Review Essay: Reading the Reading of Gender in Archaeology

A review of In Pursuit of Gender: Worldwide Archaeological Approaches edited by Sarah Milledge Nelson and Myriam Rosen-Ayalon, 2001 and of Gender and the Archaeology of Death edited by Bettina Arnold and Nancy L. Wicker, 2001

Field Excavations at Sylvester Manor

This chapter describes the overall field strategy and summarizes nine seasons of field excavations at Sylvester Manor. All tested site areas are described, with greatest detail given to the areas relevant to the research questions on the early plantation period, as well as the pre-Contact/Colonial Native American occupation areas. This overview of the excavations also provides a broad interpretation of the results relating to the early colonial landscape, associations between site areas, and the longer term Native American occupation of the site

Archaeological Site Examination, North Yard of the Loring-Greenough House, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts

A phased program of stabilization and restoration for the Loring-Greenough House and property located in Jamaica Plain, a suburb of Boston, MA, called for reconstruction of porches, construction of an entrance walk and new foundations for the carriage house. This program also included landscaping and rehabilitation of garden plantings in the north yard. Archaeological testing was conducted to identify cultural resources that would be impacted by the proposed project and to search for evidence of early garden features that could be used to guide landscape restoration. The first phase of research focused on house porches, walkway installation and foundation work in the carriage house (Mohler and Kelley 2000). The second phase of work, reported herein, focused on the temporal assessment of existing planting beds and identification of historic planting features. A total of five 1 m x 1 m units and four 1 m x .5 m units were excavated in the north yard. Investigations revealed the presence of an intact buried A-horizon in the east and south portions of the north yard that contains eighteenth and early nineteenth century artifacts. Sand walkways were laid down in the early to mid nineteenth century and may have corresponded with other house improvements made around 1840. Such improvements may have included the creation of a formal garden with beds laid out in a geometric pattern. These garden features were covered over with landscaping fill sometime after 1937 when a plan of the property was made by the Historic American Buildings Survey. The present parallel garden beds may have been created simultaneously with the geometric garden. The parallel beds have been maintained with slight twentieth-century modification up to the present. The irregular lilac beds at the north edge of the property appear to date to the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, while the herb bed was created in the late twentieth century. Evidence of seventeenth to eighteenth century garden features consisting of a series of small planting holes was identified below the south end of the parallel beds and associated walkway. The program of archaeological testing revealed the presence of a well-preserved buried A-horizon across much of the property that is associated with the eighteenth and early nineteenth cenury occupation of the property. In addition evidence of eighteenth century gardening activity lies at the base of the buried A-horizon. An early nineteenth century pathway was found on the surface of the buried A-horizon. Due to the presence of well-preserved arcaeological deposits recommendations for proposed garden restoration focused on the need to limit the depth of new planting holes to prevent disturbance to the buried A-horizon. Because tree planting and erection of posts for arbors require greater depths, it was recommended that the new planting and post locations should be archaeologically excavated to mitigate potentially adverse impacts. The excavated holes will then be used for specific trees and posts. The third phase of archaeological investigation associated with the foundations of the carriage house north wall joists will be reported under separate cover

Fabrice Leroy, Barry Jean Ancelet. Tout Bec Doux: the Complete Cajun Comics of Ken Meaux and Earl Comeaux

Au mois d'août 1969, le journal de Kaplan en Louisiane lance la bande dessinée Bec Doux et ses amis. Pendant une vingtaine d'années, cette bande hebdomadaire dépeint la vie quotidienne des habitants d'une communauté francophone dite "cajun" en Louisiane. Tout Bec Doux: The Complete Cajun Comics of Ken Meaux and Earl Comeaux rassemble toute la collection de Bec Doux et ses amis dans un seul volume. Bien que les personnages parlent en français, Bec Doux apparait dans un journal anglophone, avec..

Fabrice Leroy, Barry Jean Ancelet. Tout Bec Doux: the Complete Cajun Comics of Ken Meaux and Earl Comeaux

Au mois d'août 1969, le journal de Kaplan en Louisiane lance la bande dessinée Bec Doux et ses amis. Pendant une vingtaine d'années, cette bande hebdomadaire dépeint la vie quotidienne des habitants d'une communauté francophone dite "cajun" en Louisiane. Tout Bec Doux: The Complete Cajun Comics of Ken Meaux and Earl Comeaux rassemble toute la collection de Bec Doux et ses amis dans un seul volume. Bien que les personnages parlent en français, Bec Doux apparait dans un journal anglophone, avec..

The Archaeology of Sylvester Manor

This chapter introduces the history of the Sylvester Manor Project. It emphasizes the importance of the interdisciplinary approach employed during the project and the overall goals of the investigations. A discussion of pluralistic space and its importance as a central theme of the investigations is also presented. This is followed by a discussion of the Native American history of Shelter Island and its European colonization with particular attention given to the initial establishment of Sylvester Manor as a provisioning plantation, its connections to two large sugar plantations on Barbados, and its subsequent transformation into a commercial estate

‘It’s like hope in a dark room’: a phenomenological study of Occupational Therapy Students’ experiences of participating in Students as Co- Researcher projects with asylum seekers and refugees

This study adopted an interpretivist phenomenological design to determine the value and meaning of participating in a Students as Co-Researcher’s project with asylum seekers and refugees. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with eighteen participants who had taken part in one of three projects as pre-registration occupational therapy students. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Key findings were that students valued working together as part of a supportive team. Enabling meaningful occupation provided a means to work with asylum seekers and refugees using purposeful creative activities. Developing a sense of cultural awareness aided the students’ understanding of the importance of connectivity and collectivism in different cultures. The projects had a significant impact on the students’ professional identity and current role. Recommendations are to encourage occupational therapy pre-registration students to engage in Students as Co-Researchers’ projects to develop their research skills and contribute to the evidence base for occupational therapy, occupational science, and social justice. Working alongside other health and social care professions in the research projects would provide valuable interprofessional learning, offer greater diversity of thought and broader interpretation of findings. Despite growing numbers of asylum seekers and refugees in the United Kingdom and around the world, there are few occupational therapy posts in this area of practice. Posts that are available tend to be in the third sector, are not occupational therapy specific and are poorly paid. Occupational therapists should collaborate with asylum seekers and refugees to act as advocates in the design and delivery of services and to develop and influence policy at a local, national, and international level. Staff need to be trained to develop cultural humility in their practice and to develop a range of culturally appropriate assessments. Occupational therapy has a clear role in this developing area of practice

Conclusion: Meditations on the Archaeology of Northern Plantations

A summary of the methods employed and the conclusions reached after nine seasons of archaeological fieldwork are presented. Emphasis is placed on the success and limitations of the methods employed in the investigations at Sylvester Manor and results of those investigations. Although excavations concentrated on the plantation core, additional areas examined produced little in the way of archaeological features. The results, although preliminary, point to a major role for Native Americans as laborers during the earliest phases of the plantation’s operation. Landscape evidence also suggests an evolving economy as the Manor transitions from a provisioning operation to a commercial farm/tenant run operation within a decade of Nathaniel Sylvester’s death in 1680. A third transition saw the commercial farm reconfigured once again as a Georgian-inspired country estate eclipsed it