Required Readings:
Texts: These are available on reserve in the Joukowsky Institute Library 2nd floor shelf at top of stairs).
Roskams, Steve. 2001 Excavation. Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology, CUP: Cambridge.
Deetz, James. 1996 [1977] In Small Things Forgotten: and archaeology of early American life. Anchor: New York.
Mrozowski, S., G. Ziesing, and M. Beaudry. 1996 Living on the Boott: historical archaeology at the Boott Mills Boardinghouse, Lowell, MA. University of Massachusetts Press: Amherst.
Articles: posted as PDFs on the wiki (here - password required:Readings )
Schedule:
All readings should be completed for that week’s section (Week 1 readings for Week 1 section)
Days listed in schedule correspond to the Monday class meeting. Readings should be completed by the time of section, every Tuesday at 8 am (RI Hall 109)
Week 1 | September 19
Introducing Field Recovery Methods Topics: Site Introduction, Survey, Sampling, Geophysics, Mapping, Basics of Excavation Tools and Technique, Museum Tour
Section: Stratigraphy, Recording and Mapping, Excavation Paperwork, Geophysics results – Guest Section speaker: Tommy Urban.
Readings:
- Roskams, Excavation. Chapters 2, 3, 5-7, 12
- Urban, Thomas. 2008 John Brown House Preliminary Geophsyical Survey Report.
- John Brown House Archaeological Report 2008: Introduction, Chapter 1
- John Brown House Archaeologica Report 2009: Chapters 2 and 3 (skim through the history briefly)
Week 2 | September 26
--Critical Response One Due--
Recording & Reporting Topics: Excavation Contexts, Digging: how, where, why, Recording practices, Collecting and Managing data
Section: Planning – Site report comparisons – how archaeologists organize information. Also, archaeology's contribution - what are we looking for, and what can it tell us that we don't already know?
Readings:
- Roskams, Excavation. Chapters 8-10
- Beaudry, Mary C. 1995 Scratching the Surface: Seven Seasons at the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm, Newbury, Massachusetts. Northeast Historical Archaeology, 24:19-49.
- Gibson, Susan G. 1979 Archaeological Resource Study, Roger Williams National Memorial. Cultural Resources Management Divison, North Atlantic Regional Office, National Parks Service, Washington, D.C. (on reserve in Joukowsky Library)
Week 3 | October 3
--Critical Response Two Due--
Field Archaeology and Methods of Recovery Topics: Field Archaeology as a process, methods and approaches of historical archaeology
Section: recovering data, documentary archaeology, oral histories, landscape archaeology, etc.
Readings:
- Wilkie, Laurie. 2006 Documentary archaeology. In D. Hicks and M. Beaudry, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Historical Archaeology. Cambridge: CUP, pgs. 13-33.
- Mrozowski, Stephen A. 1988 "For gentlemen of capacity and leisure: the archaeology of colonial newspapers". In M. Beaudry, ed. Documentary archaeology in the New World, CUP: Cambridge, 184-191.
- Mrozowski, Stephen A. 2006 "Individuals in context: the world of eighteenth-century Newport," in The Archaeology of Class in Urban America. Cambridge: CUP, pgs. 19-36.
- Seasholes, Nancy S. 1988 "On the use of historical maps". In M. Beaudry, ed. Documentary archaeology in the New World, CUP: Cambridge, 92-118.
Week 4 | October 10 (no class on Monday, but section will meet Tuesday October 11)
--Critical Response Three Due--
Digging the John Brown House: Archaeological Questions and Interpretations Topics: Household Archaeology, Historical Architecture, Georgian Order, Material Culture
Section: discuss readings on topics in light of data collected at and about John Brown House, examine Brown family documents.
Readings:
- King, Julia A. 2006 "Household archaeology, identities, and biographies". In D. Hicks and M. Beaudry, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Historical Archaeology. Cambridge: CUP, pgs. 293-313.
- Leone, Mark P. 1988 "The Georgian Order as the Order of Merchant Capitalism in Annapolis, Maryland". In M. Leone and P. Potter, Jr., eds, The Recovery of Meaning: Historical Archaeology in the Eastern United States. Smithsonian: Washington, 235-262.
- Mrozowski, Stephen A. 2006 "Shifting the focus: archaeology of the urban household", in The Archaeology of Class in Urban America. Cambridge: CUP, pgs. 36-62.
- Yentsch, Anne. 1988 "Legends, houses, families, and myths: relationships between material culture and American ideology". In M. Beaudry, ed. Documentary archaeology in the New World, CUP: Cambridge, 5-19.
Saturday October 15 - Family Weekend Event at JBH - Excavations in progress
Your participation is kindly requested (but not required)
Week 5 | October 17
--Critical Response Four Due--
Critical Approaches to Fieldwork Topics: Organizing information, reflecting on archaeological practice
Section: Re-evaluating / assessing our practices to date
Readings:
- Roskams, Excavation. Chapter 13.
- Lucas, Gavin. 2001 "Introduction", pgs. 1-17, In Critical Approaches to Fieldwork. Routledge: London.
- Jones, Andrew. 2002 "Archaeology observed", pgs. 39-62, In Archaeological theory and scientific practice. CUP: Cambridge.
Week 6 | October 24
--Critical Response Five Due--
Whose Past? Whose Present? Whose Future? Archaeological Heritage Management at the John Brown House Topics: Stewardship, Politics and Archaeology, Representation
Readings:
- Bankoff, H. Arthur and F. Winter. 2005 "The Archaeology of Slavery at the Van Cortlandt Plantation," in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 9(4): 291-318. Bronx, New York.
- Shepherd, Nick. 2007 "What does it mean 'To Give the Past Back to the People'? Archaeology and Ethics in the Postcolony". In Y. Hamalakis and P. Duke, eds. Archaeology and Capitalism, From Ethics to Politics. Left Coast Press; Walnut Creek, 99-114.
- Slavery and Justice. 2006 Report of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice, Brown University. Read closely pgs. 7-31, skim remainder.
Week 7 | October 31
--Critical Response Six Due--
Interpretation and Presentation Topics: Recovering meaning from materials, creating presentations for the public, ownership, nationalism, and ethical concerns
Section: re-visit John Brown house exhibits. Discuss related readings
Readings:
- Hodder, Ian. 2003 "Sustainable Time Travel: Toward a Global Politics of the Past". In S. Kane, ed., The Politics of Archaeology and Identity in a Global Context, 139-147.
- McManamon, Francis P. 2003 "Archaeology, Nationalism, and Ancient America". In S. Kane, ed., The Politics of Archaeology and Identity in a Global Context, 115-138.
- Beaudry, Mary. 2009 "Ethical Issues in Historical Archaeology". In The International Handbook of Historical Archaeology, ed. by Teresita Majewski and David Gaimster. Springer: New York, pgs. 17-29.
- Dawdy, Shannon Lee. 2009 "Millennial Archaeology. Locating the Discipline in the Age of Insecurity." Archaeological Dialogues 16, no. 2 (2009): 131-‐42 and her response 186-193, skim through the other responses.
Week 8 | November 7
--Critical Response Seven Due--
Preserving and Curating the Archaeological Record Topics: Digital Heritage - the wiki, preservation of materials, and the archive
Section: (lab) but also wiki
Readings:
- Addison, Alonzo C. 2008 "The Vanishing Virtual: Safeguarding heritage's endangered digital record". In Y. Kalay, T. Kvan, and J. Affleck, New Heritage: New Media and Cultural Heritage, 27-39.
- Lucas, Gavin. 2001 Chapter 3, "Splitting Objects", In Critical Approaches to Fieldwork. Routledge: London, pgs. 64-106.
- Kansa, Eric C. and S. Kansa. 2011 "Toward a Do-It-Yourself Cyberinfrastructure: Open Data, Incentives, and Reducing Costs and Complexities of Data Sharing". In E. Kansa, S. Kansa and E. Watrall, eds. Archaeology 2.0: New Approaches tp Communication and Collaboration. Los Angeles: 57-91.
- Limp, Frederick Wç 2011 "Web 2.0 and Beyond, or On the Web Nobody Knows You're an Archaeologist". In E. Kansa, S. Kansa and E. Watrall, eds. Archaeology 2.0: New Approaches to Communication and Collaboration. Los Angeles: 265-280.
- The Precott Street Website and ARK
Weeks 9 and 10 | November 14 and 21--Critical Response Eight Due Week 9 - November 14--
Artifact Analyses and Archaeological Syntheses Topics: Identifying artifact types, dating strata, re-establishing site history from excavated remains and documentary record.
Section: labwork and discussion of readings
Readings:
- Deetz, James. 1996 [1977] In Small Things Forgotten: and archaeology of early American life. Anchor: New York.
- Mrozowski, S., G. Ziesing, and M. Beaudry. 1996 Living on the Boott: historical archaeology at the Boott Mills Boardinghouse, Lowell, MA. University of Massachusetts Press: Amherst.
Week 11 | November 28
Continue artifact analysis, work on object biographies and final report topics
Readings:
- Turnbaugh, W & S. "Alternative Approaches to Mean Ceramic Dating", Historical Archaeology, 1977 11(1) 90-114.
- Groover, Mark. "Linking Artifact Assemblages to Household Cycles: An Example from the Gibbs Site", Historical Archaeology, 2001, 35(4): 38-57.
- Adams, William Hampton. "Dating Historical Sites: The Importance of Understanding Time Lag in the Acquiition, Curation, Use, and Disposal of Artifacts". Historical Archaeology, 2003, 37(2): 38-61. (Will be handed out in class Monday) -
- *For more information on how to calculate Mean Ceramic Dates----
Week 12 | December 5
Presentation of Final Projects to class and John Brown House & Rhode Island Historical Society staff.
Final Projects Due: Monday December 12, by 5pm
Home / Syllabus / Schedule of classes and readings / Readings (Password protected) / Field Blogs / Critical Responses / Excavation & Unit Summaries / Images / Final Project Submissions and Presentations / Exhibit of 2011 Finds / Sample Field Forms / References & Resources / 19th Century Foodways / Archaeology of College Hill 2010
