Book Review: Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism, edited by Mark P. Leone and Parker B. Potter, Jr.

Book Review: Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism, edited by Mark P. Leone and Parker B. Potter, Jr., 1999, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, 262 pages, illus., $85.00 (hardcover)

27-Phase II Site Examination: James McDonald Farm Site 12 OR 509, Hoosier National Forest, Orange County Indiana

This report documents the findings of a Phase II Site Examination conducted at the McDonald Site 12 OR 509 in the Hoosier National Forest in Southeast Township, Orange County, Indiana (Fig 1.1). The section of the forest where the site is located was formerly a 40-acre parcel representing the SENE parcel of T1S R1E Section 28 of the Southeast Township. This parcel was owned by a farmer named James McDonald from 1850-1893, and it represented but a small part of his 200 acre farm. The U.S. Forest Service acquired the property in 1936. A Phase I archaeological survey was conducted at this site in 1985 by Resource Analysts, Inc., in which 6 shovel tests were dug on a 20 x 20m scatter. This survey identified both historic and prehistoric artifacts, as well as a root cellar that represented the most visible feature on the site. The resulting analysis of the site and relevant historic documents prompted the team to deem the site potentially eligible for National Register and recommended further testing and documentary research (Dorwin and Claflin 1986). In the spring of 2013, Angie R. Krieger, archaeologist for the Hoosier National Forest, contacted Dr. LouAnn Wurst of Western Michigan University to request a Phase II evaluation of site 12 OR 509 to determine the site’s eligibility in advance of an anticipated land transfer. Archaeological fieldwork was conducted over four long weekends in the fall of 2013 and spring 2014 by anthropology students from Western Michigan University under the direction of Dr. Wurst. In addition to excavating the root cellar feature, we dug a total of nine STPs and 26m2 of surface area, identified a total of 7 features, and recovered a sample of 6,209 artifacts. These artifacts were predominantly historic and domestic in nature, although 21 prehistoric artifacts were also recovered. The prehistoric material likely represents a short-term camp site dated between 2000 and 600 B.C.E., indicated by the expedient production of flakes, or late stage reduction and management of tools. Given the sparse nature of the material, this site has little research potential. The historic period component represents a small house site. Structural features include the root cellar, three stone foundation piers, and a stone chimney stand or foundation. The lack of evidence for barns suggests that this was not a complete working farm. The artifact assemblage was very uniform across the site, and little evidence for temporally stratified materials could be discerned. There is slightly more evidence for spatial patterning, mostly in confirming the house’s footprint and indicating the location of a porch which may have served as a domestic work area. Most of the materials derive from sheet midden contexts, and thus represent small fragment sizes. This means that many of the artifacts could not be identified by functional group. Even so, nails, window glass, ceramics, bottles, and other small finds dominate the assemblage, confirming its domestic origin. In general, the historic artifacts represent only a modest investment in consumer behavior. Because of the uniform and modest material culture, we postulate that the 2 house was likely occupied by a tenant, perhaps working on McDonald’s farm or by John McDonald and his family, McDonald’s son, who worked as a school teacher. Given the level of investigation during this testing, the redundancy of temporal and spatial data, and lack of clear evidence for the site’s historic occupants, we do not believe this site has further research potential or is eligible for the National Register of Historic Place. Therefore, no further work is recommended. However, we believe that the rich data recovered provides a valuable case to compare to other sites in the region and will help to further develop the historic context of the Hoosier National Forest and south central Indiana

24-Archaeological Investigations: Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum Site

This report documents an archaeological investigation conducted on the property of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum (LHBM) in South Haven, Van Buren County, MI, which was given the site number 20VA78. The homestead is the birthplace and childhood home of Dr. Liberty Hyde Bailey, Jr. (1858-1954), a naturalist, farmer, and Professor of Horticulture at Cornell University who gained prominence as a pioneer of the progressive farming movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the spring of 2012, John Stempien, then Director of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum, contacted Dr. LouAnn Wurst of Western Michigan University to request an archaeological investigation of the museum grounds. Museum personnel had located a picture dating to no later than the 1930s showing a small structure to the northwest of the main house that they speculated was a privy. Because the structure is no longer standing, the museum wished to know if any archaeological trace remained that would provide information about the building’s purpose and date. Archaeological excavations performed by Dr. Wurst and her students found no clear evidence of a foundation where the structure was located. However, the excavations did identify an archaeological feature and artifact deposits that provide new evidence of progressive social ideologies and farming techniques as well as insight into the everyday life of the occupants of the Liberty Hyde Bailey house

‘Working as Though For Their Self’: Coalwood, Class Struggle and Capitalism’s Cracks

Much of the archaeology and history of labor is based on organized labor, unions, and strikes, and the common rhetoric emphasizes the success or failure of union strike activities. This frames labor activism with clear winners and losers and inadvertently adopts the vantage point of capital. Given the modern world where union membership is plummeting, “success” seems even more unlikely. In this paper, I use the case of the Coalwood lumber camp to argue that labor’s “success” was much more complicated than simply winning strikes. Recognizing the difference between concrete and abstract labor provides a way to think about worker’s decisions to structure their lives based more on concrete than alienated labor that gives them more autonomy over their lives

Should archaeology have a future?

Archaeologists have recently been discussing what the future may hold for archaeology, a focus firmly situated within the context that the discipline of archaeology is authentic and legitimate and deserves to have a future. In this paper, I want to challenge these ideas and think instead about whether archaeology should even have a future. This line of reasoning is developed by examining the relationship between capitalism and the academy, neoliberal transformations to higher education, and some of the ways that archaeologists have responded. I conclude with some suggestions for alternatives, both for those working within the dominant capitalist academic structures themselves and those that eschew capitalism itself

Theorizing Capitalism’s Cracks

It is commonly said that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. Alternatives, framed as a simplistic dualism of capitalism vs communism, make it difficult to envision any alternative. Instead, the “sprouts” of communism lie concealed in capitalism, inherent in its contradictory logic and the twofold nature of labor. We present this theoretical framing so that our archaeological work can focus on people’s ‘other doing’ and suggest that it will always be difficult to envision alternatives to our capitalist present until we reclaim the inspiration that exists internal to capitalism itself