Fukushima and Disasters of Centuries Past

In today's Washington Post, there is an article about the large-scale abandonment of areas surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that occurred after March's nuclear accident.  The article focuses on the disaster's effect on the region's cattle industry, but also mentions how the sudden human abandonment left the area "frozen in time."  Because of health risks associated with exposure to radiation, an area of about 12 miles surrounding the plant will probably have to remain abandoned for decades.

It's sad to see how many lives have been ruined by the earthquake-precipitated accident.  I can't imagine how difficult it must be to be removed from a place that is your home, and lose your business to boot.  However, the situation did make me recall several archaeological examples of large-scale abandonment.  Probably the best known example is Pompeii, buried under a thick layer of ash from an AD 79 volcanic eruption.  A similar example from Ceren, El Salvador, reveals the wealth of information that can be gleaned from rapid abandonment and preservation due to volcanic eruption.  The Makah village of Ozette in northwest Washington, buried under a mudslide in about 1700, was also well-preserved and and a fruitful project for investigating continuities in Makah cultural identity.

Plaza area at Aguateca

Yet some examples of abandonment are not linked to an obvious natural disaster.  For example, the Maya site of Aguateca in Guatemala was burned (probably due to warfare) and abandoned at some point during the late classic period (AD 600-830), its residents leaving household materials in the process of use.  This example is especially poignant when compared to the area surrounding the Fukuskima Daiichi nuclear power plant.  Both are examples of how cultural as well as natural disasters can lead to sudden regional abandonment, but also provide a unique glimpse at household practices.  While advanced technology like nuclear power - a cultural adaptation - fuels a complex, inter-connected world, it does not remove our vulnerability to natural and culturally-precipitated disasters.

Sources:

Inomata, Takeshi and Laura R. Stiver. 1998.  Floor Assemblages from Burned Structures at Aguateca, Guatemala: A Study of Classic Maya Households. Journal of Field Archaeology 25(4):431-452.

McKee, Brian R. 2002. Household archaeology and cultural formation processes: Examples from the Ceren site, El Salvador. In The Archaeology of Household Activities, Ed. Penelope M. Allison, 30-42. London: Routledge.

Wessen, Gary. 1990. Prehistory of the Ocean Coast of Washington. In Handbook of American Indians, vol. 7: Northwest Coast, ed. Wayne Suttles, 412-421. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Honoring the Dead

I'm back!  The past three months have been a whirlwind - moving (back) to Williamsburg, starting graduate school, and wedding planning - and somewhere along the way blogging got left in the dust.  Yet my mind has been brimming with thoughts and ideas, so here we go --

Recently, I've spent a lot of time thinking about my academic specialty and career in general.  While I have always loved being in school, life as a graduate student has certainly made me question my desire to get a PhD and pursue an academic career.  I suppose it's easy to idealize working or being in school from the other side of the fence - I certainly did when I was working full time.  This semester has been full of frustrations - fear of failure (or fear of just adequacy), a struggle to fit into an academic environment as a grad student, and efforts to maintain balance between "work" and "home".  All the same, I've at least reached an understanding of some academic interests (those pidgenholed "research interests" on a CV...) and tentitve ideas for my thesis.

Archaeological discovery of a human burial

As some of my readers will remember, I spent much of my "year off" working in repatriation, the return of human remains and objects to claimant Native American Tribes.  When I returned to William and Mary for graduate school this fall, I decided to take a class in human skeletal biology.  The inordinate amount of excitement I had for this class - which consisted of learning to identify and analyze in basic ways the bones of the human body - started the turning of the gears... 

In contemporary archaeology, you generally don't want to find burials.  Human bones mean paperwork, politics, and controversy, especially if they turn out to be the remains of Native Americans.  But I've realized over the past few months that sometimes the best way to mitigate controversies is to understand them, to be well versed in mortuary practices and skeletal biology so that when issues arise - whether in museum repatriation, construction projects, or academic archaeology - you are prepared to reach a compromise between the prerogatives of different communities.

From Written in Bone

Let's face it: we (Americans) don't like to talk about death.  It's the unknown, the uncertain (and in the case of zombies, the seriously frightening).  In some cultures, talking about death is taboo.  Yet for others - the Hispanic celebration of the Day of the Dead, for example - family members revisit the graves of the dead as a way of remembering their lives.  As Americans, we see great importance in honoring those who have gone before us, especially those who died tragically or in military conflicts, as revealed in recent controversies about Arlington Cemetery, the Air Force (and this), and the placement of the remains of 9-11 victims in a public memorial museum.  But it's important to remember that culturally, we understand death, burial, and memory in very different ways - hence the reason why the remains of early Euro-American settlers can be displayed in a museum while it would be unacceptable (today) to display Native American remains in a similar way.

I see the study of the dead as an important way to honor those who have come before us, by remembering their lives.  Just think about it.

Remembering those who died on 9-11

A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp

Unlike cadeaux, swamps are not generally thought pleasant things.  William Byrd II, the famous Virginian diarist, certainly didn't think they were pleasant at all; during a surveying expedition establishing the border between the colonies of Virginia and North Carolina,  he called a large intermittent swampy area the Great Dismal Swamp.  And, after a week in that swamp, I can definitely see why.

Edge of the Great Dismal Swamp, along a 20th century canal

In June, I spent a week volunteering with American University's field school in the Great Dismal Swamp.  It was a pretty incredible experience, specially for someone who's used to urban archaeology, or simply arid archaeology.  Swamps are wet, muddy, and full of all kinds of critters: turtles, frogs, snakes, mosquitoes, bears, flies, deer, you name it.  Who on earth would want to live in a swamp?

The study area is just over the border into North Carolina

In the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, escaped slaves, also known as maroons, formed communities in largely inaccessible places like the Great Dismal Swamp.  These maroon societies functioned apart from the rest of the world, their inhabitants making use of objects left by previous Native American occupation, or whatever they could carry into the swamp themselves.  Though it's hard to imagine living in a swamp, it was worth it to these people.  They risked their lives in order to escape from slavery, then again to find their way to communities in the swamp.  It really says something about how much they valued liberty.

A black bear got into the supplies during the night

The Great Dismal Swamp Landscape Study (GDSLS) is focused on documenting the occupational history of the swamp, primarily the eighteenth century.  There's not a whole lot of heavy-duty digging - features are pretty shallow in the soil.  However, this was certainly the most detailed screening I've ever encountered at a site.  While screening with 1/4" mesh is common, and 1/8" mesh is used for feature fill, the GDSLS uses 1/16" mesh for all but the uppermost "root cap" layer.  Additionally, they run a magnet over the screens before dumping the organic material.  Both of these methods help to catch smaller artifacts like small pieces of metal or a flake that would otherwise be lost.

Getting ready to hike out of the swamp at the end of the day

This was definitely one of the coolest projects I've worked on.  Just hiking in and out of the swamp in waders and snake chaps - and digging with the snake chaps still on - was an adventure.  It was also an great opportunity to understand just what people were willing to put up with in order to gain freedom on their own terms.  So while I can understand William Byrd II's attribution, especially pre-bug repellent, I didn't find the swamp dismal at all.  I suppose it all depends on your perspective.

before-it-was-Virginia Heritage: Wade Site

I got up obscenely early (as in, before 5am) on a Monday morning in June, packed up my car, and drove down to Longwood University's campus in Farmville.  From there, I joined a caravan to the site house, then onto the Randy K. Wade Site in Randolph, Virginia.  Archaeologists and field school students from Longwood have been excavating at the Wade Site for over ten years, which has allowed them to amass a huge amount of data on the Native Americans who lived there from about AD 900-1425.  They also conduct their research in consultation with Sappony Indian Tribe of Virginia and North Carolina (which I find especially exciting).

Geographic location of the Wade Site, 44CH62, in Charlotte County, Virginia

This year, the field school opened an 8x8 meter unit (note: this is a pretty large area, but manageable with 20 eager diggers).  I volunteered during the third of four weeks, when they were cleaning up the lower portions of the plow zone (natural or cultural fill disturbed by plowing, usually a couple feet deep) and beginning to define the outline of features (cultural deposits like pits, postholes, and hearths).  They drew plan maps of their features on Friday morning and started excavating them in the afternoon.  I wish I could have stuck around for the rest of the field school to see how feature excavation went!

The block had dozens of features - we're looking at some pretty dense occupation here!

Since my experience in prehistoric archaeology has primarily been in the southwest, this week was a great opportunity to experience Mid Atlantic/Southeastern material culture.  Since the site was probably an island on the Staunton River during its prehistoric inhabitation, there was a lot of fish bone, turtle bone and shell, and riverine shell.  Additional artifacts included ceramics and lithics - both projectile points and debitage/flakes (the "byproducts" of stone tool production).  There were also some human remains uncovered - as I understand it, not an uncommon occurrence for this site.  Longwood archaeologists and Sappony leaders have consulted and worked out a procedure for the partial excavation of human remains and associated funerary objects - after which all materials are reburied.  I found this agreement particularly interesting (and promising), especially considering the sensitivity of such issues.

Discussing the context and treatment of human remains at the site

Despite the incredible heat, my week with Longwood's field school was a really great experience.  They were a very hospitable group and I really enjoyed spending time with everyone both on and off-site.  Guess this is what it's like being in the (real) South!

Virginia Heritage: Colchester

Digging is one of my favorite Saturday pastimes.  After spending a long week in the stuffy, air-conditioned office, it's wonderful to spend a day in the fresh air.  However hot, it's a pleasant way to decompress and (quite literally) get my hands dirty.

While in past years I've spent many Saturdays volunteering with Alexandria Archaeology at the Shuter's Hill site by Old Town Alexandria's Masonic monument, this February I started volunteering with the Colchester Archaeological Research Team (or CART) in southeastern Fairfax County.  CART focuses on the excavation of both historic and prehistoric site components on county-owned land around the Occoquan River and the Mason Neck.  I've spent a few fun Saturdays excavating at the historic tobacco port town of "Old Colchester," which is located just across the river from Occoquan.  The town dates primarily to the second half of the eighteenth century and though there's only one original structure left, there's a wealth of history underground.  It's still early on in the project - it seems like every time I'm there the team has found a new mystery structure or soil anomaly.  I definitely recommend checking out CART's blog if you're interested in following the excavations.

An especially fun unit I was working on back in April - I think they eventually had to saw out this tree/root

Since I be moving back to Williamsburg for grad school next month, I won't have as many free Saturdays in Northern Virginia.  However, I look forward to continued volunteer days with CART and Alexandria Archaeology during breaks!

Weekends

...probably my favorite part about working, rather than being in school!  Since it's been a while, I wanted to share a couple photos and stories from the past few weekends.

I went down to Williamsburg for Class of 2011 graduation - so much fun!  It's hard to believe that they are all grown up.

I got to spend time with a lot of friends that weekend, including Shoop and Stephen :)  Saturday evening included some Magic Hat #9, Harry Potter 7.1, and a fun German train game.

Paul enjoys home cooked meals...except this one!  I put a little too much cayenne in my cajun chicken and penne, thus the tears.

I got plants!  I bought Basil (pronounced Bah-zul) the basil plant Mothers' day weekend, and then Paul and I got Tom the tomato plant and Holly the jalapeno plant at a farmers market a few weeks later.  Basil has gotten several significant haircuts already for some delicious pesto :)

Paul and I also went to NJ for memorial day weekend...and this weekend we helped my dad fell a tree.  What's next?  This week I'm headed down south to Clover, VA to join Longwood University's archaeological field school for the week.  After that I'll be driving down for a week doing archaeology at the Great Dismal Swamp with American University's field school.  I'm really excited for the opportunity to work at these sites, and enjoy those humid Virginia summer days.

Virginia Heritage: Menokin

Some of you may have noticed that I occasionally disappear Monday-Thursday.  This is why!  I've been working on an archaeological project at Menokin, a site near Warsaw, Virginia.  It's not your typical ground-truthing project: we're actually excavating rubble from a house, part of which is still standing.

Menokin's northeast corner

Menokin, the home of Francis Lightfoot Lee (signer of the Declaration of Independence and brother of Richard Henry Lee) and his wife Rebecca Tayloe, was built around 1769.  It was inhabited until the 1930s, after which it fell into disrepair.  The Menokin Foundation would like to rebuild the mansion with structural glass.  This would protect but still show architectural elements of the house, and be a great way to teach about historic architecture.  DATA Investigations has been excavating rubble from Menokin, room by room, since 2006 (I believe).  During this field season, we cleared out a large portion of the southeast cellar room, and rubble around the exterior.  My job?  I screened a lot of dirt, and found a lot of nails and window glass.  Doesn't sound particularly exciting, but it's fun to see the progress we're making on the project - especially when the weather's as beautiful as it was this past week!

We reached the floor!

My time at Menokin, interestingly enough, lined up with the liturgical season of Lent.  The first week of the season, I rushed home from a dusty day of excavation to shower and go to Ash Wednesday Mass - where I was reminded that I am dust.  It's a sobering thought, and not one that is easy to forget while working at Menokin.

The backdirt pile (or "mountain") - it's even bigger now!

This coming week I will be working down in Gloucester at the Fairfield Foundation.  I'll be gone from Northern Virginia, but should have slightly better access to the internet!