-wide stratigraphic analysis
o Contact: Jessica
o Scope: combine information from excavations and total station recording into digital format using GIS and Harris Matrix software to gather a comprehensive picture of land use and modifications over time, based on both sub-surface and surface evidence.

• OLIVIA: Interactive Landscape Tour of JBH archaeology and immediate neighborhood context
o Contact: Jessica and Morgan Grefe (JBH – [email protected])
o Scope: Based on the findings from this season and past seasons, create an interactive and interpretive tour of the archaeological and historic landscape at the John Brown House. Please include reference to features (roads, official buildings, residences) of your choice in the immediate neighborhood (1-2 block radius). The form that the tour takes is up to you, although this tour should be something that visitors to the JBH could access. Interactivity is most important – exploring presentation formats beyond traditional maps / brochures is much encouraged (though you may want to include one of these as a supplementary guide).

• ALLISON: Exhibit of findings – RI Hall (and accompanying wiki presentation)
o Contact: Krysta and Alex Smith (JIAAW graduate proctor – [email protected])
o Scope: Based on the findings of this year and last year’s class, update the JBH exhibit in the case in the basement of RI Hall, selecting objects and images that clearly convey the overarching goals and most interesting / significant findings of the class. Because text panels cannot accompany these objects, it will be necessary to create a wiki (on the JIAAW server) that will serve as a more comprehensive guide to the exhibit. This wiki should be referred to in the exhibit.

• CINDY: Multimedia presentation
o Contact: Jessica
o Scope: Edit and (re)combine digital and paper-based media collected over the course of the excavations and labwork into a multimedia presentation. The organization of the material (themes, chronology, etc.) is up to you, but the final format should be a well-organized and edited DVD that will be shown to the class on the day of the public presentations. You may use whatever video / photo-editing software you like – iMovie is probably easiest.

• BEN: Foodways at the JBH: Brown Recipe Book
o Contact: Morgan Grefe ([email protected]) or Dalila Goulart ([email protected])
o Scope: Select and examine one or two of the recipe / cook books used by the Brown family. These are stored in the JBH Museum archives. In viewing these, examine the foodways and taste of the period, including local and exotic ingredients, techniques of preparation, ways of serving, and identify any changes in available food (e.g. local crops vs. processed / canned food). Address why these foodways and any accompanying changes happened within the broader social context of the Brown family and New England. Also, examine evidence of foodways or food serving/preparation from the materials found during the excavations.

• BROOKE: Social History of the Ives Family
o Contact: Rhode Island Historical Society Library - Lee Teverow ([email protected]) (The Hay library may also have materials)
o Scope: Return to the RIHS library to unearth more details about the social history of the Hale-Ives family. You may begin by gathering basic chronologies, names, and references from earlier summaries in previous season’s site reports. Rather than repeating work that’s already been done, however, your task is to expand on knowledge about the social history of the Ives family and their household (on the current JBH property). Depending on what is available in the archives, this may include letters, information about household members, details about their social networks, or any other aspect of their daily lives (marriages, trade, business partnerships) at the time that they lived on the current JBH property. Then also consider material excavated from the Hale-Ives house area this year and last to examine how these might be used to support, expand upon, or refute information gathered from the social history.

• NICK: Mapping Social Networks of the Brown family in PVD: via archived diary
o Contact: Morgan Grefe ([email protected]) or Dalila Goulart ([email protected])
o Scope: Select a diary from the JBH museum’s archives, preferably one that belonged to one of the women in the family. Gather from the diary references to people and places in Providence (or Rhode Island). Then, conduct research to try to identify these people and the places’ location and function at the time. Using this information, create a map and accompanying description that presents the social network and interactions of this particular individual as they moved through Providence and Rhode Island during the period when they were associated with the JBH.

• JENNETH: Artifact analysis of finds from recent construction
o Contact: Dalila Goulart ([email protected]) and Krysta
o Scope: First, visit the JBH Museum to borrow the bag of artifact sherds collected during the recent construction activities associated with the geothermal well. Next, with Krysta’s initial guidance, work to identify the artifact types, their function, and their origin. Cross-mend any that belong to the same vessel. Then, analyze them in terms of their location near the house and their possible significance within the JBH household activities during the time period to which they date. In the process, you will re-visit the JBH museum to compare the sherds with the ceramics that are on display in the exhibits (the kitchen cupboard room especially, and in some of the bedrooms). Report on any similarities or differences, and suggest what role the ceramics you’ve studied might have played in the household. Finally, compare the ceramics found in the rescue excavation unit (STP3) in 2009 with your sherds and report on how representative the STP3 finds were of the archaeological materials in the surrounding geothermal well excavations, which occurred in the spring of 2010.