2009
Our aim with this feature is to promote understanding of this very significant resource type in the National Register, encourage you to think more about archeology and its significance, and introduce you to how the Register and other National Park Service programs preserve these exceptional resources.
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 Archeologist notes feature at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore |
Introduction to Archeology
Archeological Properties
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What is Archeology? Archeology is the study of the past ways of life through material remains. Archeology is often combined with oral history and ethnography to generate multi-disciplinary or interdisciplinary studies of past lifeways. The National Register defines an archeological property as the place or places where the remnants of a past culture survive in a physical context that allows for the interpretation of these remains. When people think of archeology they usually think of excavated sites or artifacts in a museum, certainly these are part of archeology, but they are only a part of what archeologists actually do.
Archeologists have at least 3 connected over-arching goals: 1) reconstruct sequences of societies and events in chronological order in local and regional contexts, 2) reconstruct past lifeways – all aspects of life, and 3) achieve some understanding of how and why human societies have changed through time.
While many people may consider archeology to be a past-time, or “treasure hunting”, archeology is a discipline that is very often crucial for understanding and representing the past of all Americans. Archeology provides the opportunity to look at the past from a previously unexplored point of view, to represent the past of those that have no written records or for which the documentary record is biased or incomplete, to understand the “deep past” or precontact history over many thousands of years. Archeology can represent the everyday life of ordinary individuals, families, or groups, or it can honor the material traces of those Americans who were subjected to terrible adversities but through individual or cultural accomplishments or perseverance were able to overcome those circumstances. An archeological property can be anything from the wreckage of a World War II aircraft, a Civil War battlefield, or a simple rural farmstead, to a Mound that was built thousands of years ago through a spectacular feat of engineering, or a place where Native Americans made tools.
The following properties represent some different types of archeological listings in the National Register. Read the brief description of each to understand why it's worthy of preservation and listing, and how it exemplifies the many important contributions of archeology to our collective past.
Prehistoric Archeology - Greenfield Man Mound, Sauk, WI
Greenfield Man Mound;
courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society
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The mound, in the shape of a human figure, was originally discovered in 1859.
It is the only surviving earthen anthropomorphic effigy in the Upper Midwest . The figure is the sole mound at a small Late Woodland Stage/Effigy Mound culture mortuary and ceremonial center (ca. AD 750-1200). The Man Mound is a rare example of a pre-Contact era monumental Native American depiction of a human or humanoid form. Other monumental depictions of human beings have been recorded in North America, but are executed in other media, like rock arrangements or geoglyphs.
Man Mound exhibits an unusual degree of anatomical detail, and is shown in an active pose, walking towards the western horizon. The rare form of the mound and the high artistic values embodied in the figure compared to other anthropomorphic effigies make this site eligible for the National Register of Historic Places at the national level.
This site also has the potential to yield important information about cosmological beliefs, ritual activity, and social organization during the Late Woodland stage (AD 700-1200). As the only surviving example of an anthropomorphic effigy mound, a form that likely depicts a shaman or deity prominent in Late Woodland cosmology (and potentially ancestral to similar figures documented in the post-Contact era).
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 Artifacts from The Portland shipwreck and remains |
Shipwreck Archeology - The Portland, Mass.
After nearly a century of fruitless searches, shipwreck researchers finally located the Portland in 1989 in deep water. The inaccessibility of the site and the integrity of its finder prevented salvage or other major human disturbances from damaging the site. The Portland's remains are the best preserved of any New England night boat located to date, including the steamships Rhode Island and Larchmont sunk off Rhode Island. The surviving structure of the Portland comprises a physical record of late nineteenth century New England night boat and embodies the culmination of night boat form and design. Furthermore, the steamship's remains document the events of a poorly understood tragedy that had far reaching social impacts for New Englanders.
The Portland sailed from Boston on 26 November 1898 under the command of Hollis Blanchard, carrying approx. 200 passengers and crew and a large shipment of freight. It was a clear night as Portland left Boston Harbor, but within hours the collision of two weather disturbances produced heavy snow and winds over 90 mph. Ultimately the storm overcame the steamship. There were no survivors and the entire New England coast was devastated. “Many a great battle does not present such a list of fatalities as this single wreck,” the Boston Post reported.
Civil War Archeology - Camp Nelson, KY
Camp Nelson is extremely significant at a national level as a Civil War site for the many critical functions it provided for the Union war effort and for the role it played in the freedom of Kentucky's enslaved population. These activities included: 1) African-American recruitment and training center ; 2) African-American refugee camp; 3) fortified military supply depot and garrison; 4) supply center for three important military campaigns; 5) recruitment center for Central and Eastern Kentucky and East Tennessee troops; and 6) hospital. As a Union depot within a slave-holding, but Union leaning, state, and as a recruitment and refugee camp for formerly enslaved African Americans, Camp Nelson represents a microcosm of the burning social and political issues that divided the nation and brought on the Civil War.
Camp Nelson is not only a significant place because of its association with and major role in the American Civil War, but also because of the data it still contains in its archaeological deposits. Many features, including post molds, refuse pits, refuse ditches, privies and cellars, building walls, piers and chimneys, and activity areas for blacksmithing and other tasks were excavated. The excavations revealed that the Army maps, as detailed as they are, do not include all of the buildings established at the camp.
Research on these materials has focused on determining functions of different areas within these sites and how functions changed over time; differences in material culture consumption and dining patterns for white troops, U.S. Colored Troops, officers, and civilian employees; variation in building construction and symbolic dimensions of camp architecture; and general issues of furnishing and supply.
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Canoe Graveyard |
Native American Canoe Graveyard - Florida
In 2000, a local man discovered over 200 exposed canoes in recently receded waters of the lake near his home. When archeologists studied the site, these 200 canoes were found to be of American Indian origin. Radio carbon dates indicate that the canoes date from the Middle Archaic to the Alachua Period (5290- 435 B.P.). Furthermore, although over 200 canoes have been recorded in the state prior to this discovery, few have been recorded in situ. At a basic level, the site is significant as it affords the opportunity to document and study prehistoric watercraft in the context in which they were used.
The primary significance of the Canoe Graveyard Site is that it has yielded and has the potential to continue to yield important information on the prehistoric occupants of the region. The large number of canoes as well as their wide temporal range further allows for addressing stylistic and functional attributes of the watercraft and their potential cultural affiliations. The canoe site also shows the continuity of boat building traditions that continue to be an important aspect of modem Native American culture in the area.
The tremendous potential of the Canoe Graveyard site far exceeds the canoes themselves. The organic sediments in which the canoes are shrouded provide the opportunity to address the paleo-environmental setting in which the site occupants created and used the canoes. Interdisciplinary researchers fascinated by the questions the canoes pose:
• What are the cultural and environmental variables that led to such a large number of canoes over such a long period of time at this lake?
• Would it have been possible to access the Atlantic coast via the chain of lakes and swamps east of the Lake that eventually connect to a larger River?
• Is it possible to refine dendrochronological data for the southeastern United States using the logs from which the canoes were manufactured?
• What are the sources of the ceramic clays and chert materials that found their way to this lake?
• Is the concentration of canoes at the northern end of the lake a result of abandonment at that location or a result of post-depositional processes such as storms or wind?
• Minimally what about the role of prehistoric boat/canoe manufacturing to extant Native American groups and our understanding of this ancient craft and its significance to maritime archaeology?
• What can we learn (and vice versa) from modern Native American boatsmen concerning manufacture, tools, planning, design, form, function, need, etc.?
• How can this better help us to understand ancient canoe manufacture and maritime archaeology?
These questions are but a fraction of those already raised, let alone others not yet contemplated, that can be addressed with this significant site.
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Clark Tenant Farm Site
Artifacts #589: clear glass patent medicine bottle c. 1900; Recovered 1996 |
20th Century Archeology - Clark Tenant Farm, CT
The Clark Farm Tenant House Site in East Granby, Connecticut, is significant for its potential to shed light on the lifeways of rural farm laborers, a group that is not as well represented in traditional history writing as their more affluent neighbors.
Although many hired men shared the Yankee background of their more prosperous neighbors, persons of African American or European-immigrant heritage made up a high percentage of Connecticut's farm laborers.The Clark Farm Tenant House Site offers an opportunity to sample the material culture of farm laborers and learn more about the type of house they lived in, what they ate, how they dressed, and what particular skills they practiced within the local agrarian economy. The limited archaeological testing already performed suggests that the site has good integrity and could, if additional investigation were undertaken, be expected to yield additional informative artifacts such as ceramics, buttons and buckles, tool fragments, bottles, and botanical and faunal remains.
The site is significant because of its associative value in connection with an important broad historical pattern, the increased reliance on farm labor that accompanied the commercialization of agriculture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The site maintains its integrity of location and setting; although the land surrounding the foundation is no longer used for agriculture, it remains open and constitutes a rural landscape that is appropriate to the site's historical function as the residence of farm laborers.
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National Park Service Archeology Program
Preservation law is the cornerstone of this mission, which the National Park Service carries out in cooperation with other agencies, states, universities and archeological organizations, private groups, Indian tribes, the public, and other partners. The NPS Archeology Program encourages public interest in and stewardship of the sites contributing to our national heritage.
Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plans about Archeology:
Many more TwHP lesson plans featuring archeology can be found here.
Archeology themed Travel Itineraries:
- The American Southwest: prehistoric and historic sites, buildings, structures and districts associated with the long and colorful history of the American Southwest.
- Florida Shipwrecks 300 Years of Maritime History: the story of each shipwreck adds to the intricate tapestry of local history.
Many of these NRHP listings are easily accessible and fascinating dive locations.
- Indian Mounds of Mississippi: guide to the publicly owned, visitor-accessible American Indian Mound sites of Mississippi provides a compact source of information on these impressive landmarks of the ancient past.
Archeology Related Sites:
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