Anthropology

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2211

Browse

Subject: search.filters.subject.archaeology

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Reading Between the Lines: Evaluating GPR Transect Spacing Intervals Employed to Identify Historic Archaeological Features at the William Harris Homestead Site, 9WN168, Walton County, Georgia
    (2024) Balinger, Duncan Neill; Palus, Matthew M.; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This thesis examines the variable distance between transect/line spacing when using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) as a method for the identification of historic subsurface features associated with enslaved African American features at the William Harris Homestead site, 9WN168, in Walton County, Georgia. The fieldwork for this thesis sought to identify and interpret nineteenth-century subsurface features associated with the enslaved African American individuals who lived on the homestead utilizing 0.25 meter (m) transect spacing with a single channel 400 MHz antenna. This thesis sought to evaluate whether the collection of transects at 0.25 m intervals compared to wider spacing such at 0.5 m or 1 m intervals not only allows for greater resolution in the data but also whether tighter intervals locate subsurface features not identified at wider intervals. How does GPR interval spacing affect the quality and accuracy of the reflection data collected at an archaeological site using a single channel 400 MHz antenna under similar soil conditions, and does smaller interval transect line spacing support better interpretation of GPR results? The importance of line spacing intervals used for identifying subsurface features at archaeological sites has been emphasized in the literature (Conyers 2012:28; Goodman and Piro 2013:74), however, there have been very few evaluations of the difference of clarity or accuracy that closer interval line spacing provides when compared to wider intervals (Pomfret 2006). The reflection data examined by this thesis were gathered at the William Harris Homestead, a nineteenth-century farmstead in Walton County, Georgia. The GPR investigations sought to identify the burials of the enslaved African American people who worked at the homestead and any features associated with their living quarters. The methods for gathering the GPR reflection data involved testing gridded areas at 0.25 m interval transect spacing. The data were then processed at 0.25 m, 0.5 m, and 1 m intervals to compare resolution and the features identified by the three data sets. The results indicate that while the resolution of the imagery created from the 0.25 m interval spacing is superior to the imagery created at 0.5 m or 1 m intervals, there were no additional potential features identified. Overall, this appears to be correlated to the size of the subsurface features identified, since almost all were found at the widest interval. However, the potential size of some smaller burials and their orientation; along with the size of potential structural features targeted at the site could be determining factors for the utility of 0.25 m interval transect spacing. When evaluating the usefulness of a closer interval GPR transect strategy for single channel 400MHz frequency antennas in cultural resource management, it should be utilized for projects where there are fewer time and budget constraints along with prime environmental conditions.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF SITE 36LU323, Lower Street Double, Pardeesville, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
    (University of Maryland, 2023) Jones, Sean; Westmont, V. Camille; Shackel, Paul
    The University of Maryland Anthracite Heritage Program's summer archaeological field methods course (ANTH496) was taught at Pardeesville, Hazle Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania (previously Lattimer Village No.2) from May through July 2014. The field school identified and excavated two previously undocumented archaeology sites dating between the late 19th to mid-20th centuries, removing material culture related to the lives of immigrant coal miners and their families. Sites 36LU323 (Lower Street Double) and 36LU321 (Yanac House) were investigated. The following report outlines the Phase I and II archaeological investigations of site 36LU323. All archaeological investigations, review, curation, and reporting were completed in accordance with The Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Guidelines for Archaeological Investigations in Pennsylvania, as amended. The goal of this investigation was to (1) mitigate the loss of material culture due to the hazardous slumping of a privy feature, (2) assess the integrity of archaeological deposits at the site, and (3) gather material cultural evidence to aid in the research themes related to the lives of immigrant labors in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The Lower Street Double House site consisted of the original coal company-constructed doubletenancy house. The Pardee Brothers and Company constructed the house in Lattimer Village No.2. The household was rented until the coal company's bankruptcy in the 1930s when the occupants, the Yannuzzi family purchased the tenant house. The field school investigated site 36LU323 using Phase II archaeological methodology. Three Test Units of varying sizes (5 ft. x 10 ft. and 3 ft. x 3 ft.) labeled as Test Units 7, 11, and 12 were excavated. Test unit 7 was the most prominent of those excavated and contained Feature 11, an early 20th-century privy. Approximately 1,483 artifacts were recovered from the Lower Street Double site. Most of the material culture recovered from this investigation was from a 5 ft. x 10 ft. early 20th-century privy. All diagnostic artifacts found within the site come from this feature. Despite the small sample size of the Lower Street Double site, the significance of the material culture record lends a further view into the lives of exploited labor and the structural violence found within the anthracite coal industry. Moreover, the Lower Street Double site provides a contemporaneous privy to the Yanac House site (36LU321), providing research potential for analyzing ethnic diversity within Lattimer No. 2. Analysis of the Lower Street Double artifact assemblage is guided by research themes to provide a coherent framework for understanding the occupation and lifestyle of household residents. The research themes include (1) An analysis of consumer access to commodities in Lattimer No. 2, (2) how household identity is present in choices of material culture, and (3) how structural violence committed against the labor force may have led to serious health defects.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF SITE 36LU312, CANAL STREET, LATTIMER LUZERNE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
    (2022-08) Jones, Sean; Shackel, Paul
    The University of Maryland Anthracite Heritage Program summer archaeological field methods course (ANTH496) was taught in Lattimer, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania (previously Lattimer Village No.1). From May 29th to July 6th of 2012, the previously undocumented Canal Street site (36LU312) was investigated. The following report outlines the Phase I and II archaeological investigations at the Canal Street Site. All archaeological review, curation, and writing were completed in accordance with The Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commissions Guidelines for Archaeological Investigations in Pennsylvania as amended. Site 36LU312 consisted of coal company-constructed houses. From as early as 1878, up to nine structures of varying sizes and shapes lined the Canal Street road, and over the course of the following seven decades, the structures in this area changed size and shape as additional outbuildings, we added and subtracted to meet the needs of their occupants. The Canal Street section of Lattimer No.1 consisted of an ethnic enclave of primary Slavic and Italian immigrants; this ethnic diversity in the northeast area of town provides a unique perspective in an otherwise ethnically segregated company town. The objective of this work was to assess the integrity of archaeological deposits at the sites to aid in research themes related to the lives of 19th- and 20th-century immigrants and an examination of ethnic enclaves in patch-towns. These research themes include land usage, access to commodities, household demographics, and structural violence. The field school investigations included historical research and excavation of shovel test pits and test units of varying sizes. In total, 32 shovel test pits (STPs) and 13 test units were excavated. The site yielded 9,992 artifacts, 6% of which were ceramics, 35% of which were glass, and 49% of which were metal. A minimum of 76 ceramic and glass vessels were identified. Analysis of the Canal Street artifact assemblage is guided by research themes to provide a coherent framework of understanding the occupation and lifestyle of household residents. The research themes include: (1) a spatial analysis of land usage, (2) an analysis of residents' access to commodities and the effects of such access, (3) an analysis of household and neighborhood demographics, (4) and a discussion about structural violence. The large portion of the material culture recovered from these investigations consisted of modern materials or non-diagnostic materials. The diagnostic materials recovered from the Canal Street assemblage provide a framework that can be used as a model in the analysis of ethnical diverse company towns.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    New Philadelphia Archaeology Report on the 2004 Excavation
    (2004) Shackel, Paul; Christman, Carrie; Hargrave, Michael; Shroder, Marge
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    “THE REAL DISTANCE WAS GREAT ENOUGH”: REMAPPING A MULTIVALENT PLANTATION LANDSCAPE USING HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (HGIS)
    (2019) Skolnik, Benjamin Adam; Leone, Mark P.; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This dissertation uses the tools of historical Geographic Information Systems (hGIS) to locate and describe mid-nineteenth-century plantation landscapes in Talbot County, Maryland. The methodology described here combines historic maps, historic and modern aerial photography, LiDAR-derived elevation data, historic census data, and textual descriptions. It also uses them in conjunction with an ongoing archaeological research project at Wye House, the ancestral seat of the Lloyd family and site of enslavement of Frederick Douglass, near Easton, Maryland in order to further develop ways for archaeologists, historians, and other researchers to work with cartographic and spatial data in a digital framework. This methodology can be used across multiple scales to survey remotely individual sites or even entire counties for potential archaeological resources. Furthermore, it examines the autobiographies of Frederick Douglass, not only because he was a witness to these landscapes, but also because he can be read as a social theorist who addresses issues of race and racialized landscapes throughout his writings. Lastly, it uses these sources of data to consider Dell Upton’s spatial hypothesis regarding racialized plantation landscapes. Taken together, this study of mid-nineteenth-century Talbot County, Maryland represents one way to identify and recover lost sites of African American heritage that would otherwise remain lost.