Answer ONE of the following. Essay should be between 3 and 4 pages long, typed, double-spaced with a one inch margin. No covers or binders. Include your name on the first page, a title for the essay, and a number from the list below to let me know which topic you chose. You are encouraged to refer to specific sites from class (Borobudur, Pambamarca, West Oakland, etc.) as they pertain to a concept you are discussing. Written sources should be cited using the Modern Language Association (MLA) format guidelines and bibliography. Papers will be accepted early, but not late. Deadline is Thursday, October 13. No exceptions. No email submissions.

1.) Describe two or three 19th century excavations. What makes them different from modern archaeological excavations?

2.) What are archaeologists’ goals? Why are these responsibilities important to humanity?

3.) List and explain the steps of the process of archaeological research.

4.) Go to www.sonoma.edu/asc/ and acquaint yourself with the Sonoma State Anthropological Studies Center’s website in advance of our fieldtrip. Enter “links” in the search window on the home page, then link to Anthropological Studies Center (ASC): Web Links. Scroll down to the Outreach heading, then under Project Outreach Links, then click on “Archaeology of a San Francisco Neighborhood” and review the website. Pay close attention to the link “Excavate in the City.” In your own words, discuss the sequence of events before, during, and after the excavation of Privy 507. From all of this, did anything surprise you about the history of SOMA, the artifacts recovered, the conclusions drawn, or the methods used?

5.) For a more exotic archaeological exercise, go to sara.theellisschool.org/shipwreck, enter the site, and follow the links. Be sure to have sound on for the full effect. Study the data available at the site thoroughly, including “face the challenges,” “explore the wreck,” and “view the artifacts.” Then -- answer the questions found by following “tell me more” to “the research questions.” Answer them in a narrative essay, rather than simply numbering 1.) through 10.) for your responses. For more information, see the textbook chapter 5. Happy diving!

6.) With information from the book, slides, and films, consider Chaco Canyon. Where is it? Who lived there as pueblo people? What was the significance of places like Pueblo Bonito?

7.) Cemeteries provide historic archaeologists with an opportunity to examine how artifacts (gravestones) vary from different times and in different places. Such variations often reflect how a culture is changing, how cultures differ from one another, and how artifacts reflect these changes and differences. To understand differences in gravestones, archaeologists observe both the individual markers and the larger context or setting of these graves.

Colma, the community a few miles south of San Francisco on highway 280, has an abundance of cemeteries. Visit one of them and construct an essay using one or more of the following questions:

I. What is the name of this cemetery? What is its age and can you find any information about its history?

II. Spend at least 15 minutes just walking around the cemetery. Pay particular attention to fences, paths, paved drives, chapels and other buildings, plantings, and other features of the landscape. Identify the boundaries of the cemetery. Is it marked by a fence, sidewalk, shrubs, or in some other way?

III. Make a rough sketch map showing the location of the fences, paths, and other features you have identified. If they can be identified, note the earliest and most recent gravestones and sketch in their locations. Does the cemetery seem planned or are the graves located haphazardly?

IV. Record at least 10 gravestones, noting your name, date, cemetery, location, birth and death dates, and foot stone or plot marker description and other data using the form distributed in class. Try to find different styles of gravestones to record. Do you find certain gravestones styles in only some areas of the cemetery and not others? Are these styles associated with only certain time periods? What does this tell you about the size of the cemetery at different times and how gravestone styles changed over time?

V. Locate at least five gravestones, ideally from different time periods, which have epitaphs. What do these epitaphs say? What might they reflect about attitudes toward death? How does the use of epitaphs and what epitaphs say change over time?

VI. Locate a family plot or several gravestones with the same surname. Do you think these individuals are related or are husband and wife? How can you tell? Are other relatives buried in the same area? Are these family burial areas more common in earlier graves or more recent graves? What might this tell you about the changing use of family plots over time?

VII. Select five gravestones with men’s names and five gravestones with women’s names from different time periods. How are men’s and women’s gravestones similar? How are they different? What might this tell you about the changing roles and statuses of women and men over time?