Thursday, February 09, 2006

Sorry, it's been a while

I'm pretty sure I've lost all of my readers due to my lack of recent updates. Things have been very busy though.

Here's a brief summary of what's been going on:

In January, I went to the Southwest Symposium in Las Cruces, NM. While there, I listened to several presentations by students/faculty from the University of Arizona. They were trying to explain their theory of why many Anasazi room blocks show evidence of being burnt. Burnt structures are very common throughout the American Southwest. The main research was done by Chuck Adams (of Homolovi fame) and a few grad students, one named AJ.

Their research involved building several replica room blocks and then setting fires in different ways: deliberate, accidental, etc. Results seemed inconclusive to me, but all the same, very interesting work and a great application of experimental methods.

My friend Mike and I complimented AJ on the project and she invited us to participate in a session devoted to experimental archaeology in September. We were flattered and made preparations. A few weeks/months later, AJ sent me an email lamenting that she would no longer be able to organize the ex. arch session, and invited Mike and me to organize our own session.

We rounded up some good friends and colleagues to particiapte and then organized a session titled "A Core Concern, The Role of Experimental Archaeology in Technology Studies"

Our foundation for the session is John Clark's 2002 article on experimental archaeology. The topics are diverse, ranging from applied methods to more speculative and theoretical discussions.

My paper provides suggestions on how to teach an experimental archaeology course. I hope it goes over well.

So, if you are in Tucson, AZ September 14th, check us out.

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