Protecting Michigan State's Material Culture
History is fleeting yet enduring. We hardly ever realize that we are making it, but the remnants of our historic actions can sometimes remain long after they are done. Things casually jotted down, random papers and notes tucked away—these are items we don’t realize that …
As students begin to file out of campus, the orange cones start lining up as a sign of the upcoming summer construction projects. This will be my second summer as Campus Archaeologist and I feel much more prepared this year to expect the unexpected. We’ve …
In a couple weeks, from April 15 to April 18, the Society for American Archaeology Annual Conference will be occurring in San Francisco, CA. There is going to be great representation of members of Campus Archaeology and the MSU Anthropology Department.
Daggett, Adrianne
[140] SYMPOSIUM: CHRONOLOGY, EXCHANGE, IDENTITY: ELEMENTAL ANALYSIS OF GLASS BEADS FOR ASSESSING REGIONAL INTERACTION
Frederick, Kathryn
[139] GENERAL SESSION: EXPERIMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Goldstein, Lynne
[71] FORUM: GENDER DISPARITIES IN RESEARCH GRANT SUBMISSIONS (Sponsored by SAA Board of Directors)
[235] SYMPOSIUM: CURRENT PRACTICE IN DIGITAL PUBLIC & COMMUNITY ARCHAEOLOGY
[301] SYMPOSIUM: PEOPLE THAT NO ONE HAD USE FOR, HAD NOTHING TO GIVE TO, NO PLACE TO OFFER: THE MILWAUKEE COUNTY INSTITUTION GROUNDS POOR FARM CEMETERY
Kooiman, Susan
[280] SYMPOSIUM: GREAT LAKES ARCHAEOLOGY: CURRENT RESEARCH AND PERSPECTIVES
Meyers Emery, Katy
[5] FORUM: DIVERSE DIGITAL ARCHAEOLOGIES – A CAA-NA & DDIG EVENT (Sponsored by DDIG and CAA-NA)
Schnell, Joshua
[204] POSTER SESSION: ADVANCES IN BIOARCHAEOLOGICAL METHODS
Watrall, Ethan
[200] SYMPOSIUM: MACROSCOPIC APPROACHES TO ARCHAEOLOGICAL HISTORIES: INSIGHTS INTO ARCHAEOLOGICAL PRACTICE FROM DIGITAL METHODS
[235] SYMPOSIUM: CURRENT PRACTICE IN DIGITAL PUBLIC & COMMUNITY ARCHAEOLOGY
Poster Session Featuring Jodie O’Gorman, Frank Raslich, Nicole Raslich, Nicole Silva, Andrew Upton and Jessica Yann
[365] POSTER SESSION: NEGOTIATING MIGRATION AND VIOLENCE IN THE PRE-COLUMBIAN MID-CONTINENT
365-a Jodie OGorman, Michael Conner and Nicole Silva—Negotiating Migration and Violence in the Pre-Columbian Mid-Continent: A View from the Village
365-b Timothy Horsley, Michael Conner and Jodie O’Gorman— Understanding Settlement Organization through Geophysical Survey at the Morton Village Site, IL
365-c Andrew Upton, Jodie O’Gorman, Michael Conner and Terrance Martin—The Role of Public Space in Identity Making at Morton Village (11F2) 304 Program of the 80th Annual Meeting Saturday Afternoon, April 18
365-d Jessica Yann, Jeff Painter and Michael Conner—The Spatial Distribution of Domestic Facilities in the Multiethnic Morton Village Site
365-e Michael Conner, Jodie O’Gorman and Nicole Silva—Introduction to the DMM-MSU Morton Village Project 365-f Ryan Maureen Tubbs, Jodie A. O’Gorman, Jeffrey M. Painter and Terrance J. Martin—Negotiating Identity through Food Choice in the Pre-Columbian Mid-Continent
365-g Frank Raslich, Jodie O’Gorman and Michael Conner—Coming Together: Evidence of Ritual and Public Space as a Mechanism of Social Integration
365-h Jennifer Bengtson, Jeffrey Painter, Frank Raslich, Nikki Silva and Andrew Upton—Migration and Cohabitation at Morton Village: Future Research Directions
Author: Katy Meyers Emery
My previous posts this semester have focused on Campus Archaeology’s involvement in community and educational outreach and the pros and cons of these types of activities. Last Friday, members of Campus Archaeology gave an in-school presentation for MSU Science Festival at East Olive Elementary in …
This coming Thursday CAP has a meeting with MSU Infrastructure Planning and Facilities (IPF) and Granger construction to discuss the upcoming summer construction projects. Most importantly, Phase 4 (final phase) of the North Campus Infrastructure Improvement, a.k.a the steam tunnel project. This project began in …
Campus Archaeology is proud that we can give undergraduate students at MSU such an intensive, hands-on experience in archaeology. Our interns are given the opportunity to immerse themselves in every aspect of archaeology, from the research, to the lab work, all the way to full-scale excavations. Because of this, our interns continue in their careers/studies with a solid background in archaeology. We always like to keep up with what our previous interns are up to and get their feedback on how well CAP prepared them for their future careers. Kaitlin Scharra and Bethany Slon are two such previous interns, check out what they are up to.
I graduated from MSU in December 2012. During the following spring and summer, I was both a Laboratory Intern and Summer Survey Crew Member with Campus Archaeology. My focus during my time as a Laboratory Intern was on creating a functional classification for the artifacts from Saint’s Rest. The aim was to create an interpretation of the collection that the public could identify and engage with. Creating this personal bridge between the artifacts and the public became very important to me at this time and is now my biggest motivation.
After deciding to move to Detroit to be closer to my family, I was encouraged to check out Wayne State University’s program by none other than Kate Frederick. I was fortunate enough to join the Unearthing Detroit project. This is a collections-based research project which reanalyzes collections recovered from the salvage digs in the mid-1900s. Our biggest and most researched collection comes from the construction of the Renaissance Center. Like the collections at Michigan State, these are historic artifacts dating to the 19th Century. They are the artifacts from family households, hotels, a marketplace, bars, and boarding homes for the working class of trade commerce on the river and the Grand Trunk Railroad. The area, which is only about the size of West Circle, tells us the story of a very diverse and continually changing community. I also have enjoyed being able to compare this urban collection to that of my work in the Campus Archaeology collection. It really illustrates the differences between urban and rural settings in the 1800s.
My main job on the Unearthing Detroit team is to develop public outreach. This means I am the one who writes our weekly blog series, develops our face-to-face programs, and is constantly interacting with the public and other programs through social media.
This fall I will be beginning my Master’s in Anthropology here at Wayne State. I will be exploring the different avenues of public outreach. I hope to discover what are the advantages and disadvantages of public outreach and work towards creating efficient and useful methods.
You can follow the work of me and the Unearthing Detroit team through our blog, http://unearthdetroit.wordpress.com/, on twitter @UnearthDetroit, and our Facebook.
Bethany Slon
I had the pleasure of working with CAP for two years, but sadly I had to say goodbye to the team last month, in order to pursue my research interests. Right now I am spending five months in Central Mexico, where I am assisting a Ph.D. student from the University of California Riverside with an excavation of a pre-Aztec elite residence.
We’ve only been digging for a couple of weeks, so a lot of what we are going to find is unclear, but I can say for sure that all of my experiences with CAP have really prepared me for what I’ve been here. I’m used to being on the digging side of things, but here I was entrusted to managing my own section of the excavation. This means that I have to use everything I’ve learned with CAP to make sure everything is perfect in regards to correct archaeology. This includes setting up grid units, taking substantial field notes, and directing my crew in ways that will be most efficient to the excavation. Thankfully. Campus Archaeology has taught me everything I need to know, and I will forever be thankful for the time I got to spend with CAP. As for future plans, I’ll be applying to graduate school while in Mexico, and I hope to be entering a graduate program in the fall of 2015.
As the only non-archaeologist graduate fellow in Campus Archaeology Program (I am a medical anthropologist in training), I wanted to investigate the attitudes that others outside the discipline have toward archaeology. Interestingly enough, when I tell people I am an anthropologist, it is usually assumed …
Next weekend, on Saturday, October 6th, Campus Archaeology Program will be making a special appearance at the State Historical Museum’s yearly Michigan Archaeology Day. The theme for this year is “Hot Iron and Cold Winters,” and will highlight the Fayette Historic Town Site, an immigrant …
This past Saturday was a cold and rainy day. We celebrated Michigan State football as our team beat Wisconsin in a great Big Ten battle. But while some were celebrating in the rain and cold, others celebrated different aspect of Michigan State, at the Michigan Historical Museum in Lansing. Yes, this past Saturday was a perfect day for the museum, and even more so because it was Michigan Archaeology Day. Visitors to the museum were invited to celebrate Michigan’s history through its archaeology.
CAP was on hand to present aspects of their research as well as to display artifacts from past excavations including this past summer’s field school, as well as to provide information about the program and our experiences. It was wonderfully successful, and many were amazed that the artifacts they were admiring at CAP’s display came from MSU’s campus. This last point is exactly why CAP places such a strong emphasis on outreach and community engagement, and is what makes my job so gratifying.
I was personally very excited to be presenting for the first time on Campus Archaeology and what we do. In my presentation, I emphasized the process of doing research on campus, and how rewarding it is to work with the community and collaborate with so many people. It is through such great outlets as Twitter, Facebook, this website and this blog, we help get the word out to many people about how important our research is. By doing this we help present a very unique history of a very unique space. It is a history for all to enjoy, and is something that can be shared through the ages.
By uncovering, protecting and presenting the archaeology and the history on MSU’s campus, CAP provides a means for alumni, staff, faculty and students to share a common bond, a common history. It is by celebrating this shared intellectual heritage, this shared history that we strengthen our community and make MSU a great and successful place for education.
So what’s next for CAP? Well, we are in the process of entering data and doing analysis on the artifacts from this past summer’s archaeological field school. When the data process is done, we are going to be able to present publications, reports, and give talks about our findings. This is a very exciting time for CAP, and we hope that you continue to follow us and support us in discovering and protecting MSU’s past!
Chris Stawski, Campus Archaeologist
In one week, the 2010 Campus Archaeology Field School will begin, and we’d like you to be a part of it. 16 students have enrolled in our Field School, and they will be doing the dirty work: digging, screening, and cleaning artifacts. However, we want …