Strung Out on Archaeology: An Introduction to Archaeological Research

424 Pages·2014·22.305 MB·English

by  Laurie A. Wilkie, Alexandra Wilkie Farnsworth

• • • • • Strung Out on Archaeology • • • • •

Strung Out on
archaeology
An Introduction to 
Archaeological 
Research
• • • • •
Laurie A. Wilkie
With illustrations by 
Alexandra Wilkie Farnsworth
First published 2014 by Left Coast Press, Inc.
Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © 2014 Taylor & Francis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by
any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wilkie, Laurie A., 1968-
Strung out on archaeology:an introduction to archaeological research/Laurie A. Wilkie; with illustrations
by Alexandra Wilkie Farnsworth.
       pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-1-61132-267-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)—isbn 978-1-61132-269-9 (consumer ebook)
 1. Archaeology—Methodology. 2. Archaeology and history. 3. Carnival—Louisiana—New Orleans. 4. Beads—
Louisiana—New Orleans. 5. New Orleans (La.)—Antiquities.  I. Title. II. Title: Introduction to archaeological
research.
  cc75.w464 2014
  930.1028—dc23
2013049058
ISBN 978-1-61132-267-5 paperback
To my daughter Alex:
Let’s hope we sell enough of
these to pay for your college education;
if not, it’s still really flattering to have a book dedicated to you,
right?
Page Intentionally Left Blank
Contents
List of Illustrations 12
Preface 17
Acknowledgments 22
Chapter 1: The Parade, 2009 27
Chapter 2: Understanding Archaeology and the Throwing Game 43
What Exactly is Archaeology? The Basics 43
The Archaeological Tool Set: Excavation 49
The Archaeological Tool Set Continued: Survey 52
The Archaeological Mindset: Interpretation of Sites 54
The Archaeological Mindset: As a Way of Asking Questions 58
Contemporary Archaeology and the Study of Mardi Gras 61
Our Case Study: Why Beads? 63
Historical Archaeology 66
The History of the Throwing Game: Doing the Research 67
The Throwing Game: What was Learned? 70
Chapter 3: A Culture Historian’s Approach to Carnival: Classifying Mardi Gras Beads 77
The Prehistory of Culture History 78
Franz Boas, Historical Particularism and the Theoretical
Foundations of Culture History 81
Archaeological Tools: Classification 82
Types of Mardi Gras Beads 86
Culture History and Chronology: Absolute and Relative Dating Techniques 92
Dendrochronology 92
Using Documents and Dated Artifacts or Events: tpqs and taqs 93
A Diversion in Which I Explain Radiocarbon Dating 94
Dating before Radiometrics: Relative Dating Techniques, Superposition,
and Seriation 97
The Stylistic Seriation of Mardi Gras Beads 99
• • • contents • • •
Frequency Seriation 108
Frequency Seriation and Mardi Gras 111
Chapter 4: Putting the Science in Archaeology’s Social Science 115
The Hypothetico-Deductive Method 119
Zooarchaeology and an Example of the Hypothetico-Deductive Method 119
Making Archaeology Scientific: Other New Methodologies of the New Archaeology 121
Paleoethnobotany 122
Designing Mardi Gras 124
Problems of Site Formation Processes 125
Data Collection and Sampling 126
The Field Seasons 133
Archaeological Knowing 138
Ethnographic Analogy 140
Ethnoarchaeology 141
Experimental Archaeology 144
Middle-Range Research and Mardi Gras 145
Chapter 5: Mardi Gras as Lived, Social, and Experiential 147
An Archaeological Creation Story 147
The Post-Processual Critique 148
Riding in the Super Krewe: An Embodied Experience 154
Chapter 6: Technology and Social Change 169
Archaeologies of Technology 169
How was an Item Made? 170
Bioarchaeology of Labor 170
Chaînes Opertoire 171
How the Mardi Gras Beads Were Made and How They Changed 173
Chaînes Opertoires for Mardi Gras Beads 176
Techniques for Making Glass Beads 176
The Czech Operational Chain 176
German Glass Bead Chain of Operations 179
Japanese Glass Bead Operational Chain 179
Indian Beads Chain of Operation 179
A Different Chain of Operation: Manufacturing Plastic Beads 180
Chinese Hand-Strung Plastic Beads 182
• • • Contents • • •
MOS Operational Chains: Collapsing Bead Manufacturing and
Stringing in One Step 182
What Changes Due to Technology 184
Our Chaînes Opertoire in Summation 185
Impacts of Technology Change 187
Evolutionary Archaeology 187
The Evolutionary Archaeology of Mardi Gras 188
Human Behavioral Ecology 190
Foraging for Beads Part i: Human Behavioral Ecology and
Choosing Which Beads to Throw 195
Bead Foraging Part ii: Human Behavioral Ecology and Catching Beads 199
Chapter 7: Mardi Gras Gifts and Bead Exchange 203
Gift Giving 203
Types of Exchange Relationships 204
Trade as Seen on the Landscape 205
Why Exchange? 207
Recognizing Trade Items 208
Recognizing Types of Trade Archaeologically:
An Example from Oakley Plantation 210
Buying, Bribing, and Bartering with Beads 214
The Throwing Game as a Feast 215
Large-Scale Feasts in Honduras 215
Small-Scale Feasts in the American Prehistoric South 216
Feasting Mardi Gras Style 216
Scales of Parades 217
Feasts Increasing: Bead Inflation, 1921–2004 219
Measuring Wealth—Abundance Versus Quality: Historical Perspectives 219
Quantity Matters 220
Quality Matters 222
The Excavated Assemblage 226
Comparing Bead Values through Time 230
Explanations of Change 233
Chapter 8: Social Identity 239
Performance of Social Identity in Mardi Gras Parades 244
Representation of Self in 2000 245
Classifying Krewes 246