The New Philadelphia Archaeological Project (NSF-REU) is a fieldschool in archaeology and laboratory techniques, held at the townsite of New Philadelphia, a 19th century multi-racial farming community in central Illinois. Ongoing field investigations at the site are led by Chris Fennell, who provides this description of the 2010 field season, to be held May 24, 2010—July 30, 2010.
2005 aerial view of the 42-acre New Philadelphia town site. Photograph courtesy of Dr. Tommy Hailey.
The history of New Philadelphia, Illinois serves as a rare example of a multi-racial early farming community on the nation's Midwestern frontier. The town's population reached its peak of about 160 people after the Civil War, a size comparable to many western Illinois communities today. However, by the end of the century racial and corporate politics of America's gilded age resulted in the death knell for the settlement: regional investors routed a new railroad line to pass north of the town. Many of New Philadelphia's businesses and residents moved away and, by the early 20th century, only a few farmsteads remained on the space of the former town.
Frank McWorter, founder of New Philadelphia. Sculpture by Shirley McWorter Moss on display at the Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield. Photograph courtesy of Sandra McWorter and Lincoln Presidential Library.
A collaborative project of archaeologists, historians, and members of the local and descendant communities is underway to further research the social history of this demographically integrated town and to enhance its focus in our national memory. The town site of New Philadelphia is now a National Historic Landmark based on its significant archaeological resources and exceptional value to our national heritage.
This NSF-REU sites program will enhance undergraduate education in scientific methods and analyses in an ongoing long-term project at New Philadelphia. The excavation and analysis of artifacts and archaeobiology data will provide students with a hands-on learning experience and mentoring process for students in an interdisciplinary setting. Ultimately, these different data sets will be integrated and the students will gain an understanding of the importance of scientific interdisciplinary research as they examine the growth and development of the town. This research will elucidate how individual members and families of this multi-racial community made choices to create their immediate environment, diet, agricultural practices, social affiliations, and consumer choices.
NSF-REU field school students Adeola Adegbola and Hillary Livingston, along with archaeologist Chris Fennell and other excavators, investigate a 19th-century house site at New Philadelphia, a demographically integrated town founded by a free African American in 1836. Photograph courtesy Illinois State Museum
New Philadelphia Field School, official website
More Fieldwork in Focus
Time Team America: New Philadelphia
Fieldwork in Focus: New Philadelphia originally appeared on About.com Archaeology on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 06:24:24.Permalink | Comment | Email this
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 Maya emigrants into northern Yucatan peninsula from the southern Yucatan about 700 AD. The architecture associated with the Puuc is lacy and filigreed, with these elaborate roof combs illustrated on the little house shown in the above illustration. About 950 AD, a new style appeared at Chichén Itzá, along with the people who brought it: the Toltec, entering into Chichén Itzá during their empire-building push from Tula. \n\nEl Castillo: Totally Toltec at Chichén Itzá Photo Credit: Jim Gateley \n\nThe 20-stop Email this','media':[{'type':'image','src':'www.spectives.com/409/9/0/Aboutcom-Archaeology/Chichn-Itz-The-Walking-Tour-main.jpg','href':'http://www.spectives.com/posts/296173'}]},[{'text':'Powered by Spectives','href':'http://www.spectives.com'}]);){kind=link}
 is a fieldschool in archaeology and laboratory techniques, held at the townsite of New Philadelphia, a 19th century multi-racial farming community in central Illinois. Ongoing field investigations at the site are led by Chris Fennell, who provides this description of the 2010 field season, to be held May 24, 2010—July 30, 2010. \n\n\n2005 aerial view of the 42-acre New Philadelphia town site. Photograph courtesy of Dr. Tommy Hailey.\n\n\nThe history of New Philadelphia, Illinois serves as a rare example of a multi-racial early farming community on the nation\'s Midwestern frontier. The town\'s population reached its peak of about 160 people after the Civil War, a size comparable to many western Illinois communities today. However, by the end of the century racial and corporate politics of America\'s gilded age resulted in the death knell for the settlement: regional investors routed a new railroad line to pass north of the town. Many of New Philadelphia\'s businesses and residents moved away and, by the early 20th century, only a few farmsteads remained on the space of the former town.\n\nFrank McWorter, founder of New Philadelphia. Sculpture by Shirley McWorter Moss on display at the Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield. Photograph courtesy of Sandra McWorter and Lincoln Presidential Library.\n\nA collaborative project of archaeologists, historians, and members of the local and descendant communities is underway to further research the social history of this demographically integrated town and to enhance its focus in our national memory. The town site of New Philadelphia is now a National Historic Landmark based on its significant archaeological resources and exceptional value to our national heritage.\n\nThis NSF-REU sites program will enhance undergraduate education in scientific methods and analyses in an ongoing long-term project at New Philadelphia. The excavation and analysis of artifacts and archaeobiology data will provide students with a hands-on learning experience and mentoring process for students in an interdisciplinary setting. Ultimately, these different data sets will be integrated and the students will gain an understanding of the importance of scientific interdisciplinary research as they examine the growth and development of the town. This research will elucidate how individual members and families of this multi-racial community made choices to create their immediate environment, diet, agricultural practices, social affiliations, and consumer choices.\n\n\nNSF-REU field school students Adeola Adegbola and Hillary Livingston, along with archaeologist Chris Fennell and other excavators, investigate a 19th-century house site at New Philadelphia, a demographically integrated town founded by a free African American in 1836. Photograph courtesy Illinois State Museum\n\n\n\n\n New Philadelphia Field School, official website\n More Fieldwork in Focus\n Time Team America: New Philadelphia\nFieldwork in Focus: New Philadelphia originally appeared on About.com Archaeology on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 06:24:24.Permalink | Comment | Email this','media':[{'type':'image','src':'www.spectives.com/10169/8/0/Aboutcom-Archaeology/Fieldwork-in-Focus-New-Philadelphia-main.jpg','href':'http://www.spectives.com/posts/272901'}]},[{'text':'Powered by Spectives','href':'http://www.spectives.com'}]);){kind=link}
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 \n\nLinear Pottery Reenactor at Archeon. \nPhoto Credit: Hans Splinter\nTrivia Quiz:\n LBK Trivia Quiz\n\nCheat Sheets:\nGuide to the Linearbandkeramik \n\nPhoto Essay: The Neolithic Transition from Hunting to Farming in Europe\nSwifterbant Culture\nDomestication of Pigs\nMore Quizzes','media':[{'type':'image','src':'www.spectives.com/8915/3/0/Aboutcom-Archaeology/Archaeology-Quiz-of-the-Week-LBK-main.jpg','href':'http://www.spectives.com/posts/103948'}]},[{'text':'Powered by Spectives','href':'http://www.spectives.com'}]);){kind=link}
 and Adam Savage (R) attend the Natural Resources Defense Council\'s 11th Annual `Forces For Nature\' Benefit at 583 Park Avenue on March 30, 2009 in New York City Photo Credit: Andrew H. Walker / Getty Images\n\nIn 2007, Waguespack and Surovell approached the quintessential popular science television team, MythBusters Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, with a proposition: is there a technological advantage to using a stone or metal arrowhead over a sharpened stick?\n\n\nArchaeologists have long conducted replicative experiments—called experimental archaeology—for quite some time. Basically, we attempt to recreate situations in the past, whether flint knapping or farming techniques or even building entire villages. \n\nLiving history villages, like Colonial Williamsburg and Bede\'s World and Plimouth Plantation, to name just a few, are a very popular type of tourist attraction. Many of them are direct extensions of archaeological research. Archeon, a living history village in the Netherlands, holds an annual longbow competition. \n\n\n8th Annual Archeon Longbow Competition. Photo by Hans Splinter\n\nThe MythBusters have been conducting their own brand of pop science research since 2002. While such studies are fairly rare on MythBusters, on occasion, they will dip into the archaeological realm. In this program, which first aired in February 2008, the MythBusters discovered that on average, arrow shafts with attached stone arrow points only penetrate about 10% further into ballistics gelatin dummies than do sharpened arrow shafts without stone arrowpoints. That\'s a bit surprising; stone tools are definitely more difficult to make than sharpening a stick and 10% is really not that much of an increase for all that work. \n\nWaguespack and colleagues wrote up their results, which appear in this quarter\'s Antiquity. Coincidentally, an article reporting experimental studies on penetration of stone projectile points appeared this month in the Journal of Archaeological Science. Researchers Matthew Sisk and John Shea think that it\'s possible that what really increases the penetration is the width of the point, rather than the weight or thickness. Hmm. \n\nSisk, Matthew L. and John J. Shea 2009 Experimental use and quantitative performance analysis of triangular flakes (Levallois points) used as arrowheads. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(9):2039-2047.\n\nWaguespack, Nicole M., et al. 2009 Making a point: wood- versus stone-tipped projectiles. Antiquity 83:786?800.\n\nSome Related Stuff Here\n\n\n Top Myths about Arrowheads and Projectile Points\n\n Little Known Facts about Arrowheads and Projectile Points\n\n Experiments in Projectile Point Technology (bibliography): there have been quite a few experimental studies on arrow and spear point technology\n\n\n\nI have to confess, I have not seen the MythBusters program on Waguespack and Surovell\'s research, but what I have seen are the long sets of discussion about the program in the public forums at the Discovery channel, garnering interest and input from the general public. I like it! \n\n\n\n Discovery.com Forums: Arrow Penetration\n Discovery.com Forums: Caveman arrows\n MythBusters Solve the Mystery of Stone Age Arrowheads, news release\n Lawn Chair Anthropology: Doc Todd and the MythBusters\nMythBusters home page\n\n','media':[{'type':'image','src':'www.spectives.com/15359/2/0/Aboutcom-Archaeology/Experimental-Archaeology-and-the-MythBusters-main.jpg','href':'http://www.spectives.com/posts/78901'}]},[{'text':'Powered by Spectives','href':'http://www.spectives.com'}]);){kind=link}
 2006\nTrivia Quiz:\n Persian Empire Trivia Quiz\n\nCheat Sheets:\nGuide to the Persian Empire \n\nGuide to the Achaemenid Dynasty\nRoyal Road of the Achaemenids\nPersian Garden\nMore Quizzes\n ','media':[{'type':'image','src':'www.spectives.com/5875/2/0/Aboutcom-Archaeology/Archaeology-Quiz-The-Persian-Empire-main.jpg','href':'http://www.spectives.com/posts/68925'}]},[{'text':'Powered by Spectives','href':'http://www.spectives.com'}]);){kind=link}
 open access and can be read online for free here, but in case the OA aspect goes away, here\'s a brief summary and links to each separate letter. \n\nHuman coprolite from Paisley Cave 5 radiocarbon dated to 12,300 BC. Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Dennis LeRoy Jenkins\n\n\n\n\n\n\n First, Poinar et al. argue that radiocarbon dates in the coprolite from Paisley Caves are not consistent, leading them to suggest that that is evidence that the coprolites had been contaminated\n\n Next, Gilbert et al. respond that the radiocarbon dates are not inconsistent, but reproducible from two independent laboratories (with one contaminated), and that although the possibility of contamination is a reality, they are not ready to change their conclusions\n\n Goldberg et al. argue that they examined one of the coprolites which is purportedly human and believe it is likely to be from a herbivore\n\n Rasmussen et al. disagree with Golberg, arguing that the specimen is indeed human, since no mtDNA from a herbivore was discovered within the coprolite, and other mammalian mtDNA did survive\n\n\nRead the Full Discussion yourself here\n\nAnd on September 16, 2009, the Bureau of Land Management announced it awarded funding to the University of Oregon for the continuing research at Paisley Caves. Perhaps additional excavation will clear up these lingering questions.\n\n\n University of Oregon awarded funding for archeological excavation, preservation of Paisley Caves\n\n\nPaisley Caves Publishing History\n\nThe original Paisley Caves story ran in Science Express in April of 2008 and was summarized here in Paisley Caves: The Discovery of PreClovis Human DNA. The paper was formally published in Science in 2009 (see the link below). \n\nGilbert et al. 2008. DNA from Pre-Clovis Human Coprolites in Oregon, North America. Science 320(5877): 786-789\n\nThanks, Becca!','media':[{'type':'image','src':'www.spectives.com/25242/1/0/Aboutcom-Archaeology/Paisley-Caves-Update-main.jpg','href':'http://www.spectives.com/posts/57698'}]},[{'text':'Powered by Spectives','href':'http://www.spectives.com'}]);){kind=link}
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, an Aztec compilation of the monthly ritual and ceremonies to celebrate certain deities. \nPhoto Credit: Photo Credit: Shaun Che\nTrivia Quiz: Aztec Empire Trivia Quiz\n\nCheat Sheet: About.com Guide to the Aztec Empire \n\n\nTime Line and King List\n\nTenochtitlan \n\nMore Quizzes\n','media':[{'type':'image','src':'www.spectives.com/22871/0/0/Aboutcom-Archaeology/Archaeology-Quiz-of-the-Week-The-Aztecs-main.jpg','href':'http://www.spectives.com/posts/23431'}]},[{'text':'Powered by Spectives','href':'http://www.spectives.com'}]);){kind=link}