Exciting news! It sounds like one of my really good friends, who happens to be my favorite diving buddy, and I are going to go on an Australia SCUBA trip early next fall! We are referred to by our favorite divemaster as Pinky and the Brain because I wore pink tanks during our first weekend of open water diving, and she actually read the book and knows what is going on (and thus keeps me alive).

Anyways, I will be relying on her brain power, because we will be diving a wreck for the first time, and who knows what kind of trouble I will get in while swimming in and around a shipwreck 60′ below the surface.

This niche subfield of archaeology (nautical or maritime archaeology) has captivated me since I first started taking archaeology courses, and though I don’t plan on continuing on in archaeology, I really hope to take a field school at some point.

Recently maritime archaeologists made headlines when they made claims to have found Christopher Columbus’ flagship the Santa Maria. They were able to use a combination of unique ship identifiers and journal entries from Columbus himself to narrow down the location. Like what?!? So cool. I have a feeling maritime archaeologists are just getting warmed up, and have a few more amazing finds coming soon to a journal article near you.

I’ve been nose deep in the history of forks in Colonial America, so I’m possibly a tad stuck on the strange things that Americans have imported over the last three hundred years. This is possibly one of the stranger imports I’ve seen lately.

In the 18^th and 19^th centuries it was common for American farmers and millers to import a specific stone, known as French buhr, for the crafting of millstones. The vast majority of these stones seem to have come from the regions surrounding France and it was believed that millstones crafted from French buhr ground a superior wheat product.

French buhr millstone

I first found out about this little quirk of American milling here, from a ScienceDaily article detailing work being done in Ohio to identify millstones that had been shipped in from France. The internet being the rabbit hole that it is, I eventually found myself at Penn State’s Medieval Technology and American History site(found here), where a few of the finer details of the older milling processes were highlighted with an explanation of what makes a better millstone. As with most tools for production its stone hardness, if the vanes carved into the stone became dull the grind would be coarser resulting in a wheat flour that would ferment faster.

Why the French buhr stones were preferred I’m not entirely sure of, yet. However, I see an excellent opportunity for some experimental archaeology…

Sources of inspiration come at odd moments.  This quarter has been really neat because a lot of my classes have really been informative towards one another – they worked in conjunction, sort of mirroring each other in subject matter, while varying in content.  One of the things that we discussed was whether or not archaeologists should tell a narrative, a story about an artifact and the people that helped to create, use, deposit, and recover it.

I’ve really come to think that it is a fundamental necessity of what we do.  Captain James Cook (1728-1779) was a surveyor for the Royal Navy, and the written records and drawings from his voyages contain important ethnographic accounts and fantastic pieces of art.  John Webber was the ships artist, and he recorded scenes in great detail.

These works of art at first glance could be used to tell a great deal about how material culture was used, and how space within the home was organized.  A journal entry from one of the men on Captain Cook’s voyage, however, described their interaction with the Arctic Indians upon arrival.  He recounts how the men instantly accost the women of the home, forcing themselves on her.  He even comments on how accommodating they are “refusing no request, even though her father or husband may be standing by.”  He refers to this process as “properly addressing the women”.  It is very clear that this is the standard custom.  It instantly changes the image. It’s sickening.  To know that such an extremely violent and exploitative act took place changes the way that we interpret the picture.  Those people aren’t reflecting their typical spatial patterns.  There are people hiding along the sides of their home while the children are seeking comfort. It’s hard to believe that these men didn’t understand the difference between terrified resignation and willing accommodation.

This is why a narrative, a story is so important.  It can serve to correct the record.  It is not just pictures and data we need, but a means by which to combine these things to get a better understanding of what really occurred in these places.  Drawing and photographs, due to their static nature, have the tendency to be thought of in terms of absolute truth.  It is important to know that we can use words, stories, and recollections to correct and inform our data.  This is the power of a narrative, to reflexively correct and inform archaeological direction.

When I traced the history of my family, I found an interesting fact that the first founder of my mother’s family was one of Kaxinga’s general, Han-Chau JIAN(簡漢超). Koxinga is the establisher of Kingdom of Tungning, a kingdom to against Qing Empire in late 17^th century (1662-1683) in Taiwan. Followed with Koxinga, Han-Chau JIAN (簡漢超) attended the battle between the Dutch in the Fort Zeelandia, and eventually stayed in Tainan area. JIAN became the very first founder of my mother’s family.

Figure 1: The burial of Han-Chau JIAN

Figure 2: The battle in the Fort Zeelandia  (http://www.tonyhuang39.com/tony0555/tony0555.html)

The battle between Koxinga and the Dutch was a significant event for Taiwan. After this battle all Europeans left Taiwan basically but Taiwan was already entangled into world system due to the colonization of European. The Indigenous society had been altered or influenced by the contact or colonization processes. In Southwest Taiwan, many lands were transformed into sugar plantation, and this process stimulated the speed of Hanization to local Indigenous. In the place where my ancestor settled have many local indigenous people, and according to some historical records, the marriage between Han people and indigenous people is not uncommon. Therefore, I believe that there is Indigenous blood in my family.

Before the study of family history, I never consider about how close between Taiwan history and me or my family. I think that every family history tells not only their personal story but also the historical background in that time.

Figure 3: The ancestral shrine of Jian

I decided to do some research on African-American newspapers in order to get a sense of the types of articles that were published in the past. As I began looking for sources, I came across relatively old articles made by Baltimore Afro-American company which was founded in 1892 by a former slave known as John Murphy. Like many other newspapers, Baltimore published articles about sports, societal or cultural issues, food and even humorous stories. The image below, shows a very unconventional article published in 1893 with the title: “Best way to get rid of rats”. The author of the article suggests that people can kill rats by feeding them “emetic tartar”, a substance that will make them sick and will force them to leave the house.

Many of the articles that I found were associated to robbery or crime stories. For instance, the image below was published in 1925, under the title “Good Lord, How He Can Shoot”. The article describes a robbery in which Andrew bennett (African-American individual in the middle of the picture) stopped three bandits. He injured one of the bandits with a pistol , although he never used a gun before. In the picture, he is handing the gun to a detective.

Something that surprised me is that I literally found over 2000 articles related to marital issues (e.g. cheating on another person, child custody, economic issues). It appears that sharing personal issues or stories with the public was a common practice. The article below shows an article published in 1941 with the title, “Wife says Hubby won’t Pay Rent”. In this article, the wife explains that her husband spends the whole day at home drinking alcohol and he doesn’t provide anything for the family.

Finally, as expected, I found many articles related to racial issues affecting African-American communities. The article below was published in 1946, with the title “Asks Federal Laws to Punish Racists”. The article describes a convention that took place in Atlantic city with the goal of making racist actions or prejudice into a federal crime.

Clearly a lot can be learn about different issues affecting individuals and the community by looking at newspapers. Baltimore is one of the many newspapers that can help us achieve those goals.

Sources:

http://guides.lib.washington.edu/news/enews

I’ve always been interested about WWII and the different events that led to the genocide of six million Jews (i.e. Holocaust), therefore, I decided to make a post related to this topic. I searched the archives from the UW library and I found very interesting posters made by the U.S. Government, which were meant to be use for propaganda between 1939-1945. The image below shows Nazis burning books (an event that took place in 1933) but the poster itself was published in 1943.

The year 1933 was an important turning point for Jews living in Germany because Hitler’s government passed different laws that allowed the exclusion and discrimination of Jews. They were removed from jobs and other public services. During the same year, Nazi officials conducted campaigns to burn books related to Jewish literature or anything that was viewed as inappropriate in Nazi Germany. The image below shows another poster published in 1942 in which Nazis are burning books and there is a large book with a quote from president Franklin Roosevelt that says, “People die but books never die. No man and no force can put thought in a concentration camp forever. No man and no force can take from the world the books that  embody man’s eternal fight against tyranny. In this war, we know books are weapons”

Finally, I found another poster (shown below) that dates back to 1943. During this year, anti-semitic attitudes were common in Germany and multiple massacres were taking place in the extermination camps. The poster below shows a hand (with a Nazi symbol) holding a dagger that goes through a bible. There is also a text that reads, “This is the enemy”. This poster clearly shows that Nazis were perceived by Americans as dangerous individuals and their actions were opposite to the religious values/beliefs of American culture.

I think these posters are useful because they can help us understand the American attitude towards Nazis during WWII. Although, I couldn’t find any posters created by Nazis, I’m sure they also used them for propaganda purposes. There are also a variety of personal diaries, photographs, and governmental documents that can help us understand more about people’s attitudes and actions during WWII.

Sources:

Benz, W., & Sydenham-Kwiet, J. (1999). The Holocaust: A German historian examines the genocide. New York: Columbia University Press.

http://guides.lib.washington.edu/content.php?pid=90255&sid=687755