North America (Geographic Keyword)
1,576-1,600 (3,610 Records)
Using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) techniques and chronology building calibration software that incorporates Bayesian statistics, it is possible to establish high-precision chronologies for complex sites. This includes shell midden sites, which are common along coastlines in the United States and often contain multiple distinct strata. We present the example of SCRI-333, on the western end of Santa Cruz Island, California. At this site, we selected carbonized twig and marine shell...
High-Resolution 2D and 3D Imaging of the USS Macon Wreck Site (2016)
USS Macon, the last large Navy airship, was lost along with the biplanes it carried off the coast of California in 1935. The wreck site was discovered in 1990, surveyed in 1991, 1992, and 2006, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. Visuals of the preservation level of the crash site, especially the still partially fabric-covered wings of the biplanes, are incredibly valuable for public engagement with the site. At 1500 ft depth and protected by the Monterey Bay National...
Highbourne Cay Shipwreck Revisited: 2015 Field Season and Preliminary Assessment (2016)
Previous investigations on the Highbourne Shipwreck in 1986 revealed key construction features that were backfilled for preservation. In May, 2015, a team of archaeologists returned to assess the site, and to answer reflexive questions regarding the effectiveness of partial excavations and backfill techniques. This new examination includes a pre-disturbance photogrammetry model, and limited shovel testing along previously excavated areas. Preliminary results discussed within this paper indicate...
Hips Don’t Lie: A Validation Study of the Albanese Metric Sex Estimation Method for the Proximal Femur on a Modern North American Population (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Sex estimation is a key component of the biological profile used in skeletal studies for bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology. In the crucial need for non-pelvic sex estimation methods, Albanese (2008) introduced a new method that implements measurements between three newly defined landmarks on the proximal femur. These landmarks create a triangle which...
Historic Archaeology at Work: Rehabilitating Our Past and Present to Secure Our Future (2016)
In response to the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt put millions to work by way of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Similar to the efforts made by the WPA, the Veterans Curation Program (VCP) is addressing the unemployment rate for recently separated veterans by providing vocational training and temporary employment, while simultaneously providing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) with the means to rehabilitate its archaeological collections to Federal standards. Now the...
Historic Cemeteries of Wayne County, Ohio: Sources of Local Identity (2016)
The Program in Archaeology at the College of Wooster has collaborated for over a decade with the Wayne County Cemetery Preservation Society (WCCPS) in an effort to help the group meet two primary goals: (1) to record all historical cemeteries in Wayne County, Ohio, including those with no visible grave markers; (2) to educate the public about the importance of cemeteries as monuments of family, local, and regional history. The joint research provides the WCCPS with a foundation of information...
Historic Cherokee Settlements in the Arkansas River Valley (2013)
After the American Revolutionary War disrupted Native American groups were pushed westward, and among these were Cherokee who settled in the Arkansas River Valley beginning in the 1790s. Their population peaked during 1818-1828, after which they resettled farther west in Indian Territory. Archaeological evidence for the Arkansas Cherokee sites has been slow to come to light, because the sites were so briefly occupied and exhibit low artifact densities. Additionally, because the Arkansas...
Historic Dumps and Scatters: Trash or Sites? (2016)
Trash dumps and can scatters have been a thorn in the side of federal and state land management agencies in the western half of the United States. Over the last several years, this discussion on how to handle these sites has increased. While historic archaeologists have, to a limited degree, placed these sites in perspective, these activity features continue to be an issue for the various land management agencies. Often referred to as "isolated dumping episodes" or as "road trash," some agencies...
Historic Ethnography and the Early Colonial Delaware Valley (2017)
The documentary record and archaeological resources of the Delaware valley present an excellent opportunity to explore the complex interactions among colonial settlers and their Lenape and Susquehannock neighbors. Historic ethnography envisions approaching the culture of a group of people at a specific place and time from as many documentary and material perspectives as possible in order to develop a rich and deeply contextualized understanding of how those people lived. My approach to work on...
Historic Preservation and the Indian Division of the Civilian Conservation Corps (2018)
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and other federally sponsored work programs, provided much needed employment during the Great Depression and have been examined extensively by scholars in a range of fields. However, few are aware that a parallel program, Indian Emergency Conservation Work, later subsumed into the CCC as the Indian Division (CCC-ID), offered similar programs for Native American young men and performed extensive conservation work on reservations. These men built roads,...
Historic Sites and Possible Worlds: Narrative-Building at Two Sites of African American History (2016)
Kate Gregory and Andrea Witcomb refer to the narratives of place and history that are created when people visit heritage sites as "possible worlds" – the mental and physical spaces where history is then grappled with, conceptualized, and understood. This paper considers two sites of African American history where archaeology has been conducted over the past five years, Timbuctoo, NJ and the Sellman Tenant House at SERC in Edgewater, MD, and explores the way narratives around these historic...
Historical and Bioarchaeological Investigation of the Evansville State Hospital Cemetery (12VG598), Vanderburgh County, Indiana (2018)
In 2014, Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc., conducted the archaeological relocation of graves from the Evansville State Hospital Cemetery. At the request of Beam, Longest, and Neff, LLC, on behalf of the City of Evansville and the Indiana Department of Transportation, the graves of 31 individuals who were patients at the reform-era hospital between circa 1890 and 1928 were relocated in advance of construction of a pedestrian bridge. The population consisted primarily of young to middle adults,...
An Historical Archaeological Investigation of the Indianola Prisoner of War Camp (2013)
Second World War military operations resulted in the capture of thousands of prisoners of war and the creation of internment facilities by both the Axis and the Allies. Archaeologists have begun to examine these facilities around the world. The United States government established a POW program with numerous camps all over the country to house these prisoners. This paper provides the results of historical archaeological research at the Indianola prisoner of war camp in southwestern Nebraska. The...
Historical Archaeology And The Battle Of Cedar Creek (2016)
On October 19, 1864 the massive Union encampment of General Philip Sheridan’s Army of the Shenandoah underwent a surprise attack by the Confederate Army of the Valley commanded by Gen. Jubal Early. What was an initial Confederate success became an overwhelming Union victory which resulted in Union control of the agricultural wealth of the Shenandoah Valley through the remainder of the war. Diverse projects in historical archaeology have been conducted across lands included in the Cedar Creek...
Historical Archaeology as Ghost Hunting (2016)
Archaeological sites can be haunted by past peoples if we convey the stories necessary to presence them; no paranormal powers required. The magic of a ghost story lies in its ability to conjure the emotions of the listener. Many ghost stories are warnings of things that happened, and might happen again. Telling the tale provides listeners with worse-case scenarios and vague instructions on how to avoid a similar fate. Historic sites that contain standing ruins are ripe for such tales because...
Historical Archaeology in Detroit: Sixty Years and Counting (2021)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Research, Interpretation, and Engagement in Post-Contact Archaeology of the Great Lakes Region" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. This presentation recounts the origins of historical archaeology as both a profession and a practice based on the work of the first generation of urban archaeologists in Detroit. Last year, 2020, marked the 60th anniversary of the first professional historical archaeology...
Historical Archaeology in the College Classroom: An Interdisciplinary Tool that Promotes Personal and Professional Development (2016)
This paper discusses interdisciplinary strategies that help students connect personal and professional interests with archaeological goals and methods. This approach encourages students to evaluate the past and present using archaeology and other perspectives, including those from the arts and sciences, education, healthcare, and business. I have developed this approach while teaching at Utica College in Central New York. A Utica College education combines liberal arts with...
Historical Archaeology in Transportation Projects in Arizona (2015)
Transportation projects come with a unique set of challenges; including the limitation of fieldwork to the right-of-way, the potential for a project to bisect entire landscapes, and sometimes the fact that the road itself is a resource. This paper will provide an overview of the types of historical resources and issues that are encountered during transportation-related projects in Arizona, and examples of how we address them.
Historical Archaeology of Capitalism and Climate Change (2018)
Much of the climate change literature focuses on whether it is an empirically verifiable process or how individual’s behavior can ameliorate the impacts. Our common approach abstracts the environment, economy, society, and individuals as external relations that posit the cause and effects of global warming as categorically separate from endemic global poverty, starvation, and income disparities. Instead, we argue that discussions need to bring together all the social and natural aspects that...
Historical Archaeology of the Marsh Sugar Plantation, Avery Island, Louisiana (2016)
The Marsh Plantation was a sugar plantation on Avery Island, Louisiana, established in 1818 by northeastern transplants John Marsh and William Stone. Enslaved and "indentured" African Americans were brought from New York and New Jersey by the partners to work the sugar fields and mill. Through two field seasons, we learned more about the lives of the enslaved and free people, as well as the early sugar industry in Louisiana. Issues of heritage tourism, namely, the elision of slavery and the...
Historical Infrastructure: Recording and Evaluating the Signficance of Linear Sites (2016)
Railroads, roads, canals, and utility lines are becoming an increasingly common type of historical site in Arizona. Such components of historical infrastructure are important because of their role in the settlement and development of the state. However, project-based archaeological survey often results in these sites being recorded in piecemeal fashion, and their significance evaluated by segments within a given project area rather than the resource as a whole. This session will focus on...
Historical Photography and its Impacts on the Life and Legend of Nate Harrison (2018)
The numerous photographs of Nate Harrison by visitors to his Palomar Mountain property are an undeniable part of his continuing legacy. There are 32 different images, making Harrison the most photographed 19th-century San Diegan. This was a remarkable feat considering that he lived so far from the urban center of the city. Photography and photographs have long been a cornerstone of substantiating historical existence and constructing knowledge about the past. This paper discusses the social,...
The History and Archaeological Investigations of Nineteenth Century Gunboat USS Castine (2016)
The USS Castine was emblematic of the New Navy’s transformation from wood to steel vessels in the late nineteenth century, and of the evolving use of a vessel over time. During a 29-year service career spanning the Spanish American War and World War I, the unheralded gunboat proved to be an indispensable workhorse as a blockader, coastal combat vessel, training ship, submarine tender, U-boat chaser, and globetrotting reminder of the long reach of American naval power. Following the end of its...
History and Archaeology of Event and Process on Plantations in Grand Bay, Commonwealth of Dominica (2013)
Plantations in Grand Bay in southeastern Dominica have been venues for periodic episodes of resistance and rebellion, most recently in 1974, which were recorded in colonial archives because of the reporting and investigating of these events. While in this venue the perspective provided by the archive lends itself to the reporting of a series of events, archaeology at plantations in Grand Bay is more amenable to the study of long term processes such as the manipulation of space as a means of...
The History and Archaeology of the American Drive-In Theater (2015)
The American drive-in movie theater played a valuable role in the entertainment of the country during the mid to late twentieth century. During its heyday in the 1950s, the drive-in theater was a primary family recreation locale. Convenience was key; families could wear anything; they could eat, drink, or smoke in their cars; and there was always a place to park. Many drive-ins installed play areas, picnic areas, and concession stands. Some theaters even offered miniature golf courses, driving...