A Wealth Of Data From The Lives Of The Poor – Wringing All The Information Out Of A Historic Archaeological Site
Author(s): Mara Kaktins
Year: 2016
Summary
When presented with the opportunity to fully excavate a site or feature, especially in an area of such historic importance as Philadelphia, there is an obligation to maximize the amount of information you can extract from the dirt. Preservation conditions within a privy associated with the First Philadelphia City Almshouse were excellent, warranting a careful methodological approach to recover as much data as possible. The anaerobic contexts within the water-logged feature yielded thousands of seeds, insect remains, fish bones and scales, eggshells, textiles, wood and leather fragments, and even microscopic evidence of human tissue and blood cells. This paper will discuss the techniques utilized during this excavation which resulted in massive amounts of data recovered on a shoestring budget.
Cite this Record
A Wealth Of Data From The Lives Of The Poor – Wringing All The Information Out Of A Historic Archaeological Site. Mara Kaktins. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Washington, D.C. 2016 ( tDAR id: 435075)
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Keywords
General
almshouse
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Methodology
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Philadelphia
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
Colonial America
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 747