fandomhigh | Archaeology, Period 5

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archaeology

Archaeology, Period 5

"Today, we're going to start talking about the history of archaeology," Daniel says, as he stands at the front of the classroom with a cup of coffee.

"The exact origins of archaeology as archaeology is unknown."

"There's evidence that there was an interest in ancient objects as far back as Ancient Rome, but there is a difference between collecting objects for their curiosity or monetary value and collecting them for the information they can provide. Flavio Biondo," he turned to write the name on the board behind him, "who was an Italian Renaissance humanist historian created a systematic and documented guide to the ruins and topography of Ancient Rome in the early 15th century, for which he has been called an early founder of archaeology.

Britain was one of the first countries to develop a systematic approach to archaeology, and recognize it as its own disciple. The roots can be found in the studies of 17th and 18th century antiquarians, such as John Aubrey (1626-97) and William Stukeley (1687-1765).

They observed ancient sites, speculated about their age and function, collected artifacts and even carried out basic excavations to try and prove their theories.

John Aubrey was one of the first to realize that some of the sites he observed must belong to the pre-Roman period and is credited with bringing the monumental stone circle at Avebury in Wiltshire to the attention of Charles II. On the orders of the King he prepared a detailed description of Stonehenge and compiled a great work, Monumenta Brittanica, which contained a vast body of notes and drawings of sites of all periods."

Daniel paused for a moment, and looked at the class. "I'm trusting that you all know what Stonehenge is?" he asked. "If you don't, ask me now."

"William Stukeley was one of the first to investigate the sites that he had discovered by means of excavation and his observations, made before modern agriculture brought such radical changes to the landscape, are still valuable. He was the first to recognize the alignment of Stonehenge on the solstices, and saw the value of stratigraphical relationships for dating monuments. Stukeley also explored the wider relationships between monuments and was keen to put them into their landscape context. The accuracy of his descriptions of sites, however, has often been doubted, but recent discoveries, including the rediscovery of his lost Beckhampton Avenue, at Avebury, have nevertheless vindicated his description of that site. And unfortunately, in later years, he became obsessed with Druidism and tended to view much of what he observed as the result of their influence and labors. One exception was a long prehistoric enclosure near Stonehenge that he interpreted as a Roman chariot racing track, or 'cursus'. The date has changed but the name remains.

Both men experienced major problems with chronology. The first was of timescale as, according to the calculations of an Archbishop Usher, the Bible stated that the world was created in 4004 BC. The second was concerned with artifacts, which the early archaeologists interpreted as being more to do with status than age. They assumed that weapons or tools of stone must belong to the poorest members of society and those of iron to the middle ranks, while bronze was reserved for the higher orders. The potential for such objects to provide evidence of date rather than 'class' was unrecognized."

"All still awake? Any thoughts? Questions?" he asked.

"Tonight, you get your first piece of homework. The three-age system is a system of classifying human prehistory into three consecutive time periods, named for their respective predominant tool-making technologies. As it forms the next part in our chronology of archaeology, I'd like for you to make notes, however you wish, about it: who, where, why, how... you get the idea? I'll take the notes in on Tuesday to make sure you've got everything you need, and then hand them back to you.

I know you've not got booklists yet ~~which I am doing. Promise.~~, but just any general archaeology textbook in the library should have this in, and there's always the internet.

And one last thing... I'm still looking for a TA. It won't be hard, I promise. Please come and see me if you're interested.

Thank you, and I'll see you next week."

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Here

"Questions? Thoughts? ~~Chatting with the neighbour?~~

This is a book list he is working on. Really.

New icons! Yay.

...Well, not this one. Obviously.

Blair stays after class and walks up to Professor Jackson. "Man, I keep hearing about this TA and I really want to help you out but I have no idea what it is or anything or what I would have to do. Do you think it's something I could do or do you want someone older or something." Blair bounced nervously.

"Actually, Blair, I think you'll be perfect for the job," Daniel replied. "Basically a TA helps me out when I need it, for instance, if I'm sick or away at a conference, I'd have you let the rest of the class know what they should be doing; don't worry, you'd have a complete copy of the notes. Added to that, it counts as your extracurricular requirment and it'll look good on your college application."

"College?" Blair bounced excitedly and pumped his fist. "Yes! I'm so glad that I'm doing something for that. I know you said I had some time before I needed to start looking into that...but man, that's hard."

Blair grinned and stuck out his hand. "Alright, I'll like, totally be your TA!"

Daniel grinned back and accepted the hand. "I'm glad to have you," he said, before starting to search his desk. "I've got a bit of paper you need to sign for the office...

Somewhere..."

*squeeing* at the cuteness that is Daniel and his shiny new TA.

*ahem*

Don't mind me.

Blair bounced happily and dug through his backpack for a pen to sign. "Is it okay to be on student council and a TA? Cause I just started running for that, but I can stop if I need to!"

*does the yay!TA dance, because she's already racking up days without access*

"It's not stopped at least one of the students I know," Daniel smiled, finding the form and handing it across to Blair. "What made you decide to run for student council, if you don't mind me asking?"

*pouts about that*

*points out that one of the days is when she's got a transatlantic flight to Boston*

*cheers* Yay, EST! Yay, net access!

Blair glanced over the form and signed it cheerfully, handing it back.

"Well, us freshman thought we'd have everyone run because it seemed like fun but not everyone wanted to and it did seem excessive. I've never run for an office before so it will sort of be like an adventure." Blair smiled and then looked serious.

"If I'm elected to Student council, I would try and get a homework group started to match up students with talent in certain areas with those who are seeking help." Blair grinned and bounced. "Do I sound like the 'man' or what?"

Daniel grinned as he took back the form. "I think that's an excellent campaign policy," he said. "I wish you all the best in your campaigning."

*bounces* Yay!!! And laptop should be mended whilst I'm out there too! Wheee! Although my mother's talking about going away for bro's spring break perhaps. Doh

*throws confetti*

Take the laptop! *clings*

"Thanks, man. I watched some stuff last night online and I don't think we really campaign very much here. It's mostly baking things and posters, very little speeches and positions." Blair smiled. "So, is that it? Do you need me to do something TA-like right now?"

As long as it's mended, d'ya think I'd leave it behind?! And then I'd be hoping for internet connection wherever we went... *clings*

"They had debates last time," Daniel said. "I think they're just trying to make it easier this time around for everyone involved."

He laughed. "That's it for the moment. I'll let you know if I need you at any point. Thanks, Blair."

"Cool man!" Blair waved and headed out. "See ya later!"

Blair signs in

Blair took notes diligently during the lecture until the Professor started talking about Stonehenge.

"I've been there! This guy my mom was dating took me and there were people there saying that the druids built it, but I don't think druids were at the same time Stonehenge was built. There was also a lot of people talking about how the stones matched these crop circles and that they were probably built by aliens or something as a landing site." Blair's pen was poised over his paper. "What do you think?"

"You're correct, Blair. Stonehenge had been standing for 2,000 years before the Druids were really around, and it's also important to remember that they apparently worshipped in forest temples and had no need for stone structures."

He nodded. "There are those who believe in it. I personally think aliens would have preferred the Egyptian pyramids as landing sites," he grinned. "I think you'll find that that generally the most accepted answer is that it was used as an astonomical calendar, used for clocking and predicting the seasons."

"The pyramids, huh?" Blair scribbled down 'check out eygpt and aliens' in his notebook. "So no truth to King Arthur having Merlin building as a site of magical convergence either?"

"Not unless Merlin went back in time a few thousand years," Daniel grinned. "You know who'd be great to ask about King Arthur? Professor Pierson, the history teacher."

"Thought so." Blair smiled. "Professor Pierson, check. I'm not even going to mention the whole 'dancing giants turned into stone' theory because dude, even I don't believe that!"

Daniel nodded. "There are lots of weird and wacky theories out there. ~~Some of which are mine and correct damn it~~. I find it's best not to take a lot of things at face value."

~~"Dude, I heard this one about the pyramids being way, way older than what we thought and like built by the aliens or something...what do you think about that??"~~

~~"I think that one you should believe because it's all true! I was right!"~~

~~"So crackpot theories are okay if they come from professors? Pfft. Whatever, man!"~~

~~"No, they're okay if you have proof. Even if it is all classified by the US Government. Just ask Professor Camulus where he would park his ship on Earth."~~

~~"Classfied by the government? You know this is just going to fuel all my crazy government-is-evil theories, don't you? I'm so going to find proof of that whole 'dancing giants' thing now."~~

~~"Well, possibly technically by the Air Force. Which is just going to fuel your military are hiding things theories, right?"~~

~~"THE MILITARY IS HIDING THINGS. THE MAN IS OUT TO GET US. THE MONKEYS KNOW THINGS!...uh...sorry. Yeah, totally. Pretty soon I'll be mumbling about the black helicopters and tinfoiling my windows"~~

"Technically, yes, they are. The Man is Irina Devervko omg! Wait. Wrong fandom. Monkeys probably do know things.

That's okay. Carry on. You're still probably as sane as most people here."

Molly signs in.

I went offline early last night. Do you want me to go back and answer Daniels questions from Tuesday?

You can if you want to; if not, she's participated in the class already, so it's fine :)

Pippi signs in and sits down.

Pippi raises her hand.

"Dr Jackson, if all those things were dug up and interpreted wrong, is the potential knowlage that could be gained from them lost?"

How much of a nerd am I that I recognise most of the screengrabs you're using for icons?

"To be honest, the problem with archaeology is that it's a lot of guess work, and if we've interpreted something wrong, we don't know that we have done," Daniel explained.

Heh. You've got me beat. I could probably do it for Janet shots, but that's about it ;)

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Archaeology, Period 5

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