Society for Historical Archaeology 2015

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology

This Collection contains the abstracts from the 2015 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology, held in Seattle, Washington, January 6 –11, 2015. Most files in this collection contain the abstract only.

If you presented at the 2015 SHA annual meeting, you can access and upload your presentation for FREE. To find out more about uploading your presentation, go to https://www.tdar.org/sha/

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 501-559 of 559)

  • Documents (559)

Documents
  • Tales of the Sturgeon in Philadelphia’s Culinary Past (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Teagan Schweitzer.

    When British colonists moved to the Philadelphia area, the sturgeon was one of the few fish species that was familiar to them from their English roots. The availability of this familiar fish surely eased their transition to their new home. Recent excavations in Northeast Philadelphia reveal that sturgeon were still commonly eaten up through the middle of the 19th century. In this paper we will explore the history of the sturgeon in the Philadelphia area from colonial times to the present to...

  • Teaching With and For the Recent Past: Applying Contemporary Archaeology Pedagogically (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Rebecca S Graff.

    From abandoned council flats to the World Trade Center site, scholars are attempting to understand the material remains of the very recent past by using the methodology of archaeological "excavation." These archaeologies of the contemporary past make familiar items unfamiliar as they explore material residues of late capitalist, post-industrial societies and beyond, participating in what Holtorf calls the merging of "archaeology in the modern world with the archaeology of the modern world." The...

  • Technology and Empire: A Comparative Analysis of British and Dutch Maritime Technologies during the Napoleonic Era (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ivor R. Mollema.

    A study of the Dutch vessel Bato (1806) and British vessel Brunswick (1805) wrecked in Simons Bay, South Africa presents a unique opportunity to compare and analyse the maritime shipbuilding technologies available to these two powerful seafaring nations during the Napoleonic Era (1792-1815). Preliminary research of the material culture record yields data about British and Dutch access and utilization of specific shipbuilding timbers, iron knees, metal sheathings, and variety of fastenings....

  • Technology for Underwater Heritage: Mapping World War II Sites in the Pacific (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Peter W. Kelsey.

    The National Park Service is investigating large scale yet highly accurate distributed models that could assist preservation activities across the Pacific. Recent innovations regarding reality capture and computer modeling technologies specific to the marine environment, including LiDAR, SONAR and photogrammetry are providing value to heritage projects in the Pacific. The first comprehensive survey of the USS Arizona ship and memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii since 1984 began in November of 2013...

  • Tennessee Face Jugs: An Evolving Tradition    (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Stephen T. Rogers.

    The existence of stoneware face jugs as part of a Southern pottery tradition is well established.  Recent scholarship and archaeological testing in Edgefield, South Carolina has sought to establish a chronology for their origins and develop a deeper understanding of their symbolic significance.  As conditions surrounding the manufacturing of these face jugs changed through time, their function or meaning also changed.  This paper will discuss the historic context of these vessels, explore their...

  • There’s a Hole in my Bucket! (But I Put it There on Purpose): Modified Can Use at Rural Woodcutting Camps in Mineral County, Nevada (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Emily S. Dale.

    In 2014, in conjunction with the University of Nevada-Reno, I led a Forest Service Passport in Time project in a survey of rural Chinese woodcutting camps surrounding the turn-of-the-century mining boomtowns of Aurora, Nevada and Bodie, California. In addition to the expected glass bottle fragments, rusting cans, and Chinese-related ceramics and opium tins, we discovered a large portion of the material culture, specifically cans, buckets, and other metal objects, had been modified and repurposed...

  • Thinking Big: From New England to the Chesapeake and Beyond (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Joanne Bowen.

    From his student years at Brown University, Marley Brown initiated projects that led the field of Historical Archaeology.  During the 1970’s when he directed the Mott Farm Field School in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, he linked household cycles and family histories to depositional histories.  As Director of Archaeology at Colonial Williamsburg he again led the field by embedding urban households into Williamsburg’s neighborhoods, the Chesapeake, and the broader colonial world.  As students, we...

  • "This gave me great influence over them": The Voice of Frederick Douglass at Wye House (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Elizabeth Pruitt. Benjamin Skolnik.

    As historical archaeologists, we use historical documentation while also frequently claiming that our work "gives voice to the voiceless." For a decade, Archaeology in Annapolis has been excavating at Wye House on Maryland’s Eastern Shore in an attempt to highlight the lives of enslaved—later freed—Africans and African Americans on the plantation.  However, our work of "giving voice" runs into the issue that the most dominant voice from this site comes from Frederick Douglass, who shares his...

  • Thomas T. Tucker: A Beached US Liberty Ship in Cape Point Nature Reserve, South Africa (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Nathaniel R King.

    Thomas Tucker, a US Liberty ship operated by the Merchants and Miners Company on behalf of the US Maritime Commission, was part of the 42-ship convoy carrying material to the African Front during World War II. The ship was reported lost in action – torpedoed at Cape Point. The cargo included 25 Sherman tanks, 16 tank cars, 200 motor vehicles, and barbed wire. This disarticulated beach shipwreck site provides an ideal educational opportunity for students to conduct basic pre-disturbance...

  • The threatened cultural archive in the German North Sea - A pilot project (2013)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mike Belasus. Ursula Warnke.

    In 2011 the National Maritime Museum of Germany launched a pilot project, funded by the Ministry for Education and Research, on the evaluation of the archaeological potential in the North Sea with a focus on Germany's Exclusive Economic Zone. It has the aim to produce a base for future research and the protection of our common cultural heritage underwater. It is the first project of this kind in Germany; therefore the archaeological potential of the region has previously been unknown. This...

  • Tides of Celadon: Glaze Developments in the Edgefield Pottery District, SC (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Tatiana Niculescu.

    Large alkaline glaze stoneware vessels from the Edgefield District of South Carolina have long been studied by ceramic historians and collectors. Manufactured by enslaved laborers in the antebellum period, these vessels were sold throughout the South. Historians and collectors have speculated that a lighter green glaze, called celadon, was manufactured earlier than a darker green-brown glaze. This assertion has not been tested systematically using available archaeological evidence. Excavations...

  • To be, Rather Than to Seem: Comparative Colonialism and the Idea of the Old North State. (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only J. Eric Deetz. Anna Agbe-Davies.

    North Carolina has often been described as "a vale of humility between two mountains of conceit" a sentiment also reflected in the official state motto "to be rather than to seem."  The idea that North Carolina was markedly different from either of its colonial neighbors has been almost universally accepted.  The contrast has been forwarded by North Carolinians for generations, from historians to presidential candidates. For example, the often cited lack of a deep-water port has been used to...

  • Tobacco Houses of the Early Colonial Chesapeake (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mark Kostro.

    Tobacco houses and barns – specialized agricultural buildings for curing and storing tobacco -- were common features upon the Chesapeake region’s landscape throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  Each plantation or farm had at least one, and depending on its size, potentially more than one.  Today, colonial-era tobacco houses are all but extinct in the region, leaving the archaeological record as a principal source on these one-time ubiquitous structures.  Drawing upon excavation...

  • Tokens of Travel: Material Culture of Transoceanic Journeys in San Francisco (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kari L. Lentz.

    During the second half of the nineteenth century thousands of travelers embarked on voyages aboard steamships headed for San Francisco that could last weeks or months. In the past decade, William Self Associates has conducted multiple excavations within Yerba Buena Cove that have yielded an abundance of archaeological materials. This paper focuses on dinnerware pieces excavated from domestic privies dating to the 1870s that were originally utilized for meals aboard vessels of the Pacific Mail...

  • Towards a Cumulative Practice: Reflections on the Influence of Marley R. Brown III (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Audrey Horning.

    In 1999, Marley Brown defined his approach to historical archaeology as a 'cumulative practice marked by proper respect for the role of theory… but one which privileges the discovery of real and significant patterning in the archaeological record.’  Along with imposing intellectual rigour on archaeological interpretation, Marley has always sought new ways of discovering, recording, and ‘disciplining’ data, applying rigorous sampling methods; prioritizing environmental data; embracing GIS and...

  • Towasa Diaspora: Ignoring the European Presence as a Response to Colonization (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Gregory Waselkov.

    Discovery of a small Muskogee-tradition component at site 1BA664, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico in Orange Beach, Alabama, is tentatively identified as a fishing and hunting camp of the Towasas, radiocarbon dated to ca. 1700. Propelled westward by British and Creek slaving raids in 1705 that destroyed their towns in north Florida, the Towasas have never before been linked to an archaeological site assemblage. Artifacts from site 1BA664 suggest minimal acquisition of European technology, despite...

  • Trade Winds and Rich Red Soil: Memory and Collective Heritage at Millars Settlement, Eleuthera, Bahamas (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Whitney Battle-Baptiste.

    In 1783, following the American Revolution, the British government resettled thousands of Loyalists throughout the Bahamas. The mostly American-born Loyalists brought in captivity, a large population of American-born African descent peoples and were given Bahamian land grants to establish a cotton plantation economy. Cotton never faired well and most plantations shifted toward subsistence activities and basic needs until slavery ended in 1838.  Although former plantation owners and emancipated...

  • Traditional Associations?: Public History, Collaborative Practice, and Alternative Histories (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Erin K Devlin.

    In recent years, public historians have placed increased emphasis on collaborative practice—the need to reach out to an expanded array of community stakeholders, the desire to share authority through co-creative planning processes, and the effort to create engaging experiences for visitors. These developments have been motivated, in part, by an effort to diversify the public history landscape and to incorporate non-white and non-elite histories into public memory. This paper will explore the...

  • Transcending Geographic Boundaries: Maritime Archaeology Worldwide on the Museum of Underwater Archaeology (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Michelle M. Damian.

    This year, the Museum of Underwater Archaeology (MUA) enters its second decade as a medium for online dissemination of information about maritime archaeology projects at the professional, student, and avocational levels. This paper will highlight the next steps of the MUA as we reach beyond the traditional confines of museum exhibits and actively work to promote endeavors that transcend geographical and disciplinary boundaries.  Recent innovations include project centers that focus on multiple...

  • Transient Labor and the North American West (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mark Walker.

    The organization of labor is a defining element of society.  In the case of the North American West this defining element is often marked by a reliance on seasonal and transient rural labor. In this paper I briefly characterize the transient workforce, discuss its archaeological signatures, and how we might incorporate these marginalized histories into our work. For all its historical importance, rural labor is not an easy topic of study, for reasons ranging from the structures and practices of...

  • Trents Plantation Barbados: Some Comparisons of Data Analyzed Using DAACS and a Long Used Analysis System (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Douglas Armstrong.

    As participants in the DRC we learned the DAACS database system and entered an initial group of 3000 data entries for Trents Plantation, Barbados.  At Syracuse University we had been using a database using a combination of Access© and Excel© which had become cumbersome and was in need of being updated.  DAACS and the DRC provided an opportunity to learn a new system and to collaborate with a group of colleagues, as well as to input on the new DAACS analysis system.  This paper reviews our...

  • A Tropical Wave in the Atlantic World: The Comparative Colonial Caribbean Archaeology of Dr. Marley R. Brown III (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Frederick Smith.

    Few historical archaeologists in the field today have escaped the influence, advice, and impact of Marley R. Brown III. His reach has extended to the tropical shores of the Caribbean, and his work, along with that of his students, has helped shape the direction of Caribbean historical archaeology. In Bermuda, Barbados, and the British Virgin Islands Marley has fostered a generation of students that have moved beyond site specific processes to embrace the big picture of British colonial and...

  • Two Meals for Two Tables: Comparing the Diets of Free and Enslaved Washingtons (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Philip Levy. David Muraca.

    This paper compares faunal assemblages from two 1740s cellars located in the heart of the home lot of Ferry Farm—the childhood home of George Washington. Excavation of these cellars yielded rich assemblages of faunal material containing a wide array of animals and offering detailed perspectives on diet. What makes these cellars of special interest though is that they came respectively from the homes of the free Washingtons and the enslaved Washingtons. This means that these two contemporary...

  • Ugly Duckling and Work Horse: A Mid-19th Century Lighter from San Francisco Bay’s Yerba Buena Cove and Its Scale Model (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only John P Schlagheck.

    In 2013 WSA recovered a well preserved Gold Rush Era lighter from the original shore of Yerba Buena Cove. This boat, used to "lighten" the load of ships anchored off-shore, is providing new insight into the working craft of early maritime San Francisco. Found in strong association with the 19th-century ship breaking and salvage industry near the cove, the boat’s simple design and homely non-standard construction evoke images of the rugged Western frontier. Using in situ photographs and an...

  • Underground Then as Now: Seeking Traces of the Underground Railroad in the Mount Gilead AME Church Cemetery (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Meagan Ratini.

    Mount Gilead AME Church in southeastern Pennsylvania formed the heart of a rural African American community throughout much of the 19th century. Oral history associates it with the Underground Railroad, but with little specificity. Since most of the church's congregation has dispersed over the past century, its extant cemetery is the main location where much of the church's history can be reconstructed. This study uses spatial, demographic, and GPR data from the cemetery as well as archival...

  • Understanding The Material And Spatial Strategies Of Border Crossers Through Water Bottles And Beverage Containers (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Magda E Mankel.

    Because of the clandestine and complex nature of undocumented migration in southern Arizona, many aspects of this social process have proven difficult to systematically analyze using ethnography alone. Using a combination of ethnographic and archaeological data collected between 2009 and 2014, this paper uses statistical analysis to further understand the relationships between artifacts associated with clandestine migration and the material and spatial strategies migrants employ to cross...

  • Understanding the Placement of LA 20,000, a Spanish Colonial Settlement Located in New Mexico (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Stephanie Hallinan.

    This project will explore the environmental and social factors that influenced the placement of Spanish New Mexican sites by looking at the  location of LA 20,000, a seventeenth-century secular ranch located about 25 miles southwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. This project will use GIS to explore the environmental factors essential to the Spanish colonists who settled as farmers, specifically focusing on the natural resources around LA 20,000, including distance to water, soil fertility, and...

  • Underwater 3D Imaging with Structured Light: Implications for Ethics and Economics (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Christopher T. Begley. Anne E. Wright.

    A prototype underwater 3D imaging technology is discussed that is both inexpensive and creates accurate, high resolution 3D data. We focus on the connection between this technology and archaeological ethics and economics. First, we discuss a cutting edge, low cost, highly portable and user-friendly 3D imaging system using structured light, which has generated very high resolution images in both terrestrial and underwater contexts. Next, we compare it to other low-cost 3D techniques. Finally, we...

  • Underwater Historic Preservation for Sport Divers: Florida’s Training Courses for Divers and Diving Leadership (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Della A Scott-Ireton. Jeffrey T. Moates.

    Public efforts to support preservation of Florida’s historic shipwrecks began in earnest in the late 1980s with the development of the state’s Underwater Archaeological Preserve system. As part of the process, local sport divers received training to assist with recording and monitoring these historic wrecks. The success of this program led to the development of the Submerged Sites Education & Archaeological Stewardship (SSEAS) program targeted to sport divers, and the Heritage Awareness Diving...

  • Underwater Survey of the Historic Anchorage for Portsmouth, Dominica (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Dennis Knepper. Raymond L Hayes. Bill Utley. Jim Smailes. Greg German. Francois van der Hoeven.

    The town of Portsmouth, located on the northwestern coast of Dominica, is bordered by Prince Rupert’s Bay.  Utilized as a deepwater port off the Guadeloupe Passage, this coastline was preferred as a watering site by the indigenous Kalinago and by sailing ships entering and leaving the Caribbean Sea.  Dominica, originally a British colonial outpost (1763-1977), is strategically situated between the French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe.  From its inception, Portsmouth was a planned...

  • Unearthing Sandpoint’s Chinatown: the Archaeology of Sandpoint, Idaho’s Overseas Chinese (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Molly Swords.

    Established in the early 1880s, Sandpoint, Idaho became a bustling railroad and lumber town with commercial businesses sprouting up along the Northern Pacific railroad tracks. Overseas Chinese came through the town when building the railroad, but quickly moved on along with the construction. Who then, were the Overseas Chinese that came and settled, making Sandpoint their home? Archaeological investigations of the original town site uncovered a structure referred to as Sandpoint’s "Chinatown"...

  • Unloading History: Schooner-Barges, Self-Unloaders, and the Development of a Modern Maritime Landscape (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Caitlin Zant.

    Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the Great Lakes were at the center of rapid technological advancements in shipping and shipbuilding. The diverse demands for trade and unique geographic characteristics of the region created the necessity for highly specialized vessels and technologies. While the development of steam propulsion and use of metal hulls aided this progress, advancements in unloading systems helped propel shipping into the twentieth century.  The emergence...

  • Urban Archaeology in the City of the Saints and the Growth of a Real Frontier City (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Donald D. Southworth II.

    While archaeologist in the western United States survey wide open expanses for federal and state agencies, archaeology in the urban centers themselves are often ignored.  The majority of city centers consist mostly of businesses and business is money.  Archaeology in these districts cost time and money, so archaeology is almost never undertaken unless it is done for an agency that must follow established laws and regulations that include archaeology.  The new United States Courthouse for the...

  • Urban Life Through the Lens of Glass: A Brief Analysis of Glass Tableware and Flaked Objects from the 19th Century San Jose Market Street Chinatown, California (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Nathan Acebo.

    The Market Street Chinatown archaeological collection offers a diverse assemblage of artifacts that shed light on the urban social lives of Overseas Chinese communities in San Jose, California during the late 19th century (1866-1887). Glass objects constitute a considerable percentage of the total archaeological collection and includes a massive assortment of medicinal and cuisine containers, architectural features, and domestic objects. The bricolage collection of glass permits discriminate...

  • Using Autonomous Underwater Vehicles for Locating and Surveying Battle of the Atlantic Shipwrecks off the Coast of North Carolina (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only John R. Kloske.

    An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) was used to locate and conduct detailed surveys of shipwrecks from the Battle of the Atlantic. A proven method for developing operationally efficient AUV dive plans was used for these surveys. The AUV dive plans were based on the characteristics of the search area, the capabilities of the AUV and onboard sensors, and the nature of the shipwreck of interest and required data products. The dive plans took into consideration the risk assessment and the...

  • Using Collections for Trans-Atlantic Studies: A Case Study in the Spanish Atlantic (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kathryn L Ness.

    For decades, archaeologists working throughout the Spanish Atlantic have excavated a wide variety of sites. Today, the artifacts from these excavations are stored in museums and at universities throughout Spain, the Caribbean, and the Americas.  Because it can be difficult to locate and access appropriate collections, these artifacts are often overlooked or undervalued. In many cases, however, the collections have an extremely high research potential and are invaluable for conducting...

  • Using DAACS to Explore Embodied Identities: Potential Approaches (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only J. Hope Smith.

    DAACS has proven to be a valuable resource for quantitative studies that explore patterns across sites associated with slavery. However, its analytical potential is not limited to purely statistical applications that utilize abundant artifact types such as ceramics, because the rigorous, highly standardized cataloging protocol used in DAACS captures minute details of artifacts. This makes it a useful resource for the qualitative study of more variable artifacts, such as objects of personal...

  • Using GIS and underwater sampling in the Armação de Pêra bay, Portugal (2013)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Leandro Infantini.

    Aiming to contribute to an understanding of underwater landscapes and the evolution of shorelines, this work presents research in the submerged area of the Armação de Pêra bay (southern Portugal). Due to logistical difficulties involved in studying this context, it was necessary to develop two main approaches. On the one hand, it was necessary to collect underwater samples using a drilling system. On the other hand, it was necessary to develop and manage a Geographic Information System (GIS) for...

  • Values in Maritime Archaeological Heritage: A Socio-Economic Study in Understanding the Public's Perceptions and Willingness to Pay for Preserving Shipwrecks in the Graveyard of Atlantic, North Carolina (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Calvin Mires.

    Off the coast of North Carolina’s Outer Banks are the remains of ships spanning hundreds of years of history, architecture, technology, industry, and maritime culture.  Potentially more than 2,000 ships have been lost in "The Graveyard of the Atlantic" due to a combination of natural and human factors.  These shipwrecks are tangible artifacts to the past and constitute important archaeological resources.  They also serve as dramatic links to North Carolina’s historic maritime heritage, helping...

  • Washington's Board of Public Works and the Burial of Herring Hill in Georgetown, District of Columbia (An Archaeology of Municipal Infrastructure). (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Matthew Palus.

    A dramatic investment in the infrastructure of Georgetown followed the establishment of a single municipal government for the City of Washington in 1871, and the abolishment of Georgetown’s charter as an independent municipality. Establishing new street grades in this context resulted in the near-burial of homes in an African-American section of Georgetown called Herring Hill, which became an unofficial dump for fill excavated during infrastructure work. Beginning in February 2011, The District...

  • The Western Front in the Backyard: The Excavation of Camp Howze, American Training and German Detention in Rural Texas, 1942-1946 (2013)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Dave W Scheidecker.

    Created shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Camp Howze located in Gainesville, Texas served not only as a training base for American infantry and artillerymen, but also as one of the many detention centers within the United States for German prisoners of war. The base was quickly built and swiftly dismantled when the Army had no more need for the camp, although some of the buildings still stand today. Archaeological investigations of the site are focusing on defining the layout of extant...

  • The Wetherill Homestead and Trading Post, Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico. (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Leigh A. R. Cominiello.

    The University of New Mexico, in partnership with the National Park Service, is currently conducting research on the first trading post in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.  Documentary research and test excavations indicate the Wetherill Homestead and Trading Post operated from the mid-1890s to the early 1900s.  The site functioned as a center for archaeological research, residence, ranching, and trade.  These findings have archaeological and historical implications related to late nineteenth and early...

  • A whaler unearthed: the 19th century whaling ship Candace in downtown San Francisco (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only James Allan. James Delgado.

    While conducting archaeological investigations for a construction project in downtown San Francisco, William Self Associates, Inc. encountered the remains of an early 19th century whaling ship buried 15 feet below the modern surface. This paper will present the story of the whaler Candace, a Boston-built barque that ended her days in the mudflats of San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Cove, the determined historical and archaeological research that led to her identification, and the unique insight into...

  • Whaleships as Workplaces: An Industrial Approach to Shipwreck Interpretation (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jason Raupp.

    Pelagic whaling ships of the early to mid-nineteenth were workplaces which incorporated complex industrial processes that resulted from wider social, cultural and technological changes. Unlike vessels employed in other seaborne trades, whaleships were self-contained and fully integrated industrial platforms that incorporated both the equipment necessary to carry out whaling operations and the domestic spaces that became a meager home for officers and crews for up to five years. The unique nature...

  • What Are Our Options?: Assessing The Conservation Needs of Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site's Waterfront (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Hannah P. Smith.

    Since 2010, the Cape Fear River has changed in unexpected ways, revealing a number of colonial-era wharves along the waterfront of Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site, near Wilmington, North Carolina. As a result, various groups have carried out research to determine the best course of action for this at-risk area. One particular study, a Master’s thesis, developed a research design for the waterfront.  While options for site location and excavation were discussed, this work focused...

  • What are the Potential Effects of an Oil Spill on Coastal Archaeological Sites? (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Scott R Sorset. Mark A Rees.

    The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette have collaborated to determine the immediate and long-term impacts of an oil spill on cultural resources and archaeological sites in the coastal zone. Nearly five years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the immediate and long-term impacts of oil and dispersants on cultural resources and archaeological sites remain unknown. Concerns include effects that might diminish or destroy the site’s future research...

  • What can we infer about family plots scatterings in a 19th Century Southern Georgia church grave site. (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Chuanyu Fu. L. Meghan Dennis.

     Through human history, the deceased have been buried, their bodies or representations placed in a space, most near their familial ties. Graves are not only places of rest but places to revisit the past and sanctuaries of still powerful affections. Why, in a 19th century Northern Georgia church gravesite do family plots of the same name scatter throughout different locations on the site, even within the same time periods? Why were the boundaries of the family plots physically set yet the...

  • What Have We Done, What Are We Doing, and Where Are We Going with Overseas Chinese Archaeology? (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Douglas Ross.

    According to this session’s organizers there is no dominant Overseas Chinese narrative, but rather one characterized by diversity. They perceive this diversity as a strength and seek to highlight the range of both Chinese experiences and recent archaeological approaches to their lives. Papers address topics ranging from lifeways of urban merchants to healthcare practices of rural railroad workers, consumer habits of Chinatown residents, and the role of burned sites in creating highly politicized...

  • What's So Different About Public History? (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kristen Baldwin Deathridge.

    When historical archaeologists discuss public archaeology, does their use of "public" imply the same things as intended by public historians? As more archaeology undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled in public history coursework (and public history students enrolled in archaeology courses), how is this relevant to their training? This paper will provide a brief review of public history’s development as a distinct field, noting current trends in civic engagement. It discusses the...

  • What’s in the Cellar: the Archaeology of an 1885 Officers’ Quarters at Fort Walla Walla, Washington (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Melissa Cascella.

    This paper will provide insights into the daily lives of the families that lived on Fort Walla Walla, one of the Pacific Northwest’s earliest communities, from its early use as a military base and into its transition to a veteran’s facility. Established in 1858, Fort Walla Walla was built along the Oregon Trail by the U.S. Army to defend settlers moving into the territory and played a major military role into the early 1900s. After the Fort closed in 1910, it was converted into a veteran’s...

  • ‘When the King breaks a town, he builds another’: Space, Politics, and Gerrymandered Identities in Precolonial Dahomey (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only James Monroe.

    Scholars have long argued that sub-Saharan Africa in the era of the slave trade was dominated by ethnically distinct communities whose members underwent the process of creolization after being displaced to the New World. Archaeological research across West Africa, however, is challenging this notion, revealing how West African cultural identity transformed in response to intersecting economic, political, and cultural forces unleashed by trans-Atlantic commerce.  This paper examines the political...

  • "Where Ornament and Function are so Agreeably Combined" Redux: A New Look at Consumer Choice Studies Using English Ceramic Wares at Several 19th Century Fur Trade Sites Along the Columbia River (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Robert J Cromwell.

    This paper takes a new look at my 2006  doctoral dissertation, where I analyzed over 20,000 British-manufactured ceramic ware sherds excavated from archaeological households at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Vancouver, Washington. These archaeological households are located both within the ca. 1829-1860Hudson’s Bay Company Fort Vancouver palisade site, as well as in the associated employee (Kanaka) Village site. This allows for synthesis of the data and to compare household dynamics from...

  • Who is "Free" Today?: Negotiating the documentary record of labor history for archaeology (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Michael P Roller.

    Beginning with Marx, labor history was founded upon illuminating the role the working class can play in challenging our system of political economy. As vogelfrei (literally "bird-free") or rightless, unprotected bodies condemned to only sell their labor, the lives of the working class have been imagined to inhabit a kind of empty raw inertia propelling mass social change. Labor history has responded to this basic idea throughout its disciplinary history, changing with material, political,...

  • Whole Molding Construction in Baía de Todos os Santos, Brazil (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Filipe Castro. Denise G. Dias.

    The survival of late medieval Mediterranean techniques to conceive and build ships and boats in Brazil was noted by John Patrick Sarsfield in the 1980s, but his study of the Valença shipwrights was interrupted by his tragic death in 1990.  This paper is a contribution to the understanding of these shipbuilding techniques, which are still widely used in the region, from Valença to the Baía de Todos os Santos area.

  • A Window to the Past: The Archaeological Significance of the Plank Log House to Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Katherine D. Cavallo.

    Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania is a town with a history as long as European settlement in the Middle Atlantic United States region. First a Swedish trading outpost, then owned by the Dutch, and finally incorporated into William Penn’s holdings, the Borough of Marcus Hook now refers to itself as the Cornerstone of Pennsylvania. During the 18th century, the town had a major market which was the last port of call on the trade route to Philadelphia. The Plank Log House on Market Street, was built in the...

  • Wine, Brandy, and Botijas at the Periphery of the Afro-Atlantic World: Production and Ethnicity on the Jesuit Estates of the Southern Pacific Coast of Peru (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Brendan J. M. Weaver.

    The Haciendas of Nasca Archaeological Project, focusing on slavery on colonial Jesuit wine estates of the Peruvian south coast, was initiated to broaden our understandings of the African diaspora in Peru, which historically existed at the edge of the Afro-Atlantic World, and is presently at the periphery of historical and archaeological scholarship. This paper explores the production and use of botijas – so-called Iberian Olive Jars – in the making of wine and brandy at two Jesuit estates and...

  • Women and Children First: The Archaeology of Motherhood and Childhood on San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Cove (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Teresa D. Bulger.

    Popular images of the maritime industry in places like San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Cove often focus on men — whether working on docks or ships, or on land at iron works and carpenter’s shops. Less visible in the historical record of these spaces are the women and children also living, and often working, along the waterfront. Historical research on the neighborhood that bordered Yerba Buena Cove in the late-19th-century suggests that most residences were occupied by families, rather than by...

  • "Women Smoking Leather": Identifying Women and Their Ethnicity at Fort Selkirk. (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Victoria Castillo.

    Fort Selkirk served as a small subarctic fur trade post for the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) in central Yukon from 1848-1852.  The company’s priority was the trade of European goods in exchange for furs trapped and hunted by Northern Tutchone and other Indigenous groups in the region. A review of Fort Selkirk journal records indicates the fort employed and housed a pluralistic population which included British, Indigenous and Metis men who worked as clerks, labourers and meat hunters. Mostly...

  • The Wreck of the Warwick: History and final analysis of an early 17th-century Virginia Company ship. (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Katie Bojakowski. Piotr T Bojakowski.

    The Warwick which carried the new governor, settlers, their possession, tools, and provisions across the Atlantic to the nascent Bermuda colony in 1619 sank during a hurricane while at anchorage in Castle Harbour. Over the course of four field seasons, a team of archaeologists, students, and volunteers excavated and recorded the Warwick’s hull. The remains of the Warwick are one of the largest and most articulated fragments of an early 17th century English ship. Notwithstanding the historical...