Author Archives: cahippee

Crime Scene Investigation

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There is a natural human fascination with mysteries, crimes and murders. Just look at how many shows dealing with these topics exist on television. While it’s fascinating to watch these actors “solve” ridiculously twisted mysteries that have been conjured up for the audience’s amusement, what is truly impressive is being able to do this without writers and with only one picture of the crime scene. What Dr. Beisaw demonstrated was more than simple entertainment; it showed just how useful archaeology is in today’s world.

This show is one of many, many examples of crime and murder related TV shows on air today.

This show is one of many, many examples of crime and murder related TV shows on air today.

Archaeology can be about more than locating and dating pottery from the long gone past. The techniques and methods of archaeology can be applied to many situations to help explain something we don’t understand or don’t have an exact record of. (Even with a record it’s important to check facts and keep bias and left-out facts in mind.) If, from the smallest fragment of a plate an archaeologist can tell you many things about the culture of the people who likely used it, then just imagine what an archaeologist could do with the details of an everyday mystery.

What makes an archaeologist so fit to understand the unexplained is their ability to draw information from the placement of an artifact and to learn from what the purpose of an artifact is and what it represents in a culture.

In the case of the crime scene photo Dr. Beisaw analyzed, she was able to learn the most about the victim not from his fingerprints or DNA analysis, but from the objects around his room. She could almost certainly place the month and year of the murder by noticing which magazine issues were present. She knew the victim was a young man likely in, or just out of high school by a certificate near his dresser and from child-like objects still on his wall. She knew it would likely have been uncomfortable to sit at the desk in his room due to the awkward height of the chair. His shoes were poised in a manner that suggests this young man was caught while getting ready to leave. She knew that during this era it was likely for families to rent out rooms when their children left so the victim may not be the young man who once lived in this room. And she knew he met his fate by being struck from behind due to the positioning of his body.

Documenting a crime scene is actually very reminiscent of documenting an archaeology site. There are a lot of parallels between these sciences.

Documenting a crime scene is actually very reminiscent of documenting an archaeology site. There are a lot of parallels between these sciences.

At first glance, most people wouldn’t notice these details and draw these conclusions. We usually leave actually solving the mystery to the police or the detectives in our TV shows while we sit back and relax. But you don’t need to have police training and experience to see the truth of the mystery for yourself—you just need an eye trained for details and the knowledge of how to use those details to come to a greater understanding of what is in front of you.

Links to images:

Image 1: http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tv/csi-crime-scene-investigation/photo-gallery-detail/EP00380341/1386676489

Image 2: http://guncrisis.org/category/press-releases/page/2/

The Science of Stones

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Stone tools are usually associated with cavemen and primitive tribes. The thought of using tools made of rock in a modern setting is laughable to the general public. Yes, technology was not where it is today, but it doesn’t make those populations any less capable than ours. After watching a demonstration of flint knapping by Dr. Lucy Johnson on Monday, it’s obvious there’s a lot more involved in creating a stone tool than anyone would think.

Chipping a stone is a science in itself that requires many years of experience and experimentation. It’s not a natural or easy skill to acquire. Each tool with a different purpose requires a different process to create it. The toolmaker must be focused and think about how the other side of the rock will be altered as they take flakes off—a mistake can’t be fixed very easily. The creation of these tools follows the same path of creation for the tools and technology we have today. We create prototypes, test them and make adjustments to make the tool as efficient as possible just like the people using stone tools.

When most people think of stone tools they usually limit this category to arrowheads, but really there is a huge variety of stone tools. Each of these tools needs to be made from the right kind of stone to ensure it is effective. This would require some basic geological knowledge—it certainly wasn’t a random choice of rock. These toolmakers would have to find the right kind of stone and know where they could find it. They didn’t just pick rocks up off the ground and begin to use them. These ancient toolmakers deserve more recognition than the modern day public gives them.

This illustration of stone tools found in Goat Bluff Cave shows the variety of the stone tool category.

This illustration of stone tools found in Goat Bluff Cave shows the variety of the stone tool category.

There are also a lot of ways to shape a rock and with each of these techniques there is a requirement to know how each type of rock will react. The “simple” arrowheads people find and collect are actually very complex. They must be properly balanced and shaped to fit the arrow so that it flies correctly. And multiple arrowheads must be made almost identically so that the shooter knows how the arrow will fly when they let go of the string. This is a much more involved process than the stereotype of hitting two rocks together.

Anthropologists at George Washington University study the art of flint knapping.

Anthropologists at George Washington University study the art of flint knapping.

Projectile points also have a lot more to say than modern people think. There are so many variations in the characteristics to study. There are so many reasons a tool could look the way it does due to purpose, culture and environment. To today’s world a stone tool may be insignificant, but to archaeologists they are incredibly important in understanding how people of the past are just like us. There is always a meaning and a story behind these shaped rocks left behind years ago.

Links:

Image 1: http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/goatbluffcave.html

Image 2: http://trailofthetrail.blogspot.com/2010/07/did-flintknapping-help-make-us-human.html

A Science Underwater

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Think of the opening scenes of the classic 1997 movie Titanic. Better yet, watch the first minute of the trailer and note the portrayal of the researchers.

Titanic Movie Trailer

As the happy people of 1912 wave goodbye, the present day “archaeologists”—who are really just adventurers—sink to the depths of the underwater site where the Titanic rests. While this movie wildly promotes the stereotypes about archaeology, it did get some things right. The point of archaeology in general is to understand more about the past and to learn the stories of individuals without the bias of historians. If we can understand the life of the individual, we have a better grasp on what the average life was like for a certain group of people.

This movie is incredibly well known. If this portrayal is so influential as to how people think about underwater archaeology, shouldn’t there be more accuracy in the representation of such an important method in understanding our past? In comparison to the presentation we heard by Joseph Zarzynski on the underwater archaeology of the Land Tortoise colonial warship in Lake George, NY, Hollywood and real-life archaeologists have two completely different ideas of what underwater archaeology is.

In the movie, there is one goal for the researchers on the boat: finding the necklace. Just like every representation of archaeology in the media, the science is skewed to be more attractive. The greedy archaeologist has no greater ambition than to find the incredibly rare diamond. The viewers will now think archaeology is about discovering lost ships and finding hidden treasure that has been lost for years. In reality, archaeologists rarely find anything big. Archaeology is most useful for the smaller parts of life. An archaeologist could spend hours just surveying the land and figure out what the past uses for that area were. While this seems insignificant, it could help a farmer better use the land for his agriculture or tell a town about the schoolhouse their ancestors all attended. Archaeology can improve the lives of people today.

This is a picture of the sunken Titanic taken by Dr. Robert Ballard on July 5, 1985.

This is a picture of the sunken Titanic taken by Dr. Robert Ballard on July 5, 1985.

When archaeologists first started looking at the Land Tortoise, they had a procedure to follow. Since they would have to dive down 100 feet to do anything and they only had around 16 minutes for each dive, they had to plan out what was to be accomplished. There were no impulsive dives like the ones to search for the necklace in Titanic. Zarzynski and the other archaeologist also practiced minimally invasive archaeology. This means they weren’t tearing the boat apart in order to learn more about it, but preserving it for others to observe and learn from. They didn’t move any of the planks and certainly didn’t break into the boat to find an artifact they weren’t even sure was there. They spent most of their time underwater mapping out the Land Tortoise and taking photos to put together a visual of what the ship looked like when it was initially sunk. The real treasure of this archaeology is gaining an understanding of how the past of this boat relates to our present and sharing that with the public.

Works Cited:

Image Link: http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/qsl-ham-history-titanic.htm

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtVyu-A3vkY

“New York.” Archaeology Program. National Park Service, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. <http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/qsl-ham-history-titanic.htm>.