Historic Artifact Analysis

Catalog description

A graduate-level seminar and lab on select material culture commonly recovered from historical archaeological sites. Artifact classes that are covered in the course include ceramics, glass, and a tobacco pipes. Students in the class will learn artifact identification, historical developments of artifact types, and archaeological methodology for dating and quantifying assemblages. The course also includes discussions on a various cultural aspects such as consumption, socio-economic status, gender, mercantilism, and other cultural behaviors in order to help put the artifacts into historical contexts and answer archaeological research questions.