MTU Social Sciences SS 3220 Historical Archaeology

Michigan Tech Department of Social Sciences

Course Information

Course Location

Textbooks

Grading

Lab Hour

Lecture and Schedule

Activity Assignments

Quizzes

Links

World News Links

Campus Cultural Events

SS 3200 Historical Archaeology

Spring Semester 2008

Dr. Timothy James Scarlett

Assistant Professor of Archaeology

Department of Social Sciences
Office Location: 213 Academic Offices
Office Phone: 906.487.2359
Email: scarlett@mtu.edu

Office Hour:

Wednesdays, 11-12
I'll also happily meet for coffee by appointment almost any time.

Course Location:

Lecture Section A
T/H 12:35 - 1:50
MEEM, Room #402

Course Information

This course introduces students to the exciting and interdisciplinary field of historical archaeology. Historical archaeology is a field of infinite curiosity about the modern world, we draw from such diverse fields as anthropology, history, material culture studies, materials sciences, economics, geology, geography, literary criticism, and evolutionary ecology.

Two hundred years ago the British abolished the African slave trade worldwide when they passed The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. The British outlawed the international trade in African peoples, but without freeing those individuals currently enslaved or those born into bondage in the Empire. Both scholars and social activists point to this act as the beginning of slavery's end. The social struggle to end slavery intensified over the subsequent century, as the British Empire abolished slavery in 1833 and other countries slowly followed suit. Slavery's institutions and processes, along with the plantation-based, mercantile capitalist system it supported, still structure inequality today-- on scales both global and local. We will explore slavery this year, subjecting it to institutional analysis as a structure of social relations. We will also examine slavery's human stories, by discovering biographical narratives that will make the experience personal.

As the course wraps up, we can contrast slavery's landmarks against the coincidental fact that Jamestown was settled 400 years ago. Those planning these celebrations argue that these settlers birthed the American Civilization. We will study the dueling narratives of America's founding during the semester, using archaeology as the common thread.

From time to time, we may have guest lecturers. These persons will be experts on a specific area or topic or they will have recently completed field research projects relevant to what we are discussing in class. I expect that all students will attend these lectures and be prepared to answer exam questions on the information presented therein.

Required Texts

Ogundrian, Akin and Toyin Falola

2007 Archaeology of Atlantic Africa and the African Diaspora. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

Dixon, Kelly Jo

2006 Boomtown Saloons: Archaeology and History in Virginia City. University of Nevada, Press.

Wilkie, Laurie A.

2003 The Archaeology of Mothering: An African-American Midwife's Tale. Rutledge, New York.

Yentsch, Anne Elizabeth

1994 A Chesapeake Family and Their Slaves: A Study in Historical Archaeology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Optional Texts:

Hurston, Zora Neale

2006 Their Eyes Were Watching God. Harper and Row, New York.

Mullins, Paul R.

1999 Race and Affluence: An Archaeology of African America and Consumer Culture. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York.

Copies of some texts are in the library on reserve under this class.

The Deetz text is available used around campus and on the web. It is your responsibility to acquire the editions we are using in class.

The site of Virginia City's Boston Saloon, behind the modern Bucket of Blood Saloon, in Nevada's Comstock Lode mining district. The Boston Saloon was an anchor for the African American community.

The site of the Boston Saloon before excavation. The archaeological site sat under the parking lot behind Virginia City's current Bucket of Blood Saloon. The Boston Saloon was an important location for the Comstock's African American community.

Grading Criteria

You will complete three exams during the course. Exams will cover lectures, textbook readings, narratives, cultural events, and guest lectures. Each exam is of similar length and the format may include a combination of short-answer and essay questions. Each exam is worth 100 points. Your exam scores can total 200 out of 200 points. Make-ups will be given only in cases of verified and unavoidable emergencies. You must notify me of conflicts (such as away games or religious holidays) prior to any scheduled exam or activity. Arrangements for taking the make-up exam should be made within three working days after the scheduled examination date. If this procedure is not followed, the student will not be allowed to take a make-up exam. Unexpected emergencies will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Lab Work

Each student should schedule a single hour of volunteer time in the archaeology laboratory. This time is not graded. Laboratory experience is critical to understanding the process of archaeological thinking. Failing to complete this hour of time will result in a zero, attending and making an earnest effort to learn will earn you full credit (100 pts). You must schedule your appointment before 3/20. If the lab researchers have no volunteer tasks, we will arrange a class tour of the lab outside of lecture time.

The Final Course Grade is the average of 550 possible points. The final grade will be a strait percentage; the class will not be curved. The summary of possible points is listed below:

Exams (3) @ 100 points each = 300

Lab Time (1 hour)= 50

Class Participation = 100

Total 450

Participation will also permit me to modify a grade up by 5% at my discretion.

At any given point in the course, a student can compute their own grade by summing the current point total scored on completed assignments and dividing that total by the possible score. The final grade is a letter determined on the following scale:

93%+ A

88-92% AB

83-87% B

78-82% BC

73-77% C

68-72% CD

60-67% D

62%- F

The Technicalities:

Please check my links on Support Services and Educational Opportunities.

Lectures

Week 1: Notes 1

Ogundrian: Chapter 1.

Tuesday, January 15: Introduction to Archaeology

Thursday, January 17: Archaeology and Culture

Week 2: Notes 1, Notes 2

Ogundrian: 2-8.

Tuesday, January 22: History of Historical Archaeology: Science and Humanism, The Four Haunts

Thursday, January 24: Models of Culture and Otherness: Reading The Enlightenment

Week 3, 4: Notes 1

Ogundrian: 2-8,17, 18.

Tuesday, January 29: Race and Ethnicity, Creolization and Africanisms: Intro

The AAA Race Project

Thursday, January 31: The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century World: Environment and International Inequality in the Rise of the Slave Trade. (Guest lecture by Dr. Carl Blair, Michigan Technological University, International Programs and Services)

Tuesday, February 5: The Triangle Trade and The Middle Passage (contributions by Dr. Jane Webster, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne)

UNESCO Slave Trade Map

Shipwreck Links:

Henrietta Marie

Fredensborg

Concorde (Queen Anne's Revenge)

L' Utile (in French)

Trouvadore

Thursday, February 7: Winter Carnival Recess

Take Home Essay 1.

Week 5: Notes

Ogundrian: 12, 14; Yentsch: 5-6

Tuesday, February 12: Plantation Archaeology I: Digging for Slaves (video)

Thursday, February 14: Plantation Archaeology II: Landscapes of Colonization

Week 6: Ethnicity: Notes 1; Notes 2

Ogundrian: 15;Yentsch: 7-8

Tuesday, February 19: Diet, Creolization, and Science (contributions by Hannes Schroeder, Oxford University)

Thursday, February 21: Plantation Archaeology III: Landscape and Power

Week 7: Gender and Ethnicity: Colonware: Notes 1

Ogundrian: 9, 13; Yentsch: 9-10

Tuesday, February 26: The Curious Problem of Colonoware

Thursday, February 28: Gender, Sex, Sexuality, an intro

Week 8: Notes 1, Notes 2

Wilkie: 1-5; Yentsch: 11-12.

Tuesday, March 4-6: Mothering and Midwives, Gender in Slave Societies (contribution by Dr. Laurie Wilkie, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley)

Week 9: Spring Break:

Finish Wilkie.

Tuesday, March 11:

Thursday, March 13:

Take Home Essay 2

During this week, you should start preparing for Gangs of New York. See below!

Week 10&11: Class: Notes, On-line Exhibit here.

Tuesday, March 18: About Face: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the African American Image (With support from Sarah Fayen, Assistant Curator, Chipstone Foundation, Milwaukee, WI)

Thursday, March 20: Intro to Five Points and Gangs of New York activities.

Tuesday, March 25: Discussion of Riis, Scorsese, and Yamin on NPR.

Thursday, March 27: Discussion of archaeology reports/articles.

This will be an unusual week. We depart from the regular pattern, where I talk and lead class. You will have an opportunity to apply the ideas we've been discussing about ethnicity, race, gender, and class by examining one site in great detail-- New York's famous Five Points neighborhood. We are going to approach Five Points along three routes: the archaeology, the photographs of Jacob Riis, and Martin Scorsese's film The Gangs of New York. I expect you to "operationalize" some of the ideas we've discussed, particularly the concepts from ethnicity and race theory. Consider how each route takes you through the neighborhood. The archaeologists, the photographer, and the movie all construct The Points neighborhood. When we sit down on Tuesday, I'd like you to tell me about the different routes- what each each perspective doing? What are the advantages, disadvantages? Why do they seem to be so different? How does each scholar/person understand ethnicity, gender, and class? How are African-Americans part of these stories? What about "the" Irish?

Pick two of these to read (all on reserve at Library):

1. Rebecca Yamin 1998 Lurid Tales and Homely Stories of New York's Notorious Five Points. Historical Archaeology 32(1): 74-85.

2. Heather Griggs 1997 "God Grant That You Prosper and Flourish" Historical Archaeology 31(3): 84-106.

3. Yamin, Rebecca, editor.

2001 Becoming New York: The Five Points Neighborhood. Historical Archaeology 35(3). (On reserve in the library- read the introduction
and conclusion as well as one other article form the volume.)

In addition, you can see images on these web sites:

Damian Blanck and Paul Reckner built the GSA's website about the archaeology project and the site includes text by Rebecca Yamin.

The photography and writing of Jacob Riis is another major avenue down which we can travel into the Five Points neighborhood. Yale University has put a hypertext version of his 1890 book How the Other Half Lives. You can read the text and see images at the site, but the pictures are of poor quality.

The final route we'll take into The Points is Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York. The official web site for the film is here. Ted Chamberlain wrote a nice discussion of the that he updated for National Geographic in March of 2003. You should read his comments here. In addition, Marty Moss-Coane's interviewed archaeologist Rebecca Yamin and historian Tyler Anbinder about history, archaeology, Five Points, and the Gangs of New York. Ms. Moss-Coane hosts the RadioTimes program for WHYY, the NPR affiliate in Philadelphia. The January 6, 2003, discussion lasted just under one hour. Listen with RealPlayer by clicking here. The link takes you to the RadioTimes archive. Enter "Yamin" into the search box and you will find the show.

Week 13&14: The Five Points and the African Burying Grounds

Ross W. Jamieson 1995 Material Culture and Social Death: African American Burial Practices. Historical Archaeology 29(4): 39-58.

In your readings this week, you should also peruse the final site reports from the Government Service Administration's archaeological research:Final Archaeology Report

Pick one chapter to examine in some detail and be prepared to explain to the rest of the class what it was about.

Tuesday, April 1: Archaeology: Unearthing the Slave Trade (1993)

Thursday, April 3: Discussion of archaeology.

Tuesday, April 8: Discussion

Thursday, April 10: New Philadelphia and Elmwood (Guest Lecture by Timothy Goddard with contributions by Paul Shackel and Edward Gonzáles-Tennant)

Link: New Philadelphia Archaeology Project Website

Link: Virtual Rosewood