Historical Archaeology

The Hector Backbone, a ridge running north-south between New York’s Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, appears at first glance to be a peaceful stretch of woodland and pasture protected as part of the Finger Lakes National Forest. Upon closer inspection, the Backbone can be seen as a microcosm of American conflict. The area was settled only after the indigenous Iroquoian people were violently removed. This ethnic cleansing was followed by the imposition of an orderly grid. The landscape was carved into farmsteads that, following a brief period of prosperity, fell victim to conflict inherent in the capitalist system. Unable to compete with factory farming techniques and the increased commodification of agrarian products, local producers fell into ruin. This paper analyzes how these conflicts can be read in this seemingly pastoral landscape.

Ceramic sherds recovered from the lowest level of a waster pile at the Warmstry House site have diverse compositions. One sample was derived from a paste with the same major ingredients as later (mid-1750s to 1770s) Worcester porcelain but in different proportions, whereas others are significantly different (e.g., are comparatively P-rich and Mg+Pb-poor). The mildly phosphatic sherds were derived from a recipe containing bone ash and small amounts of flint glass frit, but no talc, a signature ingredient of Lund’s Bristol porcelain and later Worcester wares. Consequently, they are interpreted to predate Worcester’s annexation (21 February 1752) of the Bristol works. A compositionally transitional (Mg+P-rich, Pb-free) sherd is a hybrid ware that links the phosphatic samples with later, Mg+Pb-rich Worcester porcelain. These data suggest that Worcester’s early proprietors developed their own experimental pastes prior to adopting more Bristol-like recipes after February 1752. It is evident from the composition of the transitional sherd that they continued their experiments with phosphate-bearing pastes after they had knowledge of Bristol’s recipe.

Over the course of the 20th century, advocates and activists have sporadically argued that museums provide an ideal platform for engagements of civic life. Into the 21st century, the social roles and responsibilities of museums are actively being renegotiated, particularly with the blossoming of new collaborative and community-based programs and projects, from local tribally run ecomuseums to the National Museum of the American Indian. Through this case study of work at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science—focusing on two new enterprises, the Collections Synthesis Project and the Indigenous Inclusiveness Initiative—the challenges and opportunities for museum anthropology to contribute to the agenda of civic engagement are examined.

The first cartographic representations of the Paraná delta have been used to characterize the elements that comprised the archaeological site of Fort Sancti Spiritus, an iconic place in the beginnings of the colonization process initiated by the crown of Castile in the southern sector of the Plata drainage basin. The maps of Sebastian Cabot, Sancho Gutiérrez, and Ruy Díaz de Guzmán are compared with written documentation, other maps from the same time, and the information obtained in the latest archaeological studies. This comparative analysis demonstrates the potential of historical cartography as a primary source to enlarge on or nuance knowledge of the initial stages of the conquest and colonization of this region.

An 18th-century colonial settlement, Presidio San Sabá was the largest and, indeed, the most remote military frontier outpost within the Spanish Borderlands of northern New Spain in Texas. Garrisoned with 100 Spanish soldiers who resided there with their civilian families, the presidio numbered nearly 400 people. Historical records reveal that this resident population lived under adverse conditions, suffering from malnutrition, disease, and chronic shortages of food and other supplies. Analysis of the faunal assemblage recovered during archaeological excavations conducted at the presidio site indicates that the San Sabá people managed to survive by subsisting primarily upon the food products of their livestock herds. Moreover, they secured some additional animal protein for their diet by occasionally trading, fishing, hunting, and collecting locally available natural resources.

A variety of field techniques for the recovery of buried landscapes has been successfully and unsuccessfully used in the Midatlantic. Using examples from Morven, the utility of several are surveyed here. Of particular service was the practice of recording elevations as feet (ft.) above-sea-level readings; it permitted planned variations in garden contours (i.e., terraces, falls, sunken groves, drainage grading) to be observed across wide areas of the site. The system of measurement used in the 18th century, based on Renaissance surveying techniques, and knowledge of its use in designing gardens, enables modern archaeologists to predict where key elements of older landscapes may be found below ground. Other methods discussed include the use of the split spoon auger, the steel T-probe, post hole digger, backhoe trenching, checkerboard excavation, and areal excavation. While none is particularly unique or innovative, using them in combination provides the archaeologist with powerful tools for interpretation of buried historic landscapes.