Trash to Treasure Experimental Pedagogy Using the Everyday

8/2/2019 Trash to Treasure Experimental Pedagogy Using the Everyday

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Society for American Archaeology 2012 77 th Annual Meeting, Memphis, TNSession: Lessons from the Trenches: The Pedagogy of Archaeology and Heritage

Trash to Treasure: Experimental Pedagogy Using the Everyday

Katie Kirakosian, Eastern Connecticut State UniversityEmail: [email protected]

Keywords: Pedagogy, Archaeology, Modern; Geographic focus: North America General

The results of an experimental archaeology laboratory project will be presented here, which was taughtin two formats over the past year: in-person and online. Paying homage to Rathje and Murphy (2001),both groups of students investigated modern refuse by analyzing the contents of vacuum bags, whichwere donated by the Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU) community. The learning outcomes,laboratory methodology, logistics, student feedback and instructor reflections will be presented as well.

Foreword

In the fall of 2011, I introduced a semester long laboratory project for the first time to twosections of Introduction to Archaeology at Eastern Connecticut State University (Eastern) in the hopes of

simulating a true archaeological field experience. While I was slated to teach this class online this past

winter session, the course was cancelled. I am able to reflect on the online potential of this project

however, which I do hope to be able to teach online shortly. My ultimate goal is to outline this project in

enough detail so that instructors can easily implement this project in their courses.

I had been inspired to use vacuum bags some months before, when conducting interviews for my

dissertation. One interviewee recalled a similar class that he taught decades before, where students were

asked to design their own independent projects, which had to use an archaeological theory or method in

their everyday lives. He recalled that one student vacuumed her house and analyzed the contents to talk

about activity areas. I was intrigued by the idea of using vacuum bags as a proxy for an archaeological

site. For months I thought about whether I might do just this. I did have concerns though. How could I

ensure safety? Would half of the class drop on the first day after I introduced this lab? Would they really

learn anything about archaeology through this process? What might the ethical challenges be?

After getting positive feedback from a colleague in my department, I emailed the Eastern

community to solicit vacuum bags, as I knew I would need a great deal of support in order to make thiswork (see Figure 1). The email went out in May 2011 and by the time the project began in September; I

had met my goal of 25 vacuum bags, or one bag for every two students.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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The assignment

This lab project did not actually begin until September 30 th, after a full month of textbook

reading assignments and lectures (Kelly and Thomas 2009). Students were also reading Rubbish! The

Archaeology of Garbage (Rathje and Murphy 2001) and had just had their first discussion a week prior.

Having talked about this project for a month with students, they were ready and anxious to enter the

field.

They were expected to excavate 20 cm of their site within five 50-minute lab periods (see

Figures 4 and 5). Although an aggressive expectation in hindsight, they knew they would not be

penalized if they did not reach this goal as long as they were working steadily each lab period. While

excavating, they had to fill out level forms as well as tags and keep a record of every bag (see Figures 6

to 10). When I introduced this project to the class, I also explained that their lab portfolios would be

graded at the end of the semester and that each student would be expected to present their results to theclass with a final poster. Overall this project (lab portfolio and poster) amounted to 40% of a students

total class grade.

Logistics

Having taught several archaeological field schools, I had experienced many logistical

challenges. This project however, was different in many ways. As I collected bags, I gave each a unique

number and any information that was offered about the household or location was entered into a separate

Excel sheet. Many vacuum bags came from individual households, although some sites were actually

from a community vacuum in one of Easterns dormitories.

There were 50 students between two classes, which met for 50 minutes in back to back time

slots three times a week. Instead of thinking carefully about how to get the students back and forth to the

site, I had to consider how to get the sites themselves back and forth to the classroom. Luckily the ECSU

campus is relatively small because I had to bring 13 boxes of material back and forth to each lab class

(see Figure 2). Unfortunately there was no secure storage area in the classroom. In addition to the

vacuum bags themselves, many supplies were needed. I had purchased enough gloves, masks, hand

sanitizer, paper towels and disinfectant for the whole class to use. I also purchased 60 three-ring folders(which I found for 10 cents a piece), a dozen inexpensive sieves, pairs of scissors and magnifying glasses

as well (see Figure 3). Considering the tight budget, I made tweezers out of drink stirrers, folded paper

and elastic bands. I was however quite fortunate to borrow a digital scale, microscope and protective

eyewear from the Biology Department. Each student was expected to purchase a box of plastic bags that


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could zip closed and bring them to each lab class. As with all sites I have ever worked on, no artifacts or

paperwork could be taken home.

If students missed one of the five lab classes, they were expected to make up two hours of lab

work. Luckily I was able to book our classroom from 1-4pm on all lab and discussion days. The

normally scheduled classes ran from 11-11:50am and 12-12:50pm, after which time students could come

in and work on their site independently. Many students wanted to come in who did not have to make up

time as well. These extra hours were much quieter than their normally scheduled lab time and students

had uninterrupted access to the scale, which was always busy.

Lab reflections

The first month

Things went quite well the first day. The main goal was to introduce the project, pit partners

and sites. Very few teams actually excavated anything this first day, as many had to stop and clean up

soon after they opened their site. Every site was opened however and beginning depths were established

(see Figure 11). I encouraged them to use all of their senses (except taste of course) to describe their site.

Many did not hold back when describing their sites smell, which many could still detect through their

mask slightly. According to their descriptions, many sites smelled like dogs and/or cats, while one

vacuum bag smelled like old people according to one group although I challenged this last group to be

more explicit.

After one group opened their vacuum bag, they called me over to help them interpret what theywere seeing (see Figure 12). After some consideration, I realized that vacuum bags apparently do not

conform to the Law of Superposition, as I had assumed. This was a teachable moment, so I stopped the

class and explained what I thought I was seeing. It appeared as though vacuum bags accumulate from the

outside in, meaning that the layers closest to the outside of the bag are the oldest and those towards the

center of the bag are the most recent. Realizing that it would be nearly impossible to have students

excavate their sites in this fashion, they continued as planned.

As with many aspects of this assignment, the steps that students went through were the same, but

how to accomplish a step was rather different. For example, I knew that students would have to close

their site at the end of the lab period, just like a unit/site needs to be closed every day. Closing a vacuum

bag site however, required newspaper and tape. I n order to help with the reopening process, I had

students write top on the top of their site, which is something that I would never require in the field.

The second month


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Students still needed a bit of encouragement and guidance about how to open their sites and

what their goals were for the second lab, but by the third lab they began to open and close their site

independently. They started reflecting on the significance of certain finds and how to interpret their data.

Students grappled with lots of topics during this time, as did I. One student was particularly disgusted by

his site and commented quite often about how dirty everything was (implying that the site was made bydirty people). I told him that the point of vacuuming was to get as much dirt out of a space as possible,

so might his site imply the opposite: that the people who created this site were very thorough cleaners

and did not accept dirt in their house (see Figure 13)? As every lab portfolio contained the Society for

American Archaeologys Princip les of Archaeological Ethics, I urged him to think about the ethical

implications of his work. Was he being ethically responsible and sensitive if one of his main conclusions

focused on his sites dirtiness ? There was a very real possibility that some of those who donated their

vacuum bags might come to the final poster presentations, so I was quite concerned about these potential

interactions. I had discussed the importance of collaboration and commitment to descendantcommunities and reasoned with students that this project had similar parallels.

I found myself in weekly conversations that would have been unbelievable to me before starting

this project. For example, I soon realized that I would have to add a category of fingernail because

students started finding many fingernail clippings at some of their sites. I had clearly not thought of it all,

as I never anticipated such a category for some reason. After we all recovered from the initial shock

(disgust for some) of finding these items, students became interested in their research potential. I had

recently announced to the whole class that they had received a grant (although purely fabricated for this

project) and had to spend their $800 in grant money, so the research potential of fingernails was exciting

to many (see Figure 14). They asked me if they could potentially do genetic profiles on fingernails?

Could they determine race, or sex? Could they determine an individuals diet? Having no experience and

little knowledge in this area, I had to turn to other sources to answer them. I had certainly never found a

fingernail in the field!

The discovery of a painted fingernail clipping led to noteworthy conversations about gender

norms. Students thought this was irrefutable proof that it was a womans nail. Cant men paint their nails

and isnt th at actually the recent trend I asked? But not pink they said. After I pressed them on the issue,no one felt totally confident that it was a womans nail anymore . As another example, several sites

contained large quantities of pine needles. One student thought this was irrefutable proof that the people

represented by this vacuum bag celebrated Christmas and were therefore Christian. One Jewish student

overheard our conversation and spoke up saying that wreaths and garlands decorate her home during the

winter.


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Words like probably and likely frequently entered their comments now. We tried to reason

things out together. Question everything, I urged. Are there alternative hypotheses for your data? Soon

they realized that a piece of long hair could certainly come from a man and the presence of baby wipes

did not necessarily mean that a baby lived in the household. I use baby wipes on our dogs, I admitted!

The third month

Students started to feel the pressure of their impending poster presentations. Pieces of the lives

represented by these vacuum bags started taking shape and fascinating clues began to emerge. One

student found parts of a candy necklace and a clothes tag that read 4T (see Figure 15). One group found

a used diabetes test strip while another group found dozens of colorful popped balloons (see Figure 16).

As I had donated some of my own vacuum bags, I was also interested to see what students were

learning about my household, although I never admitted which vacuum bags were mine. Students did not

find any fingernails in my vacuum bags, which did not surprise me. I was able to question these students

about their evidence and what this might say about variations within human behavior. One student

reasoned that perhaps these people do not let their fingernails fall on the floor. How might one dispose of

their fingernails otherwise? Maybe they clip them over the trash or the toilet, or they get manicures, or

bite their nails.

Interesting discussions ensued for pet owners too. Some students had evidence for dogs based on

fur, but no dog claw clippings. We realized that those dogs may go to the groomers or their nails were

clipped outside or swept up and put into the trash. One student asked me why they had lots of cat fur butno kibble (see Figure 17). Maybe they feed their cat wet food I proposed. The major consensus was

however that vacuum bags only give us a small portion of any story.

Translating the field experience

Some things never change, even if your site is a vacuum bag. One student came up to me after

the first lab day admitting that it was hard to balance the excitement of excavating with the drudgery of

filling out paperwork (see Figure 18). Some students cleaned up well before it was time and could not

wait to be done while others had to be prodded to stop and still others in the earlier section would work into the next period.

Students called me over to help them identify items, which I am quite used to. What I was not

used to was helping students identify things like candy (some disintegrated nearly beyond recognition)

and dirty, dried out baby wipes. One thing that I constantly reminded students of was the fact that they

were closely connected to much of the material culture they were excavating, which might make the


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process of identification a bit easier. Would archaeologists in 1,000 years be able to identify small

fragments of dozens of candies and other snacks? Perhaps that would be an area of expertise in the

future: junkfoodologist.

One thing that was quite helpful was that when lecturing I could draw on students sites to make

certain points throughout much of the semester to keep lecture and lab connected. When talking about

subsistence and diet I asked what types of things might one learn if given a trash bag from the same

household that has not been determined yet through a vacuum bag? One student suspected that he might

have evidence for a baby, but that he might know for sure if he found used diapers or baby food jars or

formula canisters. True, but might cloth diapers and breast- feeding still hamper ones argument?

When discussing taphonomy, I had students brainstorm what items from their site would

certainly survive 1,000 years and what items likely would not. The class was able to connect to my

discussion of cognitive archaeology in ways that no other class had. While discussing cave painting inthe Upper Paleolithic, I urged students to consider whether they could discern anything about the

thoughts, feelings and mindset of their sites creators. Many thought their sites showed evidence for

laziness and/or hurried cleaning--perhaps.

It was hard to not feel defensive when students spoke harshly of my own vacuum bags, so I had

to carefully navigate this discussion. Who would vacuum up a whole pencil, one student asked? I had

actually vacuumed up that pencil, which had fallen against one of my baseboards. When I heard it clank

up my vacuums hose I was alarmed, but knew if it was anything of value that I could get it back again

in the fall. Two other students were perplexed about why someone would vacuum up six whole sheets of

toilet paper. That had also been me. When vacuuming one of my bathrooms, my hose actually got caught

on the toilet paper roll when I turned around. I wrestled there for some time, after loosing a bit of toilet

paper of course!

The final poster presentations

I decided to have each student create their own poster about their site, which was then presented

in an open class session during the last week of classes. Pit partners presented their site on the same day

and those who were not presenting on a given day were the audience for those who were presenting and

vice versa. I made this decision for several reasons. First having each student or even pit partners present

their projects one by one would have taken an entire month. Open poster sessions make students engage

with each other one on one for an entire class period. Presenters were expected to talk to each audience

members (roughly 12-15 students), while audience members were expected to give thoughtful comments

and feedback to each presenter (in a small booklet that I made for each student). I walked around during


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these class periods and talked to students about what they learned from this assignment. Presenters left

their posters and comment booklets with me at the end of class, which I then graded and returned to

them at their final examination. Secondly, giving each student the freedom to interpret and present their

site independently showed them that more than one interpretation was possible. I encouraged them to

talk to their pit partner while excavating and discuss what they thought about their site in general, but Iwas quite clear that they did not have to agree with them about everything or anything really as long as

the data supported their conclusions.

About two weeks before presentation week I emailed the Eastern community again, inviting

them to attend the poster sessions. Several members of the community did stop by, including Easterns

president Dr. Elsa M. Nez. A gentleman who had donated a vacuum bag emailed me beforehand so

we could be sure that he came to the session in which his vacuum bag would be presented. The two

students who worked on this site were excited to meet him. He confirmed that he had a cat, which they

had concluded from the claws, whiskers and fur. They thought there might also be a fashionable female

in the home as evidenced by a hair tie and a single sequin, a compliment that our guest said he would

surely share with his wife that evening. They had also both hypothesized that someone in the household

fed outdoor birds based on the presence of birdseed, but no feathers. He agreed saying that they often

filled their feeder indoors and vacuumed up any spilt seed.

Learning outcomes

Ultimately this project focused on a learning outcome in each of Blooms (195 6) six

Taxonomies of Learning (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation) in

the following ways:

1. Knowledgea. Students were able to recognize items recovered from their site as artifacts

versus ecofacts.2. Comprehension

a. Students were able to specifically identify each artifact and ecofact.3. Application

a. Students were able to apply weekly concepts to this lab activity, such as theapplication of relative versus absolute dating techniques, taphonomic processes,sampling strategies and low-level middle-range and high-level theory.

4. Analysisa. Students were able to consider various site interpretations from the data they

uncovered.5. Synthesis

a. Students were able to construct a poster based on the data uncovered and theirinterpretations.

6. Evaluate


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a. Students were able to present their work to their peers and evaluate the work of others.

Student Feedback

I added several questions to my end-of-the-year evaluations about this project. Nearly every

student agreed that this project helped them understand important concepts within archaeology and that

this type of project should be continued in future semesters. For their lab portfolios, I had them evaluate

their pit partner as well as this project. I asked them to answer the following four questions:

1. How well do you think you both worked together on lab days? Explain.2. Did your pit partner support you throughout this project? Explain.3. Did you enjoy the fact that this was a group project, or see the necessity of working in

groups of 2 or 3? Explain.4. Anything else you would like to add?

Many students did comment that they actually wanted/needed more lab time. Students

appreciated and depended on their pit partners in general. One student reflected While I did enjoy

working with a partner on this project there was also a need for it. There is no way that I would have

been able to do everything by myself in those 5 lab days. I came to realize this on the last day when he

wasnt there. Things took me a lot longer and were more difficult when it was just me working on it.

Another student said, When I think archaeology I think getting down and dirty, digging things up .

This [] still satisfied the urge to do something hands on and eye opening. Some started out skeptical

however, s aying Although I began this project unsure of how much it would relate to archaeology andthis class as a whole, it has become clear that this exercise not only relates, but I will go so far to say it is

archeology! It ties everything in the course together from the garbology study in Rubbish! to everything

we learned from ethics to dating techniques. One student summarized the intent of this project

perfectly, saying that it gave the sense of archaeology as an active enterprise and not just a textbook

exercise.

Virtual excavations?

While I have not yet taught this course online, I hope to in the near future. In anticipation of

teaching this course online I videotaped two separate groups excavating their sites throughout the course

of the semester. From here I will edit short weekly films so that each online student can participate in

this assignment. They will be asked to identify each item and submit their completed paperwork. As I

have everything from these sites, I will upload images of each item so that students may see everything


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clearly as well. From here they will be able to complete a short visual presentation, which they can

present to their online classmates.

Conclusions

In hindsight I think a series of small changes would have greatly improved the overallexperience for students, such as:

Working in a room with a sink and laboratory style tables. Students in the fall worked ina room that had chairs with attached writing surfaces, making this project difficult attimes.

Working in a room with a lockable storage space. As mentioned previously, I had tobring all the materials back and forth nearly every week, which was a tedious process.

Having one class period focused entirely on artifact and ecofact identification as well ashow to fill out paperwork. I kept all site data, which would make a class focused onidentification and paperwork quite easy to do early in the semester for future classes.

Students would see how paperwork is supposed to be filled out and also become familiarwith the different types of items that they may encounter. Allowing a few more lab days to work on this project. Many students really felt as

though the amount of time allotted was just not enough. Although several lectures mighthave to be abbreviated or deleted entirely, I do believe having more labs would add tothe overall experience for students so they do not feel as though they need to rush.

Having students work in groups of three. Even if I was able to give students more time,working in groups of three is ideal. I did make one group a group of three and they wereone of the only group to complete 100 percent of their excavation, which includedexcavating, identifying, labeling, counting, weighing and logging over 90 bags of material in roughly five hours.

Consider better ways to keep vacuum bags upright while excavating them. It was very

awkward for students to excavate their vacuum bags, especially when they were tall andslender (see Figure 19). Most vacuum bags could easily fall over, although we did notnecessarily have any accidents. Keeping each site propped up in a shoe box might beideal, as having one partner simply hold the bag so the other partner can excavatesecurely does slow down the whole process.

Otherwise, I will definitely continue having students excavate vacuum bags when teaching Introduction

to Archaeology, as I feel it is an accessible way to instill archaeological method and theory. Students

were able to relate to and sympathize with my field stories, such as having to dig without a pit partner

one day or having to run after my paperwork as a gust of wind blew it all away. By the time the semester

ended this group of students had quite a realistic, practical and lasting experience, as did I.


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References Cited

Bloom, Benjamin S.1956 Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York:

David McKay Co Inc.

Kelly, Robert L. and David Hurst Thomas2009 Archaeology, 5th ed. Wadsworth Publishing.

Rathje, William and Cullen Murphy2001 Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage. The University of Arizona Press.


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Hello everyone,

I am emailing the Eastern community to ask for your assistance. Although it might seem like a verystrange request, I need your trash, specifically a full vacuum bag!

I am teaching two sections of Introduction to Archaeology in the fall. For a weekly lab activity, I amhoping to have each student work on analyzing the contents of a bag throughout the semester, andultimately present a final poster on their "archaeological site". I have already donated several bags of my own, but I would never be able to accumulate 25 vacuum bags before September. While I wouldprefer smaller bags, such as those from a canister vacuum, I will take anything you have to offer.

What I do ask, however, if that you tape the opening shut if there is an open hole in your vacuum bag.Also, if you could enclose the bag in a shopping bag of some sort so that no fine dirt or dust particlesget out that would be wonderful. Also, any information that you are wiling to share about the contextof the bag would be helpful as well, such as the rooms vacuumed, the months of the year which thisbag was used, as well as whether you have any pets, children, etc. Your identity would of course bekept confidential.

I could come and pick it up, or if it is easiest, I will also have a small box in the Sociology, Anthropologyand Social Work office for them to be placed. Once I get the number that I need, I will send out anotheremail. I truly appreciate your time and consideration here.

P.S. If you are interested in coming to the poster presentations, I am sure something could be arranged.

It might be insightful for students as well to meet the creators of their "sites". Figure 1 . Email to Eastern Connecticut State University community


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Figure 2 . Vacuum bags and laboratory materials needed each week


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Figure 3. Students focus in on their sites


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Figure 4. Project overview, page 1


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Figure 5. Project overview, page 2

Project Objectives:

Your goal over the next 2 months is to excavate and catalogue the entire contents (or a pre-arranged weight) of your site . When excavating your site, you are expected to:

1. carefully remove the artifacts and ecofacts within each stratum/level. Your site mayor may not have discrete strata, but you should keep looking for any changes in thecomposition and/or contents of the layers of your site.If you see any discerniblechanges: STOP EXCAVATING and ask Katie for assistance. If you decide that you aredealing with a new strata, you should start a new set of forms and a new series ofbaggies.

2. separate like items (i.e. by material type) and place securely within a Ziploc bag. Atag must be made for each bag within a stratum/level.

3. weigh and/or count all of the items within each baggie and record this informationon the tag.Whether you should weigh and count or just weight will be determinedthroughout the semester.

4.

keep a list of all the artifacts and ecofacts (as well as count and weight) within yourrecords.5. complete a field form by the end of each lab period (or by the following class if

students require more time for reflection).6. safely close down your site at the end of each day. Turn in all paperwork and

bagged artifacts/ecofacts. Please also wipe down the space that you used and returnyour mask, gloves (and protective eyewear if you borrowed a pair).

Sample tag

2011 ECSU Introduction to Archaeology Lab

Site number: _______________

Initials: ______________________ Date: ______/______ /______

Stratum #: _______ Level: _______ Depth (cm): _______-________

Weight (grams): ________________ Count: ______________

Contents: ___________________________________________________________

* Artifact or Ecofact * Can it be dated? Yes or No

Bag: _____________

1

KVK, JR 9 30 20111 1 0 5

5.6 4Kibble

1


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Figure 6. The site level form, page 1

EXCAVATION LEVEL FORM Intro. to Archaeology @ ECSU 2011 Page:_____of_____

SITE # : __________ DATE _____/ ______/ ______ EXCAVATOR S INITIALS ______ and _______

UNIT SIZE _______(length) x _______ (width) x ________(depth) 1 in centimeters

STRATUM # _________________ LEVEL__________ Depth _______ to ______ (cmbd)

Describe in FULL sentences and as thoroughly as possible. Write legibly too!!

1. Excavation Method (what are you doing/ using to get out the contents of your site)____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Matrix Description2

(texture, appearance, color, compactness, etc.):______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Artifacts Recovered (general description, list weights and counts on your bag form):_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1 If your bag is less than 20 centimeters in depth, I want you to work in 5cm levels (although you are alwayswatching for natural changes in the strata). If your bag is more than 20 centimeters in depth, I want you to work in10cm levels (although you are always watching for natural changes in the strata). Your goal for the rest of thesemester, regardless of depth, is to dig to at least 20cmbd. So if your site is 17cm deep, your goal is to excavate theentire site in at least 4 levels (0-5cmbd, 5-10cmbd, 10-15cmbd and 15-17cmbd). If you notice natural changes inyour site then you might excavate more than levels of course. If your site is 33cm deep, then your goal is to excavatea portion of the site in at least 2 levels (0-10cmbd, 10-20cmbd). Again, if you notice natural changes in your sitethen you might excavate more than levels of course.2 By matrix I mean the main substance that is making up your stratum and level. So it might look mainly like pethair (dog and/or cat), dust, human hair, feathers, cheerios, sand--you will have to decide along with your pit partner.


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Figure 7. The site level form, page 2

EXCAVATION LEVEL FORM Intro. to Archaeology @ ECSU 2011 Page:_____of_____

SITE # : __________ DATE _____/ ______/ ______ EXCAVATOR S INITIALS ______ and _______

UNIT SIZE _______(length) x _______ (width) x ________(depth) 1 in centimeters

STRATUM # _________________ LEVEL__________ Depth _______ to ______ (cmbd)

Describe in FULL sentences and as thoroughly as possible. Write legibly too!!

1. Excavation Method (what are you doing/ using to get out the contents of your site)____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Matrix Description2

(texture, appearance, color, compactness, etc.):______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Artifacts Recovered (general description, list weights and counts on your bag form):_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1 If your bag is less than 20 centimeters in depth, I want you to work in 5cm levels (although you are alwayswatching for natural changes in the strata). If your bag is more than 20 centimeters in depth, I want you to work in10cm levels (although you are always watching for natural changes in the strata). Your goal for the rest of thesemester, regardless of depth, is to dig to at least 20cmbd. So if your site is 17cm deep, your goal is to excavate theentire site in at least 4 levels (0-5cmbd, 5-10cmbd, 10-15cmbd and 15-17cmbd). If you notice natural changes inyour site then you might excavate more than levels of course. If your site is 33cm deep, then your goal is to excavatea portion of the site in at least 2 levels (0-10cmbd, 10-20cmbd). Again, if you notice natural changes in your sitethen you might excavate more than levels of course.2 By matrix I mean the main substance that is making up your stratum and level. So it might look mainly like pethair (dog and/or cat), dust, human hair, feathers, cheerios, sand--you will have to decide along with your pit partner.


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Figure 8. The tag

Figure 9. The Bag Form, page 1

2011 ECSU Introduction to Archaeology Lab

Site number: _______________

Initials: ______________________ Date: ______/______ /______

Stratum #: _______ Level: _______ Depth (cm): _______-________

Weight (grams): ________________ Count: ______________

* Artifact or Ecofact * Can it be dated? Yes or No

Contents: ___________________________________________________________

Bag: _____________


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Figure 10. The Bag Form, page 2


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Figure 11. Students open their sites


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Figure 12. Challenging the Law of Superposition


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Figure 13. A dirty debate


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Congratulations!

You have received a small grant of $800.

You must choose by the end of the semester what you want to do with these funds. You have thefollowing options:

1. Each radiocarbon date costs $200.

2. Hiring an expert to analyze the contents of one of your bags will be $200.

You may not submit 4 radiocarbon dates or hire 4 experts, so choose wisely from both categories. Youmust also be prepared to justify your choices and explain how those will help you better understandthe site. You must cover how you choose to spend your money and why on your poster.

Figure 14 . All students receive project funding


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Figure 15. A toddler emerges


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Figure 16. Numerous colorful popped balloons at one site


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Figure 17. A matrix of animal fur


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Figure 18 . Catching up on paperwork


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Figure 19. Two students were needed to excavate most vacuum bags

Trash to Treasure Experimental Pedagogy Using the Everyday

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