The Buried Past Quiz
- Excavation in archeology is the process of exposing, processing, and recording of archeological remains found in an excavation site. An excavation site is the place or location that the archeological remains have been found and is placed under study. The purpose of an excavation process is to find artifacts, ecofacts, and archeological facts that show the life and culture of people or civilizations that existed thousands of years ago or cultures that have gone extinct. When an excavation processdestroys a site of interest, archeologists explore digital recording technologies to record the observational information on the site to be excavated. These techniques include; GPS, using 3D imaging laser scanning technology, digital photography, and use of aerial photography. Digital recording allows the excavators to capture details that might get lost once the site is destroyed. Also, it provides data necessary to analyze the evacuation site in the future. Digital recording technologies like 3D laser scanning can be used to remake the excavation site since it scans the measurements of the site while capturing all the details of the purpose of remaking it. Once scanned, the images can be used to point out some features of the site that may have been missed before the excavation took place.
- Stratigraphy is a branch of geography that is involved in the study of rock layering and layers. Strata is the layer of sedimentary rock, igneous rock, or soil that was formed in the earth’s surface with internal characteristics that make it different and distinct t from other the layers. The difference in the layering of the rock or soil deposit is a result of earth, rock, or soil-forming processes that took place over time, and thus, layers are able to exhibit different characteristics. Archeologists explore the use of stratigraphy is used to find a connection between two or more archeological findings that could explain their relationship or relation. While trying to understand the interaction of Native American and colonial masters, Moore, Rodning, and Beck look into the interaction of an outpost in Joara and the reveal of this interaction. They state that “To obtain better clarity of mound stratigraphy, we returned in 2012 to the 2007 test excavations on the southeast mound edge and expanded those units to the west” (Moore, Rodning and Beck 2017: 111). They compare the early stratigraphy data found in previous years to their own finding to understand how the European colonists interacted with the Native Americans in the new continent.
- Absolute dating is the process of ascertaining an age of an archeological finding on a specified timeline or chronology. The process of absolute involves radiometric techniques and dendrochronology methods. Radiometric dating explores the use of radioactive material present in rocks and stratigraphic layers to give a timeline. It includes three methods, which are radiocarbon dating, potassium-argon dating, and uranium-lead dating. On the other hand, dendrochronology is sometimes referred to as the tree-ring counting method because it is based on the study and drawing a comparison of the patterns of tree-ring growth. The two ways help relay the accurate time for the existence of an archeological finding. However, dendrochronology has a limitation in that some of the trees are seasonal species and grow in certain seasons; thus, their growth rate could affect the time of the ring growth. However, they provide the existence of seasons of the environment, which may have changed through climate change over the years. Tree-ring explores the use of the life of a tree species to try and find the timeline of when a group of people or civilizations existed..
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- Prestige goods were symbols that were viewed to have status importance within the c0ommunities that existed around the Mississippi region. Archeologists believe that these prestige goods or status markers were symbols of status and class to distinguish between people in society. The prestige goods were also considered to be durable and stood the test of time in the ground until they were unearthed by archeologists as they excavated the area around Mississippi. Most of the status markers were made from precious metals that were considered to be highly valuable, and the owners of these goods held high positions within society. Such a prestigious good included copper, quartz crystals, and Redstone. However, Drooker postulates that perishable goods were also a mark of prestige and status markers. In many communities, fabrics, clothes, and baskets were also viewed as symbols of power and class among people in society (Drooker 2017:19). Drooker believes that many archeologists dismiss perishable goods as insignificant and, thus, do not view them as prestige goods.
- Archeologist activity in Virginia tries to unearth the activities of Powhatan, who was the spiritual and political leader of the Algonquian people in Werowocomoco village before the English colonialists settled in Jamestown, Virginia. From the archeological excavation of the area, the archeologists were able to find the existence of ditches in the Werowocomoco settlement area that seemed to hold both sacred and residential duties. First, the narrator of the film narrates that after scooping the dark soil, two parallel ditches are discovered, one of which shows the Chesapeake Indian settlement (Nova 2017). The other ditch feature shows the existence of poles that were used to separate the residential area to another area, which the archeologists believed to be a sacred place of worship. According to an article by Virginia Places, “Ditches, an unusual feature in Algonquian towns, separated the holy site from the “normal” town” (Virginia Places n.d.). The researchers described the feature to hold a significant value for the Indian settlement because it was separated from the rest of the settlement and thus, held a scared value among the Werowocomoco people.
- When the archeologists come across the Blackwater swamp region that contains hardwood bald cypress swamp, which they use to carry out a tree-ring test on them to understand the timeline, the Chesapeake Indian settlement existed in the region. Using the dendrochronological methods to determine the timeline of the existence of the trees shows the there was a seven-year drought period that signifies the climate change of the area. T the time that the Indian population was experiencing the climate shift, the English had started to develop a settlement, and the Native population provided them with food. However, they stopped to provide food for them after some time. Thus, the archeologists use the dendrochronological method to understand how the area underwent a climatic shift, and there was a decline in food production to support both the Indian and English populations.
- The English colonists had arrived from England to the New World with weaponry as they expected to engage in war and territorial disputes with the Spanish forces in the New World. Also, they had successfully colonized the Irish, and thus, they anticipated war with the Native Americans. However, they did not use an advanced form of weaponry, such as the use of firearms, because they did not feel the need to use such weaponry against the natives who used arrowheads. Straube states that the type of warfare they expected, “in the New World certainly dictated the type of weaponry with which they were supplied” (Straube2006: 34). The weapons they used were simple in nature but powerful enough to thwart an attack. These weapons included the buckle, horseman’s axe and amour suits.
- Moore, Rodning, and Beck try to relate the resemblance of the structures constructed by the Spanish forces settling in the area and the Native community. Their archeologist activities around the Berry site uncover the possibilities that there could have been an interaction between the Spanish and the native population. According to the authors, “Our finds at the Berry site shed light on the landscape of interaction and identity at Joara and Fort San Juan” (Moore, Rodning and Beck). The similarity they found is based on the Berry mound and the stratigraphic similarities between the two places. Berry mound they found showed that the Spanish settlement influenced the Joaran people to incorporate the Spanish styles to their architecture.
- The earth’s fast architecture was a form of simple architectural design that was carried to the new world by the English settlers. As they settled in the Chesapeake region, they created simple housing designs that involved placing poles on the earth. The Chesapeake architectural design became popular due to the increased activities of tobacco farming. Deetz states that “the wholesale adoption of a single-crop economy, tobacco cultivation, also locked the people of the Chesapeake into a single architectural tradition” (Deetz 1977: 99). The architecture design of earth fast structures included the posting of poles in the earth. Poles are erected vertically to the ground to support the roof. Framed wooden chimneys are shown to offer a variety of floor plans. The chimneys could be placed on the central space of the house or on the oppositesides of the house. The houses also had a cellar that was placed underneath the house, and they could occupy a small section of space underneath the house.
- Maria Franklin looks into the diet habits of the enslaved population in Virginia and how their diet preferences changed with time over various reasons. For starters, there was a rise in the consumption of raccoon and nocturnal animals because of the scarcity of animals like deer. She writes that the white-tailed deer were scarce in the area due to over-hunting as well as the grazing of livestock in their natural habitat” (Franklin 2001:100). Another reason was that Rich Neck did not allow them to use firearms, and thus, they could not hunt animals and birds during the day. However, animals like raccoons and possum could be easily trapped at night, and thus, they did not require firearms to trap or hunt them. Another reason was that the Rich Neck households started to experiment with wider varieties of wild mammals and fish. The Rich Neck’s slave household also experimented on the alternative sources of wild meat for their consumption, and thus, they started consuming small nocturnal animals like possums and raccoons.
References
Deetz, J. (1977). In small things forgotten: an archaeology of early American life. Anchor.
Drooker, P. B. (2017). THE FABRIC OF POWER. Forging Southeastern Identities: Social Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Folklore of the Mississippian to Early Historic South, 16.
Franklin, M. (2001). The archaeological dimensions of soul food: Interpreting race, culture, and Afro-Virginian identity. Race and the Archaeology of Identity, 88-107.
Moore, D. G., Rodning, C. B., & Beck, R. A. (2017). JOARA, CUENCA, AND FORT SANJUAN. Forging Southeastern Identities: Social Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Folklore of the Mississippian to Early Historic South, 99.
Nova. (2017). NOVA | Transcripts | Pocahontas Revealed | PBS. PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3407_pocahont.html
Straube, B. A. (2006). ‘Unfit for any moderne service’? Arms and armour from James Fort. Post-Medieval Archaeology, 40(1), 33-61.
Virginia Places. (n.d.). Werowocomoco. Geography of Virginia. https://www.virginiaplaces.org/vacities/werowocomoco.html