Archives For November 30, 1999
The Archaeology Program is pleased to announce the appointment of its new Director. As of July 1, Dr. Scott Harris will be Director of Archaeology.
Dr. Harris received a PhD in geology from the University of Delaware and is a specialist in paleo-landscape evolution, primarily within coastal plain and contintental shelf environments. His most recent research has taken him to spaces off of the coast of the US southeast and Greece (the latter for which he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship).
He follows James Newhard, who has served as Director of Archaeology since the inception of the major in 2013. Dr. Newhard steps down in order to more fully devote time to his responsibilities as interim Chair of the Department of Classics and as the Director of the newly-created Center for Historical Landscapes.
We wish Dr. Harris the best of good fortune, and thank Dr. Newhard for his years of service.
Dr. Allison Sterrett-Krause has been working with students in processing the glass artifacts from Roman Carthage for the past several years, and is continuing this work this year. She will host an introductory session this Friday from 2:30-4:30 in BELL 217.
Meeting on Friday afternoons during the semester, volunteers are trained to catalogue and draw Roman glass fragments and asked to devote at least 12-15 hours over the course of the semester to our project. The team’s research goal is the eventual publication of late Roman and early Byzantine glass fragments from the Circus in Carthage.
This is an exciting opportunity to learn the basics of artifact analysis from a recognized expert in the field, in one of (if not the only) spaces in the country that holds ‘live’ unpublished glass artifacts from an archaeological project in the Mediterranean. In most cases, the artifacts stay in the country of origin, requiring extensive costs in travel for limited amounts of exposure to the material. In the case of the Roman glass assemblages from Carthage, the material has been legally exported, and are a 10-minute walk down the street. The unparalleled nature of this opportunity is palpable – both in terms of the thoroughness of the analysis and the opportunities for student training and high impact learning.
For more information, contact Dr. Allison Sterrett-Krause directly (sterrettkrauseae@cofc.edu). Owing to demand, working on the glass assemblages is currently limited to enrolled College of Charleston students, although visitors are welcome.
For archaeologists at CofC, the summer is time for exploration via fieldwork and in-depth study. In partnership with the South Carolina Society of the Archaeological Institute of America, we present a series of short reports from the field by Drs. Harris, Hays, Ibarra, Newhard, and Sterrett-Krause. Come to hear what new and exciting work is happening!
Thursday, September 8 at 7:00pm
Simons Center for the Arts, 309
College of Charleston
For those interested in getting some archaeological experience and being a member of the research team at Dixie Plantation, Dr. Maureen Hays will be offering ANTH493 Field School in Archaeology (4 credits) in Maymester this year (May 16th to May 31st).
This course fulfills the Anthropology major Research Methods requirement and the Capstone requirement for the Archaeology major/minor.
ANTH202 is the prerequisite (or permission of Instructor). If you have taken ANTH202 students will be able to sign up for the course when summer registration opens. If students have not taken ANTH202 but really want to learn something about archaeology, send Dr. Hays an email requesting permission.
The property is owned by the College of Charleston Foundation and located in Hollywood, SC (about 40 minutes from downtown Charleston). Dixie Plantation has a long occupational history (both historic and prehistoric). Focus this summer will be on the early colonial occupation of the site (1700-1750).
The project is co-directed by Dr. Maureen Hays (College of Charleston) and Dr. Kim Pyszka (Auburn University at Montgomery).
For more detail, please see attached.
How do archaeologists identify the fragmentary shards of glass found in excavations as bottles, plates, and cups? Archaeologists at the College of Charleston can tell you. Sarah Legendre and Dr. Allison Sterrett-Krause presented preliminary findings of their work conducted over the summer in the annual celebration of summer research at the College of Charleston. Their study applied stepped regression analysis to develop a typological hierarchy, useful for identifying the functional type of most glass fragments found in Mediterranean contexts. The quantitative approach aids a field in which previous studies had used more empirical categories, not always informed by statistical methods.
Their work, funded by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities, the Department of Classics, and the Yawkey Foundation and conducted at the Center for Social Science Research (CofC), will be formally presented at the upcoming 20th Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre in Fribourg, Switzerland.
This year’s conference (April 11, 9:00 -3:00; Wells Fargo Auditorium, College of Charleston) will include papers highlighting recent research in the history, archaeology, and societies of the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Many studies reflect the overall theme of the conference, which takes a particular interest into the uses of technology in the study and presentation of the past. Participants include:
Olivia Adams: “Examining Cultural Landscapes of the Past: Charles Towne Landing”
Zak Bartholomew: ‘The Use of Geospatial Statistics for Defining Archaeological Sites Using Surface Survey Data”
Caitlin Bennett: “Dental Age Estimation in Subadults: A Re-Evaluation of Standards for Contemporary African American Children”
Carolyn Howle: “Reimagining the New Grange Passage Tomb through Folklore”
Jeremy C. Miller & Aaron Brummitt: “Observing Multi-Site Occupation through Innovative and Affordable Technologies: An Analysis of over 5,000 Years of Human Occupation at 38BK2091, Rebellion Farms”
Hannah Rawcliffe: “Anthropology and Technology: How Can Cultural Heritage Digitization Improve Dissemination of Information to the Public?”
Susan Bergeron: “Reconstructing the Rice Kingdom: Developing an Immersive Virtual Landscape for Historic Hampton Plantation”
Jesse Rouse: “From the Surface Down: Looking for Landscape Change at Hampton Plantation”
Craig Garrison: “Carriage Steps and Charleston’s Streetscape”
Welcoming Remarks by Tracey Burkett, Interim Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, College of Charleston
Keynote Address by James Newhard, Director of Archaeology, College of Charleston
The conference is sponsored by the SC State Park Service in partnership with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Program in Archaeology at the College of Charleston.
This story is reproduced from its original posting the School of Science and Mathematics blog
Dr. Harris’ core research will allow for quantitive and qualitative analysis of coastal change in response to varied sea-level rise scenarios across a complex landscape in the North Euboean Gulf of Central Greece. Data gathered, analyzed, and interpreted through this project will also inform several major Bronze Age archaeological sites about their submerged paleolandscapes along the Southwestern edge of the gulf. The research site covers the marine portions of the ancient sites of Kynos, Mitrou, and Halai and from modern Arkitsa to the Theologos Peninsula about two hours north of Athens. The derived scientific products and interpretations will not only inform the maritime aspects of the terrestrial sites, but will also assist in the identification of submerged sites before, during and after the significant periods of seafaring in the Bronze Age along this major seaway. While many studies of the submerged portions of Greece focus strictly on submerged cities, specific shipwrecks, or the deep sea, this collaborative project will form a coherent regional investigation focused on paleolandscapes and coastal changes throughout antiquity. The broader context of the study will influence disciplinary thoughts on the preservation of ancient landscapes, of coastal deposits, and of submerged archaeological sites along an important ancient maritime seaway.
Submerged paleolandscapes hold a record of antiquity that informs us about past coastal conditions and human adaptations. Understanding the influence of how variable local sea-level changes have influenced the preservation potential of submerged coastal systems is crucial to understanding these interactions. Working with host faculty and two other Greek universities, we will map the seafloor between Theologos and Arkitsa Greece to answer questions of preservation potential in a natural experiment of differential sea-level change in this actively tectonic and rich Bronze Age maritime region. The scholar will bring expertise in coastal dynamics and advanced seafloor mapping techniques while the host institution provides expertise in understanding ancient sea-level histories in this region.
Congratulations to the following archaeology students and faculty mentors, who have received support for research and professional presentations from the College’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities:
Academic Year Research Award
Alana Acuff (Anthropology) and Jami Baxley (Classics)
Mentor: James Newhard
Title: The Global Electronic Repository of Aegean Scripts (GERAS): post-processing 3D structured light scanning imagery
Research Presentation Grants
Olivia Adams (Anthropology)
Mentors: Maureen Hays, Kimberly Pyszka
Title: Landscape Archaeology and GIS: Understanding Cultural Adaptations and Tenant Farming in the Low Country, Hollywood, SC
Conference: South Eastern Archaeological Conference
Zak Bartholomew (Anthropology)
Mentor: James Newhard, Norman Levine
Title: The Development of a Legacy GIS for the Contextualization of the Linear B Deposits from the Palace of Nestor at Pylos
Conference: Archaeological Institute of America Annual Meeting
You won’t always find James Newhard exhuming delicate artifacts with a trowel or handbroom.
For Newhard, director of the College of Charleston’s program in archaeology and associate professor of classics, the task of studying ancient civilizations is just as easily accomplished with the aid of geospatial 3D modeling, airborne drones, and 3-D or Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI). He works to find archaeological applications for cutting-edge technologies. (read more here).