No late submissions accepted for any reason. Make sure you don’t wait until the last minute to print, and staple before coming to class. Anyone asking for an exception will be directed back to this note. PROJECT is WORTH 10 POINTS.
Garbage Project
(Adapted from materials on the archaeology & material culture website, www.iupui.edu/~anthpm/a103trashex.html
& the Conservation & Environmental Studies Center, Bulington County, NJ. Website Www.cfe.corne…edu/wmi/TrashGoestoSchool/Garbology.html).
OVERVIEW
The majority of archaeological remains are garbage. Garbage dumps are characteristic of all human settlements. Items such as discarded stone tools, remnants of meals, broken ceramic vessels, often make up this human refuse. Such items are what archaeologists call artifacts. A discarded soda can is just as much of an artifact as is a prehistoric stone tool. Both Historic & Prehistoric site “middens- refuse heaps” are simply collections of refuse that contained food remains & domestic trash. Archaeologists use this “Material Culture” as a link to study the past. Archaeological analysis (interpretation) of these garbage remains is the focus of this project.
In order to complete this assignment SUCCESSFULLY, you must imagine that you are a future archaeologist. Your purpose is to gain a better understanding of a past civilization by studying the artifacts & wastes they left behind. You will analyze a contemporary material assemblage (a single household’s garbage). In other words, you must interpret modern “archaeological” data (somebody’s trash).
A list of recovered data from your archaeological excavation (The Excavation at Morgantown) provide the context for this analysis. Your task is to develop a hypothesis concerning the culture you are studying. What assumptions can you make about the society based on the artifacts recovered. What conclusions can be drawn concerning lifestyles, eating habits, clothing, & technology.
You will title your PROJECT: The Excavation at Morgantown
Begin with a paragraph introducing yourself as a future archaeologist. Include your name, who you are working for, and what you hope to accomplish. The main body of the paper should consist of your analysis to the following 7 questions. You should provide a 1 paragraph answer to each question, being sure to support what you say by mentioning the specific artifacts from the excavation that you used to answer each question. Conclude with a paragraph summarizing your findings.
During an archaeological survey of the now-abandoned mid-Atlantic region of North America, you identify a rare early twenty-first century domestic site that was known during the period as an “apartment complex”. At this site your site your discover 1 undisturbed receptacle of material culture. The receptacles are typical of the period–the high density plasticine-based potpourri-scented 13 gallon “kitchen bag.” Fortunately these receptacles preserved their contents quite well. All wrappers and glass or plastic containers, even if their contents were consumed, were preserved. Specialists know that this style of receptacle dates to the early 2000s, during the Middle Hedonistic Period. Archaeologists who specialize in this period know that such receptacles usually were used to construct heaping middens that formed rich ecozones predominated by avifauna and rodents. In this excavation, the two bags remain in the space they were originally collected, so we can actually attribute the assemblage to a particular household. These bags were recovered from a multiple strata within the food preparation & general habitation zones, what this culture referred to as a “kitchen”, “bedroom” & “bathroom”. Consequently , we can safely infer that the deposit almost certainly was formed by a single household; however, we have no other information on the inhabitants and are compelled to rely upon your expertise in the analysis of this society.
It is your task as an archaeologist to analyze the archaeological data…
1. How old is the site (provide an approximate month/year)?
2. Household’s composition, number of members, ages, sex?
3. What types of social activities are evidenced by the artifact assemblage?
4. What sorts of businesses & stores do they frequent?
5. How much disposable income does this sample suggest, and how would you characterize their class standing?
6. Most of the data is from food consumption: how would you characterize their diet? For instance, what range of foods do they appear to eat?; how Healthy? Expensive? Cheap? Trendy?;
7. What does their diet suggest about their lifestyle (are the busy, stay at home, etc.)?
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