Archaeology of Holes Flashcards
What is a privy?
an outdoor toilet
Why are privies useful to archaeologists? (2)
- easy trash disposal
- diet
What makes privies unique in the archaeological record?
archaeological evidence of private space, not often recorded historically
What screening method is often utilized in privies?
seed flotation
When and where were privies discovered in old Philadelphia?
2014, site of new Museum of the American Revolution
What was found at the old Philadelphia site? (3)
- 12 privy pits dating 19th century or earlier
- circular shafts dug into the ground lined with brick
- over 82,000 artifacts excavated from 12 pits in the area
Who led excavations at the old Philadelphia site?
Rebecca Tamin
What was unique about one of the privies discovered in Old Philadelphia?
built July 10, 1776
To whom did the 1776 privy belong?
Benjamin and Mary Humphreys
What was unique about the 1776 privy? (3)
- only small proportion of standard colonial household garbage
- abundance of drinking glasses, tankards, punch bowls, serving dishes, smoking pipes, and alcohol bottles
- artifact collection matched those of taverns of this area
What led archaeologists to the conclusion that the Humphreys ran an illegal tavern on their property? (2)
- artifact distribution
- arrest record for Mary Humphreys, July 1783: ‘disorderly house’
When was the Boston brothel outhouse discovered?
during Boston’s ‘Big Dig’ construction project
What sort of privy was at the brothel, and where was it located?
- wood-lined privy
- 27 and 29 Endicott St. belonged to Mrs. Lake
What sort of artifacts were found in the Boston brothel outhouse? (3)
- over 3,000 artifacts dating to between 1852 and 1883
- abundance of items relating to female hygiene: hairbrushes, toothbrushes, medicinal/pharmaceutical bottles, vaginal syringes
- also large proportion of alcohol bottles and servingware
What are wells?
structures created by digging into the ground to access groundwater
What are cisterns?
waterproof receptacles built for holding liquids, often designed to catch and store rainwater
What makes wells and cisterns sources of archaeological information?
both are great places to throw garbage when they’re no longer in use
Describe the first well at Jamestown. (3)
- rectangular cellar with barrel-lined wall
- cellar 5ft deep
- well 14ft deep
When was Jamestown’s first well backfilled, and what does this indicate? (3)
- backfilled by 1611
- all artifacts pre-date 1611
- indicates early use
Describe Jamestown’s second well.
5ft x 5ft, 16ft deep
What sort of artifacts were recovered from Jamestown’s second well? (2)
- over 120,000 artifacts uncovered
- including excellently preserved organics from anaerobic conditions
What are three methods of pattern recognition in archaeology?
- Brunswick Pattern of refuse disposal
- Carolina Pattern of artifact relationships
- Frontier Pattern showing high architecture ratio
What is the point of pattern recognition?
to establish general laws for similar sites and be able to apply them to other similar sites
What is quantitative analysis in historical archaeology?
moves from particularist into the nomothetic paradigm
What is the nomothetic paradigm?
gathering a great deal of information to make broad, general assumptions
What is the Brunswick Pattern of Refuse Disposal? (3)
- refers to the tendency for entrances and exits of buildings to have concentrations of waste nearby
- applies to 18th-century British colonial sites
- so firmly established was this pattern for refuse disposal that entrance to areas to structures could be identified by the increased quantity of midden at doorways, even if no architectural data had been present
What is the Carolina Artifact Pattern? (4)
- applies to British colonial sites in North and South Carolina
- examined frequencies of artifact groups recovered from the secondary refuse piles around a structure
- found that one artifact group type will have a consistent frequency to other artifact group types for similar sites
What is an example of the Carolina Artifact Pattern?
broken ceramics from a domestic kitchen will have a consistently higher frequency in relation to other artifact classes
What is the Frontier Pattern? (3)
- same idea as the Carolina Pattern but analyzing sites on the British American frontier
- reversed the frequencies of kitchen and architecture group artifacts
- indicates an increase in building activities for the time period during which the site was occupied
What are the three key concepts of patterns in historical archaeology?
- refuse disposed of in the yard will not remain forever untouched
- it will likely accumulate in concentration over time, but it will also be disturbed, scattered, looted by people and animals, weather, etc.
- there are no natural laws governing the acquisition and disposal of artifacts
What is NAGPRA, and when was it created? (3)
- Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
- required publicly funded agencies and institutions to return human remains held in their collections to culturally affiliated, federally recognized Native American tribes and Native Hawaiian groups
- 1990
What does NAGPRA apply to? (2)
- mostly applies to public property
- private property has been a different matter, but this is changing
Why is the treatment of human remains a hot topic for some?
taps into historic injustices; an extension of racist, colonialist policies inflicted on indigenous peoples
What is among the most controversial sites?
grave sites
Why are grave sites controversial?
for historical archaeologists, this means excavating modern-era burials which may mean that the descendants of the deceased are still living
What is the result of the controversy surrounding the excavation of grave sites?
historic burials are often forbidden or extremely limited
What does the historical archaeology of grave sites demonstrate?
a massive discrepancy in the rights accorded to populations in power vs. minorities
What sort of grave sites have been disturbed?
a much larger portion of historical African American sites compared to European American sites have been disturbed
What is the story of the Kennewick Man, or ‘Ancient One’? (4)
- 26 human remains found during construction in Iowa
- 24 white people, 2 Native Americans
- white people given a proper burial, Native Americans sent to a museum
- this led directly to NAGPRA
What is the story of the African Burial Ground in Manhattan? (5)
- construction project; Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act
- found intact human skeletal remains 30 feet below the city’s street level
- 6-acre burial ground with 15,000 intact skeletal remains of enslaved and free Africans
- 1630-1795
- oldest and largest known excavated burial ground in North America for both free and enslaved Africans
How did the archaeology of the African Burial Ground show the burial practices of enslaved Africans in colonial New York? (2)
- shrouds with brass straight pins
- buried with valuables, e.g. coins, shells, beads
