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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™

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Archaeological Anthropology

The University of Maine

2021

Articles 1 - 15 of 15

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

A Practical Solution: The Anthropocene Is A Geological Event, Not A Formal Epoch, Philip L. Gibbard, Andrew M. Bauer, Matthew Edgeworth, William F. Ruddiman, Jacquelyn L. Gill, Dorothy J. Merritts, Stanley C. Finney, Lucy E. Edwards, Michael J. C. Walker, Mark Maslin, Erle C. Ellis Nov 2021

A Practical Solution: The Anthropocene Is A Geological Event, Not A Formal Epoch, Philip L. Gibbard, Andrew M. Bauer, Matthew Edgeworth, William F. Ruddiman, Jacquelyn L. Gill, Dorothy J. Merritts, Stanley C. Finney, Lucy E. Edwards, Michael J. C. Walker, Mark Maslin, Erle C. Ellis

Biology and Ecology Faculty Scholarship

The Anthropocene has yet to be defined in a way that is functional both to the international geological community and to the broader fields of environmental and social sciences. Formally defining the Anthropocene as a chronostratigraphical series and geochronological epoch with a precise global start date would drastically reduce the Anthropocene’s utility across disciplines. Instead, we propose the Anthropocene be defined as a geological event, thereby facilitating a robust geological definition linked with a scholarly framework more useful to and congruent with the many disciplines engaging with human-environment interactions. Unlike formal epochal definitions, geological events can recognize the spatial and …

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Julio C. Tello And The Institute Of Andean Research: 1936-1943, Richard E. Daggett Aug 2021

Julio C. Tello And The Institute Of Andean Research: 1936-1943, Richard E. Daggett

Andean Past Special Publications

In this monograph, Richard E. Daggett continues his discussion of the influence of politics upon the work of Peru’s first professional archaeologist, Julio C. Tello. He began his analysis of this topic in his previous Andean Past monograph entitled Julio C. Tello, Politics, and Peruvian Archaeology: 1930–1936. The focus of this second work is an in-depth discussion of the nature and extent of Tello’s connection with the Institute of Andean Research, from its creation in 1936. In addition to numerous articles published in the Peruvian press, Daggett makes extensive use of correspondence housed in archives both in Peru and in …

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Preparing Undergraduate Students For Compliance Work?, Karin Larkin, Michelle Slaughter Aug 2021

Preparing Undergraduate Students For Compliance Work?, Karin Larkin, Michelle Slaughter

Journal of Archaeology and Education

Anecdotal stories by professionals working in the heritage management industry, specifically Cultural Resource Management (CRM), describe feeling unprepared for the work upon graduating with an undergraduate anthropology degree. Likewise, recent graduates complain that they are unqualified for posted CRM jobs even though many hope to enter the field upon graduation. This anecdotal information raises questions about whether undergraduate academic training adequately prepares students for compliance archaeology. Although anecdotes suggest the academy could do a better job at preparing undergraduate students for compliance work, few resources exist to evaluate these claims. To further complicate the issue, some academics rightly question whether …

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Colin Mcewan: The Complete Americanist From Scotland, Jose R. Oliver May 2021

Colin Mcewan: The Complete Americanist From Scotland, Jose R. Oliver

Andean Past Special Publications

This monograph is a biography of Colin McEwan (1951–2020). It reflects on his substantial contributions to the archaeology and anthropology of Latin America. It shows how he came to be the consummate scholar he was and how his life experiences and education shaped his persona and ultimately forged The Complete Americanist from Scotland that he became. His hunger for knowledge and understanding of the Americas, past and present, led McEwan to explore and conduct research in diverse Latin American localities, from the frigid landscape of Tierra del Fuego, to the humid tropical rainforests of Colombia, from the islands on the …

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Creating A Virtual Ethnographic Field School In An Off-Line Community Of Practice, Patrick Plattet, Robin Shoaps May 2021

Creating A Virtual Ethnographic Field School In An Off-Line Community Of Practice, Patrick Plattet, Robin Shoaps

Journal of Archaeology and Education

This paper describes the creation of an asynchronous on-line ethnographic field school experience for lower division undergraduate students. Our Virtual Field School course offers a field school experience that accommodates the unique make-up of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (where fifty-five percent of undergraduates are “nontraditional” students). Typical ethnographic field schools demand that students can spend four to six weeks in an international fieldsite. Alaska’s geographic remoteness makes travel abroad prohibitively expensive for many students. Pedagogical and technological concerns are outlined, including the utilization of the SELIN distance delivery platform, coupled with Blackboard Learn. SELIN was created by anthropologists at …

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Remote Research As Authentic Learning Online, David Pacifico May 2021

Remote Research As Authentic Learning Online, David Pacifico

Journal of Archaeology and Education

This article reports on a pilot effort to use ArcGIS Online to create a decentralized archaeological mapping lab for digitizing and analyzing archaeological materials visible in satellite imagery. This effort meets student and project needs through an authentic learning opportunity. This effort promises to help us document and study archaeological sites that are likely to be erased before adequate study can be completed on the ground. The Casma Hinterland Archaeological Project (CHAP) reported on here has been successful in both advancing archaeological research in the Sechín Branch of the Casma River Valley, Peru, and in supporting students in skill building, …

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Anth101.Com: A Free And Open Course That Works With Or Without A Classroom, Michael Wesch May 2021

Anth101.Com: A Free And Open Course That Works With Or Without A Classroom, Michael Wesch

Journal of Archaeology and Education

Anthropology is not just a discipline or a body of knowledge. It also contains a different “ethos” for seeing and being in the world. It is often this “ethos” that is what anthropology teachers are actually trying to “teach.” Anth101.com is a free and open textbook, and a hub for anthropology teaching resources, which are dedicated to this kind of transformative learning. The course and text are broken up into 10 lessons that connect to 10 challenge assignments that allow students to practice and embody the core ethos of anthropology.

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Adult Education At The Oriental Institute In The Twenty-First Century, Foy Scalf May 2021

Adult Education At The Oriental Institute In The Twenty-First Century, Foy Scalf

Journal of Archaeology and Education

For over fifty years, the Oriental Institute Adult Education program has taught outside of the traditional academic framework as exemplified by the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. The classes of this program were converted to hybrid availability in 2015. The primary motivation for these expansions was to increase access to, and expand the audience for, the offerings within the program. In doing so, we have found a very motivated audience of global learners hungry for serious engagement with historical, linguistic, and anthropological issues. Although our experience has been punctuated largely by success, several …

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Online Learning For Offline Living, Ryan T. Klataske May 2021

Online Learning For Offline Living, Ryan T. Klataske

Journal of Archaeology and Education

Teaching anthropology online presents a unique opportunity to invite students to explore the world along with us, from wherever they might be. This journey can introduce students to the range of human potential and possibility, while also allowing them to better understand themselves, where they come from, their everyday lives, and the world around them. This article argues that online learning can transform offline living, especially when it engages everyone in their efforts to bring about change in their lives. It presents online teaching as a powerful act of engaged anthropology and an urgently needed experiment to develop online learning …

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Mind The Gap, But Don't Fret The Platform, Jane Eva Baxter May 2021

Mind The Gap, But Don't Fret The Platform, Jane Eva Baxter

Journal of Archaeology and Education

This brief essay makes the case for effective online teaching and learning in anthropology. It addresses areas of traditional faculty resistance to online teaching and suggests that inline teaching has unique strengths and possibilities that can be used to encourage excellence in teachers and students in online anthropology courses.

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Tensions And Opportunities Of Anthropology And The Academy Online, Rebecca Robertson May 2021

Tensions And Opportunities Of Anthropology And The Academy Online, Rebecca Robertson

Journal of Archaeology and Education

In March of 2020, the COVID-19 crisis precipitated an abrupt and unplanned shift to online instruction that is unlikely to completely reverse once the pandemic retreats. Thus, the academy and, by extension anthropology, stand at a COVID-19 accelerated crossroads between a corporeal tradition, a “virtual” present, and an unknown but transformed future. This article briefly explores existing tensions of anthropology and the academy online with the aim of informing a reflexive, equity-minded, and viable way forward. I draw from personal experience, empirical inquiry, and extant literature to examine the challenges and opportunities of online education, with a view to the …

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Meeting Students (And Subjects) Where They Are: Perspectives In Teaching, Learning, And Doing Archaeology And Anthropology Online, David Pacifico, Rebecca Robertson May 2021

Meeting Students (And Subjects) Where They Are: Perspectives In Teaching, Learning, And Doing Archaeology And Anthropology Online, David Pacifico, Rebecca Robertson

Journal of Archaeology and Education

This article introduces a special issue of Archaeology and Education that explores teaching and learning anthropology online. We argue that effective online teaching requires course design that supports participant interactivity, instructor presence, and student-centered opportunities for 'doing, not viewing.' Online modes of teaching, learning, and doing anthropology and archaeology address issues of educational equity and access in addition to providing opportunities for authentic learning that are not available through face-to-face instruction.

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Teaching Paleoradiography Theory Using E-Learning – A Participatory Action Research Study With Undergraduate Archaeology Students, James E. G. Elliott Jan 2021

Teaching Paleoradiography Theory Using E-Learning – A Participatory Action Research Study With Undergraduate Archaeology Students, James E. G. Elliott

Journal of Archaeology and Education

This article presents the development of an e-learning paleoradiography short course for undergraduate archaeology students using participatory action research. The use of x-rays in archaeology is well known and yet studies exploring the pedagogic preferences of students are lacking, particularly for online learning. To address this shortfall 100 students in groups of 50 were invited to participate and provide feedback on an e-learning course which ran in April-May and July-August 2021. Participants required internet access, a university email address, and four hours to complete the course. Initial feedback was used to improve the course for a second iteration. The course …

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In Conversation With The Ancestors: Indigenizing Archaeological Narratives At Acadia National Park, Maine, Bonnie D. Newsom, Natalie D. Lolar, Isaac St. John Jan 2021

In Conversation With The Ancestors: Indigenizing Archaeological Narratives At Acadia National Park, Maine, Bonnie D. Newsom, Natalie D. Lolar, Isaac St. John

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

In North America, Indigenous pasts are publicly understood through narratives constructed by archaeologists who bring Western ideologies to bear on their inquiries. The resulting Eurocentric presentations of Indigenous pasts shape public perceptions of Indigenous peoples and influence Indigenous perceptions of self and of archaeology. In this paper we confront Eurocentric narratives of Indigenous pasts, specifically Wabanaki pasts, by centering an archaeological story on relationality between contemporary and past Indigenous peoples. We focus on legacy archaeological collections and eroding heritage sites in Acadia National Park, Maine. We present the “Red Paint People” myth as an example of how Indigenous pasts become …

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How To Record Current Events Like An Archaeologist, Matthew Magnani, Anatolijs Venovcevs, Stein Farstadvoll, Natalia Magnani Jan 2021

How To Record Current Events Like An Archaeologist, Matthew Magnani, Anatolijs Venovcevs, Stein Farstadvoll, Natalia Magnani

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

This article shows how to record current events from an archaeological perspective. With a case study from the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway, we provide accessible tools to document broad spatial and behavioral patterns through material culture as they emerge. Stressing the importance of ethical engagement with contemporary subjects, we adapt archaeological field methods—including geolocation, photography, and three-dimensional modeling—to analyze the changing relationships between materiality and human sociality through the crisis. Integrating data from four contributors, we suggest that this workflow may engage broader publics as anthropological data collectors to describe unexpected social phenomena. Contemporary archaeological perspectives, deployed in rapid response, …

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