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Full-Text Articles in Anthropology

Assumptions About Consumption In The Archaeology Of Late Nineteenth-Century Farmsteads, Niels R. Rinehart Dec 2013

Assumptions About Consumption In The Archaeology Of Late Nineteenth-Century Farmsteads, Niels R. Rinehart

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Farming is typically associated with rural environments. The Dubois Site in Albany, New York, however, presented an opportunity to look at a farmstead close to a growing urban center during the second half of the 19th century. The excavations of the Dubois Site are discussed and the results are compared to the more rural Porter Site, a contemporary 19th-century farmstead. The comparison examines how the different contexts might have impacted consumption and production at the two farms, as well as the treatment of the farmstead landscapes. The two New York sites are then contrasted with four contemporary farm sites in …


Archaeology At The 1777 Ebenezer Story Site: The Household Economy Of A Family Of Fishermen-Farmers On The Thames River, Preston, Connecticut, Ross K. Harper, Bruce Clouette Dec 2013

Archaeology At The 1777 Ebenezer Story Site: The Household Economy Of A Family Of Fishermen-Farmers On The Thames River, Preston, Connecticut, Ross K. Harper, Bruce Clouette

Northeast Historical Archaeology

This paper uses data from a colonial-period maritime household site to expand understanding of the economic and subsistence practices of fisherman-farmer families. The site is the 1777 homestead of Ebenezer Story on the eastern bank of the Thames River in Preston, Connecticut, about 12 miles from Long Island Sound. Like many New England Yankees, Story had a diverse household economy: he practiced subsistence farming, fished and shellfished, and owned a saltworks, boats, and cider mill in common with his family. During the Revolutionary War, Story leased part of his land for the construction of the Continental frigate Confederacy, and he …


Growing Things "Rare, Foreign, And Tender": The Early Nineteenth-Century Greenhouse At Gore Place, Waltham Massachusetts, Christa M. Beranek, J. N. Leith Smith, John M. Steinberg, Michelle G. S. Garman Dec 2013

Growing Things "Rare, Foreign, And Tender": The Early Nineteenth-Century Greenhouse At Gore Place, Waltham Massachusetts, Christa M. Beranek, J. N. Leith Smith, John M. Steinberg, Michelle G. S. Garman

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Excavations and ground penetrating radar at Gore Place in Waltham, Massachusetts, uncovered part of an early 19th-century greenhouse (ca. 1806 to the early 1840s) constructed by Christopher and Rebecca Gore. Documentary, archaeological, and geophysical data suggest that the greenhouse was a formal space intended to display exotic plants and that it was built in the relatively new lean-to style, with a tall back wall and a short front wall. The artifact assemblage included tools and small finds related to the greenhouse operation, as well as the remains of at least 149 planting pots. The greenhouse was constructed during a period …


Patriots, Tories, Inebriates, And Hussies: The Historical Archaeology Of The Abraham Staats House, As A Case Study In Microhistory, Richard Veit, Michael J. Gall Dec 2013

Patriots, Tories, Inebriates, And Hussies: The Historical Archaeology Of The Abraham Staats House, As A Case Study In Microhistory, Richard Veit, Michael J. Gall

Northeast Historical Archaeology

To modern suburbanites, life on a farm may seem hopelessly boring or, alternatively, charming and idyllic. Excavations at the Abraham Staats House in New Jersey’s Raritan Valley, just upriver from New Brunswick, provide a revealing glimpse of the dynamic and contentious lives of 18th- and 19th-century farmers. The Staats family, part of the early 18th-century Dutch migration to the Raritan Valley, saw their lives transformed by the Revolutionary War, the arrival of turnpike roads, the construction of the Delaware and Raritan Canal, the emancipation of slaves, the growth of the temperance movement, and family squabbles of Shakespearean proportions. Excavations at …


The Mother Of The Father Of Our Country: Mary Ball Washington's Genteel Domestic Habits, Laura J. Galke Dec 2013

The Mother Of The Father Of Our Country: Mary Ball Washington's Genteel Domestic Habits, Laura J. Galke

Northeast Historical Archaeology

The year 1743 brought hardship to the Washingtons as their family patriarch, Augustine, passed away unexpectedly. At that time, a young George Washington inherited the family’s home plantation in Fredericksburg, known today as Ferry Farm. Augustine’s will stipulated that George’s mother, Mary Ball Washington, manage the plantations of their four young boys until they came of age. Between 1743 and 1772, Mary enjoyed the personal agency that widowhood allowed her; she was responsible for the management decisions of the Washington household and the surrounding farm. Mary’s choices reflect an ambitious woman determined to participate in the genteel society her family …


Assessing Variability Among Quartering Sites In Virginia, Barbara J. Heath, Eleanor E. Breen Dec 2013

Assessing Variability Among Quartering Sites In Virginia, Barbara J. Heath, Eleanor E. Breen

Northeast Historical Archaeology

The definition of what constitutes a Virginia slave quarter based on archaeological evidence is evolving. In the 1970s and 1980s, archaeologists developed an informal set of criteria that equated subfloor pits and the presence of "Africanisms" with structures occupied by enslaved people, and these criteria are still widely used. The accumulation of an archaeological and architectural data set of more than 170 Virginian quartering sites over the past 40 years has demonstrated that these sites vary across time and space, has underscored the problematic nature of site definition based on a checklist approach to ethnic or racial criteria, and has …


Bert Salwen- A Recollection, John L. Cotter Nov 2013

Bert Salwen- A Recollection, John L. Cotter

Northeast Historical Archaeology

A recollection of the life and work of Bert Salwen.


"Something Rich And Strange": Reburial In New York City, Anne-Marie Cantwell Nov 2013

"Something Rich And Strange": Reburial In New York City, Anne-Marie Cantwell

Northeast Historical Archaeology

This article describes and discusses three recent cases in New York City in which anthropologists were involved in the identification, sanctification, and reburial of human remains. These examples show how living peoples may reach back into the past and join with the dead to form a desired "imagined community." Also discussed are the roles of anthropologists in these transformations of the dead into symbols of a desired body politic. Anthropologists who once focused on interpreting past social constructions are increasingly finding themselves playing crucial roles in the creation of modern ones.


Representations Of The Local Past: Gilded Age And Bureaucratic Accounts Of The Minisink, 1889 To The Present, Wendy Harris Nov 2013

Representations Of The Local Past: Gilded Age And Bureaucratic Accounts Of The Minisink, 1889 To The Present, Wendy Harris

Northeast Historical Archaeology

The process whereby local pasts are made meaningful varies through time and among different communities. While historians, philosophers, and anthropologists have long been intrigued by the problem of historical practice, their discussions remain speculative. This paper examines the specific social conditions of production of a single local past. During the late 19th-century, the members of the Minisink Valley Historical Society in Port Jervis, New York, engaged in the imaginative construction of a place they named "the Minisink"- an early frontier region encompassing portions of the Upper Delaware River Valley. The Society's account is examined and compared to accounts produced a …


Alternatives To Archaeological Data Recovery, Joel I. Klein Nov 2013

Alternatives To Archaeological Data Recovery, Joel I. Klein

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Archaeological data recovery ("salvage" excavation" is currently the principal method of mitigating project-related impacts to archaeological sites. The expense, uncertainties, and complicated logistics associated with archaeological data recovery are causing more and more cultural resource managers to seek alternative approaches to mitigation. This paper examines some of these alternatives in terms of their applicability to particular kinds of utility projects, the degree to which they satisfy the spirit as well as the letter of historic preservation laws and regulations, and the nature of objections that have been raised regarding their implementation. Among the alternative approaches considered will be avoidance as …


An Archaeological Analysis Of Spatial Patterning In College Dormitory Rooms, Rose Garvin-Jackson Nov 2013

An Archaeological Analysis Of Spatial Patterning In College Dormitory Rooms, Rose Garvin-Jackson

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Bert Salwen's (1973) pilot study of dormitory residents' behavior is used to demonstrate that patterning in a modern, above-ground site can be investigated with archaeological techniques. The spatial patterning in 89 dormitory rooms is analyzed to identify the various types of territories maintained by the residents. Several sociocultural variables are then selected to see if specific spatial behavior can be linked with given attributes.


The Archaeology Of 19th-Century Health And Hygiene At The Sullivan Street Site, New York City, Jean E. Howson Nov 2013

The Archaeology Of 19th-Century Health And Hygiene At The Sullivan Street Site, New York City, Jean E. Howson

Northeast Historical Archaeology

The households represented by archaeological remains at the Sullivan Street site in Greenwich Village are used to explore issues related to health care in 19th-century New York City. Backyard features and domestic artifact assemblages are discussed in the context of institutional development and specific changes in medical practice. Consumer choices are seen as responses to differential access to sanitation, medical care, and information. Social class had a significant effect on both the infrastructure and material culture of health and hygiene for these households.


Local Trade In Pre-Revolutionary New Jersey, Rebecca Yamin Nov 2013

Local Trade In Pre-Revolutionary New Jersey, Rebecca Yamin

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Following Bert Salwen's inductive approach to historical archaeology, this paper discusses the Raritan Landing project as a starting point for understanding local trade in pre-Revolutionary New Jersey. Salwen's dedication to "important historical issues" is demonstrated by this student's study, which moves from idiosyncratic artifact patterning to historiographic research to ceramic analysis and theoretical explanation. Tentative conclusions are drawn about New Jersey's pre-Revolutionary local trade and areas for further investigation are suggested.


Bert Salwen's Involvement With Historical Archaeology And Cultural Resource Management, Late 1960s-1988, Lorraine E. Williams, Nan A. Rothschild, Diana Di Zerega Wall Nov 2013

Bert Salwen's Involvement With Historical Archaeology And Cultural Resource Management, Late 1960s-1988, Lorraine E. Williams, Nan A. Rothschild, Diana Di Zerega Wall

Northeast Historical Archaeology

A note on Bert Salwen's work in historical archaeology and cultural resource management.


The Mahicans, The Dutch, And The Schodack Islands In The 17th And 18th Centuries, Paul R. Huey Nov 2013

The Mahicans, The Dutch, And The Schodack Islands In The 17th And 18th Centuries, Paul R. Huey

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Documentary research calls attention to the historical and archaeological significance of an area that once consisted of three separate islands on the east side of the Hudson River below Albany. The area, called "Schodack," included the traditional council fire of the Mahican Indians. The history of these islands can be traced from 1609, when Hudson's ship, the Half Moon, anchored near them through the colonial period. Despite extensive purchases of land by the Dutch elsewhere on both sides of the river soon after 1630, the Mahican Indian owners and occupants of these fertile islands resisted selling them to the acquisitive …


Evidence Of The Niantic Indians In The Archaeological Record, Anthony J. Puniello Nov 2013

Evidence Of The Niantic Indians In The Archaeological Record, Anthony J. Puniello

Northeast Historical Archaeology

The ethnohistorical record indicate that during the 17th century a group of Indians, called the Niantic, occupied the area of southwestern Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut. The purpose of this paper is to determine if the archaeological record supports this observation. This is accomplished by the examination of the geographical distribution of several ceramic attributes identified with the pottery type "Niantic Stamped," which researchers have assumed was manufactured by the Niantic Indians.


Indian Forts Of The Mid-17th Century In The Southern New England-New York Coastal Area, Ralph S. Solecki Nov 2013

Indian Forts Of The Mid-17th Century In The Southern New England-New York Coastal Area, Ralph S. Solecki

Northeast Historical Archaeology

According to a recent hypothesis in connection with the emergence of the wampum trade, some 17th-century Indian forts in the southern New England-New York coastal area were built as trading stations rather than for defense or refuge. This proposition has not been fully explored. An examination of the data from the known Indian forts on Long Island and across the Long Island Sound in Connecticut and Rhode Island indicates that the proposition needs review. Only three out of nine forts discussed here appear to qualify as trading stations. These date comparatively later in the second half of the 17th century.


Pottery Production And Cultural Process: Prehistoric Ceramics From The Morgan Site, Lucianne Lavin, Fred Gudrian, Laurie Miroff Nov 2013

Pottery Production And Cultural Process: Prehistoric Ceramics From The Morgan Site, Lucianne Lavin, Fred Gudrian, Laurie Miroff

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Bert Salwen was a pioneer in the study of prehistoric ceramics. In this paper, we use Bert's procedures of classification and interpretation to analyze the pottery assemblage from the Morgan site, a Late Woodland horticultural community located in the lower Connecticut drainage at Rocky Hill, Connecticut. The analysis provides insight into Native American cultural development in southern New England during the 12th and 14th centuries A.D. especially in the realm of social interaction and inter-regional exchange with Hudson valley groups.


Prehistoric Adaptations On Fishers Island, New York: Progress Report, Robert E. Funk, John E. Pfeiffer Nov 2013

Prehistoric Adaptations On Fishers Island, New York: Progress Report, Robert E. Funk, John E. Pfeiffer

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Archaeological and paleoenvironmental research since 1985 on Fishers Island, New York has delineated a partially radiocarbon-dated Native American cultural sequence beginning in the Late Archaic period c. 4200 B.P. and ending at the Contact period c. A.D. 1600. Investigated settlement types included shell middens, lithic workshops, and inland hunting-gathering camps. Subsistence remains, including nuts, mollusks, and the bones of mammals, fishes, and birds indicate sporadic occupation of the island from spring through fall. Pollen recovered from both fresh water bogs and salt marshes evidence a typical postglacial forest succession beginning with the spruce-fir zone at about 13,000 B.P. and ending …


Bert Salwen's Prehistory: 1962-1983, Dena F. Dincauze Nov 2013

Bert Salwen's Prehistory: 1962-1983, Dena F. Dincauze

Northeast Historical Archaeology

A summary of some of the accomplishments of Bert Salwen.


Introduction, Nan A. Rothschild, Diana Di Zerega Wall Nov 2013

Introduction, Nan A. Rothschild, Diana Di Zerega Wall

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Introduction to the volume dedicated to Bert Salwen.


The Clay Pipe Assemblage From An 18- And 19th-Century Aboriginal Consumer Site In The Upper Mid-Continent, C.S. "Paddy" Reid Oct 2013

The Clay Pipe Assemblage From An 18- And 19th-Century Aboriginal Consumer Site In The Upper Mid-Continent, C.S. "Paddy" Reid

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Four years of excavations at the multi-component Ballynacree site (DkKp-8), located at the mouth of the Winnipeg River in northwestern Ontario, uncovered a large number of fur trade artifacts spanning virtually the entire period from initial French contact to the end of the fur trade era in the late 19th century. The clay pipe assemblage serves as an example of some unusual aspects of a major aboriginal village site, as opposed to a fur trade post site, as the quantities, time ranges, and types of pipes are at variance with those expected from such a site.


The Pollen Record Formation Processes Of A Rural Cellar Fill: Identification Of The Captain Brown House, Concord, Massachusetts, Gerald K. Kelso, Alison D. Dwyer, Alan T. Synenki Oct 2013

The Pollen Record Formation Processes Of A Rural Cellar Fill: Identification Of The Captain Brown House, Concord, Massachusetts, Gerald K. Kelso, Alison D. Dwyer, Alan T. Synenki

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Captain David Brown was a major participant in the April 19, 1775 skirmish at the North Bridge, Concord, Massachusetts, and his house stood very close to the battlefield. Diary entries record that his house was dismantled in 1868 and that the filling of the cellar hole began on October 16th of the same year. Archaeologists uncovered the cellars of two houses on the David Brown property: one cellar fill contained only probable 18th-century artifacts; the second contained 18th- to mid-19th-century artifacts. Pollen data indicating that the second cellar hole was filled in the fall link that cellar hole to diary …


Status, Technology, And Rural Tradition In Western Pennsylvania: Excavations At The Shaeffer Farm Site, John Bedell, Michael Petraglia, Thomas Plummer Oct 2013

Status, Technology, And Rural Tradition In Western Pennsylvania: Excavations At The Shaeffer Farm Site, John Bedell, Michael Petraglia, Thomas Plummer

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Archaeological excavations have been performed at the Shaeffer Farm site (36AR410), a rural residence in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. Documentary research and archaeological investigations indicate that the site was mainly occupied in the 19th century, probably by the Shaeffer family during its earliest occupation phase, and later by tenants. The site consisted of a dry-laid stone foundation and artifacts dating from approximately 1830 until shortly after 1900. The artifacts included architectural, domestic, faunal, and personal items. The study provided information about the lives of rural middle- and lower-class residents in western Pennsylvania, focusing on the housing, diet, recreation, and social aspirations …


"A Succession Of Kaleidoscopic Pictures": Historical Archaeology At The Turner House, Salem, Massachusetts, Lorinda B.R. Goodwin Oct 2013

"A Succession Of Kaleidoscopic Pictures": Historical Archaeology At The Turner House, Salem, Massachusetts, Lorinda B.R. Goodwin

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Although the House of Seven Gables Historic Site is principally associated with Nathaniel Hawthorne, the excavations at the Turner House site revealed a wealth of information about the Turner and Ingersoll families, who lived in the house later made famous by Hawthorne's novel. The rich array of documents contributes not only to the further understanding of the households that occupied the site, but also suggest the ways in which the surrounding community perceived the residents and their home through time. This article describes the excavations that took place on the site during the 1991 field season. The documentary evidence acts …


Is It Futile To Try And Be Useful? Historical Archaeology And The African-American Experience, Larry Mckee Oct 2013

Is It Futile To Try And Be Useful? Historical Archaeology And The African-American Experience, Larry Mckee

Northeast Historical Archaeology

This paper considers the place of archaeology in the ongoing debate over the nature of slavery in the United States. The focus is on how the concerns of archaeologists intersect with the concerns of contemporary African Americans, especially in terms of the production and consumption of new information on plantation slavery. Although close links between archaeology and the African-American community should be promoted at every opportunity, archaeologists should avoid engagement with contemporary social agendas in carrying out research and in interpreting evidence. Archaeology's standing with academic and popular audiences can only be maintained by sticking with the discipline's essential mission: …


Book Review: Pottery Works: Potteries Of New York State's Capital District And Upper Hudson Region By Warren F. Broderick And William Bouck, Paul R. Huey, Lois M. Feister Oct 2013

Book Review: Pottery Works: Potteries Of New York State's Capital District And Upper Hudson Region By Warren F. Broderick And William Bouck, Paul R. Huey, Lois M. Feister

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Book Review: Pottery Works: Potteries of New York State's Capital District and Upper Hudson Region by Warren F. Broderick and William Bouck 1995, Dickinson University Press, Canbury, NJ, 285 pages, $59.50.


Book Review: The Archaeology Of Gender: Separating The Spheres In Urban America By Diana Dizerega Wall, Lorinda B. R. Goodwin Oct 2013

Book Review: The Archaeology Of Gender: Separating The Spheres In Urban America By Diana Dizerega Wall, Lorinda B. R. Goodwin

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Book Review: The Archaeology of Gender: Separating the Spheres in Urban America by Diana diZerega Wall 1994, Plenum Press, New York. Foreword by Stanley South, 241 pages, 17 plates, 33 figures, 37 tables, 5 appendices, $37.50.


Battlefield Palynology: Reinterpretation Of British Earthworks, Saratoga National Historical Park, Stillwater, New York, Gerald K. Kelso, Dick Ping Hsu Oct 2013

Battlefield Palynology: Reinterpretation Of British Earthworks, Saratoga National Historical Park, Stillwater, New York, Gerald K. Kelso, Dick Ping Hsu

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Pollen analysis was done on a core through a linear mound formerly identified as a 1777 British earthwork at Saratoga National Historical Park. Documents indicate that the British earthwork was built in a forest in a sparsely settled region. Pollen data record a 71-year reforestation sequence under the mound, indicating that it cannot be a Revolutionary War earthwork.


The Archaeology Of Provincial Officers' Huts At Crown Point State Historic Site, Charles L. Fisher Oct 2013

The Archaeology Of Provincial Officers' Huts At Crown Point State Historic Site, Charles L. Fisher

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Archaeological survey of the site of a proposed maintenance building at Crown Point State Historic Site located the remains of three historic structures, identified as temporary housing of 18th-century soldiers during the initial construction of the extensive British fortifications, which began in 1759. These archaeological features and associated objects are evidence of both the material conditions of the soldiers and the social relationships among them. The spatial organization of the encampement separated the Provincial regiments from the British regulars. Within a single Provincial regiment's camp, the officers' huts were separated from their troops. The small objects recovered archaeologically are viewed …