News and Events
Experimental Archaeology, Fall 2011 Semester
October 28, 2011
Assistant Professor of Anthropology Bill Schindler shows students in his Experimental Archaeology class not only how to look for clues from archaeological evidence, but has them participate in making tools, processing food, and even butchering a deer to get hands on experience in the how-to of primitive technology. The experience of producing a tool from scratch helps archaeologists to better interpret the artifacts they find, as an understanding of how a tool is made leads to an understanding of what kind of archaeological evidence it may leave behind.
Click to enlarge photos by Center for Environment & Society Program Manager Tara Holste '07.
Fiber
Fibers can come from any number of sources, plant or animal. The first step is to collect the fibers and process them to a usable state- a process which is often much lengthier than the task of making an actual cord or rope. Fibers used in the demonstration included dogbane, a plant that grows natively on the Eastern Shore, and deer sinew. Students also learned the basics of netmaking and how Native Americans used nets to fish.
Bill Schindler begins the demonstration by explaining how plant fibers bind together to form strong cords, which have many uses, from bow strings to rope.
Rose Deegan '12, Grace Swanson '12, and Helen Bish '13 strip fibers from the inner part of dogbane stalks.
Miqdad Annab '12 and Sean Harrison '12 process pieces of fiber. By rubbing the strands between their hands, they can remove the outer bark of the plant.
Sean Harrison '12 pounds a piece of deer sinew with a stone to seperate it into fibers.
Nets made by Professor Bill Schindler from plant fibers, alongside a pile of dogbane stalks.
Professor Schindler shows Miqdad Annab '12 the knots used to tie a net like this one, which would be used for fishing.
Ceramics
In the ceramics class, students learned to make clay pots using clay gathered by Professor Bill Schindler. They followed each step carefully, from tempering the clay to forming a finished pot. The pots will be fired during the final session of the class in an outdoor fire.
Professor Schindler demonstrates to the class how to use a piece of gourd to smooth the outside of a clay pot. On the right is a wooden paddle wrapped with a piece of dogbane cord, used to further blend together layers of clay.
Various tools used in ceramics, including sand, oyster shell and other "tempers", which are added to the clay for stability and to improve how the pots fire.
The base of a pot rests in a bowl called a "puki", used to keep the base stable while the sides are built up.
Sarah Baldree '13 and Katie Manion '12 add coils to their pots.
Brendan Callaghan '13 uses various implements, including gourds and pieces of shell, to help smooth out the sides of his pot.
Miqdad Annab '12, Sean Harrison '12, Amy Shaw '12 and Rose Deegan '12
The finished pots will dry for several weeks before being fired.
Food Processing
In addition to learning to butcher a deer with stone tools, students learned to process plant sources of food, including nuts and seeds commonly found around Chestertown. Plants can be an important source of food, as they are storable and readily available at different times of the year.
Students begin by splitting acorns open with stones, then separate the meat from the inedible outer shell.
Acorns were a common source of food for many Native Americans, but they must be carefully processed to remove excess tannic acid, which can be toxic when consumed. The acid makes acorns extremely bitter when eaten raw, but can be easily removed by running the ground acorn under clean water.
Students use rocks to pound the acorns into meal. By increasing the surface area of the nutmeat, it will be easier to wash away any toxins.
Sean Harrison '12 gets ready to split a hickory nut with a stone, while Miqdad Annab '12 looks on.
Mark Melino '12 separates nutmeat from shell, while other students work to split open more nuts.
Hickory nuts, which are also commonly found on the Eastern Shore, are difficult to crack open and yield very little meat. It is likely they would have more commonly been used for their oils.
Composite Points
The final hands on class had students put their new skills to the test, by asking them to create a composite point, a stone "point" or blade attached to a handle. In addition to working the wood with stone tools made in previous classes, students also had to learn to prepare different glues to attach the points.
Brendan Callaghan '13 works hard to whittle a stick down to a usable shape for the handle of a tool.
Each student experimented with different methods of using stone tools to carve a piece of wood.
Hide glue (left) and pine pitch simmer on a hot plate. Once the glues become liquid they will be used to fix the points to the wooden handles.
Grace Swanson '12 uses a piece of obsidian to work the wood. An obsidian edge is extremely sharp, and is many times sharper than a scapel.
Professor Schindler fits a blade into the groove carved into a wooden handle.
Pine pitch is extremely sticky, but creates a strong bond between the stone and wood. The pitch will next be sprinkled with ground ochre or dirt to seal it and prevent it from sticking to things.
A finished composite point. Points such as these would have been affixed to the end of a spear or arrow and used for hunting or cutting meat.