Monthly Archives: April 2020

Extra! Extra! Archaeology in the News!

by Rachael Smith

Archaeology has a strong presence in the news.  It is rare that I don’t find some new discovery or article about relating to archaeology while scrolling through my Facebook news boards.  Recently, some very interesting research has been released to the public.

The Crew of the Mary Rose

The Mary Rose is a ship build for Henry VIII King of

Image of the Mary Rose

Tudor England. It sank in 1545 while fighting the French and lost its crew of 400-600 sailors.  Recent studies on the ancestry of the crew have discovered some very interesting things.  Based on the 10 discovered skeletons, most of the crew were from the Mediterranean and Southern Europe.  On member in particular, dubbed Henry, was found to be from Morocco or Algeria based on his skeletal features.  Isotope analysis of his teeth indicated, however, that he was raised in Portsmouth. To read more about Henry and the Mary Rose so to BBC’s article here.

Archaeology is the….dog’s poop….

Dog poop

Recent research conducted on paleofeces discovered that many of the samples thought to be human were actually dog.  Christina Warriner and her graduate student collected DNA samples from both human and dog poop and a variety of other elements that could end up in poop and created a program called coprolID which has the ability to differentiate between the samples.  The increased amount of dog poop in the record may not shed too much light only human patterns but it has the potential to increase our knowledge of dog domestication.  To read more check out the article in Science Magazine here.

A Feast of Sharks and Dolphins

Crab claws broken and eaten by Neanderthals

For a long time fishing has bee n seen as a hallmark of modern humans.  The earliest site of mass seafood consumption dates to 160,000 in southern Africa.  New evidence indicates that Neanderthals in Figuera Brava in Portugal also consumed large amounts of seafood including sharks, dolphins, eels, shellfish, fish and a variety of other species some 106,000-86,000 years ago.  Evidence shows that seafood consisted of 50% of these Neanderthals’ diets, a percentage similar to modern humans of the time.  To read more see BBC’s article here.

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Site Tour: Mouns Jones House, Douglasville, PA

by Rachael Smith

I wanted to try to do a video tour of a site I work at with SPA.  This is the Mouns Jones site which is a 1716 Swedish house within Morlatton Village along the Schuylkill River.  Much of the area around the front of the house (facing the river) has been excavated along with a large cold cellar.  We are expanding our site to a location along the river about a quarter-mile from the house to investigate the possibility of trading post with the Native Americans in the area.  Enjoy the tour.

Video:

 

Well…Now What?

by Rachael Smith

With the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, some of us are scrambling for internships and jobs for the summer, many of which have already been cancelled.  The lack of internships can put a damper on our development both professionally and financially.  Unfortunately for many of us up-and-coming archaeologists, most of the internships we applied for are not considered essential.  However, there are some things we can do to combat this crisis.

Many archaeological jobs, mostly those centered around NEPA and Section 106 requirements, are essential and thus still looking for workers.  Section 106 approval is required for any federal government related projects such as road construction.  Alternatively,

Students from a local Community College joined SPA for an excavation

you could volunteer.  I was informed by an interviewer that volunteering during times when jobs are not available looks very good on resumes because it shows your commitment to the field and improving your skills. One such organization that I am very fond of is the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology (SPA).  This is a Pennsylvania specific organization with chapters located in various parts of the state.  IUP is located within the domain of the Westmoreland Chapter (#23).  I have been a longtime member of the John Shrader Chapter (#21) location around the Berks and Chester County area of Pennsylvania.

Got to bring my cleaning home with me

The society is made up of predominantly advocational archaeologists.  This does not mean that the group is a bunch of pothunters.  To the contrary, these amateur archaeologists are very knowledgeable, traveled, educated, and experienced in the field of archaeology.  They are also more than willing to teach and learn.  I began volunteering with then when I was 14 years old and they fostered my passion for archaeology and likely led to my interest in public archaeology.  I learned quite a lot from those excavations and was able to add experience to my resume before entering college.

Regardless of if you can volunteer with SPA or any other archaeological organization, volunteering in general is a fulfilling way to spend one’s time.  Not only can you gain experiences, training, and networks, you can also make a difference in your community or the group.  There are countless opportunities to volunteer and at least one should fit your area of interest.  Some of the best connections I have made have come from volunteering.  Those connections are often the strongest and most useful because they know you are committed for more than just the monetary value of the experience.  In fact, one of the connections I made from SPA introduced me to the professor managing the collection I will be working with for my thesis.  Just shows you that important connections can be made anywhere.

So good luck this summer and remember to cast a wide net and see what you can catch.

For more about SPA go to there website: https://www.pennsylvaniaarchaeology.com/index.htm

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Dowsing to See

by Rachael Smith

Dowsing, also known as divining or witching, is a very old technique used for detecting

 buried objects of interest.  Most commonly it used for detecting water, minerals, and graves but is also known to detecting anything under the sun including archaeological features and sites, coal, oil, treasure, and even missing people.  It is widely accepted by those who use it and even by some archaeologists.  Even with the wide acceptance in some fields, it is also widely contested because there is no scientific explanation behind it.  Dowsers argue that humans or the dowsing rods are able to detect these changes and react accordingly.  There are two main types of dowsing rods.  The most common form used today are two thin metal wires in the shape of an ‘L’.  The user holds the short end with the long side sticking straight out in front of the user.  When the user crosses an object of interest, they cross.  The second type is a Y shaped device usually make of willow or witch hazel that bends downward when detecting a buried object.

One of the most common explanations for why dowsing works is based on magnetics.  Some bacteria and animals are able to detect differences in the Earth’s magnetic field.  This is the same principle which is used for magnetometer surveys.  Other explanations including EPS, energy field variations, and even divine intervention.  Studies of dowsing in the field have not yielded positive results for the practice.  Some argue that the possible ‘misses’ were actually ‘hits’ because the dowser detected the location of a temporary structure or previously removed object that did not leave an archaeological footprint (see Dowsing and Church Archaeology by Bailey, Cambridge, and Briggs 1988).  Other studies investigated the possible magnetic explanation and found that dowsers were unable to detect highly magnetic pottery kilns that geophysical surveys and excavation were able to find (Aitken 1959).

This is me attempting to use dowsing rods

I have participated in an archaeological excavation informed by dowsing.  Like most investigations involving dowsing we were trying to determine if there were graves in a particular area.  Our team member who conducted the dowsing allowed me to try.  In accordance with Orser and Fagan’s 1977 review of dowsing only 30% of women are success at the technique.  I am not part of that 30%.  My male teammate walked around the flags he had previously places and the diving rods moved wildly.  When they were passed to me, they barely moved.  I had to stand within the flagged area for quite awhile before they crossed. Some argue this is because the rods move in accordance with ideomotor movement or small unconscious movement usually in response to outside stimulus such as walking and concentrating.  When concentrating, people tend to lean forward and walk slower which could cause the rods to cross.  When I dowsed, I tried to stay as still as possible which might explain my lack of sensitivity.  We excavated the flagged areas and did not find any graves.  Although one of the locations had a visible rock rubble pile on the surface and, in excavating, we discovered a dump site with some interesting trash.  I was able to fit several plates, glass bottles, and a teapot back together.  Even though we did not find the graves, the items in the trash pile were quite a lot of fun to research.

 

Sources:

Grave Dowsing Reconsidered by William Whittaker

Dowsing and Archaeology by Martijn Van Leusen 1998

 

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