John Edward Terrell: Society For American Archaeology

Jamestown The Buried Truth, was an exciting book that unearthed the lost James Fort that was established in the early 17th century. It was told by the lead Archaeologist of the Jamestown Rediscovery Project, William M. Kelso, published by the University of Virginia Press in, 2006. Kelso tells the journey of this twelve year project of discovering Jamestown in preparation for the 400th anniversary back in 2007. Along the way they found the graves of seventy people, artifacts, trash pits, armor, evidence of the “starving time,” the fort and other pieces of significant evidence.

The movement of people in the 18th and 19th centuries has always been an impact and a major part of our world. The migration was either forced or a choice made by the individual its self. The development of agriculture and industry in a few European countries, North America and Australia caused migration and an increase of population. Many settlers migrated either because of a crime, slavery and blackbirding, or, because they were seeking a better lifestyle, opportunities and religious freedom.

In the movie Tombstone Wyatt Earp is made to appear like a hero who does his heroic acts in a way that could make him seem like a criminal. In the film Wyatt is seen shooting and killing people out of what seems like vengeance. But like all hero movies the Tombstone film also follows a hero quest. A hero’s quest is a outline of what the hero goes through in his journey. The hero’s quest contains the three crucial parts of the separation, the initiation, and the return.

The relationships between Native Americans and Archeologist has been difficult to say the least. In the past archeologists have never been seen in a positive light by Native Americans. The relationship between us has improved with the passing of NAGPRA. However, there are a lot if things that need to be done to make a permeant change. The way to change the relationship between us and them is a simple idea but a difficult undertaking. First we need to make all the laws that involve native American antiquity have more effect. This laws, if broken, should have a real punishment to the people that broke them. If we can show Native American that we are trying to make a change at the governmental level that could translate to a change in community relationships. Additionally, there needs to be more community involvement, whether that is inviting native people work on sites, or having more indigenous archeologist. Overall if we want to continue to learn about the past, archeologists must make a change for the future.

After rewatching Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark for the second time I view Indiana Jones as less of an archaeologist than I did the first time I watched it. In my first paper I stated that Indiana Jones was a combination of a grave digger and an archaeologist. Now after completing this course I see that he is even less of an archaeologist than I first depicted. The only ethical archaeology being conducted in this movie is done by the Nazi’s; not Indiana Jones. Beyond, getting historical accuracy of the time period correct this movie fails fails to paint a picture of what archaeology truly is. In turn, since my knowledge is far more comprehensive I have come to realize that the movie fails to showcase archaeology even more than I originally

This study is focus on the 11th Unnamed Cave in Tennessee. This cave was the first of its kind because this cave is the only one that was found to contain pictograph, petroglyph, and mud glyph all in one site. The article explain that the site is significant because there are evidence to showed that the site underwent a series of diverse but interrelated uses. The first out of all the cave sites to contain all three different form of rock art. Also, because the site was found in the eighteenth century which had some form of documentations on the uses of the cave. The authors believes that since the cave showed many different kind of activities, it is possible that the activities reflect a complex behaviors more elaborated and sacred than

This article talks about the study of the Dunbar Cave in Montgomery County, Tennessee to learn more about the varied ways that the cave was used by people. Many of the artifacts that was in the cave linked its usage time to be from the Late Paleo-Indian to the Mississippian period. The article define dark-zone cave art as “the decorations in the areas of the caves that is beyond the reach of external lights”. Mug Glyph Cave art was found in the 12th Unnamed Cave in Tennessee and since then sixty-nine other caves that had dark-zone cave art were found. The artifacts and chronological data from these sites indicates that the tradition of cave art began 6000 years ago.

In addition to all of those weapons that were found, there were a lot of artifacts. Since the Levi Jordan Plantation was established in 1848, there are only a few artifacts that aren’t damaged. One of the undamaged artifacts is carved bone that is based on African religious sites across the south. These indicate the status for these four particular slave cabins. They were thought to be the blacksmith, political leader, curer/conjurer, and the carver. The Political Leader was like our mayor or governor and made most of the important decisions. The Curer was probably more based on South African legend than true medical remedies. He was most likely a little bit like our pastor, in that he conveyed religious beliefs to the other enslaved people. The carver worked a little bit with the curer and made him some carvings, but

Michel Graulich is a researcher in art history and religions of Pre-Columbian America and particularly Mesoamerica. He has a degree in History (University of Ghent, 1966) graduated in art history (University of Brussels, 1970) and a doctorate in art history (University of Brussels, 1979), he made his career at the Free University Brussels, where he was professor at CIERL (Interdisciplinary Centre for the Study of Religions and secularism) of the Free University of Brussels. He was also director of studies at the Fifth Section of Religious Sciences at the EPHE. Graulich “suggests that the Aztecs had a complex theology in which sacrifice had one basic and what some might deem more exalted purpose: atonement.” Those of the casualties, almost

Throughout the history of human existence mankind has demonstrated an innate duality defined by a curiosity towards potential unknown and the desire to transform potential into reality. The Westward Expansion of American territory in the 19th century stands a shining example of this character. Amidst the throws of foreign conflict, political unrest, and the maturation of the New World a hope was rising that would drive an entire nation across the rugged wilderness of the West. However, this migration was not solely fueled by a desire to explore uncharted territory. Much like the locomotive that would eventually traverse the transcontinental path, westward movement was the consequence of inertia gathered from the weight of mechanical symphony

Many humans migrated to the United States in the 1900s because they were political, social, and economic who wanted to live a better life for themselves. Most immigrants had many financial hardship and could not survive nor thrive in their settlement. For example, in 1890 an economic depression happened where millions of immigrants fled their homeland to live a more comfortable, desirable life. Immigrants

Throughout history there have been ebbs and flows identified within all facets of human history, and the Native American mound-builders were no different. The mound-building peoples of the Eastern United States (U.S.) along with the Aztec’s, Mayan and the Inca were revolutionary economists, farmers and communal architects. Before the Europeans came in contact with the mound-building tribes in the 1500’s, a thriving nation was had developed into an economic powerhouse and maintain its position of power and commerce for a few hundred years. We would be remiss to not preserve the archeological remnants of the Adena, Hopewellian and later the Mississippians. Each of the many built mounds holds unique facts and details to how the nation thrived and developed over several centuries.

I agree with you. I also believe that archaeologists do have the right to excavate Native Americans ancestors only if they have the proper permission. If the surviving family wants to know more information about the deceased and the tribe, then it is a good idea; but if they do not, then it is not good. I also agree that there is not much difference between excavating Native American ancestors and modern day cemeteries; to me they are both disturbing someone’s family who has been laid to rest.

It is proven that immigration played a key role not only in making america’s development possible but also in shaping the basic nature of the society. Between 1870 and 1920,immigration to the united states increased dramatically. Immigrants tended to bundle by group in particular neighborhoods,cities and regions. To begin with this wave of migration which constituted the third episode in the history of the U.S. immigration was known as the flood of immigrants as nearly 25 million europeans made the trip,italians,greeks,hungarians,poles. It also included 2.5 to 3 million jews.The american midwest as it appears in the middle of the 19th century as one of the world’s most productive cultivation regions. It also became home to a group of people relatively alike communities of immigrants from sweden,norway,denmark and bohemia.

Jared Diamond is a professor of Geography at UCLA and a world traveler. He believes that in the past 13,000 years of human history, agriculture has lead humans to conquer, develop and prosper and therefore cause the rise of civilizations. In 1972 he was in New Guinea when he met a local named Yali who asked him a simple question that took years for Diamond to answer. Yali said “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo [goods] and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own”. [Work cited 7] Diamond was profoundly puzzled and couldn’t answer right away. In fact it took him many years to come up with what he thinks is the right answer. ‘Yali’s question’ plays a central role in Professor Diamond’s enquiry into ‘a short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years’, leading him into a wide-ranging discussion of the history of human evolution and diversity through a study of migration, socio-economic and cultural adaptation to environmental conditions, and technological diffusion. (Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel, p. 22-23)