"Unless We Remember We Cannot Understand": Archaeological Inquiries into the Act of Remembering

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

This session aims to provide a variety of perspectives on the relationship between archaeological inquiry and memory. Along with asking how the act of archaeological research contributes to memorialization and commemoration, we aim to disentangle definitions of memory for different stakeholder communities by shedding light on various scales of memory (individual, societal, etc.). Further, this session will consider how memory work can shape or challenge current interpretations of the past, and how memory from documents, ethnography, and other sources interlace with archaeological research. What types of memory are typically addressed in archaeology and are certain types privileged over others? This session seeks to examine which people or events get remembered through archaeology, what privileges we take in our memory work, and how, why and for whom we practice archaeological research.

Other Keywords
Memory • Political economy • Mesoamerica • Oral History • Gold Rush • Biography • Household • gender and sexuality • landscape management • Hawaii

Geographic Keywords
North America - California • Mesoamerica • Oceania • North America - Southwest

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-8 of 8)

  • Documents (8)
Documents
  • Entanglement of Memories in Mesoamerica and Applications in the Palenque Region (2016)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kimberly Salyers.

    As social archaeologists, we have long affirmed the fluidity of social structures, yet we continue to experience proactive interference from the political economy lessons long embedded in our memory. Through the review of social memory applications in Mesoamerica, this paper discusses how the battle between the individual and the social approaches to memory fall victim to our current entanglements of memory. Building from this review, I will consider how incorporating applications of ArcGIS and...

  • Exploring Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Central California through Ethnographic and Ethnohistorical Records (2016)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Gabriel Sanchez.

    This paper explores ethnographic and ethno-historical records of Coast Miwok and Kashaya Pomo peoples in Central California to understand 20th century memories or traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of landscape management practices. TEK and traditional resource and environmental management (TREM) practices are entangled with contemporary issues. These include but are not limited to management practices for indigenous communities, state, and federal agencies. Understanding how Native people...

  • Hñähño Narratives of San Ildefonso, Mexico: Social Memory in the form of Oral History (2016)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mario Castillo.

    Oral history is the process of audio-recording first person accounts of experiences, stories and memory from living witnesses. Oral history has proven to be a valuable resource for archaeologists. It is argued that oral history research is an important for foregrounding subsequent archaeological research. In the summer of 2015, 10 hours of audio-recorded personal narratives were recorded from five Hñähño/Spanish speakers in the colonial of El Bothe, San Ildefonso, Queretaro, Mexico. Hñähño...

  • Let the Memory Live Again: Creation and Recreation of Hawaiian Households (2016)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kirsten Vacca.

    Investigating the use of memory allows for an increased understanding of how historical knowledge is used in the reproduction of social actions in the past and production of knowledge in the present. This paper analyzes the importance of memory in Hawaiian culture and academic literature. Many archaeological analyses of pre-European contact Hawaiian households are predicated on the writings of 19th century ethnohistorians (among others) that recorded Hawaiian oral traditions. The act of...

  • Memories of Women's Work: Investigating the 19th Century U.S. Army Laundresses' Quarters at Fort Davis, Texas (2016)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Katrina Eichner.

    The 19th century U.S. army encampment at Fort Davis is commonly remembered for its association with the enlisted men and officers who served the U.S. government. However, the fort also employed and rationed a group of Hispanic and black female laundresses, who too often are made invisible in modern interpretations of the site. Using an assemblage of domestic materials collected during the summers of 2013 and 2015, this paper aims to highlight the work – including physical labor, cultural...

  • Memory and life in ninteenth-century Sacramento (2016)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alyssa Scott.

    In 1979, a trunk of artifacts was discovered concealed within a Sacramento house. The artifacts, photographs, and documents pertain primarily to the life of May Woolsey, who died in 1879 at age twelve. This paper seeks to investigate the assemblage and explore how interpretations involving memory can contribute towards an understanding of identity, childhood, and biography. The association of the artifacts in the assemblage, the curation of the artifacts, and the context of the trunk all have...

  • Old Lumber is Missing: Artifacts from Stanford's Chinese Communities (2016)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Christopher Lowman.

    As development in Silicon Valley fills what appears to be empty land, it is crucial to question how land became "empty." In the absence of memorials, other physical traces must be considered as legacies. This is the case with the Chinese employees who lived and worked at what became Stanford University, itself made possible by Chinese workers on the Transcontinental Railroad. Living on the campus at the turn of the twentieth century, the Chinese employees impacted the development of agriculture,...

  • Stories Past and Present: Archaeology, lore, and community at von Pfister’s General Store, Benicia, California (2016)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only David Hyde.

    The story of the start of the California Gold Rush by the announcement of the discovery at von Pfister’s General Store in Benicia, California, lives large in the contemporary community’s collective memory. Archaeological excavations and historical research at von Pfister’s has shed light on daily life at the general store and has served to historically and socially contextualize the popular story. This paper explores the origins of the story and the ways the narrative has shaped a larger...