The Archive (Volume 5)

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This is The Archive for the blog New Archaeology of the Mediterranean World. It is volume 5 and includes post composed in 2014.

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The Archive
The Archaeology
Of the
Mediterranean
World
Volume 5
(2014)

William R.
Caraher

The Archive
The Archaeology of the Mediterranean World

Volume 5
(2014)

William R. Caraher
University of North Dakota
 


 
 

Archaeology of the Mediterranean World by William R. Caraher is licensed under
a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0.
Unported License.
2014

 
 

 


 

ii

Table of Contents

 
Student Resistance .................................................................................................................................. 1
 
Good Advice .............................................................................................................................................. 4
 
Rethinking Teaching History Survey in the Scale-Up Classroom.................................................. 5
 
The Narthex at the South Basilica at Polis on Cyprus ...................................................................... 8
 
Sixth Annual Cyprus Research Fund Lecture: Dr. Sarah Lepinski on the Archaeologies of
Décor ........................................................................................................................................................ 12
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ................................................................................................................. 13
 
Tis the Season ........................................................................................................................................ 16
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ................................................................................................................. 18
 
Teaching Graduate Historiography Again ........................................................................................ 21
 
More on Manuring in the Most Recent Hesperia (or Sherds and Turds II) ............................. 26
 
My Year in Music .................................................................................................................................... 30
 
2013 in Review ....................................................................................................................................... 35
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ................................................................................................................. 36
 
The Hedgehog and the Squirrel ......................................................................................................... 39
 
A Cold View from my Office Window ............................................................................................... 42
 
Teaching History in a Scale-Up Classroom 2.0 ............................................................................. 43
 
Medieval Material from the Palace of Nestor at Pylos ................................................................... 47
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ................................................................................................................. 50
 
Worth the Walk ...................................................................................................................................... 53
 


 

iii

SAA Blogging Carnival: Popular Blog Posts and Networked Reading..................................... 54
 
The Archaeological Life of Contemporary Objects ........................................................................ 58
 
A New Semester's Scale-Up Adventure .......................................................................................... 61
 
Iron Age Cyprus, Kition, and Territorialization at Pyla-Viga .......................................................... 64
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ................................................................................................................. 68
 
A line in the snow ................................................................................................................................... 72
 
Settlement on Cyprus in the 7th and 8th Centuries ...................................................................... 73
 
Writing SoTL, Assessment, and Embodied Knowledge ............................................................... 80
 
Friday Quick Hits and Varia ................................................................................................................. 83
 
Lines on the Prairie ................................................................................................................................ 86
 
More on Cyprus during the 7th Century ........................................................................................... 87
 
The Future Challenges for Archaeology ........................................................................................... 90
 
My Plan Not To Waste My Sabbatical .............................................................................................. 93
 
Archaeology and Audiophilia ............................................................................................................... 96
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ................................................................................................................. 99
 
What History Can Learn from Public Philosophy ......................................................................... 103
 
North Dakota Man Camp Project at the Empire Theater's Backstage Project ...................... 107
 
Three New Things about Teaching History in a Scale-Up Classroom .................................... 111
 
Practice and Method in Creating 3D Models in Archaeology ................................................... 113
 
More from the University of Massachusetts Digital Archaeology Practice Workshop......... 114
 
Day Two of the Digital Archaeology Practice Workshop ........................................................... 116
 
Digital Archaeology Practice Workshop: A Review ..................................................................... 117
 
Slow Teaching ...................................................................................................................................... 121
 

 

iv

An Article Abstract on Archaeological Blogging .......................................................................... 125
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 127
 
Sun Frogs at Dusk ............................................................................................................................... 132
 
Toward a Slow Archaeology (Part 1) .............................................................................................. 133
 
Toward a Slow Archaeology (Part 2) .............................................................................................. 137
 
One-Year Ancient History Position at the University of North Dakota..................................... 141
 
Some Notes on Teaching History 101 in the Scale-Up Classroom ........................................ 143
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 146
 
Friday Afternoon ................................................................................................................................... 150
 
More Slow Archaeology ..................................................................................................................... 151
 
Long Day ................................................................................................................................................ 154
 
Man Camps and the American West .............................................................................................. 155
 
Teaching History and Embracing Ambiguity in the Scale-Up.................................................... 158
 
Light and Shadow in Albania's Shala Valley .................................................................................. 162
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 166
 
A Special Issue of North Dakota Quarterly: SLOW..................................................................... 169
 
Basement Archaeology ....................................................................................................................... 172
 
Oral Exams in a Midlevel History Class .......................................................................................... 174
 
Some Fragments on Time and Place in the Bakken .................................................................... 177
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 180
 
Learning-Centered Teaching ............................................................................................................ 183
 
The Goals for Archaeological Blogging .......................................................................................... 187
 
Scale-Up Midterm Report .................................................................................................................. 190
 

 

v

Pyla-Kokkokinokremos and the Political Geography of Cyprus in the Second Millennium BC
.................................................................................................................................................................. 193
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 196
 
Coins, Raids, and Dates in 7th Century Cyprus ........................................................................... 199
 
Giving Oral Exams in an Undergraduate History Class .............................................................. 202
 
Gender at the American Schools of Oriental Research Annual Meeting ............................... 205
 
Writing as Process and the 7th Century on Cyprus .................................................................... 207
 
Friday Quick Hits and Varia ............................................................................................................... 209
 
The Slow Movement and Modernity ................................................................................................ 212
 
Day-to-Day Life in the Scale-Up Room .......................................................................................... 215
 
Some up coming events ..................................................................................................................... 219
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 221
 
What can we learn about settlement from Sonny Boy Williamson's Little Village? ............. 224
 
Teaching, Learning, and Resistance ................................................................................................ 227
 
A Working Paper on Settlement on Cyprus in the 7th and 8th Centuries ............................. 230
 
What do I do all day? .......................................................................................................................... 232
 
A Working Paper: Contingency, Periphery, and Late Capitalism in the Bakken Man Camps
.................................................................................................................................................................. 235
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 237
 
Archaeology, Blogging, and Community ........................................................................................ 240
 
Photo Friday: Mapping in the Western Argolid ............................................................................. 242
 
Day of Digital Humanities 2014 ........................................................................................................ 244
 
The Northern Levant at the End of Antiquity .................................................................................. 247
 


 

vi

Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 250
 
Punk Archaeology, Buried Atari, and Disciplinary Anxiety .......................................................... 253
 
Blogs and Archaeology Published Quickly .................................................................................... 258
 
Matthew Kirschenbaum Lecture at UND Today ........................................................................... 262
 
How should things end? .................................................................................................................... 264
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 267
 
Fantasy, Fanboys, and Archaeology ................................................................................................ 270
 
Joel Jonientz ........................................................................................................................................... 272
 
Digging E.T. ........................................................................................................................................... 275
 
Digging E.T. Starts in El Paso ........................................................................................................... 277
 
First Impressions on the Atari E.T. Excavations in Alamogordo, New Mexico ....................... 279
 
The Secret of the Atari E.T. Excavation ........................................................................................... 282
 
Three Things That I Learned about Teaching ................................................................................ 284
 
Friday Quick Hits and Varia ............................................................................................................... 287
 
Digital Methods in the Journal of Field Archaeology .................................................................... 290
 
Settlement on Cyprus in the 7th and 8th centuries ..................................................................... 293
 
Curating Digital Joel ............................................................................................................................ 294
 
Contributing to the Media Circus ..................................................................................................... 296
 
Grading Music ...................................................................................................................................... 300
 
Summer Reading List .......................................................................................................................... 301
 
Collaboration ......................................................................................................................................... 303
 
New Beginnings ................................................................................................................................... 307
 
A Hike to see a Hellenistic Site in Epirus ....................................................................................... 313
 

 

vii

Parga ....................................................................................................................................................... 317
 
Other Castles Near Parga.................................................................................................................. 320
 
Vacation's End ...................................................................................................................................... 324
 
Forms and Features in the Western Argolid .................................................................................. 325
 
Planning a Project ................................................................................................................................ 328
 
Late Antiquity in the Western Argolid.............................................................................................. 331
 
Databases and Digital Natives for the Western Argolid ............................................................. 334
 
Important Note on Survey Archaeology .......................................................................................... 337
 
The Pallet Project ................................................................................................................................. 338
 
Coming Back to the Corinthia........................................................................................................... 341
 
First Day in the Field on the Western Argolid Regional Project ................................................ 345
 
Survey Units are Unique Like Snowflakes ...................................................................................... 346
 
Photo Friday: The First Week in the Western Argolid ................................................................. 348
 
Sometimes a Cave is Just a Cave .................................................................................................... 350
 
Archaeology with your Feet ............................................................................................................... 353
 
From Atari to the Argos: Mediterranean and Modern Archaeology at UND........................... 355
 
Photo Friday on the Western Argolid Regional Project .............................................................. 358
 
Extensive Survey on the Western Argolid Regional Project ...................................................... 360
 
Pallet Project Update .......................................................................................................................... 364
 
Three Thoughts from the Western Argolid Regional Project ..................................................... 366
 
Three Thoughts from the Western Argolid Regional Project ..................................................... 369
 
Photo Friday on the Western Argolid Regional Project .............................................................. 372
 
Sometimes a Cave 2 ........................................................................................................................... 375
 

 

viii

A Bridge ................................................................................................................................................. 376
 
Photo Friday on the Western Argolid Regional Project .............................................................. 379
 
Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project Volume 1 ................................................................... 383
 
Bees and Marginal Landscapes in the Western Argolid ............................................................ 384
 
Pallets and Scavenging ...................................................................................................................... 386
 
Photo Friday on the Western Argolid Regional Project .............................................................. 387
 
Western Argolid Regional Puppies.................................................................................................. 391
 
Towers on Euboea ............................................................................................................................... 393
 
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly on the Western Argolid Regional Project 2014 ............. 395
 
Features and Forms Again ................................................................................................................. 399
 
Western Argolid Regional Project T-Shirts.................................................................................... 402
 
Containers and Connectivity ............................................................................................................. 403
 
Expertise and Audiophiles .................................................................................................................. 406
 
Archaeology, Punk and Drunk ........................................................................................................... 410
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 414
 
Trash, Pollution, and the Rural World .............................................................................................. 418
 
Archaeology and Craft in the 21st Century ................................................................................... 421
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 429
 
A Proposed Blog Series: Archaeology and Craft......................................................................... 432
 
Excavating my Office ........................................................................................................................... 435
 
Connectivity on Cyprus and Corinth ............................................................................................... 437
 
Teaching Thursday: Gyrocopter Professors .................................................................................. 440
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 443
 

 

ix

Back to the Bakken.............................................................................................................................. 446
 
Dynamic Settlement in the Bakken Oil Patch ................................................................................ 449
 
Images from the Bakken ..................................................................................................................... 452
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 457
 
Three Calls for Papers: Slow, Public, and Craft ........................................................................... 460
 
Thinking Forests and Resistance...................................................................................................... 462
 
Crowd-Funded Research in Archaeology ...................................................................................... 464
 
Collecting and Listening ..................................................................................................................... 467
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 470
 
Writing and Publishing ........................................................................................................................ 473
 
Late Roman Economy and Formation Processes ......................................................................... 476
 
Informal Practices and Space in the Bakken ................................................................................. 479
 
A Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch ....................................................................................... 482
 
Teaching Thursday: Teaching Naked and New Class Design .................................................. 484
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 487
 
A Guide to Industrial Tourism in the Bakken ................................................................................. 490
 
Some Quick Notes on Intensive Survey Method in the Argolid ................................................ 493
 
Slow Archaeology Draft ...................................................................................................................... 496
 
Communities of Practice in Late Antique Roman North Africa ................................................. 497
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 500
 
Garage Archaeology ........................................................................................................................... 503
 
Writing about Industrial Tourism in the Bakken Oil Patch .......................................................... 506
 
Innovation and Teaching ..................................................................................................................... 510
 

 

x

Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 513
 
Auctioning Atari: Archaeology, Ethics, and Contemporary Practice ........................................ 516
 
More Pallets, More Pallets!! ............................................................................................................... 521
 
The Most Depressing Dog Park ....................................................................................................... 524
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 527
 
A Visit to a Pallet Plant ........................................................................................................................ 529
 
Book Blurbs: Pyla-Koutsopetria and Punk Archaeology............................................................. 532
 
The Seven Wonders of the Bakken Oil Patch .............................................................................. 535
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 541
 
The First North Dakota Oil Boom ..................................................................................................... 544
 
Punk Archaeology: The Book ............................................................................................................ 547
 
Hellenistic Corinth................................................................................................................................ 550
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 554
 
Back to the Bakken Again .................................................................................................................. 557
 
Abandonment in the Bakken.............................................................................................................. 562
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 567
 
Public Art, Grand Forks, and Joel Jonientz ..................................................................................... 571
 
Fracking Made Personal ..................................................................................................................... 574
 
Reflections on the Bakken Tourist Itinerary .................................................................................... 577
 
The Final Figure for Pyla-Koutsopetria Survey Volume ............................................................... 580
 
Memory and Place in Grand Forks................................................................................................... 582
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 584
 
Fractured Land Author to Speak at the University of North Dakota ......................................... 587
 

 

xi

Method, the Discipline, and The History Manifesto...................................................................... 589
 
Ethnicity and Archaeology in Modern Methana............................................................................. 593
 
Connectivity in Cyprus and Corinth ................................................................................................. 596
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 597
 
What is Punk Archaeology? .............................................................................................................. 600
 
Curationism and Academia ................................................................................................................ 603
 
On Books and Blogs ........................................................................................................................... 606
 
A Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch ....................................................................................... 608
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 611
 
Excavated Atari Cartridges from the Alamogordo on Ebay Today ........................................... 614
 
More on the A Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch ................................................................ 617
 
Florida from the Air and a Survey of Vacant Lots ......................................................................... 619
 
Atari Auction Update ........................................................................................................................... 621
 
A Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch Update ........................................................................ 623
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 626
 
First Snow... ........................................................................................................................................... 629
 
The Two Academic Economies ........................................................................................................ 630
 
The Anatomy of the Atari Auction ..................................................................................................... 634
 
Another Installment of the Tourist Guide to the Bakken ............................................................. 637
 
Architecture and Assemblage at the Site of Polis-Chysochous on Cyprus........................... 640
 
Another Route from the Tourist Guide to the Bakken ................................................................. 641
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 644
 
Objects, History, Conflict: Cyprus, Atari, The Bakken ................................................................ 647
 

 

xii

Myth of Origins in the Bakken ........................................................................................................... 650
 
Three New Novels ................................................................................................................................ 653
 
An Unsatisfying Final Chapter to the Tourist Guide of the Bakken .......................................... 656
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 659
 
Three Thoughts on the ASOR Annual Meeting ............................................................................ 662
 
An Introduction to Slow ...................................................................................................................... 665
 
Some Thoughts on Punkademia ....................................................................................................... 668
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 672
 
Cyprus and the Balance of Empires ................................................................................................ 675
 
Narrative and Argument: Slow Archaeology Version 2 ............................................................... 679
 
Ello, Quietude, and the Social Media .............................................................................................. 681
 
Update on The Digital Press: Booming Bakken and 3D Archaeology .................................... 684
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 688
 
A Corinthian Cemetery Conflict ........................................................................................................ 691
 
Slow Archaeology: An Addendum ................................................................................................... 694
 
Audiophiles, Women, and Domestic Space .................................................................................. 696
 
The Bakken Calls Once Again .......................................................................................................... 701
 
Agency, Formality, and Keeping Warm in Bakken Workforce Housing .................................. 703
 
Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future: A Digital Archaeology Workshop ............................ 708
 
Rural Roman Landscapes of Greece .............................................................................................. 710
 
Some thoughts on Marilyn Johnson's Lives in Ruins ................................................................... 714
 
Friday Varia and Quick Hits ............................................................................................................... 717
 


 

xiii

Student Resistance
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/student-resistance/
Mon, 16 Dec 2013 13:41:50 +0000
It’s grading time, and like most college faculty members, my mind turns to attempting to
understand how students engaged the course material, assignments, and class structure.
There is the inevitable frustration at shortcomings and misunderstanding, and the slight
feeling of accomplishment that comes from seeing a class performing to specification on an
assignment. I’d be lying if I said that the latter offsets the former. Mostly, I spend time
pondering how and why students did what they did.
(For those regular readers of this blog, I have posted on this topic before
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/civility-and-student-resistance/)
here and (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/the-roots-of-studentresistance/) here with links further back into the mists of time…)
Of course, this is not unique to me or to higher education at this moment in time. American
higher education, prone to self-doubt and external and internal critique even as it became
the model for much of the world, is enduring a particularly virulent bout of critical scrutiny
right now. Assaulted by MOOCs, moves toward alternative forms of credentialing, and
substantial funding cuts, higher education has pushed hard to be more accountable,
transparent, and rationalized. To do this, universities have employed a growing number of
assessocrats, administrators, and quality experts to promote the virtues of efficiency and to
bring the diverse traditions of American higher education into line with both one another and
the expectations of a range of stakeholders ranging from idealistic and detached critics on
the left to short-sighted commentators on the right.
Students understand this and have endured the growing move to an industrial model of
higher education with a certain amount of grace. Beset by a growing number of
requirements, assessment tools, and regimentation, students have become adept at

 

1

navigating a system which despite being under constant critique, nevertheless demands of
their allegiance and confidence. When students struggle to wrap their head around what it
happening in the classroom or on their transcript, we as faculty alternate between nearresignation (typified by the long “sigh”)and moralizing. The former is relatively harmless as
long as it produces understanding and a willingness to compromise.
The latter - moral judgment - is frustrating to watch. There is nothing quite like the end of
the semester to bring forth faculty complaints that students are “lazy”, “unmotivated”, or
“clueless”. At the same time, faculty desperately attempt to concoct new strategies to
prevent what they see as students’ willful misunderstandings of assignment or subversion
of course “learning objectives.” The holidays become a time to rearm to enter the classroom
in January with a new set of strategies, tactics, and approaches to bringing students into
line. Pedagogy is transformed into a battle.
Over the past few years, I’ve been trying to convince colleagues to take seriously the idea
that students are agents (and in some cases allies) in the struggles against the long term
industrialization of higher education. While they might not articulate their resistance in this
way, they nevertheless behave in ways that undermine the regimentation of university life.
1. Due Dates. I’ve long given up on this battle. Even with the more dire warning or appeals
to shared humanity, students refuse to turn in papers on time. Over the past few years, the
excuses have become more half-hearted and my willingness to penalize students has
diminished. While the semester’s end would seem to present a firm deadline on student
work, even that has appeared increasingly negotiable in student eyes.
2. Attendance. Students vote with their feet. My upper level classes tend toward the boring.
I know that. At the same time, I make ever effort to present material in each class that helps
students to succeed in the course. They still don’t come to class. This behavior does not
come just from “poor” performers, but from “decent” (C to B) students as well.
3. Basic grammatical rules. When I first encountered the unwillingness to avoid
contractions, follow the rules of capitalization, and to use punctuation like the semicolon

 

2

correctly (I even banned the semicolon in my classes as an effort to curtail its abuse!), I was
quick to bemoan the declining standards of literacy. I then moved on to seeing it as the
changing nature of our language. Now, I recognize it for what it is. Students refuse to follow
basic rules like “do not use contractions” and “do not use the semicolon” not out of
ignorance or laziness, but as an effort to resist faculty control over their modes of
expression.
4. Paper length and formatting. Students’ tendency to read paper lengths literally and
produce papers that are not one line or one word longer than required demonstrates a
playful engagement with the kind of arbitrary rules that structure their assignments.
These four behaviors are simply the most obvious forms of student resistance to the
industrial requirements of higher education. They all demonstrate efforts to subvert the
regimented character of higher education and the aspects of learning that conform most
narrowly to expectations of capitalism. Performing to specification, arriving and doing work
on time, and ceding their time and workflow to external control are all standards closely
associated with industrial modes of production. Moreover, these easily evaluated criteria for
“student success” share some basic similarities with the most formal methods that the
assessocracy uses to track student and faculty performance through time. Contact hours,
quantity of work, and the ability to perform consistently to specification is not merely
standard for students, but also key structuring elements for faculty work as well.
Chances are that we’ll continue to make efforts to enforce the rules of academy no matter
how arbitrary some of them are. At the same time, I wonder whether we need to shift the
nature of the dialog a bit from critiques of student performance that tend toward the
moralizing (and, frankly, condescending) toward those that recognize student behaviors as
legitimate forms of resistance against a system that is flawed and dehumanizing. Perhaps
we can find a better way to meet our students half way because I think we’ll discover that
they’re fighting the same battle as we are.


 

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Good Advice
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/good-advice/
Mon, 16 Dec 2013 20:13:01 +0000
http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/img_0009.jpg


 

4

Rethinking Teaching History Survey in the Scale-Up Classroom
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/rethinking-teaching-history-surveyin-the-scale-up-classroom/
Tue, 17 Dec 2013 14:41:37 +0000
This spring I will once again teach History 101: Western Civilization in
(http://und.edu/scale-up/index.cfm) the University of North Dakota’s relatively new Scale-up
classroom. For regular followers for this blog, you know that this will be my second time
doing this and that (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/scale-up/) I
documented my first effort at this over last spring. The end result of this effort was
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/a-working-paper-on-teachinghistory-in-a-scale-up-classroom/) a paper with my teaching assistant Cody Stanley that is
currently under revision.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Scale-Up room, it is a 180 student room where
students sit at 20 x 9-person, round tables. Each table has 3 laptop computers around
which students form a “pod” (each table, then, has 3 pods).
While I think that for my first time teaching the course in this new room, it went reasonable
well, (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/some-stats-from-my-scaleup-class/) there were some pretty loud and aggressive complaints. The most shrill and
constant were complaints about group work. I’ve decided to ignore these as nothing about
the room makes it conducive to individual work, and, while I admire the rugged individualism
of the solo-striver, I also see the value in getting students familiar with working together as
this is a skill that most of them will need throughout their post-university lives.
((http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/student-resistance/) It’s ok for me
to celebrate student resisting the influence of Taylorism in higher education in one blog post
and then argue that students need to develop “real life” skills on another.)


 

5

On the other hand, I did listen to students when they thought that my “uncoverage”
approach deprived them of learning about periods and events that made history interesting,
exciting, or even just a little more tolerable (this is a non-majors class, so for many, we’re
aiming for tolerable). The first time I taught the class, I had each table write a single chapter
of a Western Civilization textbook
((http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/thoughts-on-teaching-history-ina-scale-up-classroom-part-vi/) here’s the list of chapters).
The students wanted more diversity in their encounter with Western Civilization, so instead
of asking each table to write a single 5000-7000 word chapter, my teaching assistant this
semester suggested that we ask each table to write a 1500-2000 word chapter on one
aspect of Greek, Roman, and Medieval civilization. Instead of each table covering every
aspect of a particular time period (say, the Hellenistic World or Late Antiquity), each table
will cover one facet of a rather more narrow time period.
Each period will be divided into three periods: Early, Middle, Late (e.g. Early Middle Ages,
High Middle Ages, Late Middle Ages). Each table will then get one aspect of that period:
Culture, Religion, Politics, Military, and Social. So, one table will write on Hellenistic military
achievements, and another will write on Classical military achievements, and another on the
Bronze Age military. For each aspect, I’ll pose a series of questions to provide some
guidance for the students as they engage these aspects of each period over a 4 week span
of time (leaving 4 weeks at the start of the class for an introduction to the room and basic
approaches to studying the past). At the end of the class, we will collate all these short
chapters into longer chapters focused on each period.
This effort to give the students a slightly broader coverage will also change the pace of the
course. A few weeks ago
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/teaching-tuesday-pace-andteaching/) I discussed the idea of “slow teaching” and pace in the classroom. In general,
the first version of my Scale-Up class has a particularly slow pace. Students dug deeply into
a particular period and prepared a deliberately organized, written, and revised chapter.
There was plenty of time to work through historical and mechanical issues surrounding each

 

6

chapter. The results were relatively good. The one downside to this approach is the
students only produce one chapter, and we did not have a chance to repeat or reinforce the
methods that they had developed. I also struggled at times with the rather uneven rate at
which the various groups engaged the research, writing, and revising process.
By asking the students to write three small chapters over the course of the semester, I have
the opportunity to reinforce how students identify and approach historical problems and
compose arguments and analysis. While I haven’t worked out the details for how to use the
four weeks (approximately 10 classroom hours) for each chapter (I imagine it will be a
truncated version of what I did with each chapter last semester), I can imagine adding
aspects to the research, writing, and revision process as we go through the semester so
that students engage the material in a slightly more refined way for each unit.
I also think that by pushing the students to move more quickly through the process of
writing a chapter, it’ll produce less variation in the rate which groups manage the tasks in
the classroom. Groups that struggle to keep up will have more work to do at home.
Stay tuned as I work out the details this spring! For my on
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/scale-up/) my Scale-Up Adventures
click here.


 

7

The Narthex at the South Basilica at Polis on Cyprus
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/18/the-narthex-at-the-south-basilicaat-polis-on-cyprus/
Wed, 18 Dec 2013 14:09:46 +0000
After a two week hiatus to work on the preliminary report from our work in the man camps,
I’ve been able to return to my preliminary report on
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/polis/) our work at the South Basilica
at Polis-Chrysochous on Cyprus. I’ve managed to pull together much of the work that we’ve
done over the past few study seasons into a single document and have begun to shuffle the
various parts into some kind of rational order. In the process of doing this, I always discover
little issues that require additional research or documentation. This week I had to think more
carefully about the narthex and apse of the South Basilica. So today, I’ll amuse you with a
brief discussion considering the arrangement of the narthex. Next week, I’ll muse on the
apse.
title="figure_1_wrc3.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/figure_1_wrc3.png"
alt="Figure 1 wrc3" width="450" height="342" border="0" />
We have assigned the narthex to the second phase of the building on the basis of its
relationship to the south portico. Material from beneath the south portico is contemporary
with material associated with what we believe to be a foundation cut along the west wall of
the narthex. This material is all 7th century and seems to date to about a half-century or so
later than the first phase of the building. The challenge, then, is that we have to imagine the
first phase of the basilica at Polis without a narthex.
Churches without narthexes are rare on Cyprus. There are, however, two from the nearby
site of Peyia. The Baptistery Basilica at Peyia lacks a narthex, but the irregular west wall of
the church hints that the epikopeion complex to the west made it impossible to construct a

 

8

narthex in the narrow space. A similar concession to space probably accounts for the rather
irregular shape of the narthex at the Chrysopolitissa basilica in Paphos. For the Baptistery
Church at Peyia, the location of the baptistery to the south of this building hints that this
building may not have been a typical church and was arranged to serve the needs of the
baptismal rite rather than the standard liturgy.
title="MaguireDissertation2012Small_pdf.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/maguiredissertation2012sm
all_pdf.jpg" alt="MaguireDissertation2012Small pdf" width="439" height="600"
border="0" />
(From (https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/42388/) R. Maguire, Late Antique Basilicas on
Cyprus. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of East Anglia 2012).
To the east of this church stood the Central Basilica at Peyia. This church has generally
been dated to the 6th century and perhaps the reign of Justinian owing to its centrally
placed ambo and use of Proconnesian marble. In place of a traditional narthex, this church
had a small, but elaborate atrium. The location of the earlier Baptistery Basilica to the west
may have made it difficult to build both an atrium and a narthex for this church. The decision,
then, was to include an open atrium rather than traditional enclosed narthex spanning the
western side of the building.
title="MaguireDissertation2012Small_pdf.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/maguiredissertation2012sm
all_pdf1.jpg" alt="MaguireDissertation2012Small pdf" width="450" height="394"
border="0" />
(From Maguire 2012)
title="DSC_0213.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/dsc_0213.jpg" alt="DSC
0213" width="450" height="301" border="0" />View of the Baptistery and Central

 

9

Basilica from the West
The decision to forego a traditional narthex in the relatively elaborate Central Basilica may
suggest that the narthex was not an absolute requirement for liturgical practices on Cyprus.
Other examples of churches on Cyprus without narthexes are relatively rare. On the Karpas
the two churches at Aphendrika (the Asomatos and Panayia) may have lacked narthexes in
their earliest phase as perhaps did the church at Bedestan in Nicosia, but short of
systematic excavation this will remain an open question. The earliest phase of the basilica at
Maroni-Petrera appears to have lacked a narthex, but the early (5th c?) date of this building
and its generally irregular shape makes it difficult to associate with other churches on the
island in general.
The absence of a narthex in the first phase of the South Basilica appears to be a genuine
anomaly on Cyprus. The presence of a major road some 10 m to the west of the basilica’s
west wall might have left an informal open space near its western entrances making the
formal, covered space of a narthex unnecessary. It is interesting that the addition of the
narthex coincided with the addition of the south portico which opened onto what may have
been a walled courtyard to the south of the building. A tiny fragment of wall that leans
against the eastern most wall of the south portico dates the east wall of the courtyard to
after the construction of the south portico.
So, perhaps the first phase of the church simply relied upon open space or a roughly
enclosed courtyard to the west of the church that some time later was replaced with a
formal narthex. The courtyard, as a result, was shifted to the south of the church and
complemented with the south portico. It is tempting to see the atrium or open courtyard as
serving an important function. If our reconstruction is correct, the south atrium would have
opened onto a major east-west road through the neighborhood. The newly constructed
narthex would have provided access to this courtyard or atrium through the southwest room
which linked the narthex to the south portico. Paradoxically, then, the need for an open
space around the basilica may have been more important than the somewhat more formal


 

10

and covered narthex.


 

11

Sixth Annual Cyprus Research Fund Lecture: Dr. Sarah Lepinski on
the Archaeologies of Décor
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/19/2013-cyprus-research-fundlecture-dr-sarah-lepinsky-on-the-archaeologies-of-decor/
Thu, 19 Dec 2013 12:08:05 +0000
It is really exciting to announce (finally) Dr. Sarah Lepinski as the 6th Annual Cyprus
Research Fund Lecture. As readers of this blog know, she is one of my oldest friends and
most steadfast collaborators. We have worked together in Cyprus and I am sure that she
kept me from making many grievous mistakes of archaeological process and interpretation. I
have also admired her work in the Corinthia from the other side of the village.
Her talk is titled the Archaeologies of Décor: Interiors in the Roman East and it will (in her
words): “will explore the artistic techniques, materials, and iconographies in the paintings
and show how these paintings reflected both long-standing artistic traditions in the Eastern
Mediterranean as well as extensive commercial, cultural, and intellectual exchange with
other centers throughout the Roman world.”
With new examples of Roman period wall painting coming to light around Corinth almost
monthly, this talk is both topical and interesting. So mark January 23, 2014 (probably at 4
pm) on your calendar. I’ll have the location on campus and online sorted out soon!
title="CyprusResearchFund2014_pdf.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/cyprusresearchfund2014_pd
f.jpg" alt="CyprusResearchFund2014 pdf" width="460" height="600" border="0" />


 

12

Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-81/
Fri, 20 Dec 2013 12:53:03 +0000
It’s a brisk winter morning here in North Dakotaland (and a little bit brisker than everywhere
else in Grand Forksland). I’ve found that brisk winter mornings are great for coffee, a warm
laptop, and a stack of 5-page student papers.
But before I get down to grading the last batch of student work from 2013, I probably
should offer you the penultimate varia and quick hits of 2013.
Enjoy!
• (http://www.doaks.org/news-events/newsletter/news-archives/visiting-scholar-peterbrown) Peter Brown offers some perspectives on the study of Late Antiquity, Byzantine
studies, and Dumbarton Oaks over the last 40 years.
• (http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/publications/hesperia) Word from Hesperia’s
Princeton Office is that Hesperia 82.4 went to the printers this week. We’re looking forward
to H. Forbes’s article on manuring and off-site artifact scatters in the new year and Davis’s
and Stocker’s article on a medieval deposit from Pylos.
• I’m not sure what this is, but it seems cool: (http://gapvis.hellespont.dainst.org/#index)
GapVis for the Hellespont.
• (http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/the-coptic-christians-of-egypt/) An old graduate school
friend Febe Armanios contributes to this 60 minutes segment on Coptic Christians in Egypt.


 

13

• (http://www.sizedoesntmatter.com/history/magnificent-10th-century-fountain-uncoveredin-central-israel/) Nice fountain!
• (http://blogs.library.duke.edu/dcthree/2013/12/19/apaaia-2014-getting-started-withdigital-classics/) The good folks at the Duke’s Integrating Digital Papyrology project share
the lessons they learned from this ambitious and successful digital Classics project.
• (http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship/2013/12/a-million-first-steps.html)
The British Library discusses the next steps after putting over a million images in Flickr this
past week. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary) Here is their Flickr feed.
• (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/12/12/23-photos-of-themiddle-east-blanketed-in-snow/) Snow in the Middle East (from the scenic to the tragic).
• (http://sorliebridge.com/) The Ble Polykatoikia in Exarchia Athens celebrates its 80th
birthday.
• (http://svpow.com/2013/12/17/elsevier-steps-up-its-war-on-access/) Elsevier continues
to battle against the circulation of knowledge.
• (http://www.swide.com/beauty/dolce-and-gabbana-makeup/dolce-and-gabbana-makeuppat-mcgrath-video-tutorial-fw-2014/2013/04/05) Here’s how to make yourself look like a
Byzantine princess.
• (http://athosweblog.com/) I’m enjoying this blog on Mt. Athos.
• (http://earth.nullschool.net/) This is so cool: global wind patterns.
• (http://gizmodo.com/searching-for-dead-geometries-amidst-the-trees1486387512?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Fee
d%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+%28Gizmodo%29) Using LiDAR to map ruins.


 

14

• (http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/quote/701453.html) Congratulations to
the Aussies for retaining the Ashes.
• (http://hiddencityphila.org/2013/12/encore-at-kelly-natatorium-one-night-only-for-now/)
Music at the Kelly Natatorium in Philadelphia.
• (http://www.businessinsider.com/greece-fish-farms-struggling-2013-12) The struggles of
Greek fish farms with reporting from Sophiko in the Corinthia.
• (http://www.mcachicago.org/exhibitions/now/2013/324) The Way of the Shovel: Arts as
Archaeology.
• (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7332452/The-universityprofessor-who-stood-up-against-dumbing-down-of-degrees.html?fb) Fighting the good
fight on grade inflation.
• (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDQoMv4WBlc) These
two (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeCMVXK7LhI) videos offer genius advice.
• (http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/12/tech/innovation/these-semi-legal-sheltershousing/index.html) This is something right from a William Gibson novel (I mean, not
literally).
• (http://sorliebridge.com/) Let’s say your really into the Sorlie Bridge in Grand Forks…
• What I’m reading: 70 papers and exams and a (http://corinthianmatters.com/) friend’s
book manuscript.
• What I’m listening to: Waxahatchee, Cerulean Salt; The Knife, Shaking the Habitual.


 

15

Tis the Season
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/23/tis-the-season/
Mon, 23 Dec 2013 13:28:06 +0000
Every year I have readers asking me whether the Archaeology of the Mediterranean World
team can help with a last minute Christmas gift.
Every year, I assure them that the Archaeology of the Mediterranean World Archive is the
perfect gift for anyone who wants to relive the glory that is the Archaeology of the
Mediterranean World Blog on luxurious paper. Volume 4 of The Archive is now available in
all of its digital glory. It is most free of obfuscating mark-up and html artifact and perfectly
ready for printing and binding at the book binder of your choice. I’d recommend binding it in
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIL3fbGbU2o) rich, Corinthian leather.
This year The Archive is prepared in Garamond font (the cover page is in Futura) and runs
to over 500 pages. These are 500 pages that might have been directed toward book
projects, properly completing university mandate paperwork, or letters to the editor of the
local newspaper. It runs to well over 100,000 words.
I have decided to exclude other people’s posts (o.p.p.) from this archive, in part, because
they will appear in a separate, better edited volume, and because it would be too hard to
explain to other people why I prepare an annual archive. I have also followed past practices
and left out all of the images. It is just easier this way and I figured that it would fuel my
readers imagination as they attempted to visualize whatever it was that I was talking about.
For this feeling nostalgic, copies of (http://www.scribd.com/doc/45687170/The-Archive)
Volume 1, (http://www.scribd.com/doc/76046493/The-Archive-Volume-2-2011) Volume
2, and (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/a-last-second-holiday-gift/)
Volume 3 are still available.


 

16

Merry Christmas!
[scribd id=193118169 key=key-vnjql1lz14gd5w85usy mode=scroll]


 

17

Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/27/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-82/
Fri, 27 Dec 2013 13:58:38 +0000
isPermaLink="false) https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/?p=3646</guid>
It’s been a quiet week for blogging (and for reading my blog!), but I couldn’t resist checking
in with my dedicated readers down the stretch run of the calendar year.
(And just so you know, I did start a number of blog posts and read over a file full of drafts
this past week and was tempted yesterday to finish a blog titled “Teaching Graduate
Historiography”. It’ll appear next week.)
In the meantime, I’ll offer up a little list of quick hits and varia to keep my readers happy and
busy over the weekend.
• (http://www.arcadiaportal.gr/news/brethike-romaikos-tafos-stin-arxaia-korinthovideo?fb_action_ids=665149820202342&amp;fb_action_types=og.likes&amp;fb_source=
other_multiline&amp;action_object_map=%5B544904232267540%5D&amp;action_type_
map=%5B%22og.likes%22%5D&amp;action_ref_map=%5B%5D) The relocation of Roma
Tomb 313 at Corinth. Video!
• (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/archaeology-today/archaeologists-biblicalscholars-works/lawrence-of-arabia-as-archaeologist/) Lawrence of Arabia as archaeologist.
((http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbDU5rQyorE) Not to be confused with Lawrence of
Euphoria.)
• (http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2013/12/byzantine-monastery-in-dangerof.html) The sad state of the monastery of Ay. Aberkios.


 

18

• (http://nataliavogeikoff.com/2013/12/25/an-odd-christmas-or-the-christmasless-year-of1923-in-greece/) The Christmas of 1923 (or lack thereof) in Greece.
• (http://news.indiana.edu/releases/iu/2013/12/augustus-virtual-reality-project.shtml) A
pretty fly simulation of the relationship between the Obelisk of Montecitori and the Ara
Pacis.

(https://www.academia.edu/5529681/Pope_and_Schultz_The_chryselephantine_doors_of_
the_Parthenon._AJA_118.1_2014_19-31_) Peter Shultz and Spencer Pope on
the Chryselephantine Doors of the Parthenon.
• (http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/12/23/247530831/with-its-economy-hobbledgreeces-well-educated-drain-away) Greece’s brain drain.
• (http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21591709-what-museums-must-dosatisfy-increasingly-demanding-public-feeding) The Economist looks at museums.
• (http://www.gse.upenn.edu/pdf/ahead/perna_ruby_boruch_moocs_dec2013.pdf) A
Pdf/Powerpointer summarizing some points from the University of Pennsylvania’s recent
study of their Coursera MOOCs.
• (http://www.plannedobsolescence.net/blog/tools-and-values/) Peer review is a tool.
• (http://www.millinerd.com/2013/12/decablog.html) Millinerd’s 10th Christmas. Makes me
feel like a spring chicken.
• (http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/12/the-blog-is-dead/) On the other hand, the blog is
dead. Long live the blog.
• What I’m reading: Vivek Chibber, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/postcolonial-theory-andthe-specter-of-capital/oclc/783163488) Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital.

 

19

Verso 2013.
• What I’m listening to: Wooden Shjips, Back to Land; Waxahatchee, Cerulean Salt.


 

20

Teaching Graduate Historiography Again
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/30/teaching-graduate-historiographyagain/
Mon, 30 Dec 2013 15:37:59 +0000
This semester I will once again teach our graduate historiography course. It is one of two
required courses in our graduate program. The other is a research methods course. I last
taught the course in 2012 and
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/teaching-graduate-historiographya-final-syllabus-redux/) my syllabus is here. (My
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/teaching-graduate-historiographya-final-syllabus/) 2011 syllabus is here and
(http://www.und.nodak.edu/instruct/wcaraher/Syllabi/History%20502_Syllabus_AU2009.ht
m) my 2009 syllabus is here.)
The course is pretty exhausting to teach largely because it almost invariably pushes
whoever teaches it outside of their comfort zone. Even the most diversified faculty members
rarely feel comfortable talking about the contours of the entire discipline from antiquity to
the 21st century. And, even if they can sustain a diachronic perspective on the past, it is
unlikely that they can comment with equal ease on topics ranging from material culture to
gender, literary criticism, and post-colonialism. (Or at least this is what I tell myself as a
struggle through this or that seminal text for this or that subfield.)
It is also challenging because many of our students come into the study of history at the
graduate level with firm ideas of what the discipline is about. Like many faculty members,
our graduate students became passionate about history through narratives, and for some at
the masters level, stories remain the most compelling aspect of the discipline. Others have
become enchanted by the legalistic practice of historical argumentation that rests on the
careful arrangement of empirical facts derived from well-established and accepted historical
sources. Both of these motivations for the study of the past are valid and important

 

21

contributors to the persistence of our field, but these approaches to the past do not
necessary make students comfortable with more abstract exercises that force them to think
critically about how the historical process creates a viable past.
Traditional historiography classes do this by studying the historical development of the
discipline from antiquity to the current time. This is a useful approach, and I use it in my
undergraduate historical methods seminar. Unfortunately, I’ve found that historicizing the
discipline has the tendency to lead students to imagine their own moment in the discipline
as the telos of the past 2500 years of historical thinking. As most of my seminar are
students of American history, they sometimes feel a gnawing opportunity to disregard earlier
efforts to understand the past and to focus on their own corner of the world.
More importantly, at least for how I’ll teach this course this semester, a strict historical
approach has the potential to lead students to believe that the professional discipline of
history is the culmination of a series of longterm intellectual developments. While the
present professionalized discipline surely evokes a clear genealogy, its disciplinary definition
owes as much to the development of the 19th and 20th century university as any clear set
of historical precedents or limitations. As higher education in the United States moves
toward a post-disciplinary future, reinforcing the professional limits prescribed by historians
in a different context and in response to different challenges seems unlikely to prepare the
next generation of scholars. The rules of the game are rapidly changing, and while it remains
useful to understand that there are rules (still), we have to do all we can to prepare our
students to play a different game.
To start this conversation, I think I’m going to start with two books on academia. First, Louis
Menand’s (http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/thoughts-on-theend-of-disciplines/) Marketplace of Ideas (Norton 2010) and then P. Novick’s classic work
on the development of the profession of history during the late 19th and 20th century
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/that-noble-dream-the-objectivity-question-and-the-americanhistorical-profession/oclc/17441827) That Noble Dream (Cambridge 1988). This should
frame the course at the intersection of the discipline and the profession.


 

22

To reinforce that, I’ll ask the students to read substantial sections of
(http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.html) Herodotus and
(http://classics.mit.edu/Thucydides/pelopwar.html) Thucydides in a week titles
“Antiquity”. In a week called “Philosophy of History”, I’ll ask the students to read R.G.
Collingwood’s classic (http://www.worldcat.org/title/idea-of-history/oclc/392272) The Idea
of History (Oxford 1946). These two weeks will nudge the students to accept that history is
a thing that came from a particular time and place and that our current approaches to
thinking about the past (largely grounding in the 19th century German response to the
Enlightenment) remains problematic.
With those realities in mind, I’ll then read with the students from both the center and the
fringes of the discipline to both give them a bit of a sense of contours of our field, but also
its limits. Some of the weeks will introduce practical considerations like the week on
teaching which will perhaps include some recent articles on the role of
“(http://www.journalofamericanhistory.org/textbooks/2006/calder/) uncoverage” in creating
a signature pedagogy for the discipline as well as Samuel Wineburg’s book,
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/historical-thinking-and-other-unnatural-acts-charting-thefuture-of-teaching-the-past/oclc/45304687) Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts
(Temple 2001). (I’m open to suggestions here).
I’ll also touch on topics that have a persistent significance for historians. Gender, for
example, continues to shape how historians think and I’ll probably lean on Judith Bennet’s
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/history-matters-patriarchy-and-the-challenge-offeminism/oclc/65207158) History Matters (Penn 2006) as well as classic works by
scholars like J.W. Scott. Similarly, I’ll make sure the students have read some
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/imagined-communities-reflections-on-the-origin-and-spreadof-nationalism/oclc/23356022) Benedict Anderson on nationalism and
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/essential-ep-thompson/oclc/44502222) E.P.
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/making-of-the-english-working-class/oclc/178185)
Thompson (and (http://www.worldcat.org/title/prison-notebooks/oclc/24009547)
Gramsci!) on capital. These works will set up discussions on post-nationalism and postcolonialism that will rest on the contribution of (http://www.worldcat.org/title/provincializing
 

23

europe-postcolonial-thought-and-historical-difference/oclc/43076852) subaltern
studies and (http://www.worldcat.org/title/postcolonial-theory-and-the-specter-ofcapital/oclc/783163488) some recent critiques.
I’m also intent on having students think about issues that sometimes tend to fall to the side
of historical critique. For example, our program’s growing emphasis on public history makes
it important for students to consider the spatial turn in the humanities and at least be familiar
with (http://www.worldcat.org/title/power-of-place-urban-landscapes-as-publichistory/oclc/31077172) Delores Hayden’s work (and
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/condition-of-postmodernity-an-enquiry-into-the-origins-ofcultural-change/oclc/18747380) some of the more challenging Marxist critics) and perhaps
(https://www.academia.edu/486053/The_archaeology_of_the_colonized) a little Michael
Given. I’d also like for our students to think about (http://www.worldcat.org/title/aftermodernity-archaeological-approaches-to-the-contemporary-past/oclc/653077389)
material culture and objects in our contemporary world. Materiality and space will
complement discussions of (http://www.worldcat.org/title/mediterranean-and-themediterranean-world-in-the-age-of-philip-ii/oclc/535320) time in history which I’ll ground in
a reading of Braudel. Finally, I have generally assigned Hayden White’s
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/metahistory-the-historical-imagination-in-nineteenth-centuryeurope/oclc/569790049) Metahistory to get students to think about the line between
history and literature. It’s a long book, so I might only assign the first section and then
include some readings by (http://www.worldcat.org/title/history-criticism/oclc/11030789)
Dominick Lacapra or similar.
The newest element to the course will be a week dedicated to considerations of structure
and agency. I’ll get the students to read Sahlin’s (http://www.worldcat.org/title/islands-ofhistory/oclc/10996810) Islands of History and parts of Sewell’s
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/logics-of-history-social-theory-and-socialtransformation/oclc/56793679) Logics of History (Chicago 2005). These works should
echo with both Braudel as well as Thompson and Gramsci if not explicitly at least in terms
of their shared concerns for the actor in history.


 

24

The only thing that remains to be shoehorned into this syllabus is a week on Foucault. As he
is pretty essential to understand the current state of the humanities (and his thinking informs
the work throughout the course) and the familiarity of students with his work varies
significant, I usually assign (http://www.worldcat.org/title/archaeology-of-knowledge-andthe-discourse-on-language/oclc/23347591) Archaeology of Knowledge.
I think the course as I have laid it out here should run over about 18 weeks. Unfortunately, I
only have 13 or 14 weeks during the semester so something will have to give. I guess
figuring that out over the next week.


 

25

More on Manuring in the Most Recent Hesperia
(or Sherds and Turds II)
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/31/more-on-manuring-in-the-mostrecent-hesperia-or-sherds-and-turds-ii/
Tue, 31 Dec 2013 15:33:58 +0000
It’s always exciting to get a new volume of Hesperia and even more exciting when it
has(http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2972/hesperia.82.4.0551?uid=3739784&amp;uid=2
134&amp;uid=2&amp;uid=70&amp;uid=4&amp;uid=3739256&amp;sid=211031846506
91) an article on the famous “manuring hypothesis.” For those unfamiliar, the manuring
hypothesis relates to archaeological site formation in the context of intensive pedestrian
survey archaeology particularly in Greece. This hypothesis seeks to explain the deposition of
ceramic artifacts in “off-site” halos around settlements as the product of transporting
manure and assorted inorganic rubbish from the settlement center to peripheral fields. This
hypothesis was introduced by the team led by Anthony Snodgrass and John Bintliff to
understand the high density offsite scatters surrounding
(http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/testing-the-hin/) the polis of
Thespies in Boeotia ((http://www.scribd.com/doc/39466030/Off-Site-PotteryDistributions-A-Regional-and-Inter-Regional-Perspective-Bintliff-Snodgrass) or here).
Since its introduction, scholars have debated the viability of this hypothesis to explain offsite scatters in across Greece. My PKAP and Corinthian colleague David Pettegrew
(https://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/JMA/article/view/2766) became a leading
opponent of the idea when he suggested that, for the Corinthia, much of the offsite material
derived from a combination of offsite activities associated with temporary or short-term
habitation in the immediate vicinity of the city of Corinth. Hamish Forbes’ article in
(http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2972/hesperia.82.4.0551?uid=3739784&amp;uid=213
4&amp;uid=2&amp;uid=70&amp;uid=4&amp;uid=3739256&amp;sid=21103184650691
) Hesperia 82.4, “Off-Site Scatters and the Manuring Hypothesis in Greek Survey


 

26

Archaeology: An Ethnographic Approach” challenges David’s arguments as well as those
offered by other scholars who have been skeptical of manuring as an explanation for off-site
material in Greece.
Forbes’s approach develops further
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/sherds-and-turds-some-newthoughts-on-manuring-in-the-ancient-world/) some of the ideas that he proposed in a 2012
book chapter where he began to demonstrate the value of careful ethnographic
comparisons to understanding manuring practices in the ancient world. In his Hesperia
article he stresses the importance of understanding the various contexts in which manuring
would have occurred in antiquity and the idea of the different “waste streams” for organic
and inorganic material (like pot sherds) in both modern and ancient practices. He
introduces this ethnographic approach with a lovely and clever discussion of inorganic
material in his own kitchen garden and then brings in examples from his field work on the
Methana peninsula in Greece. In England, he noteFrom Methana, he noted that his garden
produced a small, but consistent quantity of inorganic material that either came from
gardening practices (i.e. plastic baling cords that came with hay or metal nails that traveled
along with ash used as fertilizer) or despite his best efforts to remove these objects. On
Methana during the 1970s, manure collected for fertilizer followed a very different path from
the animal to the fields than household waste. The risk of household objects like broken
pottery, metal, or sharp plastic tearing the bags used to transport manure to sometimes
distant fields, adding unnecessary weight to the bags of manure, or injuring humans or
animals in the field motivated Methanite farmers to keep such detritus separate from manure
just as a kitchen gardeners will remove inorganic waste from their garden plots.
Ethnographic parallels, in other words, demonstrated that there was a disincentive to mix
organic and inorganic material so only small quantities of pottery would enter off-site
scatters through the manuring process.
Forbes then tested these practices against the rather low density off-site scatters on the
Methana peninsula (and by implication elsewhere) to determine whether the such scatters
could be the result of the occasional contamination of manure with ceramic material in
antiquity. He does some “back of the notebook” calculations to estimate a conservative total

 

27

of the quantity of pottery in the plow zone from the Classical period and suggests that this
is not inconsistent with inadvertent transport of pottery with manure on Methana and in
other locations where off-site artifact densities are quite low (less than 1000 artifacts per
ha). While I suspect some will quibble with his calculations for the “total assemblage” of
material present off-site, I think his estimates are reasonable and conservative for something
that probably needs continued testing to assert with much confidence.
The final part of the paper returns to Boeotia and examines the significantly higher density
off-site scatter from that area (5000+ per ha.). For Forbes some of this increase in density
derives from the combination of small sites and genuine “off-site” scatter in the halo around
Thespies. More importantly, the waste-stream at Classic Thespies appears to have been
different than in Forbes’ kitchen garden or 1970s Methana. First, the terrain of Boeotia is
suitable for moving manure in carts rather than in sacks. It may be that the carts of manure
from the more built up area in the cities became an easy place to discard both organic and
inorganic material because the risks associated with passing inorganic material into the
organic material waste stream was less significant. That being said, Forbes also notes that
the deeper plow zone in the fertile Boeotian plains was likely to produce more material
invisible on the surface than the shallow soils of Methana. After attempting to factor for
these variables, Forbes argues that, in fact, the quantity of material in Boeotian off-site
scatters was not much higher than one might expect. In fact, he suggests that there is some
evidence for the removal of inorganic material from the manure if we assume that the
territory around Thespies was rather more intensely manured to support the higher
population of the Boeotian city.
The article is a good one and worth considering carefully. Forbes does a nice job of
managing the ethnographic comparisons and including a brief discussion of his garden
comes off as clever and useful rather than distracting (as sometimes anecdotal evidence
can be). I do wonder whether the estimates of material in the plow zone (the mythical and
elusive “total assemblage”) remains difficult foundation for any argument without greater
testing (an unlikely prospect in Greece where excavation permits are difficult to obtain and it
is rare to be allowed to ground truth survey units). That being said, an approach that
considers ethnographic parallels and focuses on discard practices continues to be a way

 

28

forward.
I can’t wait to hear (and read?) (http://corinthianmatters.com/) David Pettegrew’s thoughts
on this article!


 

29

My Year in Music
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/my-year-in-music-2/
Wed, 01 Jan 2014 18:00:47 +0000
This has been a good year in music for me.
I said good-bye (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/the-things-ofmusic/) to my first genuinely high-fidelity stereo system.
title="p1020110.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/p1020110.jpg"
alt="P1020110" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/sound-and-archaeology/) I
became more familiar (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/10/02/sound-archeologyvintage-marantz/) with some vintage (or at least old school) gear.
title="P1040607.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/p1040607.jpg"
alt="P1040607" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
I developed an affinity (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/morethings-of-music-2/) for portable
“(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/more-things-of-music/) head-fi”:
title="Music2.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/music2.jpg" alt="Music2"
width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

30

This includes the lovely (http://www.aloaudio.com/the-national) ALO National portable
headphone amp.
title="music3.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/music3.jpg" alt="Music3"
width="450" height="274" border="0" />
The second half of the year saw the arrival of a pair of
(http://www.zuaudio.com/preloved/omen-dirty-weekend) Zu Omen Dirty Weekend
speakers and after a few false starts the glory that is the
(http://www.audioresearch.com/VSi60.html) Audio Research VSi60. Speaker upgrades are
on the horizon taking advantage of Zu’s generous upgrade policy. I also got some
(http://schiit.com/products/vali) good Schiit (http://schiit.com/products/modi) for
Christmas to feed my head-fi interest. My wife is pretty awesome and indulgent in this stuff.
Be sure to check out (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/12/31/the-best-of-2013/#more8881) Scot Hull’s site, Parttime Audiophile’s year review. He was cool enough to let me to
contribute from time to time.
title="IMG_0960.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/img_0960.jpg" alt="IMG
0960" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
I also listened to a bunch of music. The lists below shows some of the music that I listened
to seriously and mentioned on my weekly “What I’m listening to” feature in my
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/varia-and-quick-hits/) Friday Varia and
Quick Hits:
Rock Music
Wooden Shjips, Back to Land
Waxahatchee, Cerulean Salt
The Knife, Shaking the Habitual
Francis and the Lights, It’ll be better

 

31

Bad Religion, Christmas Songs
Ex Cops, Hallucinations
The Soft Pack, Strapped
Death Cab for Cutie, Transatlanticism
Los Campesinos! Now Blues
Arcade Fire, Reflektor
Lou Reed, Transformer
The Walkmen, Heaven
The Radiators, Ghostown
Chvrches, Bones of What You Believe.
Meat Puppets, Meat Puppets II
Minutemen, 3-Way Tie (for last)
Youth Lagoon, Wondrous Bughouse
Crocodiles, Crimes of Passion
The Clean, Vehicle
The Mekons, Fear and Whiskey
Mumford and Sons, Babel
Sea Lanes, Sea Lanes
Mikhael Paskalev, Jive Baby
Sleep Study, Nothing Can Destroy
Various Artists, Anti Records Summer Sampler
80-R, One Night
The Oblivians, Desperation
Frightened Rabbit, Pedestrian Verse
Alphaville, Forever Young
Daft Punk, Random Access Memory
The National, Trouble Will Find Me
Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires of the City
Mikal Cronin, MCII
Pete Murray, Feeler
The Men, New Moon
Big Scary, Vacation

 

32

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Mosquito
Frank Turner, Tape Deck Heart
Young Galaxy, Ultramarine
Shuggie Otis, Inspiration Information/Wings of Love
The Gospel Whiskey Runners, Hold On
Bim Sherman, Miracle
Kurt Vile, Walking on a Pretty Daze
Shout Out Louds, Optica
The Clinic, Free Reign II
Phosphorescent, Muchacho
My Bloody Valentine, mbv
Ten Years After, Cricklewood Green
Ten Years After, Ssssh
Ten Years After, Stonedhenge
Autre ne Veut, Anxiety
Atoms for Peace, Amok
Unknown Mortal Orchestra, II
Jack White, Blunderbuss
The ABCs, Stona Rosa
June Panic, Glory Hole; Frightened Rabbit
We Are Augustines, iTunes Sessions
Son Lux, At War with Walls and Mazes
Foxygen, We are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic
The Bears of Blue River, Dames
Yo La Tengo, Fade
Kishi Bashi, 151a
Father John Misty, Fear Fun
Reggae
Lucky Dube, Prisoner
Lucky Dube, Slave


 

33

Freddie McGregor, Bobby Bobylon
Jazz
Stan Getz and João Gilberto, Getz/Gilberto
Ella Fitzgerald, The Cole Porter Songbook
The Jazz Crusaders, Live at the Lighthouse ’66
Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd, Jazz Samba
Miles Davis, Dig
Miles Davis, Sketches of Spain
Miles Davis, Cookin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet
Donald Byrd, Up with Donald Byrd
Grant Green, The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark
Hip Hop
De La Soul, Three Feet High and Rising
Tribe Called Quest, Low End Theory
Guru, Jazzmatazz Volume 1
EL.P. and Killer Mike, Run the Jewels
Kanye West, Yeezus


 

34

2013 in Review
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/?p=3660
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/annual-report/) <img
src="http://www.wordpress.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/annual-reports/img/2012emailteaser.png" width="100%" alt="" />
Here's an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed
about 45,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take
about 17 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/annual-report/) Click here to see the
complete report.


 

35

Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/03/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-83/
Fri, 03 Jan 2014 13:26:37 +0000
About 20% of my readers today are hunkered down at
(http://aia.archaeological.org/webinfo.php?page=10096) the annual meeting of the
Archaeological Institute of America in Chicago (or hunkered down elsewhere wishing they
were in Chicago or celebrating that they are not there). I’m safely ensconced at the global
headquarters of the Archaeology of the Mediterranean World, near the fire, with hot coffee
and a warm laptop.
The wind is howling outside and they say that snow is expected in next few hours. So it
sounds like a good time to prepare some syllabi for the spring semester, catch up on some
reading and editing, and enjoy a little gaggle of quick hits and varia.
• (http://sfsheath.github.io/lawdi-publication/isaw-papers-7.xhtml) A sneak peak at ISAW
Papers 7: Current Practice in Linked Open Data for the Ancient World.
• (https://thought.artsci.wustl.edu/podcasts/uncovering-numismatics) A podcast discussion
numismatics.
• In related news … (http://www.mrthehobonickels.com/videos/) A cool set of videos on
how to make “hobo nickels”.
• (http://vimeo.com/79144355) Cool infomercial for the Rome Prize at the American
Academy in Rome.
• (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/12/17/1318616111) Synergistic possibilities
between hunter-gathers and survey archaeologists walking the “zig-zags”.


 

36

• University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab has blown up with their newest project:
(http://dsl.richmond.edu/historicalatlas/) Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United
States.
• Two articles on types: (http://www.theawl.com/2012/08/grunge-typography) a brief
history of Grunge Typography and (http://www.economist.com/news/christmasspecials/21591793-legendary-typeface-gets-second-life-fight-over-doves) the bizarre story
of Doves type.
• (http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/topless-protests-raise-thequestion-who-can-speak-for-muslim-women) Who can speak for Muslim women?
• (http://wordspictureshumor.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/delayed-warning-shot/) How
creativity works.

(http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2013/12/johns_hopkins_plans_to_lower_ph_d
_enrollment_and_raise_grad_student_stipends.html) How to thin the Ph.D. Herd (by making
it more elitist… good thinking…).
• (http://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21591793-legendary-typefacegets-second-life-fight-over-doves) Adaptive reuse in Pizza Hut restaurants.
• (http://boomboxcreators.tumblr.com/) Toward a history of the Boom Box.
• (http://www.dinnerties.com/) This is a cool way to make social networks
real.(http://theedgeofthevillage.com/) Barth, get on this!
• Speaking of Barth, (http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2013/12/31/vo-north-dakotatrian-crash-derailment.aaronbarth&amp;video_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F) way to be Johnny-


 

37

on-the-spot with the Casselton train wreck, explosion, event.
• What I’m reading: P. Graves-Brown, R. Harrison, A. Picinni,
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/oxford-handbook-of-the-archaeology-of-the-contemporaryworld/oclc/862680688) The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Contemporary
World. Oxford 2013.
• What I’m listening to: Duke Ellington, (with Charles Mingus and Max Roach), Money
Jungle; Bob Marley, Kaya.
title="Cold.jpg" src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/cold.jpg"
alt="Cold" width="396" height="600" border="0" />


 

38

The Hedgehog and the Squirrel
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/the-hedgehog-and-the-squirrel/
Mon, 06 Jan 2014 14:29:56 +0000
There is an old Norwegian folk saying that circulates in these parts. This wisdom divides
the world(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hedgehog_and_the_Fox) into hedgehogs and
squirrels.
The hedgehog lives in the comfortable world of a relatively temperate hedge protected from
the elements, with a steady diet of grubs, and the secure knowledge that it can simply roll
up into a ball to escape its enemies.
The squirrel, on the other hand, lives out on the limbs of trees and has to survive both the
summer heat and the winter cold without benefit of the comfortable hedge. To survive
winter, the squirrel has to “(http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/tw2ltp/chappelle-sshow-wu-tang-financial) diversify its bonds” by hiding nuts in various places. If it can’t find
its nuts or they’re buried under deep snow, the squirrel will scavenge for any kind of food. At
other times, the squirrel has been known to seek out its neighbors and packs of three or
four squirrels have been known to take down rabbits, cats, and even small dogs. The point
of this folk saying is that the hedgehog live a life of comfort because of the security of their
hedge, but the squirrel has to constantly adapt to new challenges. Or something like that.
I am obviously a squirrel and I feel like I live on the precarious and exposed limbs of trees.
As a result, I have done all I can to diversify my production this semester. I have no idea
whether any of these papers will come to anything and matter, but since I don’t have a
comfortable hedge, this is what they look like:
1. 3D Models and Disciplinary Practice in Mediterranean Archaeology. This is a 20 minute
paper for Eric Poehler’s (http://www.umass.edu/classics/5CWorkshop.htm) Digital
Archaeological Practice: A Workshop on the use of Technology in the Field next month at

 

39

the University of Massachusetts. The paper will consider how the practice of collecting 3D
data with photography (trench side structure-from-motion imaging) could impact
disciplinary practices. It will continue to develop some ideas that
(http://www.scribd.com/doc/27328060/Digital-Archaeology-Technology-in-the-Trenches) I
first articulated in a longish paper that I delivered here at UND in 2010 and then refined a
bit for a paper that (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/archaeologicaldata-and-small-projects-a-draft/) I gave at last year’s AIA
((http://www.umass.edu/classics/5CWorkshop.htm) on YouTubes here), plus some new
ideas gleaned from (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/3d-modeling-inmediterranean-archaeology/) the 3D Thursday project.
2. Teaching History in a Scale-Up Classroom. I learned this fall that
(http://www.scribd.com/doc/139921488/Working-Draft-Teaching-History-in-a-Scale-UpStudent-Centered-Active-Learning-Environment-for-University-Programs-ClassroomSome-Reflections-on-M) the paper Cody Stanley and I submitted to the History Teacher on
our experiences teaching in the (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/scaleup/) Scale-Up classroom received a “revise and resubmit”. This was good news since it
was the first effort on our part to write something like this. The bad news is, of course, that
now we have to revise it and there is an April deadline.
3. Settlement on Cyprus in the 7th and 8th Centuries. I was invited to contribute an article
to an edited volume on the Early Byzantine transition across the Mediterranean that evolved
from a conference held in 2011 at the University of Cyprus. The island of Cyprus is
interesting in that it did not follow some of the patterns seen elsewhere in the
Mediterranean. For example, there is relatively little evidence for urban contraction or the
construction of fortified places across the island (with a few, well-known exceptions) and
recent work at Polis, for example, has suggested that the disruptions associated with the
mid-7th century may have been relatively brief and followed by a period of rebuilding. This
paper needs a good bit of thought and work and will benefit from the help of my
collaborators both at PKAP and Polis on Cyprus.


 

40

4. Man Camps at the SAAs. At the end of April, I’m giving a paper on my work with
the(http://www.northdakotamancamps.com/) North Dakota Man Camp Project
at(http://www.saa.org/aboutthesociety/annualmeeting/tabid/138/default.aspx) the Society
for American Archaeology annual meeting in Austin. The paper is titled “The North Dakota
Man Camp Project: The Archaeology of Workforce Housing in the Bakken Oil Patch of
North Dakota” and it should draw heavily from our almost-ready-for-primetime article which
should appear as an advanced working draft on this blog soon! More than that, I hope to
get to do a little research on workforce housing in the most recent Texas oil boom.
The good thing about being a squirrel is that I never get bored snerking around the same
old hedge eating grubs, but, on the other hand, maintaining diversity is exhausting! Wish me
luck!


 

41

A Cold View from my Office Window
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/a-cold-view-from-my-officewindow/
Mon, 06 Jan 2014 22:59:47 +0000
title="OfficeWindow.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/officewindow.jpg"
alt="OfficeWindow" width="450" height="215" border="0" />


 

42

Teaching History in a Scale-Up Classroom 2.0
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/07/teaching-history-in-a-scale-upclassroom-2-0/
Tue, 07 Jan 2014 13:56:35 +0000
Or should I call this History in a Scale-Up Classroom Reboot? Whatever. I’m going to
change how I teach my course in the Scale-Up room this spring.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/rethinking-teaching-history-surveyin-the-scale-up-classroom/) I’ve already blogged on this, but as of 5 pm yesterday, I think
I’ve managed to rejigger my class to solve some of my pedagogical concerns and some of
the more strident student complaints.
For those of you who don’t quite understand what a Scale-Up Classroom is, well, you need
to keep reading this blog every Wednesday. And you need
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/scale-up/) to go back and read the last
20 posts on my adventures teaching in the Scale-Up room. Finally, you need to read
(http://www.scribd.com/doc/139921488/Working-Draft-Teaching-History-in-a-Scale-UpStudent-Centered-Active-Learning-Environment-for-University-Programs-ClassroomSome-Reflections-on-M) this working draft of an article that is currently under revision. To
summarize in less than 50 words: the Scale-Up room is a large, active learning classroom
consisting of 20, round, 9-student, table with three laptops each. The tables are designed
encourage collaboration and each feeds a large monitor that will allow the tables to share
their work with the class. Scale-Up teaching (with the UP originally meaning University
Physics) originated in STEM fields and humanities faculty have only recently ported this kind
of architecture to their large-scale teaching needs. As far as I can gather, my class is the
first Western Civilization class in a Scale-Up room.
title="Scale-Up_Panorama.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/scale-up_panorama.jpg"


 

43

alt="Scale Up Panorama" width="500" height="109" border="0" />
I have made three major changes to my course this semester:
1. Less uncoverage. When I first designed the class, the goal was for the students to write
a Western Civilization textbook. Each table would be responsible for a single chapter. At the
end of the semester, I would combine the chapters together to produce a survey of
Western Civilization from the Bronze Age to the end of the Middles Ages. My approach
focused more on historical methods, textual analysis, and writing then covering events,
people, or states. This approach - related to the “teach the conflicts” approach in the study
of literature - is sometimes called “uncoverage”.
Students did not like it. Groups focusing on Greek history wanted to study Roman history
too. Students working in the Middle Ages wanted to learn more about Antiquity and vice
versa. Groups focusing on social history wanted to know about warfare or politics or
economics. We sometimes complain that our students aren’t interested in history, but after
one semester of teaching with an “uncoverage” approach, I can attest that students DO
want to learn about the past. While I could have dismissed this interest by saying that it
depended upon a traditionalist, narrative approach, I was encouraged enough to hear that
students wanted more coverage that I couldn’t resist giving it to them.
This semester, the groups will not only complete 4 general assignment dealing with key
aspects of the Bronze Age, Greek, Roman, and Medieval West, but also do more focuses
mini-chapters on particular aspects of the Greek, Roman, and Medieval world. This will give
them more breadth in their exposure to the past, and also satisfy a pedagogical concern of
mine.
2. Repetition is the Mother of Learning. As anyone who reads this blog knows, I am a strong
believer in repeating a set of basic ideas over and over until I feel everyone has learned
them. The original design of my Scale-Up class focused on guiding the students through
the writing of a single chapter. This allowed me and my teaching assistant to get very hands
on with their workflow, organization, writing style, and final product. This process took about

 

44

8 weeks and the results were finely-crafted, 5000 word chapters.
Unfortunately, each table went through this process once. Next semester, I’ve paired down
the process and sacrificed a bit of the hands-on intervention in the work of the groups, but
each table will go through the process of writing a shorter chapter three times.
The work for each chapter will focus on four steps: (1) Discovery: the tables will have to
identify and understand primary sources to support their work, (2) Organization: each table
will have to organize their material chronologically or topically, organize the structure of their
chapter, and communicate with other tables to avoid unnecessarily overlap. (3) Drafts: each
table will produce a draft and circulate it to the class. (4) Revision: I continue my crusade to
get students to revise their work, refine their style, and avoid simple problems with grammar
and proofreading. These four steps will be covered in three, 2 hour classes. This process
will happen three times for each table over the course of the semester.
3. Working Together and Working Separately. One of greatest challenges we faced last
semester was classroom management. My teaching assistant and I were constantly on the
go from table to table trying to help groups with both specific and general concerns across
four thousand years of history and across various levels of preparation and performance.
SO while one table was struggling to use Linear B texts to present arguments for Bronze
Age Greece, another table was trying to organize a section that addressed the social,
political, and military significance of Agincourt. This was hard to do and inevitably some
tables did not get the attention they needed. This was primarily because some tables
surged ahead while others lagged behind.
To deal with this I have divided the class into three sections. For the first two sections,
covering the first 6 weeks, each table will work on the same thing and share their processes
and results. The goal of this is not only to share the work of tables that find their
collaborative rhythm more quickly, but also to simplify what my teaching assistant and I do
every class period. Rather than dealing with the massive span of history and the various
issues of process, we can focus on process.


 

45

The one area where I refused to make any changes is in how I execute group work. The
tables will remain stable over the course of the semester. Students will be given few
opportunities to opt out of group work, and their grade will largely remain dependent on
how they function as a group. I know that students dislike group work and this will prompt
complaints, but I remain committed to providing students with a better group experience
rather than abandoning group work altogether.


 

46

Medieval Material from the Palace of Nestor at Pylos
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/medieval-material-from-the-palaceof-nestor-at-pylos/
Wed, 08 Jan 2014 13:11:24 +0000
i
This past (http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.82.issue-4) issue of Hesperia was
a good one for people interested in field survey and Late or post Ancient material. Not only
did it feature a wide ranging and provocative article by Hamish Forbes on manuring and offsite pottery scatters, but it also included
(http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2972/hesperia.82.4.0673) an article by Jack Davis and
Sharon Stocker on Medieval pottery from the Palace of Nestor.
The Palace of Nestor is not, of course, known as an important Medieval site in Greece, but
for the excavated remains of an important Late Bronze Age administrative center and the
largest assemblage of Linear B tablets. It was also the central feature in two important
survey projects, the Minnesota Messinia Expedition and the Pylos Regional Archaeological
Project that sought to contextualize the Bronze Age site as well as the later activities in this
region. In other words, these sherds exist in a larger archaeological context developed over
6 decades of excavation and survey.
The deposit of Medieval material was careful excavated by Carl Blegen and Marion Rawson.
The artifacts seem to be associated with a small, tile-roofed building near the Northeast
Gateway. The article is particularly interesting for a few reasons:
1. Dating the Assemblage. Joannita Vroom dated the assemblage to the late 12th or early
13th century on the basis of cooking pots, but the overall date of the assemblage and the
duration over which it was formed remains unclear. It is nevertheless important that these
kinds of assemblages are published to provide a context for later work. Too often,
excavators hold back problematic materials until they can clarify the dates or until they can
fit into established typologies. These kinds of assemblages are important to advancing our

 

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understanding of Medieval society in Greece and the massive, color catalogue with copious
profiles continues in Hesperia’s (and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens’)
long and impressive tradition for documenting artifacts. Providing XRF data for some of the
artifacts in this assemblage makes it even more valuable source of comparanda.
2. Non-Monumental. Davis and Stocker point out that this site is remarkable because it is
not monumental or elite. It is not a church, a palace, or a fortification, but seemingly a more
modest building with a tile roof and a tile floor. The presence of cooking pots in significant
quantities and table wares perhaps suggests a domestic structure. While there was not
enough preserved of the building to allow for any analysis of architecture, we can surmise
that it was made of mud brick, had a tile roof, and was simple in design.
3. Modest Structures and Survey. One of the most important contributions of this article is
the observation that a large percentage of the unexcavated area of the Englianos ridge
where the Palace of Nestor stood underwent intensive pedestrian survey. This survey
produced very few sherds datable to the 12th and 13th century. Davis and Stocker suggest
that this probably reflected absence of a Medieval settlement in the area and noted that in
the later Ottoman period the ridge fell under the control of a nearby village. While this would
certainly account for the absence of any substantial quantities 12th and 13th century
material, we should not overlook the possibility that a modest, short-term settlement,
featuring relatively humble structures like that revealed in Blegen’s and Rawson’s
excavations, would have left only the faintest signature on the surface. The significant
quantities of Medieval tile that appeared in the brown level of topsoil may have represented
a rather undiagnostic assemblage had the excavators not revealed the more clearly
Medieval material in the black ashy level beneath.
This article will no radically redefine how we understand Medieval settlement in the
Peloponnesus or even tell us much about Medieval life on the Englianos ridge, but it does
represent a substantial and perhaps even definitive first step toward a more conscientious
effort to document Medieval life in the Eastern Mediterranean. If more scholars presented
significant finds from earlier excavations in such a careful and thorough way, our


 

48

understanding of the Medieval period would be greatly increased.
(This, of course, got me thinking about whether Blegen’s excavations at Gonia and Yeriza in
the Corinthia from the 1930s produced Medieval material.
(http://www.jstor.org/stable/20066771) The Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey
documented Medieval and Early Modern material in the vicinity of Gonia, perhaps
associated with an Early Modern church to the north of the hill.)


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-84/
Fri, 10 Jan 2014 12:45:34 +0000
We live in a strange part of the world when a day in the 20s (F) feels like a spring thaw, but
considering the recent visit of the Arctic to our humble corner of this continent, I’ll take every
20 degree day the earth has to offer.
The one good thing is that the warming trend coincided with the collapse of my postholiday attention span. And this makes it a good time for some Friday quick hits and varia.
• Byzantium still thrives in a strange corner of popular culture. Not a year goes by with some
Byzantine themed book, (http://www.amazon.com/Count-No-Man-HappyByzantine/dp/0983910804) novel, blog, podcast, movie, or what have you. So
(http://thehistoryofthebyzantineempire.wordpress.com/) maybe this blog will by the next big
thing in pop Byzantium.
• (http://www.doaks.org/library-archives/icfa/special-projects/online-exhibitions/a-truthfulrecord/history) The Image Collection and Fieldwork Archives at Dumbarton Oaks has a new
online exhibit called “A Truthful Record: The Byzantine Institute Films.”
• (http://www.economist.com/node/3445050) Ever few years someone gets interested in
the idea that some Romans settled in China.
• (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/01/07/archaeologists-discover-5000-yearold-egyption-artifacts-that-came-from-space-2/) Egyptian Space Iron.
• (http://dougsarchaeology.wordpress.com/2014/01/05/blogging-archaeology-blogarchall-of-the-responses-to-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/) Here’s the wrap up post for the
second month of this years SAA blogging carnival. The theme was the Good, the Bad, and

 

50

the Ugly about archaeological blogging.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/saa-blogging-carnival-the-goodthe-bad-and-the-ugly-about-blogging/) My post is here.
• (http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/01/08/260747426/where-the-smokers-are-nowbulgaria-greece-andmacedonia?utm_content=socialflow&amp;utm_campaign=nprfacebook&amp;utm_source=
npr&amp;utm_medium=facebook) People smoke in Bulgaria and Greece.
• (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/09/3d-models-as-analytical-tools/)
Check out 3D models as analytical tools.
• (http://architizer.com/projects/plane-house-1/) Some modern architecture on Corfu.
• (http://workspiration.org/) Workspiration a cool site for your techy types.
• (https://immersion.media.mit.edu/) Visualize your email with Immersion.
• (http://thetalkhouse.com/reviews/view/nico-muhly-beyonce) This has to be the best music
review I’ve read this year.
• (http://sometimes-interesting.com/2013/04/08/the-last-house-on-holland-island/) The
last house on Holland Island. This is really a remarkably bizarre story. It’s not that islands
disappear, but that someone who do so much to keep nature from running its course. It’s
Herodotean.
• (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/01/09/261111444/writer-and-activist-amiribaraka-dies-at-age-79) RIP Amiri Baraka.
• (http://www.wired.com/design/2014/01/an-artist-records-the-mysterious-rumblings-ofmiddle-earth/?cid=co16837474) Along similar lines, this is what the Earth sounds like


 

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when you drill a 5 mile hole into it.
• (http://thinkingculture.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/punk-sociology-chapter-1-is-nowopen-access/) David Beer’s Punk Sociology is out and chapter 1 is available for free. I
refuse to pay for anything punk. I liked that the author decided to call himself “David Beer.”
• (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/in-winnipeg-a-striking-museum-for-anevolving-city/article16193962/) People make fun of the ‘Peg, but they are doing some cool
stuff up there.
• (http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/12/goodbye-cameras.html)
Goodbye cameras.
• Here’s something read all week:
(http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2014/01/08/260447386/bob-boilens-116-favoriteconcerts-of-2013) Bob Boilen’s 116 Favorite Concerts Last Year.
• (http://accent.gmu.edu/) The speech accent archive from George Mason.
(http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&amp;speakerid=88) This is what
my wife sounds like.
• (http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/12/11/14wineburg_ep.h33.html) Sam
Wineburg on using history courses to teach the common core.
• What I’m reading: Lyle Owerko, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/boombox-project-themachines-the-music-and-the-urban-underground/oclc/645702202) The Boombox Project:
the machines, the music, and the urban underground. (2010); John Parker,
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/structuration/oclc/43836547) Structuration. (2000).
• What I’m listening to: Frank Sinatra, A Swingin’ Affair; Laura Marling, Once I was an Eagle.


 

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Worth the Walk
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/worth-the-walk/
Sat, 11 Jan 2014 21:20:11 +0000
i
title="IMG_1085.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/img_1085.jpg" alt="IMG
1085" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="IMG_1089.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/img_1089.jpg" alt="IMG
1089" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="IMG_1093.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/img_1093.jpg" alt="IMG
1093" width="450" height="600" border="0" />


 

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SAA Blogging Carnival: Popular Blog Posts and Networked Reading
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/saa-blogging-carnival-popularblog-posts-and-networked-reading/
Mon, 13 Jan 2014 14:46:32 +0000
If you haven’t checked it out, the summary of
(http://dougsarchaeology.wordpress.com/2014/01/05/blogging-archaeology-blogarch-allof-the-responses-to-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/) last month’s SAA Blog Carnival is
posted at Doug’s Archaeology Blog. It’s pretty epic in terms of number of contributors and
range of responses. (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/saa-bloggingcarnival-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-about-blogging/) My contribution got a bit lost in
the shuffle, but it’s still there and the energy from the entire undertaking has motivated me to
keep with it.
This month’s prompts are as follows:
What are your best (or if you want your worst) post(s) and why? Compare and contrast your
different bests/worsts.
While is a cool question because it opens the door not only to reflect on our own blogging
efforts, I’m going to mostly ignore it and use it as prompt to speculate a bit on the entire
blogging ecosystem. After all, the best and worst posts are only partly determined by our
own judgement and partly by their reception by our audience.
Anyway, I have three observations.
1. My best posts and networked knowledge. On my blog, my best posts are those read by
the most people. It's pretty simple, really. I write stuff. People read it. And when people read
and appreciate my contributions to their online worlds, I get happy.


 

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The great thing about blogging (or writing on the web) is how transparent networked
reading is. I remember as a graduate student, one of my prized possessions as a graduate
student was a copy of (http://www.worldcat.org/title/late-roman-and-early-byzantineinscriptions-of-athens-and-attica-an-edition-with-appendices-on-scripts-sepulchralformulae-and-occupations/oclc/40388704) Eriki Sironen’s Helsinki dissertation: “The late
Roman and early Byzantine inscriptions of Athens and Attica.” It was hard to get in the U.S.
and I had no idea how many people had copies. My copy carried from Athens and
photocopied with a purloined copier code at night in a dark corner of the history
department.
Today, we read in a different way. Articles circulate at the speed of light, and social media,
email, and blogs compose part of this networked reading infrastructure. When other people
read our posts and like our ideas we know it. Our reading habits sway with the flickering of
other people’s interest on our social media dashboards. It appears in our blog analytics and
sketches out the barest outlines of a community who shares practices, habits, and interests.
The attention a post gets from this community shows the community of readers (and
writers) at work.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/man-camps-in-may-some-moreobservations/) My most popular posts
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/linear-b-in-3d/) were primarily
driven these days by their prominence on social media. When
(https://www.facebook.com/ghostsofnorthdakota) a popular Facebook or Twitter
personality likes what they see, my daily page view jump from the hundreds to over 1000
within hours.
2. The Ephemeral and the Persistent. One of the most interesting things about blogging is
attempting to understand the relationship between posts that receive significant immediate
attention and those that linger and gain page views slowly over time. My
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/) “New” Archaeology of the Mediterranean
World blog has existed for close to three years now and
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/teaching-graduate-historiography
 

55

a-final-syllabus/) some posts (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/listsand-ranking-of-archaeology-journals/) continue to garner attention indicating that our idea
of blogs as kinds of digital ephemera is perhaps over stated.
In the past, I have suggested that blogs can fill a gap between the almost completely
ephemeral media of the conference paper and the institutionally protected status of
traditional academic journals. As blogs continue to mature on the web issues of visibility and
persistence will shape how we understand their value and their place in the academic
ecosystem. A post that’s three or four years old and continues to get attention has greater
meaning than (http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2008/02/17/real-snow-inat/) a post that attracts a few hundred hits in a day and then fades into obscurity.
At the same time, I’ve tried to strike a balance between posts that enjoy momentary or
situational popularity (for example, I had
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/some-thoughts-on-digitaldissertations/) a post featured on Wordpress.com’s (http://wordpress.com/fresh/) Freshly
Pressed page) and those that have persistent significance to my reading community. The
sensational or situational post has the advantage of making by blog more visible on the web
and attracting new, interested readers. As I continue to experiment with using my blog as a
platform for other people’s writing, I feel even greater obligation to draw attention to it
through ephemeral posts and a greater social media presence.
3. Blogging is Dead. A few weeks ago (http://kottke.org/) Jason Kottke (one of the great
“old” men of the blogging community) wrote (http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/12/the-blogis-dead/) a short piece for the Nieman Journalism Lab titled “The Blog is Dead, Long Live
the Blog.” In it he talked broadly about the transformation of reading on the internet and
how he almost never reads proper, traditional blogs any more. In fact, he suggests that the
traditional format of the blog with posts arranged in chronological order has slowly given
way over the past few years to more topical or thematic arrangement of content. He notes
the emergence of sites like (https://medium.com/) Medium which look to present content
for various authors in a more stylish format than most blogs, and without any concession to


 

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chronological format.
Over the past few months, I ran a series of posts on 3D imaging in Mediterranean
archaeology. One of the complaints voiced by a number of contributors was that there was
no proper table of contents and they had to scroll through pages of content to read the
entire series of posts. (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/3d-modeling-inmediterranean-archaeology/) That was an easy enough problem to fix, but it shows that as
the blog developed, the suitability in the traditional blogging format has limits.
At the same time, the narrative structure of blogging with its clear, chronological trajectory
seems suitable for telling the story of archaeological work and academic research as
ongoing processes. It invites a regular reader into an archaeologist’s world and has obvious
parallels with the format of a archaeological field notebooks. It also assumes a particular
practice in the part of the reader who makes daily visits to a blog and reads it in sequence
getting to know the authors over time. Whether this is enough to keep blogging as the
format of choice for archaeological outreach remains to be seen.


 

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The Archaeological Life of Contemporary Objects
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/the-archaeological-life-ofcontemporary-objects/
Tue, 14 Jan 2014 14:02:46 +0000
As I continued to read around in the field of the archaeology of the contemporary world, I
have become fascinated by the huge body of work on the everyday objects. Much of this
work is not properly archaeological or even scholarly, but it points to some kind of abiding
archaeological tendency in the way that we engage everyday life.
Over the winter break, I perused (http://www.worldcat.org/title/taxonomy-of-office-chairsthe-evolution-of-the-office-chair-demonstrated-through-a-catalogue-of-seminal-modelsand-an-illustrated-taxonomy-of-their-components/oclc/681495449) Jonathan Olivares’
design taxonomy of office chairs and (http://www.worldcat.org/title/boombox-project-themachines-the-music-and-the-urban-underground/oclc/645702202) Lyle Owerko’s
engaging work on the boombox. Both books focused on locating the objects in a larger
social context. Olivares’ work, true to its roots in design, documented the development of
the office chair through time, presented a technical vocabulary for the common features in
office chairs, and provided some broad historical notes on the changes in the office chair’s
shape and features. The book is filled with lavish technical illustrations with comments on
both design and materials. As any good taxonomy, this book would allow a non-specialist to
identify and describe a chair in an office setting. If we follow the author’s preface literally
and understand the chair as a marker of status in the office environment, his guide would
allow someone unfamiliar with an office environment to recognize the social hierarchy in
place. The chairs also provide a way to consider the effects of Taylorism and efficiency
studies on the office environment. The chair became a productivity tool as well as an object
of status.
Owerko’s Boombox project is a different kind of book. He provides little in the way of
technical details, descriptions, or taxonomy. Rather than elaborate illustration, the core

 

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feature of the book is the series of remarkably detailed photographs of certain iconic
boomboxes of the 1970s and 1980s. The photographs are large and sufficiently detailed as
to reveal wear patterns, damage, and identifying characteristics of each boombox.
(http://www.owerko.com/#mi=2&amp;pt=1&amp;pi=10000&amp;s=0&amp;p=0&amp;a=
2&amp;at=0) You can get an idea of his photographs on his website. The detail is such that
one can see the the various plastic parts that give the exterior of the boombox its complex
and overwrought aesthetic. The part show the kinds of wear that reflect use. The bent
“pause” button on tape controls reflected the common practices of pausing tracks to cue
up the next song or even using it to freeze the music for the second to syncopate a groove
or, in the most skilled hands, to loop it. Broken handles show the limits of these device’s
portability and the practice of adding more flexible shoulder straps. The worn plastic faces
preserve signs of how the boombox rubbed against fabric in transport with chips and dents
reflecting less forgiving contacts. These battle scars complement stickers and homemade
repairs to provide a roadmap to each object’s biography.
The bulk of the book is dedicated to conversations about boomboxes and their place within
the “urban underground” of the late-20th century and photos of the boomboxes in use.
While I’ll accept Olivares’ notion of the office chair as status marker in a traditional office
context, I’m skeptical of Owerko’s more romanticized idea of the boombox as a markers of
the urban underground. After all, what made the boombox great was that it was ubiquitous.
Get any group of American “Generation Xers” together and almost all of them will talk about
boomboxes. These are kids from the cities, from the ‘burbs, from rural areas, rich, poor, or
middle class. The boombox was not iconic of some kind of subversive underground, but of
the democratizing consumerism of the middle class. Maybe it’s best to say something like
the appearance of the boombox in certain settings had a destabilizing effect on the
expectation that common material possession would create a cohesive middle class
identity. But this does not make a catchy title.
Finally, the books are not archaeological monographs or even properly exhaustive studies
(although Olivares’s work is close), but windows into the life and times of objects. As
archaeologists explore the contemporary world more and more thoroughly, these kinds of
non-scholarly collections will start to assert greater value just as, two centuries ago, non
 

59

systematic, “amateur” collections of ceramic objects, fossils, or other artifacts became the
framework for the first generation of great museums and collections.


 

60

A New Semester's Scale-Up Adventure
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/15/a-new-semesters-scale-upadventure/
Wed, 15 Jan 2014 13:50:17 +0000
Last night I started my new semester in a Scale-Up classroom at the University of North
Dakota. I have tweaked the course considerably this semester trying to do a better job of
meeting the student expectations half way. In terms of course structure,
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/07/teaching-history-in-a-scale-upclassroom-2-0/) I organized the class to ensure greater coverage.
I also did a few things to try to get the students to accept the Scale-Up arrangement. I got
to thinking about how I should position myself rhetorically to encourage students to
embrace an environments that is likely to be outside their comfort zone. It’s quite remarkable
that I’ve read a significant amount of pedagogical material on teaching in a Scale-Up room,
and more or less understand the strategies recommended for successful learning
outcomes, but I have not read nearly as much about the tactical aspect of class. There
seems to be an assumption that students will buy into the new environment because the
faculty member has embraced it. This, however, is clearly not the case and many of the
conversations with my colleagues who teach in this room suggest that student buy-in, early
in the semester is crucial to the class being successful.
So this semester, I decided to be a bit more deliberate with the way that I introduced my
class from a rhetorical standpoint. What adds to the difficulty level is that the Scale-Up
room is a challenging environment to lecture in. Since there is no clear orientation to the
room, difficult acoustics requiring a microphone, and obstructed lines of sight, students
have about a 15 minute attention span. So my points had to be made quickly and clearly.
1. This is not new, nor an experiment. Last semester, I led with the position that “this room is
an exciting experiment in teaching.” What I got back from the class was: “This is NORTH

 

61

DAKOTA. We experimented once in 1892. The crops failed. People died.”
So this semester I backed away from the “this is an experiment” and led with “everyone is
doing this” hoping to get my class to see that change in education is the norm and
classrooms built around the idea of active learning and engagement with the material are far
more common than they might expect.
2. Group work is the norm in life. One of the greatest challenges to students in getting
students to accept working in groups. Last semester, this was one of the biggest
complaints in the class. The remarkable thing was that students rarely complained that their
group was dragging them down, but rather that their hard work was giving a lazy student an
unfair advantage. While this concern it bizarrely egalitarian, it still revealed a certain
hesitancy to see managing group dynamics internally (without getting me involved) as an
important part of the course design.
This semester, I went on offense the first day of class, explaining to them that the “rugged
individualist,” “lone crusader,” and “personal accountability” were myths promulgated by
three millennia of heroic literature that had no grounding in reality. In fact, these heroic
myths were a form of escape from reality and since this class was all about gaining skills to
make students successful in the real world, we should dispense with mythical
preoccupations that we can control our fate and get down to brass tacts.
The world works as groups. Companies are groups. Economies are groups. Democracies
are groups. Societies are groups. Markets are groups. Social networks are groups. The
most successful individuals in the world are those who can negotiate the experience of
working with other people, gain personal benefit from it, and contribute to the performance
of the other people in the group. Group work, like the active learning environment of the
Scale-Up room, is not some experiment or exception, but the norm in life.
3. This is more fun than the alternative. My final rhetorical move of the evening was arguing
that this approach to learning was more fun than the traditional history class. There was
some risk here (more in my head, then in reality) that by being open to the existence of a

 

62

“traditional history class,” I’ve given students the opportunity to imagine a different class and
one that has the backing of “tradition.”
At the same time, I’m banking on a general dislike of traditional lecture-style history classes
especially among non-majors and an openness to an alternative that might be more
entertaining. For the first class, I had the students create a list of rules to organize a society
on a deserted island. The playfulness of the exercise opened the door to a larger
conversation about the limits faced by almost all preindustrial societies.
The goal is not play for the sake of play, of course. Nor am I aiming for a kind of edutainment
where I replace the “sage on the stage” with a romper-room, feel good, group work.
Instead, I hope I can systematically reinforce these rhetorical points throughout the
semester and to use them to undermine deep set student resistance to an unfamiliar
environment.


 

63

Iron Age Cyprus, Kition, and Territorialization at Pyla-Viga
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/iron-age-cyprus-kition-andterritorialization-at-pyla-viga/
Thu, 16 Jan 2014 17:06:28 +0000
I was pretty excited to discover
that(http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.issue-370) the most recent
volume of the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research was largely devoted to
recent research on Iron Age Cyprus and edited by Derek Counts and Maria Iacovou. The
introduction situates the contributions as fresh look at at Iron Age Cyprus in the spirit of the
important 1997 volume of BASOR dedicated to the same issues, while at the same
avoiding being a sequel or follow up to it. This reflects the remarkable dynamism of recent
scholarship on Iron Age Cyprus that has continued to push beyond questions posed in
1997 as well as the growing quantity of data available for the study of this period.
For people who don’t regularly follow scholarship on Cyprus, the Iron Age is important,
among other reasons, because it witnessed the formation of states centered on urban areas
that shaped the political, cultural, and economic identity of the island for centuries even after
these “city kingdoms” ceased to be autonomous entities. The important cities of Paphos,
Salamis, Kition, and Amathus all appear to have consolidated as independent political units
over the course of the Iron Age. Moreover, the relationship between the Iron Age polities
and the kingdoms (we presume) of the Bronze Age remains obscure and the debates over
continuity and discontinuity at various sites and among the polities on the island represents
a contentious and significant issue in the understanding of Cyprioit antiquity. At the core of
much of the debate is the ethnic character of the leading Iron Age cities on Cyprus and the
“arrival of the Greeks” either at the end of Bronze Age or in the very early Iron Age.
Considering the modern political issues at play on the island, issues of ethnic identity in
antiquity have real modern implications.


 

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Much of this larger narrative is in the background of the contributions to this volume. I wish
it had appeared about 6 months earlier so I could have incorporated it into the discussion of
the Iron Age at Pyla-Koutsopetria that appeared in the conclusion to our recently submitted
monograph. Of particular significance is S. Fourrier’s work on the rural sanctuaries
associated with Kition. She argues that the territorialization of Kition did not occur until the
Classical period rather than during the earlier Iron Age and associated it with Kition’s
conquest of Idalion in the 5th century. In other words, the territorial limits of the kingdom of
Kition remains in flux and its control over the countryside and its resources was not fully
established.
This challenges what I attempted to argue in the conclusions to the Pyla-Koutsopetria
volume where I observe that the Iron Age site situated atop the prominent coastal ridge of
Vigla might reflect the first phase in the expansion of Kition into its eastern hinterland.
title="Figure5_19.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/figure5_19.jpg" alt="Figure5
19" width="450" height="337" border="0" />View of the Iron Age site at Pyla-Vigla from
the coastal plain.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/borders-ethnicity-and-the-state-inarchaic-cyprus/) I blogged about it here. I suggest that the scatter of Iron Age material
across a number of units coincided with the well-know statue of Bes with a dedication to
Reshef now in the Louvre with its Phoenician inscription.
(http://www.ajaonline.org/article/219) D. Counts has argued that this statue is a hybridized
image that evokes certain aspect of Phoenician deities as well iconography common on
Cyprus. From this same area, we also identified
(http://opencontext.org/subjects/3F36780A-E51C-4116-9950-65427D8BF01D) an
assemblage of figurines probably dating, at earliest, to the Classical period along with
(http://opencontext.org/subjects/C425DE2B-55CE-46EC-3309-1C85E4987E0C) a few
sherds (http://opencontext.org/subjects/E260EA5B-229C-4F60-065A-1C1B01178F74)
that are likely Cypro-Geometric in date.


 

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title="Figure5_18.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/figure5_18.jpg" alt="Figure5
18" width="450" height="321" border="0" />Cypro-Geometric Material
She noted that many of the extraterritorial sanctuaries in the territory of Kition share
characteristics of cults associated with Idalion. One of the key figures in the cult life of
Idalion is Reshef and it is rather remarkable that Fourrier did not mention the statue of this
deity from the area of Pyla. If we follow her argument, the presence of this statue from the
coastal zone of Pyla might suggest that Idalion exerted some influence over this maritime
zone. Complicating this is the possibility that some extra-urban areas like Pyla-Vigla formed
part of a larger “homogeneous cultural region” where the iconography of the “Master of the
Lion” (typically associated with Heracles-Milqart) intermixed with Phoenician influences
derived from communities at Kition, Idalion, and elsewhere in the region.
title="Figure5_29.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/figure5_29.jpg" alt="Figure5
29" width="450" height="321" border="0" />Iron Age Material
The significance of this for our analysis of the Pyla-Vigla Iron Age component goes even
further. Fourrier observed that extra-urban sanctuaries may have originated to serve the
needs of local communities before becoming parts of territorialization strategies of the
emerging Iron Age polities. The close relationship between some of these sites and earlier
Late Bronze Age sites reflected both practical advantages of the location of Bronze Age
sites and the availability of building material, as well as the efforts to connect with a
shadowy, if physically present past. The site at Pyla-Koutsopetria certainly fits this pattern in
that it stands in close proximity and visual range of the Late Bronze Age site of PylaKokkinokremos.
If we accept Fourrier’s argument for the late development of Kition’s territorialization, then
we might be wise to narrate the history of Iron Age activity at the site of Pyla-Vigla in a
different way. It seems probable that the site originated as a settlement in the shadow of the
long abandoned Late Bronze Age site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos in the Cypro-Geometric

 

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Period. By the Cypro-Archaic period, the site appeared as part of the larger Mesoria
community with its complex and hybridized cultural identity and perhaps had a relationship
with the nearby inland site of Idalion. With the territorialization of Kition in the 5th century,
the site develops even further and shows signs of ongoing cult activity as well as expansion.
This activity persists throughout the Hellenistic period and into the Roman era before
declining in Late Antiquity.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-85/
Fri, 17 Jan 2014 13:52:12 +0000
A freak blizzard granted us a day off from school the first week of the semester. This is both
good (in that (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/the-hedgehog-andthe-squirrel/) I got stuff done) and bad (in that
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/scale-up/) I’m behind in
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/30/teaching-graduate-historiographyagain/) my classes already). Oh well, it’s better to be behind the first week of the semester
than the last.
And this coming week will be exciting with the 5th annual (or is it 6th?) Cyprus Research
Fund Lecture. For those who missed it, this year’s talk is by Dr. Sarah Lepinski and
titled Archaeologies of Décor: Interiors in the Roman East. For those in the Northern Plains,
the talk is at 4 pm on Thursday January 23rd in the East Asia Room of the mighty Chester
Fritz Library. More information is
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/19/2013-cyprus-research-fundlecture-dr-sarah-lepinsky-on-the-archaeologies-of-decor/) here or
(http://webapp.und.edu/dept/our/uletter/?p=44106) here. We’ll stream the talk and post a
URL for that when it’s available.
While you get excited about Sarah’s talk and celebrate not living in Grand Forks, you can
peruse this list of quick hits and varia:
• Both (http://chasingaphrodite.com/2014/01/13/fordhams-folly-some-answers-manymore-questions-about-acquisition-of-syrian-mosaics/) Chasing Aphrodite and
(http://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/2014/01/fordhams-acquisition-of-christian.html)
Looting Matters and following what is being called “Fordham’s Folly.” This is Fordham
University accepting a gift of some 6th century mosaics “from the neighborhood of

 

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Apamea” in Syria. Considering the large-scale destruction and looting of Syria’s antiquities
during the present civil war, this seems in bad taste at best and unethical at worst. (Check
out Michael Peppard’s concerns in the comments of my blog. It’s interesting that he refers
to the authors of the two blogs as “bloggers” when he knows that Chasing Aphrodite is
authored by two investigative journalists of high standing and Looting Matters is authored
by David Gill, a scholar of significant reputation. Moreover, I suggested that Fordham’s
behavior might just be in poor taste or unethical (by the standards of the field of
archaeology) which I’m not sure are properly slanderous. That kind of thing makes
Peppard’s comments seem unimpressive.)
• (http://proteus.brown.edu/archforthepeoplecompetition/Home) The Joukowsky Institute at
Brown is running a contest for Accessible Archaeological Writing. The top prize is $5000
and the best papers will appear in an edited volume.
• While it is not unusual for American Evangelical churches to have espresso or coffee bars,
it might be a bit more unusual to discover that (http://www.italymagazine.com/news/earlychristian-basilica-found-under-new-lavazza-headquarters) coffee maker Lavazza’s
headquarters has its own Early Christian Basilica.
• (http://www.trowelblazers.com/post/55692805223/halet-cambel-olympian-activistarchaeologist) R.I.P. Halet Çambel.
• (http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/ara-guler-capturing-turkeysunseen-corners-in-new-exhibit-at-sackler-gallery/2014/01/08/1dcc37a0-6bed-11e3a523-fe73f0ff6b8d_story.html) The photographs of Ara Güler show the hidden and historic
corners of Turkey and are on display at the Sackler Gallery in D.C.
• (http://bbgwatch.com/bbgwatch/plagiarized-article-on-romans-eating-giraffe-gets-a-topnews-posting-three-days-late-on-voice-of-america/) Apparently press agencies plagiarize
one another even when it involves giraffe eating at Pompeii. Who would have guessed it?


 

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• (http://archaeogaming.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/beta-testing-archaeology-in-elderscrolls-online-2/) Andrew Reinhard beta tests Elder Scrolls online with his archaeological
sensibilities intact.
• (http://ucsheritage.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/sutton-hoo-society-conference-2014/)
Sutton Hoo Conference to mark the 75th anniversary of excavations at the site.
• (http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/ancient-greeks-used-portable-grills140109.htm) Portable souvlaki grills from the Mycenaean Bronze Age on Greece.

(https://sjobs.brassring.com/TGWEbHost/jobdetails.aspx?partnerID=25240&amp;siteID=
5341&amp;AReq=31407BR) What to be the next managing editor of the Loeb Classical
Library?
• (http://www.philipvickersfithian.com/2014/01/natalie-zemon-davis-shows-how-toread.html) Natalie Zemon Davis shows us how to read a primary source.
• (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25496729) The BBC looks at the abandoned
resort of Varosha on Cyprus that is in the U.N. Buffer zone.
• (http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/VA-to-publish-Nazis-degenerate-art-inventoryonline/31569) The Victoria and Albert Museum will publish online the catalogue of 16,558
pieces of Nazi Entartete Kunst (degenerate art) decommissioned from German museums in
late 1930s.
• (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10562017/Melting-glaciers-innorthern-Italy-reveal-corpses-of-WW1soldiers.html?utm_content=buffer6b139&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitt
er.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer) Melting glaciers reveal WWI corpses. Grizzly.


 

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• (http://www.operationwardiary.org/#/) Help mark up WWI British war diaries.
• It’s interesting to contrast (http://www.papermonument.com/web-only/see-something-saysomething-22/) Lee Lozano’s final resting place with
(http://www.hauserwirth.com/exhibitions/3/lee-lozano/installation-views/) the place of her
art.
• (http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57617091-1/how-isaac-asimov-got-2014both-so-right-and-so-wrong/) Azimov on 2014.
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/14/opinion/running-on-fumes-in-northdakota.html?_r=0) More on the North Dakota oil boom in the New York Times.
• What I’m reading: (http://www.worldcat.org/title/byzantium-in-the-iconoclast-era-c-680850-a-history/oclc/650827358) J. Haldon and L. Brubaker, Byzantium in the Iconoclast
Era, c. 680-850. Cambridge 2011.
• What I’m listening to: Velvet Underground, White Light/White Heat.
title="IMG_1106.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/img_1106.jpg" alt="IMG
1106" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="IMG_1104.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/img_1104.jpg" alt="IMG
1104" width="450" height="283" border="0" />


 

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A line in the snow
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/a-line-in-the-snow/
Sun, 19 Jan 2014 14:08:07 +0000
When I first moved to the Northern Plains, I puzzled over these snow lines that I would
occasionally see on solid fences in our neighborhood.
It wasn’t until we owned a snowblower and I figured out what did it.
title="fenceline.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/fenceline.jpg"
alt="Fenceline" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Settlement on Cyprus in the 7th and 8th Centuries
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/settlement-on-cyprus-in-the-7thand-8th-centuries/
Mon, 20 Jan 2014 15:36:54 +0000
Over the next two months, I've been asked to write an essay on settlement in 7th and 8th
century Cyprus. My work at (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/polis/)
Polis-Chrysochous and at the site of
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/pyla-koutsopetria-archaeologicalproject/) Pyla-Koutsopetria puts me in a good position to think broadly of this transitional
period with two specific points of reference.
The coastal site of Pyla-Koutsopetria appears to go into steep decline after the middle of
the 7th century coinciding, it would seem, increased activity of the Arab fleet in middle
decades of the 7th. During the 5th-7th century, there is every indication that the site was
prosperous coastal emporium. The almost complete absence of material dating to the 8th or
9th centuries would seem to indicate that the site no long constituted a substantial locus of
settlement on the south coast of the island. Of course, it is possible that the population
simply moved to the east or west of our survey area or declined as the small embayment
present infilled or larger economic demand for the agricultural produce in the area declined.
In other words, we have no evidence that the decline of the site related directly to the
activity of the Arab fleet.
Polis-Chrysochous, or ancient Arsinoe, appears to have had a different history. On the one
hand, there is some evidence that life at the site was disrupted in the mid-7th century
including damage to at least one of the two prominent churches revealed through
excavation. On the other hand, the church was modified extensively in the mid-7th century
with architecturally sophisticated additions that did more than just restore the building to its
earlier state. In fact, the addition of a narthex, a portico along the church’s south wall, and a
barrel vaulted roof produced a building that echoed the design of well-known basilicas

 

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elsewhere on the island. The massive deposit of rubble and pottery associated with these
modification establishes beyond a doubt a terminus post quem of the mid-7th century.
Using these two sites as points of reference, I think I can address the six major issues that
influence how we talk about the 7th and 8th century on Cyprus in general and that directly
impact what we can say about settlement.
1. Methods and Evidence: Survey, Excavation, Architecture, and Texts
First, there is the reality that our textual sources are problematic and fragmentary deriving
from a range of genres, historiographic perspectives, and languages. They do not present a
cohesive picture of the island provide much insight into larger issues of settlement. In fact,
some sources suggest that the population of the island was nearly all sold into slavery and
removed (e.g. the Soli inscription) whereas other inscriptions seem to indicate that the
island remained reasonably prosperous despite Arab incursions. Archaeological evidence
likewise follows this confusing pattern with excavated sites showing greater signs of
continuity with 6th century activities than the landscape revealed by intensive survey.
Architecture is even more revealing with several well-know churches preserving decoration
datable to the 7th and 8th century. In the end, textual and archaeological evidence leave us
with two different, mutually exclusive stories for this period of transition.
2. Ceramic chronology.
Part of the issue is the difficult nature of 7th and 8th century ceramics. Despite the
significant amount of scholarship from the past decade that has pushed the date of wellknow fine wares and transport amphora from the comfortable confines of the 6th century
into the wild margins of the 8th, there has been little large scale reassessment of ceramic
assemblages on the island. We have continued to note how individual “type fossils” like
Late Roman 1 amphora or Cypriot Red Slip forms could date later than originally thought,
but we have only begun to use this knowledge to imagine 7th or 8th century assemblages
on the island (outside a few, well-known examples like the pottery workshops at Dhiorios or
Marcus Rautman’s identification of hand-made pottery at Kopetria). Until the redating of
major wares informs the visibility of locally produced or “common” wares on Cyprus, the 7th
and 8th centuries will continue to be rather difficult to identify in surface survey and in more


 

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modest contexts where imported or fine ceramics are absent.
3. Definition and Diversity in Settlement
Whatever the shortcomings of the current state of our knowledge about the 7th and 8th
century, it is clear that something changed in the nature of settlement on the island. The
“crowded countryside” of Late Antique Cyprus gave way to a much less clearly occupied
landscape. At the same time, there appears to have been changes to the urban landscape
with activities at sites like Kourion showing dramatic reductions in scope and prosperity
whereas at sites like Polis, Paphos, and Salamis-Constantia showing signs of continued
settlement and the continued functioning of some urban institutions like the church, civic
government, and markets.
What is missing from our understanding of settlement on the island is the link between
these urban sites and the countryside. Elsewhere in the Byzantine world, the emergence of
villages and village economies characterized the change in settlement pattern during this
period. Urban areas saw contraction and fortification. Thus far there is little evidence for
these phenomena on Cyprus suggesting that the primary organization of settlement and
rural production functioned along different lines. Perhaps the intensely urbanized character
of Roman and Late Roman Cyprus continued to shape the organization of settlement and
rural activities in the Early Byzantine period. Perhaps new institutions like monasteries
exerted a stronger influence on Cyprus than elsewhere.
It may also be that the massive disruptions to the population of Cyprus brought about by the
Arab raids, captive taking expeditions, and forced migrations, transformed the otherwise
persistent landscape of the countryside into one characterized by short term and contingent
settlement as a response to the rapidly changing demographic situation. We know that
short term settlements tend to be less visible in the countryside than long term habitation.
So perhaps the issue of rural settlement on Cyprus is one of visibility rather than presence.
4. Trade, Connectivity, and the Local Production


 

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Contextualizing much of the conversation about 7th and 8th century Cyprus is the nature of
economic activity in the Eastern Mediterranean during these centuries. As scholars have
begun to recognize that the political and military events in this period disrupted trade as
much as caused it to decline, new models for understanding the Early Byzantine economy
have emphasized the change in character as well as change in scale. If the Cypriot
economy and settlement in the 6th century felt the influence of the annona trade between
Egypt and Constantinople (e.g. the settlement at Peyia in southwest Cyprus being
warehousing site) and the administrative reorganization that funneled the agricultural
produce of Cyprus to the needs of the army at the frontiers (perhaps leading to the
prosperity of the sites at Dreamer’s Bay and Pyla-Koutsopetria), then the economy and
settlement of the 7th and 8th century perhaps responded to the more fluid and changing
opportunities and political situation of those centuries. For example, the changing needs
and power of the central government in Constantinople may have spurred the decline of
sites that emerged in response to the command economy of Late Antiquity.
If the unsettled economic and political circumstances of the 7th and 8th century, may have
led to more dynamic responses from Cypriots who looked to limit risk and maximize
opportunities in more contingent ways. In other words, if we accept the possibility that rural
settlement was less visible during these centuries (rather than absent), it may be that shortterm settlement in a “contingent countryside” reflects a more situational approach to a more
dynamic economy.
5. Administrative Structures: Church and State
The persistence of certain institutions on Cyprus - namely the church and the political and
social apparatus of the Byzantine state - demonstrate that despite the the large scale
disruptions to the Late Roman world, certain aspect of life continued on Cyprus relatively
unchanged. Recent work on lead seals from Cyprus show that the ecclesiastical,
administrative, and aristocratic hierarchies continued to function on the island. These
structures demonstrate the persistence of official ties to the capital and to the underlying
legal and social institutions that would maintain, say, the prestige of local aristocrats or the
position of the church as an economic engine in the community.


 

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So, if the contingent countryside reflects the instability of Mediterranean politics and
economy, then the persistence of some activity in urban centers demonstrates the ongoing
presence of traditional elites attempting to continue to perform their traditional function in
particular dynamic environment. The reconstruction of churches at Soli, Paphos, Polis, and
elsewhere suggest that the church continued to be able to marshal and deploy economic
resources from communities. The reconstruction of aqueducts and perhaps some civic
buildings at Salamis-Constantia shows that certain civic functions continued, albeit on a
more modest scale. Finally, the apparent abandonment of the site Kourion may reflect the
intervention of community leaders to relocate key institutions
and (http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/kourion-and-aba/)
salvage existing resources from the site.
6. Events: Invasions, Forced Migrations, and Settlements.
Finally, events have long shaped the master narrative of the decline in the Roman
Mediterranean. The Arab raids of the middle decades of the 7th century, the loss of Egypt
and Syria, and the so-called “condominium period” have long shaped our understanding of
settlement, demography, and economy on the island. On the one hand, it is impossible not
to see things like a substantial Arab fleet patrolling the waters off the island’s coast or the
fundamental transformation of the large-scale economic unity of the Eastern Mediterranean
impacting events on Cyprus. In fact, it would naive to somehow argue that these events did
not impact life on the island.
On the other hand, punctuating the history of the island with these events undermines any
understanding that sees Cypriot society as dynamic agents in their own history. By shifting
our attention to patterns of activity on the island and prioritizing them in our analysis, we
open the door to appreciating the strategies that communities and institutions used to
adapt to changing times. It provides more than simply an answer to tired questions of
“continuity and change” (that largely reside within a discourse of development toward
nationalism) and allows us to focus our attention of the mechanisms that produced the
seductive patterns that have meant so much to our understanding of the modern world.


 

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A Revised Draft: Teaching History in a Scale-Up Classroom
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/a-revised-draft-teaching-history-ina-scale-up-classroom/
Tue, 21 Jan 2014 13:03:52 +0000
Those of you who follow this blog know that I have been working with Cody Stanley on an
article detailing our experience working in the Scale-Up (Student-Centered, Active Learning
Environment for University Programs) classroom last year. The article was a bit bloated
when we first submitted, and we were quite appreciative of the revise and resubmit that we
got from the journal where we submitted it.
The result is a leaner and tighter article that has built on its strengths and removed some of
the more distracting elements. Unfortunately, this involved me cutting some of my favorite
paragraphs that looked at the Scale-Up room as a kind of panopticon where it became
easier for the instructors to observe students learning than for the students to observe the
instructor teaching. Such is life when wielding the editor’s pen.
You can check out (http://www.scribd.com/doc/139921488/Working-Draft-TeachingHistory-in-a-Scale-Up-Student-Centered-Active-Learning-Environment-for-UniversityPrograms-Classroom-Some-Reflections-on-M) the first draft of the article here and
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/scale-up/) my various writing on the
Scale-Up room here.
Here’s the revised version:
[scribd id=201151674 key=key-7o30v469rnw9eht7l9p mode=scroll]


 

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Cyprus Research Fund Lecture Tomorrow: Archaeologies of Décor by Dr. Sarah Lepinski
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/cyprus-research-fund-lecturetomorrow-archaeologies-of-decor-by-dr-sarah-lepinski/
Wed, 22 Jan 2014 15:19:35 +0000
Despite dueling blizzards here and on the east coast, the Cyprus Research Fund Lecture
appears to be on schedule (more or less) to go off as planned tomorrow.
We got a snazzy write-up on the (http://arts-sciences.und.edu/news/2014/01/cypresslecture.cfm) campus news feed and we have a snazzy flyer:
title="CyprusResearchFund2014_pdf.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/cyprusresearchfund2014_pd
f.jpg" alt="CyprusResearchFund2014 pdf" width="460" height="600" border="0" />
For those of you in the neighborhood, you need to brave the cold and come and check out
the talk at 4 pm tomorrow in the East Asia Room of the Mighty Chester Fritz Library.
For those of you on the East Coast, recovering from sinus surgery, or in Denver for the ice
hockeying contests, you can listen to (https://conted.breeze.und.nodak.edu/cyprus) the
LIVE feed of the talk right here.


 

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Writing SoTL, Assessment, and Embodied Knowledge
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/writing-sotl-assessment-andembodied-knowledge/
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 14:20:20 +0000
I spent a good bit of time over the past couple weeks revising
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/a-revised-draft-teaching-history-ina-scale-up-classroom/) a paper that attempts to describe my experiences teaching history
in a Scale-Up classroom. The paper is largely anecdotal in style and argument, and I declare
- in a very forthright way - that my impressions are preliminary. My statement suggest that
applying more careful scrutiny to my work in this class and additional evidence (read:
quantitative data) will produce more meaningful or "final" results.
So, as I polished this paper off and worked to compile a blob of data for some or another
assessment protocol on campus, I began to think about how the discourse of teaching has
become increasingly divorced from disciplinary conversations on campus. I don’t quite
understand why this is happening, but I offer some fragmentary and preliminary notes here:
My claim that my results are preliminary is a bit disingenuous and was primarily a nod to the
standards associated with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). As a historian
and archaeologist, the practice of using quantitative data to evaluate and influences ones
teaching performance is pretty foreign even among the small group of us who deal with
numbers in our professional work. What makes this particularly interesting is that despite
the small number of historians who adopt quantitative methods, we are nevertheless
compelled to view teaching along quantitative lines.
(http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;id=JF1XWEtDFgC&amp;oi=fnd&amp;pg=PR9&amp;dq=Herzfeld+deskilling+dumbing+down&am
p;ots=2vxCRlXg9B&amp;sig=ZCmDuUGDn4ZE2oYi4C_s2_yTkI#v=onepage&amp;q=Herzfeld%20deskilling%20dumbing%20down&amp;f=false)
Michael Herzfeld has identified this tendency as an "audit culture" and I've referred to the

 

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reign of the "assessocracy" who favor quantitative measures for evaluating the effectiveness
of the classroom environment.
I won't be the first or the last to observe that the twin pressures of SoTL and "audit culture"
have slowly transformed the way that scholars in disciplines think about teaching. A recent
conversation with a colleague got me thinking about the way in which this shift from
disciplinary conversations about teaching to a campus wide audit culture influenced how
we think about teaching as professors. To our mind, the key shift was from faculty who
derived their teaching credentials from their expertise in a particular subject area to teaching
as a criteria that can be evaluated independently from any particular specialized knowledge.
This transition was accompanied by the rise of the assessocracy and audit culture and has
produced a situation where teaching (and learning) stand as a separate skills and goals
unto themselves.
I recognize that defenders of assessment practices and mainstream SoTL will protest this
as an overly simplified view of their work and that being a successful teacher assumes the
mastery of "content." At the same time, the severing of content knowledge from the skills
necessary to pass on that knowledge produces a significant dichotomy between what we
know as disciplinary practitioners and what we do as teachers of that discipline. In other
words, there is a parallel between the work of teaching becoming focused more on
methods and the teaching of methods as the key to disciplinary knowledge. Again, there is
nothing wrong with teaching methods or even methodology (indeed, I do it myself), but just
as teaching and content become severed, I can’t help feeling concerned that content
knowledge and methods will become increasingly estranged.
It may seem absurd at first, but one wonders if it might be possible to be, by the standards
of our age, a good teacher without necessarily having any specialist content knowledge.
This would coincide with the growing tendency on this campus to see faculty teaching well
outside their specialties (and to have pressure to do this!) both within and across
disciplines. This observation is not meant to criticize these bold souls who take on teaching
Thucydides without having read him in Greek or the Fall of the Roman Empire without even
doing primary source research in Late Antiquity (or, say,

 

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(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/30/teaching-graduate-historiographyagain/) graduate historiography without any training in 20th century intellectual history), but
to point out that despite the emphasis on specialist training in graduate school, teaching
knowledge seems to trump area knowledge in some circumstances.
This may relate to the process of deskilling where our ability to produce knowledge
becomes less closely related to specialized and embodied skills associated with craft
production and more related to industrialized forms of knowledge production. These
industrialized models depend upon rigorously maintained and standardized metrics
influenced by Taylorism and total quality and efficiency standards, rather than the more
difficult to document sensitivities to texts and disciplinary discourse borne of encounters
and interactions with individuals deeply steeped in specialized the knowledge.


 

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Friday Quick Hits and Varia
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/friday-quick-hits-and-varia-39/
Fri, 24 Jan 2014 14:57:23 +0000
It’s another blizzard-y Friday here in North Dakotaland, but there is still plenty of excitement
to keep us distracted (and the thermometer pushing 30 degrees doesn’t hurt either!).
My friend Sarah Lepinski did a great job with yesterday’s Cyprus Research Fund Lecture
keeping a crowd of 80 fascinated and engaged. She answered an interesting group of
questions before heading out to mingle with graduate students and faculty at a local
watering hole. Thank you Sarah and to all the people who joined us online and in person.
title="CRFTalk2014.jpg"
src="http://punkarchaeology.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/crftalk2014.jpg"
alt="CRFTalk2014" width="450" height="241" border="0" />
Let’s hope the rest of the weekend is as thought provoking as Sarah’s talk. To do my part, I
offers a little gaggle of quick hits and varia:
• (http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_20/01/2014_536497) It
seems like a bad idea to even contemplate privatizing the management of archaeological
sites in Greece.
• (http://www.heritagedaily.com/2014/01/discovery-of-a-major-church-with-mosaic-fromthe-byzantine-period/100962) Another week, another Early Christian basilica with mosaic
floors.
• (http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/01/snapshots-from-mediterranean-25-best-thingsate-cyprus-slideshow.html) The foods of Cyprus.


 

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• (http://www.buzzfeed.com/dorianlynskey/how-the-murder-of-rapper-pavlos-fyssas-turnedgreece-upside) This is an interesting take on the fall of the Golden Dawn party in Greece.

(http://newzup.net/articles/2014/01/20/%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%AD%CF%80%CF%8
4%CF%85%CE%BE%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%8C%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%BC%CE%B1-%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%B1%CF%8C%CE%BB%CE%B7-%CF%84%CE%B7%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%BC%CE%BC%CF%8C%CF%87%CF%89%CF%83%CF%84%CE%
BF) Some new dreams about the future of Varosha (Famagusta) Cyprus.
• (http://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/maps) Carbon footprint maps.
• (http://www.peakbagger.com/pbgeog/histmetropop.aspx) A chart showing the changing
populations of the major urban centers in the U.S. over time.
(https://twitter.com/HistOpinion) And a bunch of cool charts of historical opinion polls.
• (http://ask.metafilter.com/255675/Decoding-cancer-addled-ramblings) This is a cool
example of crowd sourcing and devotional texts.
• (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2381263) An interesting study of
the first year open online courses offered by HarvardX and MITx.
• (http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/01/the-ipod-of-prison-sonyradio.html) Prison radios.
• (http://www.cbc.ca/q/blog/2014/01/15/why-are-rap-lyrics-being-used-as-evidence-incourt/) A Spider speaks out about the use of rap lyrics in court.
• (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/where-professors-send-their-children-to-college/)
Where college professors send their kids.


 

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• (http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Ghost-ship-cannibal-rats-crash-Devon-coast/story20487193-detail/story.html) A ghost ship filled with rats!
• What I’m reading: S.J. Friesen, S.A. James, D.N. Schowalter eds.,
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/corinth-in-contrast-studies-in-inequality/oclc/861566464)
Corinth in Contrast: Studies in Inequality. Brill 2014.
• What I’m listening to: nothing yet, but something soon!


 

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Lines on the Prairie
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/25/lines-on-the-prairie/
Sat, 25 Jan 2014 19:35:31 +0000
title="Trains1 copy.jpg"
src="http://punkarchaeology.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/trains1-copy.jpg" alt="Trains1
copy" width="450" height="458" border="0" />


 

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More on Cyprus during the 7th Century
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/more-on-cyprus-during-the-7thcentury/
Mon, 27 Jan 2014 14:56:21 +0000
This past week I've been catching up on some of my reading on 7th and 8th century
Cyprus for an article on settlement in the these centuries that I'm preparing for an edited
volume. I've particularly enjoy three contributions by Luca Zavagno from
(http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&amp;cpsidt=25391451) 2011,
(http://www.jstor.org/stable/41933706) 2012, and
(http://www.rmojs.unina.it/index.php/rm/article/view/401) 2013. Read together, they
provide a short-book-like overview of the pressing issues in understand the social,
economic, and political situation on the island during a tremendously tumultuous period in
its history.
Economically, Zavagno goes to great lengths to demonstrate that Cyprus was hardly in the
state of economic collapse or stagnation during the 7th century. While the Persian wars,
revolt of Heraclius, Arab conquests, and subsequent raids on the island disrupted economic
activity to some extent, the basic economic structure of the island and its relationship with
neighboring regions survived intact. He details the fragmentary evidence for economic ties
to Asia Minor, the Levant, and Egypt throughout the 7th century and argues that these
reflect the persistence of longstanding patterns of economic connectivity. The difficulty in
recognizing these patterns stems not from their absence, but from the difficulties in
consistently identifying and dating ceramics from these periods.
(http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&amp;cpsidt=25391451) In an extensive 2011
treatment of coinage on the island in Byzantion, Zavagno demonstrated that not only did the
Cypriot economy continue to function into the 7th century, but it continued to be monetized
with a range of both local and region, official and irregular currency appearing on the island
suggesting both markets, trade, and small scale exchange continued on the island.


 

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These, of course, observations are not new, but our struggle to identify consistently the
archaeological evidence for activity during the 7th century has shaped how we understand
settlement in Cyprus for decades. One of the strengths of Zavagno's work is that he
synthesizes the fragmentary evidence for settlement activity across the island. The
reconstruction of buildings at Salamis-Constantia, evidence from Paphos, Polis, Soli and
Kourion, and difficult, but widely accept evidence from architectural change on the Karpas
peninsula paints an increasingly expansive picture of settlement throughout the 7th century.
The evidence for fortification at Salamis, Paphos, and Amathus as well as the less wellunderstood sites along the Kyrenia range suggests that there was some effort to invest in
defense of vulnerable populations after the raids of the 640s and 650s. Finally, Zavagno
deals with the tricky issues of an Arab garrison stationed at Paphos. It would be interesting
to understand how this garrison was supplied and whether it was large enough to influence
the structure of local settlement.
Along similar lines, Zavagno argued that Cyprus played a key role in Byzantine military
strategy in the region, and it would be interesting to consider how this might have influence
settlement. If we understand the “busy countryside” of the 6th century as at least partly the
result of Cypriot agricultural products moving north through the Aegean to troops stationed
on the Danubian frontier, then we might want to reflect on how the strategic requirements of
the fleet and troops moved to Cyprus as a staging area influences local markets and
production patterns.
The most significant political issue in Zavagno’s work is the exact nature of the famed
“condominium” which evidently stipulated that both Arabs and the Byzantines could govern
and extract taxes from the island. (http://www.jstor.org/stable/41933706) In his 2011/2012
contribution to Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Zavagno makes clear that our understanding of
the 7th century and the condominium is inexorably linked to the current political situation on
the island. One might take this even further to argue that sorting out the 7th and 8th century
on the island is a product of the narrative of nationalism that looks to Late Antiquity as a
seminal moment in the formation of national identity. To be fair, much of this derives from the
West where scholars have looked to the fall of the Roman Empire and the Early Middle
Ages for the rise in both ethnic communities and polities that formed keys aspects of

 

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national myths.
The relationship between political hegemony on the island, related economic relationships,
and settlement remains a difficult and open area question. The continued prosperity of the
church, the ability of the two states to collect tax revenue, and the persistence of local elites
suggested that the political situation did not adversely affect the economic realities of the
island and this has meaning for how we understand the productive environment of Cyprus
and, in turn, settlement. Luca Zavagno’s work has moved us closer to sorting out the
economic, political, and settlement structure of the island during this tumultuous and
opaque era.


 

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The Future Challenges for Archaeology
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/28/the-future-for-archaeology/
Tue, 28 Jan 2014 14:17:33 +0000
Last weekend, (http://classics.chass.utoronto.ca/index.php/faculty/faculty-list/42) Dimitri
Nakassis alerted me to a forum article in the American Antiquity 79 (2014) that presented
the results of a “crowd sourced” survey of 181 archaeologists who responded to survey
identifying the “grand challenges” in the field. They were asked to exclude issues related to
the “practice” of archaeology such as legal issues, methodological problems, or those
related to data sharing. The responses were largely from the US and represented both
academic and profession archaeologists. Most of those who responded were older than 50
(66%) and men (62%). The results of the survey were refined and focused at a workshop
attended by the authors of the paper.
The challenges identified by this survey fall into 5 categories:
1. Emergence, Communities, and Complexity
2. Resilience, Persistence, and Collapse
3. Movement, Mobility, and Migration
4. Cognition, Behavior, and Identity
5. Human-Environment Interaction
The article then breaks these down into numerous, more specific, sub-categories. Keeping
with the articles general concerns, there is little effort to anchor these sub-categories in
regional research, much less site specific work.
While it would be naive to think that the work of this team reflects the priorities of every
subfield in archaeology or of every archaeologist seeking to make an impact on their
discipline. Excluding issues related to practice, for example, eliminated one of the most
vibrant areas of archaeological discourse and drew an artificial line between what we know

 

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and how we know it. At the same time, this article did give me pause to consider how my
work fits into larger conversations in the field.
An interesting group of colleagues contributed to panel at the Archaeological Institute of
America annual meeting and then (http://link.springer.com/journal/10761/14/2/page/1) an
edited volume on the topic of abandonment in the Mediterranean world. We were certainly
attuned to the longstanding interest in issues surrounding social and political collapse in the
context of the Later Roman world. More importantly, my recent efforts to understand the
transformation of the island of Cyprus in the 7th and 8th century focuses on the persistence
of certain features of Cypriot life include the church, patterns of exchange, and forms of
longstanding social practice. The ability of both local institutions like the church and
practices often regarded as “structural” to adapt within larger political and economic
systems finds parallels in the ability of individuals to innovate and affect change within
communities of practice.
My work on intensive pedestrian survey has frequently intersected with issues of humanenvironment interaction, although one might observe that this is a very broad issue even
among the general challenges identified by this article.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/pyla-koutsopetria-archaeologicalproject/) Any regional survey project worth its salt recognizes how something like an infilled
harbor or the availability of agricultural land or stone suitable for building shapes the
character and extent of settlement. In the seismically volatile Eastern Mediterranean
scholars have come to appreciate the resilience of communities in the face of short-term
environmental disruptions like earthquakes.
Along similar lines, issues of mobility and movement in the landscape will be the focus of
some of my work in Greece over the next few years on the (http://westernargolid.org/)
Western Argolid Regional Project. It is interesting that scholars did not explicitly recognize
the challenge in documenting movement in the landscape (as opposed to the results of
movement). Our work in the Western Argolid will explore a region characterized as a major
route from the hinterland of the city of Argos to communities to the west and north.
Documenting a landscape of movement will be a challenge as most intensive pedestrian

 

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survey project have tended to focus on landscapes filled with more or less stationary
settlements. The archaeological evidence for movement, routes, and paths rests gently in
the countryside and will require both careful attention to subtle marks in the landscape and
the development of alternate techniques to identify the traces of movement left behind.
It was heartening to see that my research at least touched upon issues that a broad swath
of my discipline thought to be important.
(http://publishingarchaeology.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-grand-challenges-forarchaeology.html) As some thoughtful critiques have observed already, this list in hardly
exhaustive and the need to categorize the various challenge surely displaced challenges
that cut across multiple sub-categories. At the same time, these lists underrepresent issues
of intense concern for some subfields in archaeology that are influenced more by texts and
fields such as art history. Mediterranean archaeology, for example, continues to explore
issues of reception which is perhaps represented in the broader concerns of community
building, identity, and cognition, but draws on a body of literature derived from art history
and philology. No list will make everyone feel represented.


 

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My Plan Not To Waste My Sabbatical
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/my-plan-to-not-waste-mysabbatical/
Wed, 29 Jan 2014 13:11:28 +0000
I heard yesterday that I will have a sabbatical or developmental leave year next year. That’s
pretty exciting because I haven’t had a year off from teaching since 2007-2008 when
(http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/the-end-of-one/) I was the
Carpenter Fellow at the ole American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
So I am beginning to plan my sabbatical year and I looked through my journals and my blog
posts to figure out what I did last time I was on leave and what I should try to approach
differently for this year. The result is a little list that I made up just for myself as a kind of
reminder of what I learned last time I was on leave.
1. Don’t over do it right out of the gate. Last time I was on leave, I hit the ground running
and worked long hour from day one. In fact, the first two weeks on leave I was basically on
my own in Athens with most of Greece (and American School staff) enjoying their August
holiday. I got into the habit of working long hours and developed an ambitious research
plan.
Then, about 5 months into my leave, I crashed. The pace and hours I had set were
unsustainable with breaks for teaching, service obligations, and my normal social routine
(e.g. dinner with my wife, a little NBA action a few nights a week, et c.). By March, I was
spinning my wheels and my productivity slipped to nearly zero. And I was exhausted.
In the end, I might have accomplished more by my flailing attack on my leave year, but I
certainly didn’t feel refreshed or satisfied when I got back to North Dakota. I need to pace
myself this year.


 

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2. Don’t try to do things that I can’t do. Another problem with my last effort at leave was that
I tried to convert my dissertation into a book. The instinct was good, but at the end of the
day, I don’t think in book length segments. In fact, I struggle to think in 8,000 - 10,000 word
segments (some people would argue that I’m not quite up to the task of a blog post).
On my last year of leave,(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/churchesin-greece-or-why-my-dissertation-is-not-a-book/) I decided to try to write a book. And it
was, predictably, a disaster. I wrote a draft of something. It is pretty strange and more like
an article or an article and a chapter in something that I’d never or couldn’t finish. And it
compounded my frustration of spinning my wheels for the last few months of sabbatical and
returning to classes emotionally exhausted.
So, this time, there is no book project (yet) and there is no ambitious program to pen a
concept album. I just need to write my way, think in little chunks, and churn out my own
unique brand of mediocre pop.
3. Take time to catch up on reading. One thing that I did do well last time I was on leave is
that I dedicated time each day to read. I am so far behind in reading in my field that it is
almost embarrassing. In fact, I was leafing through the book reviews in the Journal of Roman
Archaeology recently and it took me several minutes to realize that it was the 2010 volume.
It all looked so fresh and exciting!
I need to catch up.
4. Load up research for the future. Along the same lines as catching up on reading, I was
very successful in loading up on research material during my last sabbatical. I’m almost
embarrassed to admit that I continue to mine this material even today as
(http://www.scribd.com/doc/30697799/Caraher-Dream-Archaeology-2010) I polish off
some long lingering projects.
My last sabbatical gave me access to a pair of world class research libraries, and I don’t
think I’ll have the same access this time around. At the same time, I need to concentrate

 

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some focused research time on assembling and organizing materials for research ideas that
are not fully formed. In contrast to my need to read expansively in my field, I also need to
hunt and gather and pull together some of the more obscure but high quality material in my
field especially as I push my research into new areas like the (the
(http://westernargolid.org/) Western Argolid) and new periods (the
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/settlement-on-cyprus-in-the-7thand-8th-centuries/) 7th and 8th centuries) which I understand broadly but not on any
detail.
5. Start new things. The final thing that I did right last time I was on sabbatical is that I
started some new things. As with most academics, I’m fundamentally conservative and
prefer well-trod paths to wild flights of fancy. And I know that I need to temper my
enthusiasm or I’ll burn through my increasingly limited energy and attention reserves in the
first few months of sabbatical and have nothing left for the long North Dakota winter. At the
same time, I have to do something new to keep my interest in my so-called academic
career.
So stay tuned over the next 18 months as I try my hand at this sabbatical thing again.
Madcap blogging adventures will undoubtedly ensure.


 

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Archaeology and Audiophilia
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/archaeology-and-audiophilia/
Thu, 30 Jan 2014 13:10:52 +0000
One of the trickiest things about having a blog is making the decisions about how far one
can stray from the main themes or topics that my audience expects. Every now and then, I
feel the overwhelming urge to blog about something unrelated to Mediterranean
archaeology, teaching, or academic life, and recently I’ve had to itch
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/my-year-in-music-2/) to blog about
my audiophile habits. This is in part because I’ve been riding my bike on a magnetic trainer
indoors this winter. This is boring, but I do have plenty of blank time to relax and think about
random things.
The past few weeks, I’ve been staring at this crazy pair of old speakers that I think I acquired
from a graduate student buddy. They are Realistic Nova 10 speakers. They were introduced
in 1981 and have 8 inch drivers paired with extended range tweeters and a 8 inch passive
radiators in sealed cabinets. They're not big and not unattractive in that vintage kind of way.
They sound sort of like crap, with a pretty shrill upper midrange and almost no bass
extension. Presumably the passive radiators was an effort to compensate for that, but even
with the passive radiators these speakers only extend down to 80 Hz! The tweeters are
super live and harsh even when driven by a Peachtree Decco with a tube stage. This is all
bad, but they were free and their main job is to provide enough of a din to prevent me from
noticing that my legs and lungs hurt while churning out stationary miles on the bike. In other
words, they serve a purpose.
<img title="IMG_1147.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/img_1147.jpg" alt="IMG
1147" width="225" height="300" border="0" /><img title="resource.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/resource.png"


 

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alt="Resource" width="225" height="277" border="0" />
They are a far cry from my “grown up system” in my living room which features more exotic
equipment from Audio Research and Zu, and not nearly as refined as my office system at
home with (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/10/02/sound-archeology-vintage-marantz/)
a vintage Marantz 2235B and a pair of lovely Energy bookshelf speakers. (My office at work
has a sweet little NAD 312 (the last iteration of the 3020) driving a pair of Pioneer SPBS41s and a little Vali headphone amp from Schiit). This got me thinking about how these
completely different system could exist side-by-side in the same house. The gear ranges
from the early 1980s (the Realistic speakers and the Marantz) to the 1990s (the Energy
bookshelf speakers and the NAD) and rather more recently. The points of origin range from
Japan (Marantz, Realistic) to China (Marantz) to the U.S.A. (Zu, Audio Research) and
Canada (Energy). Despite all of this stereo equipment being “disposable” consumer goods,
they nevertheless present a diverse, diachronic, and functional assemblage.
As I’ve been spinning out the miles on my bike, I started to wonder about how this kind of
diversity in an assemblage could inform how I think about
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/settlement-on-cyprus-in-the-7thand-8th-centuries/) pottery in 7th century Cyprus. The 7th century has traditionally been
seen as a period of decline, but
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/more-on-cyprus-during-the-7thcentury/) recent scholarship has suggested that this perspective misrepresents the
persistent vitality of the island. In particular, scholars have recognized that high-quality
consumer goods (so to speak) like Cypriot Red Slip pottery continued to be produced and
circulated on the island well into the late 7th century (and perhaps later) as did more
pedestrian types like Dhiorios cooking pots from kilns in western Cyprus (that circulated
widely in the region) or Late Roman Type 1 amphoras and their decedents produced either
on the island or in nearby Cilicia in Asia Minor.
What is even more striking is that
(http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/JMA/article/view/2730) Marcus Rautman
and others have identified rather crude handmade vessels in the same contexts as more

 

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“international” objects like Cypriot Red Slip. At first, we might be inclined to argue that
these handmade vessels reflect a general decline in the quality of material culture
associated with these periods, but their existence alongside more refined objects like
Cypriot Red Slip suggests that the 7th century consumer continued to have access to finer
quality vessels, but chose for whatever reason to select relatively poorly made vessels. The
obvious (if partial) answer is that economic problems in the 7th century led to a decline in
the market for high quality red slipped wares, but not its complete collapse. This is not too
dissimilar to my decision to use the Realistic Nova 10 speakers on my basement system.
They were free and (I’ve been told that) the (very) local economy could not support more
stereo equipment at this juncture.
Fair enough. The result was an assemblage of equipment that is functionally similar, but,
nevertheless, represents a diverse set of economic circumstances that accounts for
relatively modest gear interspersed with somewhat more expensive and refined equipment.
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0960" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-86/
Fri, 31 Jan 2014 13:12:54 +0000
It’s still cold here, but we’ve been promised temperatures above zero by the end of today.
This winter, that’s a pretty nice day. So I’m settled into the rooftop office of the Archaeology
of the Mediterranean World headquarters and getting ready to get something done for real
today.
Before I get on with my day, though, I suppose I should offer you something to make you
weekend a bit more interesting.
So here are some varia and quick hits:
• (http://doaks.org/research/byzantine/events/knowing-bodies-passionate-souls-senseperceptions-in-byzantium) Susan Ashbrook Harvey and Margaret Mullett will lead this
spring’s Byzantine Studies Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks titles “Knowing Bodies,
Passionate Souls: Sense Perceptions in Byzantium.”
• (http://www.asor.org/news/2013/12/challenge-gift-dec-update.html) Congratulations to
the American Schools of Oriental Research in earning a $475,000 challenge gift. This is a
big deal for a small organization.
• (http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/News/newsDetails/funerary-sculpture-an-interviewwith-janet-burnett-grossman) An Interview with Janet Burnett Grossman who has just
published the funerary sculpture from the Athenian Agora as volume 35 in that series.
• (http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/culture/2014/01/28/Turkey-1500year-old-basilica-discovered-Lake-Iznik_9976512.html?idPhoto=1) Another week, another


 

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Early Christian Basilica. This week’s is in Lake Iznik in Turkey.
• (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-30/hamass-ancient-bronze-statue-theapollo-of-gaza) The Apollo of Gaza: Hamas’s Ancient Bronze Statue.
• (http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2014/01/the-ancient-ghost-city-of-ani/100668/)
Some great photos of the 10th-11th century Armenian capital of Ani.
• (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/28/black-deathplague/4978101/) Some more research on the Justinianic plague.
• (http://www.ucanews.com/news/historic-christian-site-found-in-china/70104) Some more
evidence for the spread of Nestorians to China.
• (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/28/scholars-discover-new-poems-fromancient-greek-poetess-sappho.html) New Sappho (and
(http://www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk/Fragments/Obbink.Sappho7.draft.pdf) a preprint of D.
Obbink’s publication (pdf)).
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/books/review/the-parthenon-enigma-by-joanbreton-connelly.html) A review of Connelly’s Parthenon Enigma in the New York Times.
• (http://religionforbreakfast.com/2014/01/29/animal-sacrifice-the-other-and-the-day-ialmost-fainted-in-class/) Witnessing an animal sacrifice (even on the YouTubes) is intense.
• (http://www.marco.org/2014/01/26/long-form) Some interesting thoughts on the “long
form” phenomenon.
• (http://www.professorfootnote.com/winter-olympics/) More Professor Footnote (and
definitely worth listening to!).


 

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• (http://leverinitiative.wordpress.com/) The Lever Initiative is an interesting model for small
scale publishing.

(http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2014/01/24/david_galjaard_photographs_albanian_bu
nkers_in_his_photo_book_concresco.html) Albanian bunkers.
• (http://www.ghostsofnorthdakota.com/map/) Along similar lines, a map of abandoned
places in North Dakota.
• (http://mercurytheatre.areavoices.com/2014/01/27/the-original-fargodome/)
Remembering the Fargo Arena, among the largest buildings in the U.S. in its day.
• (http://hyperallergic.com/105270/in-paris-punks-curatorial-redemption/) Punk in Paris.
• (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1306413684/flag-the-app-that-prints-and-mailsyour-photos-for) This is a cool idea on Kickstarter. I’m not sure it’ll get funded, but it should.

(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/opinion/23margolick.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r
=0) This is what happened when Louis Armstrong came to Grand Forks.

(http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/septemberoctober_2011/features/administr
ators_ate_my_tuition031641.php) Why college costs so much.
• (http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/harold-bloom-creates-a-massive-list-of-works-inthe-western-canon.html) Say what you will of Harold Bloom’s idea of a Western Cannon,
but this is a great list of great reads.
• (http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2014/01/how-to-buy-and-sell-a-turntable-in-australia/)
Buying stereo equipment in Australia is not all that different from buying it on the northern

 

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plains.
• What I’m reading: D. Metcalf, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/byzantine-cyprus-4911191/oclc/544474804) Byzantine Cyprus 491-1191. Nicosia 2009.
• What I’m listening to: Frank Sinatra, Songs for Swinging Lovers and In the Wee Small
Hours.
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src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/img_1143.jpg" alt="IMG
1143" width="450" height="610" border="0" />


 

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What History Can Learn from Public Philosophy
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/what-history-can-learn-from-publicphilosophy/
Mon, 03 Feb 2014 12:25:33 +0000
This past week, (http://arts-sciences.und.edu/history/) our department came to the
realization that we have to do more to improve our visibility on campus. In general, we are an
active, engaged, and professional department, but we largely keep to ourselves and focus
on our own work, our students, and being good colleagues and citizens of academia. The
university is beginning a process of reflective critique and involves
(http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/11/11/priorities) the prioritization of programs
across campus. Our fear is that without increasingly our profile on campus, we will slip
between the cracks in the process and lose the modest resources that we have at our
disposal.
So there is an instrumental value to promoting the work of our department and working to
engage a more diverse audience than our academic peers. This week my colleague and
neighbor
(http://commons.pacificu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1488&amp;context=eip) Jack
Wienstein published an article titled “What Does Public Philosophy Do?” (pdf) in a volume
of the journal (http://commons.pacificu.edu/eip/vol15/iss1/4/) Essays in Philosophy that he
guest edited. The article focused on the question in its title, but offers useful challenges
to some basic assumptions about the public humanities in general. I think this article puts
forward some useful points of consideration as we move forward as a department to make
our work more visible and to expand its impact.
In general, once historians move beyond the idea that making our work publicly visible is
pandering to the uneducated and unspecialized, we have viewed our work as vital to
creating better citizens of a democracy. Historians have hoped (to generalize) that by
creating a more inclusive, dynamic, and complex past, we can create more reflective citizen

 

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invested in creating a future that both carries forward the best of the past and seeks to
redress historic wrongs. In short, the historical method (such as it is and whatever that
might mean) produces a valid and usable past to inform decision making in the present. By
presenting our work in public and expanding who has access to the tolls of a professional
historian, we dream that we can make inform how the democracy functions and make our
world better. It has, of course, vaguely troubled students of history (even in my introduction
to the historians’ craft class) that despite our best efforts, historical actors rarely seem to
learn from the past or, if they do, it is not in a consistent predictable way.
Jack's article noted that there has never been any convincing link between public philosophy
and more sophisticated, consistent, or rigorous political awareness. In fact, he noted that
surveys have shown that Americans tend to respond unpredictably even to issues subjected
to sustained engagement in the national media and involving basic historical “facts” salient
to political decision making. In other words, deliberate critical engagement with historical
issues does not lead the general public’s ability to conclusions consistent with careful
historical analysis. Walking a “birther” through the process of evaluating historical evidence
is not likely to change his or her mind.
Moreover, Jack points out that claims by philosophy (or any of the humanities) to produce
“better” citizens are deeply problematic. At least some part of our modern democracy
depends upon the idea that we are intrinsically capable of participating in the political life of
the community. The idea of being better or worse at being a citizen would imply the there
are those whose participation in the political process would be less valuable because they
are not citizens of the better sort. This is anti-liberal.
In many ways, Jack's critique of public philosophy can apply to how historians have
approached engaging the public. If historians or philosophers are not engaging the public
to create better citizens, but there remains practical and real benefits associated with
raising our profile in the community, we need to find ways to articulate what it is that we do
when we step out of our offices and into the public sphere.


 

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Jack cleverly parallels the work of the public philosopher with that of the drug dealer. His job
is to try to get people hooked on philosophy and to cultivate it as a particular form of
entertainment. He does not mean this to trivialize public philosophy and he clearly regards it
as a more healthy form of entertainment than say crack cocaine. His arguments are complex
and don’t entirely align with what we do as historians, but they do give us a start. The
entertainment value of public philosophy provides a point of entry for a range of
experiences:
"It models thinking, is individualistic not collective, it is built on personality not ideas, is
passionate and not detached, and advocates for people not ideas. It seeks to prepare
ground for future philosophical endeavors, and while the questions asked may be about any
area of life, knowledge or inquiry, it should become obvious that public philosophical
investigation skews towards the individuals who happen to be there. Most public philosophy
involves examination of one’s own personal life. It is about self-knowledge before it is about
anything else."
Of particular utility for historians is the idea that public philosophy models thinking. The
philosopher lays bare the process of engaging ideas by standing in front of an audience and
taking their comments, observations, and ideas seriously. Modeling thinking then becomes
one take-away and positions the audiences’ encounter with public philosophy as less of a
collective act of community building and more of an individual act of contemplation.
Watching the public philosopher think and understand, begins a process of normalizing
reflective thinking that carries on after the event. To affect this the public philosopher has to
reveal themselves as much as their ideas to the audience. The audience has to see the
philosopher as someone who is not so different from themselves. Making careful, critical,
and reflective thought visible gives the audience permission to reflect in their own lives and,
as he summarizes: "public philosophy creates the groundwork for philosophical reflection in
personal life with the hope and that this reflection may inspire future wide- ranging
conversations about culture and meaning in life."
Porting these ideas to practice of history in the public sphere is not straight forward. Public
history has taken on the trappings of a sub-discipline with all those conceits. Public

 

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philosophy, in contrast, is more raw and intimate and personal and open-ended. As a
department full of historians without the burden of public history (as a sub-discipline), I
wonder if we’d be well served to think carefully about Jack’s ideas. To consider public
history as a moment where we can show the community what we do as part of who we are.
Rather than falling back of problematic platitudes about making better citizens or building "a
sense of community" (whose community? for whom?) we can communicate the idea that
doing history is one way to mediate between the individual and the community. The
entertainment value of public history gets people into the room and our job is, to use Jack’s
phrase, "to prepare the ground and to let people figure it all out on their own. I turn the dirt
and watch what grows.”


 

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North Dakota Man Camp Project at the Empire Theater's Backstage
Project
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/north-dakota-man-camp-project-atthe-empire-theaters-backstage-project/
Tue, 04 Feb 2014 12:15:39 +0000
There are some cool things happening on the North Dakota Man Camp Project front. Not
only do we have a short, but very important
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Dakota_Man_Camp_Project) Wikipedia page and
(http://www.northdakotamancamps.com/) a nice website, but we’re also well on our way to
producing (http://bakkenbook.wordpress.com/) some meaningful scholarly content.
Next Wednesday at 7 pm, Bret Weber, my co-PI, and I will be giving a paper on our work as
part of the new International Studies Speaker Series. The talks are in the Backstage Project
at the Empire Theater and have a reception! Here’s the flyer:
title="Series_Flyer_ALL_Talks_pdf.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/series_flyer_all_talks_pdf.jpg
" alt="Series Flyer ALL Talks pdf" width="464" height="600" border="0" />
And here’s a teaser for my talk!
Introduction
It is difficult to escape the international context of the Bakken Oil Boom. Between the
involvement of ginormous international companies to the explosive impact of Bakken crude
in a small Canadian town, the extraction of North Dakota oil stands at the intersection of
global supply chains, capital, and markets. The national and international media has become
fascinated by the impact of these international trends on the tight-nit, small-town


 

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communities of Western North Dakota and play up the impact of the oil industry on
“isolated” rural America. Among the standard series of images associated with the Bakken
boom, are those of the “man camp.” Just as many of these images appeal to long-held
stereotypes of the working classes - especially those involved in extractive industries, the
man camp has a long historic pedigree and my talk today will locate this phenomena in a
historical and global context.
Cyprus
My perspectives on the Bakken come from a rather unusual place:
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/mining-in-cyprus-and-workcamps-in-north-dakota/) over a decade of archaeological research on the island of Cyprus
in the Eastern Mediterranean. From as early as the Bronze Age (i.e. 1600 BC) the island
saw the systematic extraction and processing of copper from the unique geology of the
Troodos mountains. The site of Politiko-Phorades, excavated by Sydney Cyprus Survey
Project under the direction of Bernard Knapp, preserved the remains of a Late Bronze Age
smelting facility set in a region where numerous veins of copper were near the surface.
While the site itself showed little evidence for habitation, there are two sites nearby that
preserved an assemblage of ceramic material suggestive of habitation. What is surprising at
this site and its surrounding area is the dearth of arable land meaning that the community
working the vein of copper had to be supplied by an agricultural support village some 2 km
distant. The support villages and production sites fell under the control of larger political
centers on the island who then benefited from the export of copper around the Eastern
Mediterranean.
Greece
While I worked in Cyprus, I spent a part of every summer documenting a site in Greece.
Situated in the southeastern Corinthia the site of
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/a-working-paper-on-lakkaskoutara-in-the-corinthia/) Lakka
Skoutara ((http://mediterraneanworld.und.edu/collections/show/4) and here) is a collection

 

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of nearly 20 houses scattered through an upland valley and dating to the late-19th and early
20th century. Nearly every house has a cistern and a threshing floor for the processing of
wheat grown on the terraced valley walls; the remains of an olive mill and centuries-old olive
trees dot the valley bottom.. While this is not an extractive industry in the same way as oil
production or copper smelting, it nevertheless took place at the periphery of the region. The
site of Lakka Skoutara was about 5 km for the major village in the southeastern Corinthia
and only occupied seasonally during the harvest. In other words, these houses represented
temporary habitation for the families who threshed the grain or harvested olives. Each house
had the barest necessities: a cistern, an oven, and room for sleeping and for animals. These
fields fed their families and provided
Texas
A world away, in the (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/north-dakotaman-camps-in-a-comparative-context/) East Texas oil boom, the Humble Oil company
(which would later become Exxon) arranged for housing for their employees near the town
of Kiglore, Texas (pop. ca. 500). The facilities ranged from five room houses with electricity
and gas for supervisors to lots where hourly employees could build or move more modest
homes in the so-called “poor boy camp.” Workers looking for work or filling the myriad
lower-paying or more contingent positions in support of the work in the East Texas fields
often lived in the woods around Kilgore. Over 300 people once squatted in a camp known
as “Happy Hollow” despite regular raids by the police. Corporate interests in providing
suitable housing for employees varied. Some looked to workforce housing to attract better
quality employees. In other cases, camps provided an opportunity to reinforce social
boundaries between the different ranks of employees in the oil patch. Whatever the case,
the camps served the needs of a rapidly expanding workforce.
Qatar
The rapid growth of the Gulf states on the back of oil and gas capital has led to the massive
influx in temporary labor. The tiny nation of Qatar, for example, hosts close to 350,000
Nepalese workers in a nation of fewer than a quarter million inhabitants.

 

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(http://samaj.revues.org/3446) Tristan Bruslé has recently studied the camps set up to
house these workers. The camps housing the guest workers sit in industrial sites at the
edge of the desert and consist of portacabins that would not be out of place in the Bakken.
The residents struggle with boredom and homesickness and find unique ways to carve out
a modicum of privacy, personal space, and community in the austerely function
accommodations. The global movement of labor and capital has produced a need for shortterm, modular housing for a workforce who contributes to rapidly shifting pace, scale, and
needs for contemporary capitalism.
North Dakota
Since 2010, the Bakken counties of North Dakota have seen an almost unprecedented
population influx to serve an oil boom fueled by globally high petroleum prices and the
advent of hydraulic fracturing to extract oil from tiny pockets miles beneath the surface.
Drilling rigs have given the western prairie a decidedly vertical dimension and workforce
housing has created a new type of rural sprawl. Man-camps have appeared in agricultural
land along the Route 2 corridor through the Bakken counties and RV parks and other
facilities offering “workforce housing solutions” have appeared in a ring around almost every
settlement in the area. Even nearly abandoned towns have become the focus of workforce
housing as vacant lots and parks have become filled with RVs availing themselves to power
and roads.
Workforce housing in the Bakken accommodates a fluid population of short-term residents
who not only work in the oil patch proper, but also provide support for new building,
maintenance on the substantial fleet of trucks, and the construction of pipelines throughout
the area. These camps have also absorbed a certain amount of low-wage and independent
labor displaced from traditional housing in Williston. Despite their utility, municipalities have
been decided ambivalent with regard to work forcing housing and have taken steps to
control their spread and appearance.


 

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Three New Things about Teaching History in a Scale-Up Classroom
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/three-new-things-about-teachinghistory-in-a-scale-up-classroom/
Wed, 05 Feb 2014 13:52:47 +0000
This week began my Spring 2014 Scale-Up adventures in earnest. I introduced the class
to the first of three units new for my modified Western Civilization I class. Whereas last time
I taught this class, I spent the first four weeks discussing historical methods, presenting
various kinds of sources, and introducing the students to relatively narrow content areas.
This year, I’ve moved in the other direction and dedicated three of the first five classes to a
broad survey of Western Civilization with one class devoted to Greece, Rome, and the
Middle Ages. The last 10 weeks of the semester will involve the students writing more
focused studies on various aspects of Greek, Roman, and Medieval civilization so these
next three weeks are designed to set the stage both methodologically and in terms of
content. Each of these three weeks has a specific exercise that will produce an essay. The
three essays will represent a single grade that stands in for their midterm exam
The first of these three broad survey classes involves creating a timeline and essay dealing
with some aspect of the Greek world. As we had just spent three weeks exploring how
preindustrial societies were so very different from our own, I expected essays that dealt with
Greece as a preindustrial society in some way. Floating madly from table to table, I was a bit
surprised to see how many groups abandoned thinking about preindustrial societies as a
phenomenon and decided to focus their essays on philosophy rather than more traditional
political questions.
On the one hand, it is heartening to see students take their own directions and follow their
own interests. On the other hand, it is quite strange to see student deviate from the larger
thematic structure of the course which emphasized preindustrial societies. It does remind
me that, despite my tendency to see our students as little materialists (i.e. “all about the
Benjamins”), they retain a strong interest in the life of the mind and want to wrangle with

 

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abstraction more than get their hands dirty with the complexities of ancient politics or the
economy.
The first time I taught the class, I started slowly and kept work that had to be produced
outside of class to a minimum. Most of the outside of class work focused on reading. This
year, however, I have set the class up so that class time is dedicated to conceptual and
organization work which has to be executed fully outside of class time.
This has prompted more complaints about how the groups are functioning and has shown
the logistical challenges of, say, ordering books or balancing individual expectations against
the work of the group. The more work that has to take place outside of class time the more
pressure there is for the group’s to function successfully.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/scale-up/) For more on my Scale-Up
adventures go here.


 

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Practice and Method in Creating 3D Models in Archaeology
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/practice-and-method-in-creating3d-models-in-archaeology/
Thu, 06 Feb 2014 12:36:03 +0000
Never doubt my commitment to digital field practices in archaeology! Through driving slow
and sleet and slow moving snow plows and flight delays and
(http://classics.uc.edu/index.php/facultyandstaff/33?ePID=MTkxMzU1) an Australian
driving a rental car on a steep driveway, I made it to the University of Massachusetts and am
safely ensconced in the nicely appointed on campus hotel.
This is my view:
title="UMass.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/umass.jpg" alt="UMass"
width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Here’s a link to the (http://www.umass.edu/classics/5CWorkshop.htm) Digital
Archaeological Practice: A Workshop on the Use of Technology in the Field. The hashtag is
#DAPW so you can follow us along on the social medias. There is a rumor that we might be
live streaming the event as well. I’ll send the link if and when it becomes available.
This is my paper:
[scribd id=205103863 key=key-aycg8iqfd2to1aqvdct mode=scroll]


 

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More from the University of Massachusetts Digital Archaeology
Practice Workshop
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/more-from-the-university-ofmassachusetts-digital-archaeology-practice-workshop/
Thu, 06 Feb 2014 19:45:06 +0000
These are just some photographs of the lovely University of Massachusetts as we get ready
for the first sessions at the Digital Archaeology Practice Workshop.
If you want to check out
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLBDFlbLZwg&amp;feature=youtu.be) a live stream of
the conference today go here.
title="IMG_0002.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_0002.jpg" alt="IMG
0002" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="IMG_0004.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_0004.jpg" alt="IMG
0004" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="IMG_0001.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_0001.jpg" alt="IMG
0001" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="IMG_0007.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_00071.jpg" alt="IMG
0007" width="450" height="600" border="0" />


 

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title="IMG_0008.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_0008.jpg" alt="IMG
0008" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="IMG_0009.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_0009.jpg" alt="IMG
0009" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Campus looks great under a new layer of snow and with dramatic blue skies in the
background.


 

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Day Two of the Digital Archaeology Practice Workshop
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/day-two-of-the-digital-archaeologypractice-workshop/
Fri, 07 Feb 2014 14:15:06 +0000
It’s day two of the Digital Archaeology Practice Workshop convened by Eric Poehler at the
University of Massachusetts and we’re listening to discussions of databases, tools, and
techniques at the University of Massachusetts and anticipating conversations about
practice and theory later today.
Follow along with our (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23DAPW&amp;src=typd) Twitter
hash tag #DAPW or (youtu.be/guen98TF4rU) (better yet) watch and enjoy on our live
stream here.
And don’t worry, there will be an epic, double Friday Varia and Quick Hits next week!


 

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Digital Archaeology Practice Workshop: A Review
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/digital-archaeology-practiceworkshop-a-review/
Mon, 10 Feb 2014 12:20:20 +0000
Last week, I spent an enjoyable few days in lovely Western Massachusetts at the
(http://www.umass.edu/classics/5CWorkshop.htm) Digital Archaeological Practice
Workshop hosted by Eric Poehler at the University of Massachusetts. The goal of the
workshop was to bring together scholars who are using digital tools in the field and to
discuss critically both new directions and possible liabilities of these practices. The papers
were good, filled with practical examples, and generally balanced in their enthusiasm for
new directions. Eric should be particularly praised for integrating undergraduates and
graduate students into the conversations. The undergraduate papers were very well done
and moved the conversation forward almost as surely as faculty and graduate students
papers.
1. The long view of technology. Many of the papers had a (relatively) long term approach to
the use of technology emphasizing how the current tools fit over 30 years of digital tools in
the field. This provided a cautionary perspective to some extent as the group could all
appreciate false starts, overly ambitious adoptions, and (to paraphrase Shawn Graham)
"glorious failures." It also provided a bit of a road map moving forward as developments in
technology provided faint traces of future directions. The first talk of the conference offered
visions of extrasensory technologies that would record more than just visual data but also
touch, scent, and sound (at a higher resolution that currently available). Later talks explored
the potential (and need) for new ways to structure data leaving the limitations of relational
databases behind for RDF "triples" and new ways to document the chemical make up of
artifacts.
2. Archaeology as Text. Shawn Graham's talk opened up some new vistas for me. I've been
interested in text mining and topic modeling for a few years, but I've never quite managed to

 

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use the modest tools at my disposal to get results that I could understand as meaningful.
Shawn's talk once again motivated me try to do some topic modeling and text analysis and
he and Sebastian Heath reminded us all that much of archaeology is frequently about TEXT.
Excavation notebooks, published reports, survey documents, all produce unstructured
textual records for archaeological sites. In some sense, our ability to make sense of the
material past is only as good as our ability to understand its textual representation. Just as
we have invested energy into using more and more sophisticated digital tools to capture
archaeological data at the edge of the trench, we need to explore the resources available to
analyze bodies of text.
3. Deskilling and Social Impact of Digital Tools. I introduced the term deskilling to the
conversation in (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/practice-andmethod-in-creating-3d-models-in-archaeology/) my paper on Thursday afternoon, and it
reverberated - in various ways - throughout the conference. It made sense that we
considered how digital data capture in the field transformed the practices, skills, and
disciplinary structure of archaeology. I introduced my talk with a confession of disciplinary
and profession anxiety. I am nervous that my skill set will not only become obsolete or,
worse, render me obsolete, but also undermine the value of discipline specific skills in the
field of archaeology. At its most alarmist, my perspective offers a future where digital tools in
the field marginalize the interpretative ability of individuals or remove the space of
interpretation from the side of the trench or the walk through the landscape to the laptop
computer, office, or computer lab. Few at the conference embraced this pessimistic view,
but we all agreed that the increasingly significant role that technology plays in
archaeological data gathering holds for risks for archaeologists and the discipline of
archaeology.
4. DIY. One of the coolest confirmations that came out of the conference was just how
many projects are using do-it-yourself solutions to technological problems. From DIY aerial
photography and XRF to deploying a range of text and topic modeling applications to
published and unpublished texts, it is clear that the rapid diffusion of technologies and the
growth of the "maker" community across the entire range of disciplines and technological
interests has intersected with the long-standing tendency toward improvisation in

 

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archaeology to make digital archaeological practices a hotbed of DIY. What makes this
particularly intriguing is this DIY culture exists at the same time (and sometimes in the same
place) as high-profile collaborations between archaeological projects and the tech industry.
This suggests, of course, that the DIY instinct is not so much a manifestation of some kind
of strict DIY ethos (which celebrates the autonomy of the maker in response to the
increasingly pre-packaged, commodified, prescribed world of technology) as a DIY of
convenience. In other words, archaeological DIY reflects its roots in the improvised and ad
hoc approach to challenges in the field, limited resources, and difficulties accessing tools
designed for every circumstance from remote locations. This distinct genealogy is almost
enough to define a distinct species of archaeological DIY.
5. Future Proofing Your Workflow? One of the extensions of archaeological DIY is that we
began a conversation about how to future proof our archaeological workflow. For example,
using an ad hoc solution to a technological problem might continue the flow of data over a
field season or a field project, but it becomes more of an issue when the ad hoc solutions
rely on proprietary software or a series of fragile links between applications or temporary
solutions. The problem is, of course, the more we rely on software to analyze our data, the
more we have to work to preserve both the data as well as our the tools that we used to
produce our data. Propriety software is an obvious problem, but this is equally problematic
with DIY solutions that are difficult to maintain and replicate over time. So, we all thought a
bit about how to future proof our research not only to maintain consistency season-toseason, but ensure that what we did could be understood by future archaeologists.
6. Metaphors. Finally, it was fascinating to hear and consider the metaphors that
archaeologists were using to describe their digital processes. Data flowed in streams, but
was also expelled as vomit. There were rivers to cross and bridges too far. Data breathed, it
could be hard or soft, it collected in archives, and it possesses magic. It is clear that we
were both at ease talking about data as an abstract, atomic version of archaeological
evidence, but we also struggled to think about data literally. I wonder how long it'll take for
Mediterranean archaeologists to articulate a clearer vision of how data functions to produce
analysis and meaning?


 

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The conference was as thought provoking as it was informative. I learned as much about
digital practice as I did about concepts and theory. This is a pretty rare thing these days and
I enjoyed myself immensely.


 

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Slow Teaching
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/slow-teaching/
Tue, 11 Feb 2014 12:28:55 +0000
Anne Kelsch, our Director of Office of Instructional Development here at the University of
North Dakota, sent along a fascinating article on slow pedagogy. As readers of this blog
know, I've been an advocate of
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/teaching-tuesday-pace-andteaching/) becoming more aware of pace in how we teach. I have made various tweaks in
my classes to use change of pace in teaching to lure students to engage material in a more
focused way in the classroom and, at the same time, to develop the ability to think quickly
and efficiently. That being said, I also value slowing down, maintaining routines, and thinking
carefully (such as I can) both in classroom work and in assignments. In fact, I have gradually
shortened the length of assignments in my midlevel classes to allow students to focus a bit
more on the details of writing than the need to fill changes.
This article, “Determining our Own Tempos” by P. Shaw, B. Cole, and J. Russell appeared
in (http://www.worldcat.org/title/to-improve-the-academy-vol32-resources-for-facultyinstructional-and-organizational-development/oclc/860943738) To Improve the Academy
32 (2013) and talked about the value of slowing down and encouraging contemplation
during the classroom encounter. (To add to the quaintness of this notion, Anne sent me the
article as a photocopy, on paper, in a campus mail envelope rather than as a scan in an
email!). The article discussed the context for the "slow" movement extending it from the slow
meals phenomenon through slow writing and the larger slow living movement which
emphasizes taking pause in our every day life and managing our engagement with the
hectic pace of the mass media, the internet, and other so-called distractions.
The most significant take away from this article is the value of creating an
environment where students feel comfortable both in reflecting on their own learning and in
thinking carefully about the material or content of the class. While the article provides little

 

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direct advice for installing slow learning exercises in the class, they did make refer to some
techniques the authors used to create a contemplative and reflective environment for
students. Playing music before class that generates a calm environment in the classroom
(i.e. not the Meat Puppets), taking some quiet time during class to encourage thorough
consideration of an issue, and fostering group discussions that verge on the conversational
(rather than the task or goal oriented) all play a role in creating an environment more
conducive to deliberate thought than the typical classroom.
The authors then extend their model of slow pedagogy to faculty development. They
emphasize the value of quiet conversation, reflective practices, and writing groups to
transform what can be a solitary professional existence with one embedded in a community
of supportive peers. As the authors note, this will not happen naturally, but has to be
cultivated by an environment that supports particular practices.
Whether one buys “slow pedagogy” or even the entire slow movement, there is no doubt
that the tempo of life has come under increased scrutiny in the early 21st century.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/practice-and-method-in-creating3d-models-in-archaeology/) Just this week, for example, I coined the term “slow
archaeology” to describe archaeological practices that are deliberately independent of the
pace allowed by technology. I see a “slow archaeology” as a antidote to field practices
increasingly informed by a Taylorist obsession with efficiency.
I have also (http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/walking-homeand-the-phenomenology-of-landscape/) sung the praises of
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/reflections-on-100-walks/) my
daily walk home (and it’s beauty
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/worth-the-walk/) here,
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/walk-in-the-cold/) here,
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/first-walk-of-the-year/) here,
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/12/22/cold-walk-home/) here and
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/winter-walk/) here). One of the real
bummers of this winter is that I am still recovering from a broken leg and I haven’t returned

 

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to my daily walking routine. It find that it robs me of valuable time for thinking without the
distractions of digital gadgets, human distractions, or even good old fashioned texts. I will
do all I can to make sure that daily strolls are part of my life during my sabbatical year. My
daily blog writing - usually before 7 am - encourages me to take some quiet time at the start
of my day to think through problems, develop a regular practice of writing, and focus as
much on producing as consuming digital media.
Finally, we can all see the reinvigorated interest in craft behind these various slow
movements. As our culture slides more and more deeply into the totalizing grasp of late
capitalism and audit culture, we increasingly look for opportunities
to (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/simplicity-minimalism-and-theancient-ascetic/) embrace minimalism, take control of the pace of life, or just tune in by
turning off. It is probably too soon to tell whether these practices represent desperate last
ditch efforts to preserve our humanity or another chimerical return to “simpler times”
mediated by the relentless push of technology.


 

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Dwelling in the Bakken: Workforce Housing in the Bakken in a Global and Historical
Perspective
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/dwelling-in-the-bakken-workforcehousing-in-the-bakken-in-a-global-and-historical-perspective/
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 12:37:23 +0000
For those of you in the Grand Forks area, Bret Weber and I are giving a little talk down at
the Backstage Project at the Empire Theater tonight on our work in the Bakken. It is part of
the first annual International Studies Speaker Series.
title="Series_Flyer_ALL_Talks_pdf.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/series_flyer_all_talks_pdf.jpg
" alt="Series Flyer ALL Talks pdf" width="464" height="600" border="0" />
Our paper is going to be sort of a cool format, where I’m going to read a short paper and
Bret is going to respond to it. This is helping me gets some words on page for our
(http://bakkenbook.wordpress.com/cfp/) Bakken Goes Boom edited book project. My
contribution to this project will probably focus on archaeology of housing in the era of late
capitalism. It’s still germinating a bit…
Anyway, if you can’t make it down to the Empire tonight, I think we’re going to record our
conversation. And if you’re interested in my part of tonight’s festivities, you can read my
short remarks below:
[scribd id=206593300 key=key-1yyunx58usnqf0m66055 mode=scroll]


 

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An Article Abstract on Archaeological Blogging
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/an-article-abstract-onarchaeological-blogging/
Thu, 13 Feb 2014 13:01:51 +0000
Over the past couple years, I’ve been turning over in my head an article idea about
archaeological blogging. I have written a good bit on my blog about the virtues and
prospects of writing about my research and teaching on a nearly daily basis, but I’ve so far
found it difficult to wrap my various ideas (reflexive, reflective, and otherwise) into a
cohesive argument. I tried with
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/not-a-good-paper-the-art-ofdigital-archaeology/) this thing, but it’s hard not to see it as a mess.
So with the open invitation to contribute something to an Internet Archaeology volume
dedicated to blogging and edited by the spectacular Colleen Morgan, I decided to take
another stab at it.
My biggest struggle is attempting to understand how blogging in the archaeological
community fits into the larger trajectory of blogging and publication on the web. I started
with the idea that blogs began with the promise of creating communities on the web (even
before social media). The blogroll and sharing links established communities of likeminded
readers. At the same time the regular, daily posts that tended to be short, filled with links,
and informal created some generic expectations that many bloggers followed.
More recently, however, I have this feeling that blogging (http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/12/the-blog-is-dead/) as Jason Kottke has observed - is
(not) dead, and in a period of transition as the traditional practice of ordering posts by days
gives way to more elegant and topic organization of content. And the long form potential of
the internet has challenged the dominance of short informal notes. Sites like
(https://medium.com/m/welcome) Medium may not be the precise way forward, but its hard

 

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to avoid thinking that they are the general direction that online, personal publishing will go.
In archaeology, being traditionalists, we may continue to blog in a chronological format
drawing on longstanding models from the archaeological notebook or field dispatch. But as
we have started to use our web presence for more than just regular reports from the field,
we may begin to think about how the blogging platform fits can contribute to larger
enterprise of reimagining publication.
So here’s my abstract for now:
From Blogs to Books
Blogging as Community, Genre, and Platform
Looking back at my first efforts to describe the blogging phenomenon among
Mediterranean archaeologists in 2008, I was reminded how the work at the intersection of
blogging and archaeology defied simple characterization. At the same times, blogs created
communities of readers and allowed for public experiments with the traditional generic
conventions of academia as bloggers reflected, speculated, and annotated their
experiences. The speed of blogging, the networks it created and relied upon, and the range
of different functions blogging served from public relations to academic notes, initiated a
key reimagining of our professional discourse by the archaeological community.
In recent years, archaeological bloggers begun to move the platform used for blogging in
the direction of a new forms of archaeological publication. It is worth noting that there is
nothing inherent in the technology of blogging that makes it incompatible with academic
publishing. In fact, even the casual, conversational style of an informal blog post can echo
the style of the more academically respectable conference paper. Moreover, new platforms
like Medium dispense with the rigid chronological formatting associated with blogs and
provide graphically sophisticated and appealing final product. More importantly, these new
forms offer both a speed of delivery absent in traditional print publications as well as space
for interaction between author and audience and can accommodate audio, video, and
interactive media that are only now being incorporated into the more digital versions of
traditional journals.

 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/14/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-87/
Fri, 14 Feb 2014 12:56:51 +0000
It’s been a long two weeks since my last posting of some quick hits and varia, so they’re a
bit backed up in my Evernote cue. Fortunately, it’s been so cold here that my links are still
as fresh as the day they appeared in my browser.
((http://www.weather.com/travel/breathtaking-photos-coldest-city-world-20140128) And
this link reminds us that it could be worse, but
(http://www.kellegous.com/j/2014/02/03/pleasant-places/) this sexy map reminds us that it
could also be much better.)
(And if you need some archaeology inspired Valentine’s Day excitement, check out
(http://nataliavogeikoff.com/2014/02/14/my-heart-is-beating-february-13-1923/) Natalia
Vogeikoff-Brogan’s post on Carl Blegen’s love.)
So without much fanfare, check out this week’s varia and quick hits:
• First, a pair of hits from David Pettegrew’s blog. First,
(http://corinthianmatters.com/2014/02/10/the-isthmus-of-corinth-project/) a brief overview
of his long-gestating book project on the Isthmus of Corinth. I’ve been fortunate enough to
read a draft of the manuscript, and it is good. And
(http://corinthianmatters.com/2014/02/13/excavations-at-corinth-2013-annual-report/) a
link and short summary of the 2013 excavations at Corinth from the annual report of the
American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
• In keeping with the double links: here are two conferences on Byzantine topics.
(http://www.artic.edu/event/symposium-envisioning-eucharist-transcending-literal
 

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medieval-and-byzantine-art) One is called Envisioning the Eucharist and
(http://www.byzantium.pl/?p=confer) the other is on the reception of Byzantium.
• (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/divers-observe-basilicaunderwater.aspx?pageID=238&amp;nID=62317&amp;NewsCatID=375) More on the
basilica discovered in Lake Iznik.
• (http://www.bsa.ac.uk/content.php?cat_id=30&amp;news_id=231) The British School at
Athens is looking for an Assistant Director.
• (http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/News/newsDetails/industrial-religion-an-interviewwith-susan-rotroff) Industrial religion in Ancient Athens.
• (http://bigstory.ap.org/article/clooney-wades-uk-greece-parthenon-marbles-row) Clooney
on the Parthenon Marbles.
• (http://dougsarchaeology.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/blogging-archaeology-blogarchall-of-the-responses-to-the-best-and-worst-posts/) The wrap up of the most recent
collection of posts in the ongoing archaeological blogging carnival. Some good thoughts.
• (http://www.npr.org/2013/12/13/248195238/does-the-subjunctive-have-a-dark-side)
The dark side of the subjunctive in Latin.
• (http://www.iraqheritage.org/) Iraqi Heritage and (http://theconversation.com/we-willneed-monuments-men-for-as-long-as-ancient-sites-remain-battlefields-22964) modern
monument men.
• (http://www.penn.museum/blog/museum/ur-digitization-project-january-2014/) Along
similar lines, the Ur digitization project is still going strong.


 

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• (http://charleswilliammiller.com/2014/02/13/the-camel-wars-part-1/) My colleague Chuck
Miller weighs in on the recent discussion about camels in Genesis.
• (http://apps.ohiohistory.org/ohioarchaeology/ancient-aliens-are-modern-malarkey/) Stupid
ancient aliens.
• (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2014/02/life-athens-housing-complex/8373/)
Life in an Athenian housing complex.
• (http://valesoul.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/following-your-hunger-an-interview-withchristopher-bakken/) For the other half, honey, olives, octopus.

(http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2014/02/11/kyle_cassidy_photographs_librarians_at_t
he_american_library_association.html) Kyle Cassidy photographed
librarians and (http://magpielibrarian.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/slates-this-is-what-alibrarian-looks-like-this-is-why-we-cant-have-nice-things/) some of the really disappointing
and frankly bizarre responses to it.
• (http://www.messynessychic.com/2014/02/04/metro-makeovers-for-the-abandonedstations-of-paris/) What to do with an abandoned subway station in Paris.
• (http://hiddencityphila.org/2014/01/photographing-the-abandoned-city/) Some photos of
abandoned Philadelphia.
• (http://www.pqed.org/2014/02/do-cities-create-their-own-unhappiness.html) Do cities
create their own (un)happiness?
• (http://paulbelford.blogspot.com/2014/01/thoughts-on-protection-of-aircraft.html) Aircraft
wreck sites as scheduled ancient monuments.


 

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• (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/10/1000-bodies-university-mississippi-insaneasylum_n_4761166.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009) It sucks to discover bodies on
campus.
• (http://www.professorfootnote.com/winter-olympics/) The Winter Olympics by the
excellent guys at Professor Footnote.
• (http://moore.edu/calendar/the-galleries-at-moore/pretty-vacant-the-graphic-language-ofpunk) The graphic language of punk.
• (http://www.weshopamerican.com/dayinthelife-grado-labs/) A day in the life at Grado
Labs. An iconic brand that doesn’t advertise.
• (http://thefederalist.com/2014/01/17/the-death-of-expertise/) The death of expertise.
• (http://www.npr.org/2014/01/29/264912750/on-the-plains-an-oil-boom-is-transformingnearly-everything) Some nice GIFs and
(http://www.npr.org/2014/02/02/270640532/following-oil-boom-in-n-dakota-a-culturalblooming) a cultural blooming in the Bakken.

(http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2014/02/degree_of_freedom_project_earning
_a_one_year_b_a_through_moocs.html) More MOOCtastic observations.
• Do any archaeologists out there (https://medium.com/m/welcome) use Medium?
• What I’m reading: M. L. Galaty; O. Lafe; W. E. Lee; Z.
Tafilica, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/light-and-shadow-isolation-and-interaction-in-theshala-valley-of-northern-albania/oclc/824670816) Light and shadow : isolation and
interaction in the Shala Valley of northern Albania. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology 2013.


 

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• What I’m listening to: Miles Davis, My Funny Valentine (Recorded 50 years ago this week);
Bob Dylan, Times They Are A-Changin’ (Released 50 years go).
title="IMG_1186.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_1186.jpg" alt="IMG
1186" width="450" height="337" border="0" />Bret Weber and I presenting
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/dwelling-in-the-bakken-workforcehousing-in-the-bakken-in-a-global-and-historical-perspective/) the first talk at the new
International Studies Speaker Series.
title="IMG_1188.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_1188.jpg" alt="IMG
1188" width="450" height="337" border="0"
/>(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/punk-archaeology/) And this is
inching closer and closer to reality


 

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Sun Frogs at Dusk
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/sun-frogs-at-dusk/
Sun, 16 Feb 2014 18:47:16 +0000
Some sun frogs at dusk as I drove to see an ice hockeying contest.
title="IMG_1194.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_1194.jpg" alt="IMG
1194" width="450" height="253" border="0" />
Yeah, where I live is cold, remote, conservative, boring, and provincial, but it’s hard not to
feel pretty good when you see a sight like this.


 

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Toward a Slow Archaeology (Part 1)
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/toward-a-slow-archaeology-part-1/
Mon, 17 Feb 2014 17:06:09 +0000
It’s pretty rare that someone asks me to write on a particular topic, but it happened this
past week. (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/practice-and-methodin-creating-3d-models-in-archaeology/) After my talk at the
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/digital-archaeology-practiceworkshop-a-review/) Digital Archaeological Practice Workshop, a number of people
nudged me to discuss “slow archaeology” in a bit more detail. The truth is, I coined that
term on the fly, and, judging from a quick search on Googles, it seems to be a neologism. I
got the idea because I happened to be reading an article on
“(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/slow-teaching/) slow pedagogy”
on my flight to western Massachusetts. I’m going to blog on it today because I just finished
reading (for the 40th time) (http://libcom.org/files/timeworkandindustrialcapitalism.pdf) E.P.
Thompson’s brilliant “Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism” from volume 38
(1967) of Past and Present (pdf).
So here are my thoughts on “slow archaeology” (in the spirit of E.P. Thompson):
It is commonplace that the years between 1950 and 1970 saw within the field of
archaeology, important changes in how archaeological evidence was collected and
understood. In subsequent decades, technological change accelerated changes in practice.
In the Mediterranean, this coincided with new, less permissive attitudes toward permitting
foreign projects, unfavorable (for archaeologists!) exchange rates, and decreased funding
for so-called “big digs.” All of these trends have slowly transformed how archaeologists
work in the field. Some of the changes are good. For example, more systematic data
collection has allowed us to produce quantitative arguments that have produced patterns
revealing new cultural and economic relationship. These changes have also encouraged the
development of intensive pedestrian survey and other less intensive, but nevertheless

 

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regional studies that rely on the collection and organization of archaeological information.
Conceiving of archaeological evidence as data has also made it easier for projects to speak
to each other and to forge, fragile, but real generalizations about the ancient Mediterranean
as a cultural, economic, and political unit.
1. New Archaeology. The emergence of New Archaeology in the 1950s encouraged the
use of the scientific method produce archaeological knowledge. While scientific practices
had long validated archaeological practices, with the New Archaeology, the attendant rigor
in data collection and interpretation supported the development of methods and a
methodological discourse that privileged quantitative analysis (although not exclusively) as
the way to bridge the gap between object and the human behaviors constituent of culture.
This is an oversimplification, of course (after all this is a blog!), but my description of the
New Archaeology summarizes a strain in this movement that informed intensive pedestrian
survey in the Mediterranean with its emphasis on diachronic, regional level developments.
2. Technology. Technology accelerated the impact of New Archaeology on field practices.
The ability of computers to facilitate and normalize the collection of large data sets, to
analyze them, and to plot these spatially has spurred a massive wave of data driven
archaeological projects. Technology has streamlined both analysis and data collection in the
field and has subtly shifted the object of study from actual objects, places, and spaces to
data. (I do realize that archaeological notebooks and non-normalized, open field field
recording is a kind of data, but archaeologists have only recently started to analyze these
kinds of unstructured datasets in a sophisticated way.) Technology has produced field work,
then, as data collection and tools ranging from DTMs, GPS units, iPads, and even the lowly
clicker, serve to normalize how we describe the archaeological environment to allow for
more efficient analysis.
Technology has also contributed to the deskilling of the field archaeologist by tending
toward automated and more atomized tasks designed to produce bits of information
suitable for efficient analysis. This kind of archaeological
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylorism) Taylorism fit into larger scientific movements in the


 

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field (see point 1) and was mediated by technological developments.
3. Permits, Finances, and the Demise of the Big Dig. In my relatively short career in filed
archaeology, I have witnessed the gradual restricting of permits granted to foreign projects
across the Eastern Mediterranean. Recent developments in Greece and Turkey, in
particular, have limited the length of field seasons and projects, their geographical extent,
and even the number of participants. This has coincided with Greece’s adoption of the Euro
and less favorable exchange rates for foreign (i.e. North American) projects which further
limited the extent of field work. The days of the Big Dig which lengthy field seasons, nearly
perpetual permission to excavate, and massive permanent infrastructure are over. As a
result, the level of site specific expertise has begun to decline with archaeologists no longer
being able to work at a single site or even region for decades.
Permit restriction and economic changes has required more efficient time in the field at the
very moment that technology and archaeological Taylorism made it possible to increase the
efficiency of data collection. If the Big Dig represented unlimited time and open ended
inquiry (largely grounded in practices that predate the New Archaeology movement), then
the late 20th and 21st century archaeological project involves an efficiency provide through
rigorous adherence to a prescribed method.
4. Methodology. The rise in methodology, then, has accompanied the rise in technology, the
decline in site specific knowledge, and the emergence of New Archaeology as an influential
paradigm for knowledge production. Methodology is the conversation about archaeological
methods as the key locus of authority in knowledge production. As part of methodology,
there is a greater scrutiny of the relationship between field procedure and method. This
attention has focused, in part, in efficiency, the practical limits of various field practices, and
the process whereby systematic observation becomes archaeological knowledge. In short,
a scientific archaeology required an orderly process that ensured that all parts of the
practice of archaeological knowledge production are transparent and (to the extent
possible) replicable.


 

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5. Professional Archaeology. Finally, I can feel my colleagues in the professional
CRM/archaeology business both nodding their head, but also muttering “time is money.”
The growth of professional archaeology and the need to collect and analyze data quickly to
ensure the preservation of the cultural heritage and responsible development. The alliance
between archaeology and development as well as the so-called heritage industry only
emphasizes the increasing pressures on archaeology to adopt the practices of scientific
industry in how they produce knowledge.
Efficiency, “time is money,” technology, and methodology, have all contributed to the
gradual acceleration of archaeological practices in the field. A return to a “slow
archaeology” requires a critical engagement with these developments, and I’ll make an effort
at that later this week.


 

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Toward a Slow Archaeology (Part 2)
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/toward-a-slow-archaeology-part-2/
Tue, 18 Feb 2014 13:33:39 +0000
Yesterday, I started to shape
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/toward-a-slow-archaeology-part1/) an argument for a “slow archaeology” by grounding it in a series of changes in
archaeological practice over the second half of the 20th century.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/toward-a-slow-archaeology-part1/) Go read that post here for some background on the idea.
Today, I wanted to think a bit about what a slow archaeology might look like. At some later
point this month, I’ll have to think more carefully about how to articulate the benefits of a
slow archaeology to the discipline. I have argued elsewhere, of course, that slow
archaeology mitigates the deskilling of archaeological field practices and serves as a holistic
counterpoint to our increasingly granular approach to archaeological data collection. By
taking time in the field to appreciate the complexity of the entire archaeological record, we
make explicit our understanding of archaeological knowledge as the interplay of landscape,
process, and practice.
In the field, a slow archaeology could feature any number of practices that push participants
in a project to stop and take stock of their physical surroundings, their actions, and their
social and professional situation. These practices do not necessarily involve abandoning
granular data collection techniques, but would carve out space both within the discipline
and in the field day to understand the interplay of disciplinary ways of seeing and material
objects.
The following recommendations are not meant to be unique or to identify gaps within
current archaeological practices. Indeed, many of the recommendations below derive from


 

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my own field experiences and the values of archaeologists with whom I have worked.
1. Teach Technique Before Technology. At a recent conference, one of the undergraduate
participants insisted that archaeology programs could do more to prepare students to use
technology in the field. While technology has certainly come to play a key role in
archaeological data collection, I suspect her mentors spent more time talking about field
techniques and concepts than the various mediating technologies. An emphasis on
technique grounds practice in disciplinary knowledge whereas an emphasis on technology
offers the short-term promise of a transferable skill (often of immediate value to an
employer) but erodes the ability to recognize the continuum of knowledge production that
begins with procedure, continues through methods and analysis, and culminates in
interpretation. To be fair, most of the better programs and field schools emphasize
technique over technologies.
2. Reflection. Recently, (http://harvardmagazine.com/2013/11/the-power-of-patience)
scholars have come to appreciate the value of reflection in the classroom and have begun
to recommend that students (and, indeed, faculty!) slow down and engage an object
thoughtfully and deliberately. We attempted to encourage these moments of reflection
during our field season the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project by encouraging
students and staff alike to write blog posts from time to time. These public journal entries
served the dual purpose of communicating the experience of a field project to a wider
public and encouraging some reflection during the hectic field season. Not all staff
members (or students) took advantage of this opportunity to slow down and think, but those
who did began the provided a public account of the recursive experiences of working and
living together on an archaeological process.
3. Conversation. At the Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey, our field director, Tom
Tartaron, introduced an idea called “(http://www.jstor.org/stable/25068001) continuous
consultation mode” (CCM for short). His idea derived from a permit restriction that
prevented this project from collecting ceramics from the field. As a result our ceramicists
analyzed finds in the field and were available to discuss their analysis more or less on the
spot with field team members and project directors. This process stood in contrast to a

 

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more traditional approach in survey archaeology where the field teams collect material and
return it to a lab or storeroom where it would be studied by ceramicists either as it came out
of the field or, more commonly, in later seasons. Whether CCM produce tangible gains in
how we collected data in the survey is open to debate, but it did ensure that our preliminary
discussion of the landscape occurred in the landscape. In fact, we often had debates later
about whether perceived changes in artifact density in the field corresponded to actual
changes in artifact density as produced by the GIS.
Another space where a “slow archaeology” became apparent was in the evening meals. At
most of my projects, we worked to encourage meals together as a field team and for staff
and students to sit with one another at the end of a field day. While the stuff often had
pressing responsibilities, this pause in the hectic routine gave everyone the chance to
interact in a less harried and formal environment. As a field walker in the Eastern Korinthia
Archaeological Survey, I learned as much from informal conversations at dinner as I did in
the field.
4. Artists. At the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project and on the
(http://www.northdakotamancamps.com/) North Dakota Man Camp Project we attempted
to include artists on our field team whenever funding permitted.
(http://mediterraneanworld.und.edu/exhibits/show/toposchora) The contribution of these
artists to the visual archive for these projects has been immeasurable. They also showed us
how to look at our landscapes differently. This does not simply refer to the view through
their camera lens, but extends to the process of
(http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2008/02/05/emerging-cyprio/) viewing
the landscape. Watching Joe Patrow or Ryan Stander move through the landscape and
position themselves to observe our work encouraged me to become more aware of how
archaeological practice located our bodies in the field. As importantly, it reminded me how
the pace of archaeological field work was only one frame for encountering the landscape
and producing a meaningful response.
5. Description. One of the contributors to Punk Archaeology decided it would be clever to
submit a handwritten manuscript. This was very punk (and a pain in the ass). He has also

 

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(http://www.whitewashedtomb.com/?p=307) reflected on writing by hand
((http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/walking-home-and-thephenomenology-of-landscape/) as have I) and some recent scholarship has suggested that
the physical act of hand-writing engages different processes in the brain. Whether these
processes are directly relevant for the production of archaeological knowledge is unclear,
but handwriting does force us to slow down as we document the landscape.
(http://kourelis.blogspot.com/2014/01/in-valley-of-big-k.html) The same applies to
(http://www.whitewashedtomb.com/?p=346) drawing by hand. This practice draws us to
look more closely at objects than a photograph and encourages us to be selective in the
details that we include and to think critically what is important in the visual record of an
object.
As you can tell, these musings are in a preliminary stage, and I wish I could say that I have
always followed these guidelines. In reality, like most archaeologists, I pushed to collect
more data from the field and to create more efficient and streamlined processes. At times, I
am sure I was a bit unbearable. During one of my more intense field seasons, a wise friend
would remind me that “there’s always more archaeology.”
It has taken me quite some time to understand what he was saying. Now I think slowing
down, becoming more aware of practices, and taking more opportunities to see and reflect
produces more archaeology than the most efficient field team.


 

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One-Year Ancient History Position at the University of North Dakota
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/one-year-ancient-history-positionat-the-university-of-north-dakota/
Wed, 19 Feb 2014 12:51:00 +0000
Since I’ll be on sabbatical next year, our dean has approved a one-year replacement
position. These positions are always a challenging for a new hire as they have to get
accustomed to new group of students, a new place, and new colleagues. We’ve done what
we could to make this kind of position appealing. It has a 2-2 teaching load with only 3
preparations for the year.
So, please spread the word. We don’t always have the most robust slate of candidates, but
I can vouch for the collegial atmosphere of my department, the welcoming nature of the
community, and the opportunity to live and work on a campus and in a state that is
undergoing some rather remarkable transformations right now.
Please circulate the job ad as far and wide as you like. (https://und.edu/financeoperations/human-resources-payroll/careers/secure/job-openingsexternal.cfm?category=2000+Academic&amp;subcategory=2110+Assistant+Professor&a
mp;AppliTrackJobId=491_37440&amp;AppliTrackLayoutMode=detail&amp;AppliTrackVie
wPosting=1) Here’s a link to the official advertisement.
<p style="font-size:17px;) —————
History Assistant Professor Position
The University of North Dakota, Department of History, invites applicants for one-year, nonrenewable, assistant professor in the field of Ancient History. The successful candidate will
teach two classes per semester including the first half of the department's Western


 

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Civilization survey and upper level courses in the history of Greece and the history of Rome.
A completed Ph.D. in history or related field is preferred but ABDs will be considered.
Send an application PDF that contains a letter of application, vita or dossier, a statement of
not more than two single-spaced pages describing teaching and research interests,
evidence of teaching ability (if available), and copies of graduate transcripts to
[email protected]. The application also requires three letters of reference
that can be sent electronically to the same address or that can be mailed to: Chair, Ancient
History Search Committee, Department of History, University of North Dakota, O'Kelly Hall
Room 208, 221 Centennial Drive Stop 8096, Grand Forks, ND, 58202-8096. Deadline for
ensuring full consideration is March 15, 2014.
The University of North Dakota is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. The
University of North Dakota encourages applications from women and minorities. The
University of North Dakota determines employment eligibility through the E-Verify System.
North Dakota veterans' preference does not apply to this position.
This position is not subject to a criminal history background check.
The University of North Dakota complies with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus
Security Policy &amp; Campus Crime Statistics Act. Information about UND campus
security and crime statistics can be found at http://und.edu/discover/_files/docs/annualsecurity-report.pdf.


 

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Some Notes on Teaching History 101 in the Scale-Up Classroom
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/some-notes-on-teaching-history101-in-the-scale-up-classroom/
Thu, 20 Feb 2014 13:00:06 +0000
Some of my regular readers have complained that I have not written as much about my
teaching in the Scale-Up classroom this semester. This is mostly because I’m doing all sort
of other things right now, but there are still exciting and baffling things taking place in
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/scale-up/) the Scale-Up room.
For those who are unfamiliar with (http://und.edu/scale-up/) what the Scale-Up room is and
how it works, here’s a very brief summary. It’s a 180 student classroom with 20 tables for 9
students each. Each table has 3 laptops. The tables, then, constitute a group and the 3
students around a laptop computer constitute a pod. The basic organization of my history
101 class involves a short, individual quiz to encourage individual student engagement
followed by work in the pod and work in the table. The goal of most days activities is an
essay produced by the table and posted to a wiki in our course management system. The
objective of the class is to produce a 100,000 word textbook made of shortish
contributions from all the tables.
Last spring, my course involved a long, slow feeling out period where I worked to
acclimatize the students to the collaborative work environment (and to figure out how best
to use the technologies available in the classroom). This worked relatively well in that the
final results were satisfactory, but I felt like I could have done more to reinforce certain skills.
I discuss the changes I made to the class
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/15/a-new-semesters-scale-upadventure/) here and (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/07/teachinghistory-in-a-scale-up-classroom-2-0/) here.


 

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So this semester, I’ve intensified the class by introducing more, longer writing assignments
earlier in the semester. I eliminated the individual midterm exam and replaced it with a series
of three, 1000-word essay produced by each table. The essays cover the Greek, Roman,
and Medieval periods and provide a broad overview of the material in the class while giving
the students a good bit of flexibility in how they engage it.
This approach has had three interrelated side-effects:
1. Hard Work. Last semester, I had very few complaints about the class being too
challenging. I had chalked this up to my easy going attitude and ability to encourage
students to be their best. It may have been, however, that the class was not very hard. This
semester, there is a constant low rumble of the course being too challenging. Students
have begun to yearn for the warm and familiar experience of lectures and
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/student-resistance/) signs of
resistance have appeared.
I am interested in determining whether the increased opportunities for student interaction in
the Scale-Up room presents better opportunities for concerted student resistance. I am
committed to recognizing many common forms of disruptive student behavior (laziness,
apathy, disengagement, et c.) as forms of resistance and working both to accommodate
these behaviors as legitimate expressions of student ideas without accommodating them
entirely. I usually attempt to take student behavior seriously and I am rare to dismiss it as a
“student not ready to be in college” or to take offense.
2. Group Breakdown. For example, there has become a relative stark division between
individuals in the groups who want to work hard, grasp the material, and produce text, and
those who are really into (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flappy_Bird) Flappy Birds. I’ve been
particular fascinated by students who have just admitted to their groups that they are lazy
and will not do the work. While, on the one hand, their honest is impressive. On the other
hand, they have made their resistance to the learning process pretty obvious. This has not
endeared them to their groups but it does provide me with a clear statement of intent
(explicit admissions of laziness are far easier to accommodate than confusion,

 

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disengagement, or absenteeism).
Interestingly, the more engaged students in the groups seem far more concerned that “lazy”
students will get credit for their hard work than the laziness of individuals within a group will
effect the grades of the group as a whole. As a result, I spent a good bit of time reassuring
groups that the hard work of some individuals will not benefit their more “lazy” classmates.
3. Late Work. Along with the break down in group dynamics, there has been a slow down in
work production. Last semester, my course required relatively little work outside of the
classroom. This semester, I have expected my students both to prepare each week for class
and to complete group writing assignments outside the classroom. To be clear, this is not
an excessive workload for a 100 level class and usually amounts to writing less than 150
words per week and reading fewer than 100 pages.
For the midterm assignment, I have provided weekly feedback on their group writing, but so
far it has been a challenge to get groups to present their work promptly or in a sufficiently
complete way that I can provide adequate feedback. Some of this is clearly because group
dynamics have broken down, but some of this is also a simple act of resistance. In
response, I both pushed the students to refine how their groups worked and gave them an
extra week to complete the midterm.
Hopefully, I can find a balance between recognizing the legitimacy of student resistance
(even if it, frankly, gets on my nerves) and the encouraging the class to perform more
consistently.
I’ll update my readers as I move forward.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-88/
Fri, 21 Feb 2014 13:15:00 +0000
After a few days of springlike weather (and an almost thaw), we returning to single-digit
normalcy here. That’s ok, though, because my to-do list is pretty substantial, the days are
getting longer, and the coffee is warm and strong at Archaeology of the Mediterranean
World Headquarters.
In other words, it’s a good time to present my weekly list of quick hits and varia:
• (http://asorblog.org/?p=6772) Former president of the Archaeological Institute of America
talking about protecting cultural property in zones of armed conflict.
• Along similar lines: (http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/02/2014/theculture-of-war-saving-history) The Culture of War: Saving History.
• This floated across my Facebook feed (h/t to Jordan Pickett):
(http://www.medievalists.net/2010/02/25/a-translation-and-historical-commentary-onbook-one-and-book-two-of-the-historia-of-georgios-pachymeres/) Translation and
Commentary on Books One and Two of Georgios Pachymeres.
• (http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite4_1_17/02/2014_537443) More
from Clooney about the Parthenon Marbles.
• (http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/mar/06/latest-scheme-parthenon/)
Along similar lines Beard on Connelly’s The Parthenon Enigma.
• (http://kourelis.blogspot.com/2014/02/vivid-archaelogy.html) Lively archaeology.


 

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• (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10635830/Ancient-cemeteryof-plague-victims-discovered-next-to-Uffizi-Galleries.html) Early Medieval burials under the
Uffizi in Florence.
• (http://mapsmodelsdatabases.org/2014/02/20/short-list-of-3d-tools/) Handy short list of
3D modeling tools for archaeologists.
• (http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.article&amp;id=1769) A Greek village with African
Roots: Greek, Black, and Proud.
• (http://incyprus.philenews.com/en-gb/Top-Stories-News/4342/40006/halloumi-probe)
Imitation halloumi under investigation in Cyprus.
• (http://qz.com/178531/heres-why-you-shouldnt-buy-a-us-to-europe-flight-more-thantwo-months-in-advance/) Why not to buy an ticket to Europe more than 2 months in
advance.
• (http://www.theawl.com/2013/10/shit-shit-shit) More on manure in an America context.
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/magazine/how-to-build-a-perfect-refugeecamp.html) How to build a perfect refugee camp.
• (http://gitmomemory.org/) Check out the Guantánamo Public Memory Project.
• (http://www.businessinsider.com/map-most-expensive-apartment-rentals-2014-2) Rents
in Williston.
• Despite the above, (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/20/well-beingstates_n_4810248.html) check out who is number 1 on a recent list of the top states for
well-being.


 

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• (http://www.vulture.com/2014/02/jon-stewart-on-bartending-at-a-famous-punk-club.html)
A little punk archaeology (John Stewart style) from New Jersey.
• I’m going to think more about the “slow” movement over the next six months.
(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=242736480) This is a good place
to start (and (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/toward-a-slowarchaeology-part-1/) here, (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/towarda-slow-archaeology-part-2/) here, and
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/slow-teaching/) here are other
points of departure).
• Along similar lines, (http://xkcd.com/1331/) check out this clever comic from xkcd.
• (http://southinpopculture.com/2014/02/18/faith-and-conviction-in-southern-appalachiathe-death-of-a-snake-handling-pastor/) Some thoughts on the death of a snake handling
pastor.
• What I’m reading: <span style="color:#222222;font-family:'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans
Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:22.799999237061px;) M. L.
Galaty; O. Lafe; W. E. Lee; Z. Tafilica, <a style="lineheight:22.799999237061px;outline:none;text-decoration:none;color:#000000;fontweight:bold;font-size:12px;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;borderbottom-color:#eeeeee;font-family:'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sansserif;" href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/light-and-shadow-isolation-and-interaction-inthe-shala-valley-of-northern-albania/oclc/824670816) <em style="line-height:inherit;) Light
and shadow : isolation and interaction in the Shala Valley of northern<span
style="color:#222222;font-family:'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sansserif;font-size:12px;line-height:22.799999237061px;) Albania. Cotsen Institute of
Archaeology 2013.
• What I’m listening to: Angel Olson, Burn Your Fire For No Witness; Nina Simone, Sings
the Blues; Nina Simone, High Priestess of Soul. (For her birthday!)

 

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title="photo.JPG" src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/photo.jpg"
alt="Photo" width="450" height="336" border="0" />Compliments of Susie


 

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Friday Afternoon
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/friday-afternoon/
Fri, 21 Feb 2014 20:43:19 +0000
title="IMG_0018.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_0018.jpg" alt="IMG
0018" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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More Slow Archaeology
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/more-slow-archaeology/
Mon, 24 Feb 2014 13:51:17 +0000
This past Thursday, I had the opportunity to talk about E.P. Thompson and Antonio
Gramsci some with my graduate historiography class. The discussion was engaging and
revealing and pulled me back to thinking about my pair of “Slow Archaeology” posts from
last week ((http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/toward-a-slowarchaeology-part-1/) here and
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/toward-a-slow-archaeology-part2/) here)
In particular, I got to thinking about my reading of E.P. Thompson especially in light of my
rereading of excerpts from Gramsci’s work on ideology and his adaptation of Sorel’s
concept of the historical bloc. In
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/toward-a-slow-archaeology-part1/) my first post on Slow Archaeology, I associate the interest in efficiency and speed in
contemporary archaeology with the rise of New Archaeology in the late 1950s and 1960s.
In hindsight, I wonder whether New Archaeology simply manifest a change in the discipline
that was already far advanced.
1. The Impossibility of Slow Disciplines. Earlier this semester I reread Louis Menand’s
(http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/thoughts-on-the-end-ofdisciplines/) Marketplace of Ideas. His work provides a short history of disciplines and has
emphasized the long presence of credentialing as part of higher education in the U.S. In
fact, when I teach our required course for undergraduates, cleverly titled The Historians’
Craft, I typically locate the development of the discipline of history amidst the growing
needs of the industrial national economy. So academic disciplines and industrialization have
a longstanding relationship. If we follow Thompson’s lead and see
(http://libcom.org/files/timeworkandindustrialcapitalism.pdf) the history of industrialization as

 

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a process deeply concerned with the manipulation of time (pdf), then perhaps I was
misguided to assign such significance to New Archaeology. Maybe it is the entire process
of discipline building that has fueled the quickening and deskilling of archaeological
practice. (I’ve flirted with an understanding of history as craft for some years now
and(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/the-historians-craft-and-thecraft-of-history/) most recently here.)
2. Gramsci. In my new formulation, the growing interest in technology and the increasingly
granular and atomistic methods for collecting archaeological data are inseparable from the
roots of contemporary practice and disciplinary structure within the university. In fact, the
coincident development of industrialization and capitalism and the basic institutions of
contemporary society ensured that the very terrain of disciplinary knowledge is inseparable
from alternate modes of production grounded in craft or other forms of embodied
knowledge. For Gramsci, changes in the base (in our case, changes in technologies that
directly impact field practices) and the superstructure (the larger disciplinary project of
archaeology) are inseparable.
3. Pre-Disciplinary Archaeology. If we accept, then, that the process of discipline creation
created a particular terrain on which the expansion of technology and deskilling could take
place, then there may be little within the discipline of archaeology to subvert these trends. In
fact, it has taken me a good bit of time to understand that work of scholars like
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/the-archaeological-imagination/)
Michael Shanks to ground the archaeological imagination in pre-disciplinary practices is an
effort to argue for the existence of archaeological knowledge outside of its disciplinary
development. Reflections on embodied knowledge, experience, and encounters with the
landscape for example, propose ways of knowing that resist the methodological pressures
associated with diciplinarity. Following E.P. Thompson’s lead, Shanks reminds us that
humans understood their physical world, landscapes, and objects prior to the hegemonic
authority of disciplinary archaeology. There is another way.
4. Kundera and Forgetting. This weekend, I read through
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/slowness/oclc/34285156) Milan Kundera’s novella

 

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Slowness. It is a quick, elegant read (I couldn’t resist!), and he makes this point:
“There is a secret bond between slowness and memory, between speed and forgetting… In
existential mathematics, that experience takes the form of two basic equations: the degree
of slowness is directly proportional to the intensity of memory; the degree of speed is
directly proportional to the intensity of forgetting.”
The book is archaeological at its core interweaving the reflections of the narrator (and
author) with three stories arranged stratigraphically throughout the novel. The stories occur
in the same place as the narrator and his wife (presumable in the present) but on takes
place slightly earlier and the other much earlier (in the 18th century). Despite the temporal
displacement, the stories intersect so freely that by the end time collapses and a character
from the 18th century story and from the slightly earlier 20th century story appear to the
narrator. The deliberate pace of the novel preserves the stories within it, but not in their neat
stratigraphic levels. The intensity of memory allows the neatly partitioned fabric of the stories
to collapse defying the speed induced divisions between the past and the now.


 

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Long Day
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/long-day/
Tue, 25 Feb 2014 00:17:21 +0000
title="LongDay.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/longday.jpg" alt="LongDay"
width="450" height="613" border="0" />


 

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Man Camps and the American West
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/man-camps-and-the-americanwest/
Tue, 25 Feb 2014 12:30:05 +0000
One of the more entertaining challenges that I face as I work on material from the North
Dakota Man Camp Project is putting the Bakken Oil Boom in a local and regional context.
As readers of this blog know, I was not trained as a historian of the American West or the
Northern Plains. In fact, I’m not even able to play one (convincingly) on TV.
(To make this clear, I had an article reject at
(http://history.nd.gov/publications/ndhistory.html) North Dakota History once, well I think is
was rejected in a charmingly North Dakota way. They corresponded with me for about 5
years about this article and then just faded away without ever sending it out for peer
review.)
Anyway, below is my first stab at thinking about workforce housing in the Bakken as part of
the history of the American West and North Dakota. Feedback, as always, is welcome:
While traditional depictions of the American West present rugged, independent
prospectors who set out to conquer the wilds in the hope of untold riches, scholars have
increasingly viewed the American West as space for male wage labor and the westward
movement of industrial capitalism and its attendant social expectations. In this new
construction, (http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/gilded/empire/text1/turner.pdf)
Frederick Jackson Turner’s “frontier” (pdf) became less of an untamed wilderness for
Americans to draw their dreams and more of an extension of longstanding eastern interests
committed to deploying capital, workforce, and infrastructure in their search for profit. This
(http://www.jstor.org/stable/968927) “wage-earner” frontier, as described by Carlos
Schwantes, ensures that we understand the historical development of the west as part of a
larger trajectory of American and, indeed, global capital. Thus, inscribing the American

 

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West with mining camps, timber camps, and oil camps, contributed to expansion of a set of
domestic values, hierarchies, and class relations nurtured in the East and then pushed out
with the expansion of industry.
That the Bakken formation is geographically part of the American West (as typically defined
) and subjected to a kind of extractive economy most closely associated with historical
processes taking place in the American West is a coincidence and should not necessarily
impose a geographic limitation on how we understand this phenomenon. At the same time,
the historical study of North Dakota has long recognized certain themes fundamental to the
development of communities in the state.(http://historyrfd.net/isern/431/6themes.htm)
Elwyn Robinson famously articulated 6 themes: remoteness, dependence, radicalism,
economic disadvantage, the “too-much mistake”, and the climate of a sub-humid grassland.
While the application of these themes to all historical problems in the history of the state is
perhaps ill-advised, the influence of these ideas on how North Dakotans imagine
themselves and understand their history is important. For example, the challenges of
adapting existing infrastructure to the growing workforce in the Bakken counties could
easily be articulated in the context of the “too-much mistake” which described the overlyambitious investment in infrastructure at the foundation of the state. Moreover, Robinson’s
understanding of the remoteness, dependence, and economic disadvantage of the sparsely
populated North Dakota prairie fit well within later understandings of periphery favored by
world systems theorists and others committed to core-periphery models.
Articulating workforce housing in the Bakken as part of the American West likewise frames
how we understood settlement in the area from an archaeological and architectural
perspective. Historically, scholars have used archaeology to document temporary
settlements associated with extractive industries and construction in the West. As William
Cronon reminds us in (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/more-onman-camps/) his remarkable study of the town and mine at Kennecott, Alaska, the remains
of these sites serve as physical reminders of the increasingly integrated global economy of
the early 20th century which made it possible to extract copper from veins deep within the
earth, transport a workforce, supplies and ore via rail, and sustain these activities at a
remote location in central Alaska. Likewise workforce housing camps associated with the

 

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Bakken oil boom, particularly the Type 1 variety, represents a century old tradition realized in
distinctly 21st century materials, infrastructure, and plans.
John Bickerstaff Jackson, another great 20th century student of the American West,
recognized in the mobile homes of the four-corners region the direct predecessors of our
Type 2 camps. He described the momentary appearance of trailer courts with their solitary
cinderblock common room designated for laundry. These settlements appear across the
borders of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona often to house a pipeline or
construction crew and last only as long as the project. For Jackson, these mobile homes
represented part of long tradition of housing in the New World that began with the
temporary wooden houses of the first European settlers on the East Coast and continued
through the balloon frame homes of the 19th century to the box houses and mobile homes
of the 20th century. The latter forms moved west with the surging populations and soon
became a defining feature of the Western landscape. While many of Jackson’s essays do
not reward too much scrutiny, he nevertheless recognized the importance of mobile housing
for the requirements of wartime production, post war shifts in settlement, and the baby
boom in the American West.
Just as RVs came to symbolize the leisure time pursuits of the mobile, post-war, middle
class, the mobile home and RV emerged as alternate housing solutions for an increasingly
mobile workforce who came to work in the American West, including the Bakken, when
opportunity called. Low population density, uneven access to utilities and other
infrastructure, the presence of large-scale construction projects and extractive industries,
and a temporary workforce that is accustomed to mobility contributed a distinctly Western
character of the Bakken.


 

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Teaching History and Embracing Ambiguity in the Scale-Up
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/teaching-history-in-the-scale-upteaching-and-embracing-ambiguity/
Wed, 26 Feb 2014 14:56:58 +0000
One of my favorite experiences of teaching history in (http://und.edu/scale-up/) the ScaleUp classroom at the University of North Dakota is watching students who are given
substantial freedom to design their own projects tentatively approach the ambiguity that this
entails. The Scale-Up
This past week, we finally got to the stage in my Scale-Up class where we began work on
our textbook chapters. Each table received a time period (Archaic, Classical, or Hellenistic)
and one of 5 or 6 different thematic topics (culture, social history, political history,
economics, or military history). Each table was responsible for a single 2000-3000 word
section that focuses on a particular issues.
I've asked the students to frame their chapters with a clear statement of intent and to then
provide an outline that sets out what their chapter will say. The goal of this is to show both
me and other groups how they intend to proceed with their analysis. In some places,
chapters will overlap. For example, the social history of the Archaic and Classical period
offers significant opportunities for overlapping content (at least as imagined by 100 level
history students). Likewise, the Archaic and Classical economies could have significant
overlap in the hands of generalizing undergraduates. To prevent this, I have suggested that
the two groups interact and work to define their own boundaries.
It’s sort of remarkable to see how students respond to this kind of ambiguity.
Most students embrace it with a certain amount of enthusiasm. While intent on doing the
“right thing,” they seem to understand that the structure of an argument is as important as
the content and structure of the argument. I provide the students with multiple textbooks, a

 

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small selection of primary sources, and lots of tips and pointers how to find more sources.
For example, I directed students working on the Archaic economy to Hesiod’s Works and
Days and nudged students looking at the Classical economy to Xenophon’s Oeconomicus.
In other cases, such as Athenian politics of the Classical period, sources are more readily
obvious.
In an introductory history course, I’m less concerned about students being “right” (whatever
that means) and producing “accurate” historical content, than I am with them developing the
confidence to explore a topic in an independent way, to formulate an approach to
presenting what they learned, and to write a section of a chapter setting out their
interpretation of the past.
It is interesting to note how students respond to this freedom of analysis.
1. Demand Definition. Some students demand that we provide them with more formal
definition of their topics. Particularly troublesome to students are the borders between
social, cultural, and economic history. While professional historians rarely set firm
boundaries between these arbitrary categories of historical analysis, my students struggled
to understand what topics might be “acceptable” in their chapters.
Some of this reflects a problematic understanding of such broad and abstract concepts as
culture and social history (and my rather superficial explanations to the entire class were
unsatisfactory). More important, it speaks to how students in this 100 level history class
expect firm divisions within their own classroom experiences and in the production of
disciplinary knowledge.
So as faculty and administrators continue to talk excitedly about “breaking through
boundaries” and “escaping silos” that define our disciplinary knowledge and ways of
knowing, our students continue to look for rigid divisions in disciplinary structure.


 

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2. Putting the Cart before the Horse. At the start of the give students a little list of things
that they should do, in order, to write their chapters. Here’s the list:
1. Collect Evidence
2. Concoct a Thesis
3. Develop Outline
4. Write Draft
5. Share Draft
6. Peer Review
7. Revise Draft
8. Submit draft
Despite this list, groups get eager to delve into the writing component of the assignments
and will often start to write, get frustrated, and ask for help before even formulating a thesis
or establishing an outline. With words staring at them from the page, they quickly become
frustrated that they can’t marshal order from their hastily arranged ideas.
Other groups, jump on the first three or four examples that they can find and attempt to
force these into order. They then become frustrated when they can’t write a thesis that
brings together combine randomly selected bit of information.
Managing student frustrations as they figure out how to push their way through these
assignments is my biggest challenge right now. I am impressed by students’ willingness to
dive right into a complex assignment, but I wish I was better at managing their energies.
3. Critiques and Revisions. One of the challenges that I’m looking forward to addressing
this next week is getting students to provide critical feedback to their peers and taking this
feedback constructively as they revise their drafts. Much like the ambiguity associated with
the assignment itself, students often want a single body of clear directions in the revision
process rather than a conflicting mass of suggestions from their peers. Getting the students
to filter the peer reviews and focus their revisions is among the most challenging (and


 

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productive) aspects of the class.
So, the greatest challenge now that the chapter writing is underway is managing student
responses to rather more open-ended assignments than they commonly experience in
introductory level courses. Getting the students comfortable with defining fuzzy boundaries,
slowing down and managing their frustrations, and critically reading peer reviews before
making revisions are all parts of the same process of getting students to approach
problems and tasks independently and with confidence.
For more on my adventures in the Scale-Up classroom,
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/scale-up/) go here.


 

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Light and Shadow in Albania's Shala Valley
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/light-and-shadow-in-albaniasshala-valley/
Thu, 27 Feb 2014 13:26:34 +0000
This has been a good couple of years for regional archaeological projects in the Eastern
Mediterranean. Andy Bevan and James Connolly published the results of
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/fragile-landscapes-and-persistentcommunities-on-antikythera/) their survey of Antikythera, Michael Given, Bernard Knapp,
and company have published their work from TAESP,
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/a-review-of-lolos-land-of-sikyon/)
Y. Lolos published his long-gestating work from Sikyon, the
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/a-new-mycenaean-center-in-thecorinthia/) Saronic Harbors Research Project (SHARP) have presented their work in the
South East Corinthia, and now (http://www.worldcat.org/title/light-and-shadow-isolationand-interaction-in-the-shala-valley-of-northern-albania/oclc/824670816) Michael Galaty,
Ols Laffe, Wayne E. Lee, and Zamir Tafilica have published their work on the Shala Valley in
Northern Albania: Light and Shadow: Isolation and Integration in the Shala Calley of
Northern Albania. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press 2013.
These regional projects have all taken different approaches to how they document the
history of regions or microregions. Projects like Yannis Lolos’s at Sikyon and Bevan and
Connolly’s on Antikythera reflect the long shadow of first and second wave intensive survey
projects on Greece. Lolos’s work, for example, continued to focus on the site as the primary
unit of analysis; Bevan and Connolly’s, in contrast, represent the natural extension of the
artifact-level analysis favored by the second-wave “siteless” intensive survey projects. Our
work on the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project follows second-wave methods and
methodologies as well.


 

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The work of Given and Knapp as well as Galaty et al. in Albania perhaps are the first group
of genuinely 3rd wave survey projects. They continued to include some aspect of artifactlevel intensive survey, but they have embedded this work in a range of complementary
historical, ethnohistorical, architecture, and environmental studies. If the second wave
focused on the artifact as the most basic archaeological component of the region, then
third-wave survey returns to considering the region as a holistic entity, defined by the
interplay between historical, ethnographic, and environmental narratives, while at the same
time acknowledging the autonomy of artifact distribution patterns.
In the Shala Valley, Galaty et al. considered the history of interaction and isolation in this
region over five years of “ethnohistoric archaeology.” The final publication is an impressive
body of integrated studies that see the region as a negotiated periphery of a series of extraregional cores ranging from the Ottomans to the various versions of the modern Albanian
state. The residents of Shala negotiated their interaction with these larger political entities
through varying degrees of resistance and accommodation manifest in the history,
architecture, demography, and economy of the area. In no way was the periphery passive.
The intensive survey of 1000 units across the valley produced remarkably little pottery, but it
did reveal that the valley saw occupation in both early prehistoric times (including by
Neanderthal hunting parties!) and later prehistoric times and likely in the Late Roman and
Medieval periods as well as the better known Ottoman and modern occupations. It was
interesting to note that the authors spent almost no time reciting the standard
methodologies related to intensive pedestrian survey. There was little discussion of sample
size, visibility adjusted densities, or “off site scatters.” It would have been interesting, for
example, to know a bit more about whether
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/31/more-on-manuring-in-the-mostrecent-hesperia-or-sherds-and-turds-ii/) manuring associated with local farming practices
contributed to the scatter of artifacts near houses. The obsession with artifact-level
distributional analysis so characteristic of second wave survey is not evident in this volume
and this does not detract from its larger arguments.


 

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The study of the houses in Shala revealed strategies adopted by its residents to protect
their occupants from the tradition of blood feuds in the area, to maintain meaningful
economic units, and eventually to subvert communist era efforts to collectivize farming in the
valley. The introduction of new world crops like maize and potatoes made it possible for the
valley to support larger populations. All these trends reveal that the residents of the valley
recognized their isolation as a strategic asset that played a key part in how they negotiated
their engagement with the wider world.
Intensive survey in the valley revealed the large settlement at strategically-located and
heavily-terraced site of Grunas which the Shala valley team subjected to excavation and
intensive documentation. They excavated the site carefully and subjected an impressive
sample of the finds to scientific analysis. This work demonstrated that the settlement at
Grunas was nucleated and defensible, but perhaps associated with transhuments who
brought their flocks to the valley in the summer months. The construction of such an
impressive site for seasonal occupation is difficult to understand, but perhaps suggests that
the control of summer pastures plays a part in ideologies of regional control and authority.
I was particularly curious to hear that the residents of the valley were traditionally Catholic.
The detailed typological study of inscribed signs on houses demonstrated that religious
observation operated both on the domestic and communal level. It was strange, however,
that the authors did not query communal religious expression more carefully. The book
lacked any treatment of the churches in the valley and aside from a few brief comments
about their location within settlements, it was not clear whether churches played a role in
structuring the inhabited space of the valley. I was also interested in whether the Catholic
faith of the valley’s residents, which by all accounts was idiosyncratic, contributed to the
status of the valley as negotiated periphery.
The continued flourishing of intensive, regional level, projects in the Eastern Mediterranean
has pushed the practice forward in key ways. The emergence of “third wave” survey
projects has moved regional level studies away from the New Archaeology inspired fixation
on distribution patterns and methodologies, and toward a thoughtfully considered
transdisciplinary approaches that see artifact scatters as only part of the larger study of the

 

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landscape. To be fair, first and second wave surveys have shared this interest in historical,
environmental, and ethnographic studies of the landscape, but “third wave” survey projects
integrate these studies with artifact level survey in a much more complex and thorough way.
The arguments advanced in (http://www.worldcat.org/title/light-and-shadow-isolation-andinteraction-in-the-shala-valley-of-northern-albania/oclc/824670816) Light and Shadow:
Isolation and Interaction in the Shala Valley of Northern Albania establish a compelling new
direction in the archaeological understanding of regions.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/28/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-89/
Fri, 28 Feb 2014 13:14:03 +0000
It’s the cold before the colder here on the Northern Plains as we move toward springtime.
It’s -4 now, but supposed to be -30 by first thing tomorrow morning. I am not sure if March
is arriving like a lion or not, but it sure will be cold.
Fortunately, I have a few writing assignments, some reading for class, and a bunch of other
odds and ends to keep my occupied indoors this weekend.
And, I have a little gaggles of quick hits and varia to keep you guys distracted no matter
what the weather is where you’re from.
• My graduate student, Stephanie Steinke, is presenting at
(http://oxfordbyzantinesociety.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/oubsconference2014.pdf) this
conference this week (.pdf).
• (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140225-gladiator-schooldiscovered-roman-austria-archaeology-science/) A Roman school for gladiators in Austria.
• (http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/calendar/byzantine-money-politics-and-aestheticsworld-currency) Byzantine Money: The Politics and Aesthetics of a World Currency.
• (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26275578) A bit more on the Apollo of Gaza.
• (http://archaeology.org/news/1852-140224-papyri-libellus-christianity) The curious case
of some Early Christian papyrus in Iowa.


 

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• (http://charleswilliammiller.com/) Along similar lines, there is lots of good stuff going on
over at Charles Miller’s blog.
• (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140225-gladiator-schooldiscovered-roman-austria-archaeology-science/) Olives and Akrokorinth.
• (http://corinthianmatters.com/2014/02/28/corinthiaka-9/) Along similar lines, some
Corinthiaka from David Pettegrew.
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/world/europe/greek-and-turkish-cypriots-unite-torestore-a-church-and-a-bond.html?_r=0) Unity between Greek and Turkish Cypriots in
Kontea, Cyprus.
• (http://boingboing.net/2014/02/24/how-do-muslims-pray-in-space.html) How do Muslims
pray in space?
• (http://usvsth3m.com/post/77080517628/1746-map-of-london-now-available-as-anincredibly) A Google Map of London in 1746.
• (http://www.ghostsofnorthdakota.com/2013/06/27/north-dakotas-loneliest-places/) North
Dakota’s loneliest places.
• (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/24/282111964/mango-alert-australianspuzzle-over-huge-stolenfruit?utm_medium=facebook&amp;utm_source=npr&amp;utm_campaign=nprnews&amp;ut
m_content=02%2F24%2F2014) A huge mango was stolen in Australia.
• (http://gawker.com/here-is-a-dot-matrix-printer-playing-eye-of-the-tiger-1527187230)
And here is a dot matrix printer playing “Eye of the Tiger”.


 

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• (http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/keeping-jazzs-rhythm-with-a-shutter/) The
photography of jazz musicians by Aram Avakian.
• (http://www.faithistorment.com/2014/02/sunsets-photos-by-thomas-weinberger.html) I
like these photographs too.
• (http://und.edu/features/2014/02/paul-worley.cfm) Congratulations to my good buddy
Paul Worley on the publication of his book.
• (http://www.openculture.com/2014/02/raymond-chandlers-ten-commandments-forwriting-a-detective-novel.html) I’ve probably posted this before, but Raymond Chandler’s
“Ten Commandments for Writing a Detective Novel” are useful tips for any writing.
• I watched Ghost Busters this week (see below) and was struck by the scene in the movie
which showed the Ghost Busters on the cover of Omni Magazine. Well,
(http://www.wired.com/underwire/2014/02/omni-advertisements/) here’s something about
Omni Magazine.
• (http://www.esquire.com/blogs/news/ghostbusters-oral-history) And here is an oral history
of Ghost Busters.
• (http://annyas.com/screenshots/warner-bros-logo/) Along similar lines, here’s a visual
history of the Warner Brothers’ logo.
• What I’m reading:(http://www.worldcat.org/title/in-praise-of-slowness-how-a-worldwidemovement-is-challenging-the-cult-of-speed/oclc/55495224) C. Honoré, In Praise of
Slowness. HarperSanFrancisco 2004.
• What I’m listening to: Beck, Morning Phase; St. Vincent, St. Vincent.


 

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A Special Issue of North Dakota Quarterly: SLOW
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/a-special-issue-of-north-dakotaquarterly-slow/
Mon, 03 Mar 2014 12:30:47 +0000
As readers of this blog know, I’ve become interested in the “slow” movement. This was
initially prompted by discussions of
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/teaching-tuesday-pace-andteaching/) pace in teaching which then developed into interest in the
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/slow-teaching/) slow teaching
approaches, and, as so many of my ideas about teaching go, it became an opportunity to
reflect on slow archaeology
((http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/toward-a-slow-archaeology-part1/) here, (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/toward-a-slowarchaeology-part-2/) here, and
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/more-slow-archaeology/) here).
My (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/archaeology-and-cricket/)
interest in cricket (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2011/04/02/postcolonialismand-cricket-on-espn/) is (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/somecricket-archaeology/) well known.
Over the last year, I’ve been on a committee tasked with saving or revitalizing the venerable
interdisciplinary, literary journal North Dakota Quarterly. As we were planning our special
issues for next year, the topic of “slow” came up, and, next thing I know, I’m co-editing an
issue dedicated to “slow” with a colleague from our department of philosophy and religion
(http://arts-sciences.und.edu/philosophy-religion/faculty/rozelle-stone.cfm) Rebecca
Rozelle-Stone.
We are open to submission from every corner of the intellectual world, from hard core
academics to part-time essayists. The volume is peer-reviewed and looks to be national,

 

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even international, in scope.
Here’s the call for papers:
North Dakota Quarterly (NDQ)
Volume 80, Number 2
Special Issue: Slow
Guest Editors:
William Caraher (University of North Dakota)
Rebecca Rozelle-Stone (University of North Dakota)
North Dakota Quarterly, an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal, seeks contributions for a
special issue on the theme of “Slow.” In recent years, there has been increasing attention
paid to slowing down various aspects of our lives as we attempt to navigate a fast-paced,
instantaneously gratifying, highly technologized, and digital milieu. The “slow movement” has
become a distinct cultural presence, affecting our thinking about food, art, design, religion,
travel, parenting, recreation, pedagogy, and more. We invite non-fiction essays, short fiction
pieces, poems, and artistic images that address or are inspired by this concept of “slow”
and its emerging importance. We are interested in perspectives on the significance of
“slow” from a diversity of disciplines, including: art, cultural studies, history, literature,
philosophy, religious studies, and sciences, among others. Non-fiction submissions should
be written for a broad audience.
Length: Non-fiction essays and fiction writing should be no longer than 6,000 words,
inclusive of notes.
Deadline: October 1, 2014
Send hard copy submissions to:
Slow Issue
North Dakota Quarterly

 

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Merrifield Hall Room 110
276 Centennial Hall, Stop 7209
Grand Forks, ND 58202-7209
Or send electronic submissions and all inquires to the following email:
Rebecca Rozelle-Stone at: [email protected] with subject heading: “Slow Issue
NDQ”
North Dakota Quarterly is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal published four times per
year by the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of North Dakota. It is indexed in
Humanities International Complete, the annual MLA Bibliography I, among others, which
may be found in libraries across North America.
Interim Editor: Sharon Carson (University of North Dakota)


 

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Basement Archaeology
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/04/basement-archaeology/
Tue, 04 Mar 2014 12:34:30 +0000
One of the advantages of riding my bike indoors (on a stationary magnetic trainer) is that I
get to look around the basement a bit more closely. Since
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/placing-our-new-old-house/) we
moved into this house in 2011, we’ve been trying to sort out its architectural phases.
Fortunately, the house has only seen one major addition (but the changes to the interior
space of the house are substantially more complicated).
Like many homes in Grand Forks, it received an addition on the back (west) of the house
probably with indoor plumbing. The original back wall of the house then became the
plumbing wall with both the upstairs and downstairs bathroom (both of uncertain date)
being located just to the interior of the original back wall of the house.
title="OurHouseca1900.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/ourhouseca1900.jpg"
alt="OurHouseca1900" width="450" height="338" border="0" />
This photograph from around 1900 shows the addition with a drain pipe or a piece of
moulding just beyond the second window on the side visible above marking the west wall of
the original house.
Looking at the beams used in the new addition, I couldn’t help but notice a few loose nails.
So after wiggling a few of them (and noticing that they were not in structurally sensitive
places), I decided that I should remove one for closer examination. After
(http://www.sha.org/CF_webservice/servePDFHTML.cfm?fileName=32-2-06.pdf) reading
around a bit on the internets, I was able to identify and date this nail with some confidence.


 

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Here it is:
title="Nail3.jpg" src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/nail3.jpg"
alt="Nail3" width="450" height="269" border="0" />
What we have here is, if I’m not mistaken, an iron, grain-in-line, face-pinched, cut nail. The
crack running along the face is clearly visible as is the nicely pinched face.
title="Nail.jpg" src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/nail.jpg"
alt="Nail" width="450" height="128" border="0" />
The head on this nail is slightly smashed, but is square and consistent with the pinchedface. The nail type would dates easily to the 19th century with the massive crack along the
face suggesting - according to Tom Wells 1998 typology - an earlier rather than later date
for this type.
title="Nail Head.jpg" src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/nailhead.jpg" alt="Nail Head" width="447" height="600" border="0" />
These are the most common nails of this period and while the cracked face makes me
wonder a bit, they are nevertheless consistent with the late 19th century date for the
addition to our house. As my wife sagely observed, a nail dating to a decade or two earlier
than the addition may simple indicate the use of older construction materials available at
hand or the relatively outdated supply available in a small, rural community in the new state
of North Dakota.
While I’ll never say its fun to own an old house, these little archaeological project do make a
blustery, snowy, and cold March morning more interesting.
Do let me know if you can either refine my chronology of this nail or tell me that I’m hopeless
and should stick to Early Christian basilicas.


 

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Oral Exams in a Midlevel History Class
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/oral-exams-in-a-midlevel-historyclass/
Wed, 05 Mar 2014 13:38:39 +0000
This semester, I’m teaching for the last time
my (http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/the-challenge-ofmidlevel-courses/) History 240:
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/teaching-the-historians-craft/) The
Historians Craft. The class has run for close to 5 years, every semester, on Tuesdays and
Thursdays. The class usually runs about 30 students, most of whom are sophomores or
juniors, and is required for all history majors.
The first part of the class surveys the development of the discipline of history from Homer to
our own post-modern, digital era. The goal of the course is to familiarize the students with
the broader intellectual context for the development of history while refining their skills as
student historians. Generally the first part of the consists of lecture and discussion of
primary sources. This segues into the second half of the class when I emphasize formal
writing and some of the disciplinary practices common to historical argumentation, style,
and format.
Since teaching the course this way, I’ve been moderately pleased with my students
willingness to take on the challenges associated with understanding and interpreting the
complex history of our discipline, difficult and foreign texts, and unfamiliar concepts. In
general, their performance on my essay based tests has been good enough, but only
scratched the surface of what they were willing to do in class discussions or on shorter
assignments. The exam was timed and consisted of two essays. One question asked the
students to identify and contextualize a quote from a primary source that we read during
class. The other essay asked the students to explore the intersection of an issue like
nationalism, professional history, or philology within the narrative of the class. In other

 

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words, one essay asks the students to go from the specific to the general and the other
asks students to go from the general to the specific. This is fairly standard stuff in my class.
This semester, I only have 10 students in the class, probably because I scheduled it late in
the afternoon. The students are good and conscientious. So, I’ve decided to experiment a
bit and off an optional oral midterm exam. It will be one-on-one, in my office, and run for 20
minutes in two, ten-minute sections, each of which will begin with a single question that is
not fundamentally dissimilar to the questions that I will ask on the written midterm. My plan
is to use this question as a point of departure for a conversation that probes the extent of a
students familiarity with a particular topic.
I’ve decided to experiment with oral exams for three reasons.
1. Discussions are good. My students have not been entirely comfortable discussing
primary sources and complex issues like historiography and the philosophy of history in a
classroom setting. Prompted in the right way or painted into a corner, they tend to respond
in ways that demonstrate a much greater understanding of issues than they would in
a typical classroom conversation. The idea of an oral exam is to draw the students into a
conversation about a complex topic and to give them confidence to engage challenging
material.
At the same time, some of my colleagues have experimented with oral responses to written
papers and exams. These are recorded in our Blackboard course management system and
appended to the student paper. While I haven’t done this yet, my colleagues report that oral
comments seem to have a significant impact on the students and work to establish a
stronger relationship between teacher and student as well as communicate more effectively
the strengths and weaknesses of student work.
The spoken word can be more engaging, transparent, and familiar than the written.
2. Exams are fake writing. As much as I liked the challenge of taking an exam, I have come
to see essay exams as a kind of fake writing. Fueled by anxiety, misguided strategy, and the

 

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relentless ticking of the clock, in-class, essay tests are a catastrophe of compromises that
almost always produce disappointing results. While all student writing assignments are in
some ways artificial, essay tests are among the most problematic with time constraints,
handwritten answers (in an era where most students type their work), and bodies of
evidence limited by student memory (rather than the abundance of the internet).
3. The class is small. Oral exams will take about 30 minutes per student (that’s 20 minutes
of conversation and at least 5 minutes of note taking afterward). Even for 10 students, this
will be close to 5 hours. Fortunately, a handful of students will opt for the traditional written
exam so it will probably only 3 hours of student exams. It is hard to imagine doing this in this
class if it was even the standard size of 30 students.
There are drawbacks to oral exams, of course. Some students might be intimidated by
being in a faculty members office and the oral interview will certainly benefit students who
think better “on the spot”. I’ve also wondered whether male students might be more at ease
in an office conversation than female students.
A small class that is due to for revision is the perfect place for experimenting with some new
techniques. I think I have most of the variables sorted out in the class, and I have a robust
sample of past written exams carved in my memory. I’m not sure that oral exams will
become a major part of my pedagogical toolbox, but a little experimentation right before
sabbatical can’t hurt too much.


 

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Some Fragments on Time and Place in the Bakken
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/some-fragments-on-time-andplace-in-the-bakken/
Thu, 06 Mar 2014 13:44:53 +0000
I had the real pleasure of listening to (http://artssciences.und.edu/news/2014/02/bakkenization.cfm) my colleague Sebastian Braun
present some of his research in the Bakken last night. His paper looked at the complex
relationship between global capital, extractive industries, and local (and, particularly,
indigenous) communities in the Bakken. The talk was good and well attended. The
conversation afterward was thought provoking.
Since this is stuff that I’ve been working on lately, I thought I’d write down some of my ideas
in as straightforward a way as possible here.
It was particularly useful to hear Sebastian talk about the relationship between the Bakken
oil play, the frontier, and the local experience. This has become one of the more vexing
issues in my recent efforts to articulate the impact of workforce housing (i.e. man camps) on
the region and our understanding of global trends in settlement in the 21st century.
So far, I’ve argued, like Sebastian, that the Bakken represents both a historical and a
contemporary frontier. Historically, Western North Dakota - a semi-arid grassland - never
supported a large population, had limited resources available for commodification, and
stood well away from established centers of population, industry, and commerce. This
remains true even today. Last night, Sebastian made the interesting point that the
contemporary frontier may be as much beneath the ground as across its surface with
hydraulic fracturing representing the newest way to commodify natural resources in the
region.


 

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Any argument for the Bakken’s peripheral location implies the perspective of the core, but in
the 21st century localizing the core is not at all easy to do or clear. The old national cores of
the 19th and early 20th century or of the first wave of globalizing capitalism have largely
receded from immediate importance (although the Bakken is peripheral to these locations
as well). In their place, we have the oddly decentered (and dislocated) cores presented by
transnational corporations and their myriad (often obscured) subsidiaries. In short, the core
is no longer a particular place, but a concentration of authority, capital, and technology that
can be deployed in the periphery very quickly.
If we can accept that the core is a “non-place” (that is outside of any clearly understandable
spatial relationships; a shinny office tower in Houston can be for a company incorporated in
Delaware), then the periphery becomes merely the area or field in which the core articulates
its authority. Peripheries become non-places too. We have noticed this “on the ground” in
the Bakken as (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/a-typology-of-northdakota-work-camps-1/) Type 1 man camps tend to be nondescript modular units that are
as at home on the North Dakota prairie as in anywhere in the world (or are equally alien in all
places). The same might be said for the massive drill rigs that can be disassembled,
shipped around the world, and reassembled for their task and operated by the same crew.
The collapse of place is vexing for the archaeologist who assume that social relations
occupy recognizable spatial perimeters and transform “space” (which is empty) into “place”
which has meaning. The place making exercise also has a temporal dimension in that it
relies on time to deny the contemporaneity of object in order to make it accessible for study.
This temporal displacement is typically the first step in the historical or archaeological
project. We have to recognize something as an object of study and “space” must become
place (that is, instilled with social, historical, temporal or other relations) to be knowable.
Traditionally, the work of the nation played a central role in creating places even if it was the
nation as refracted through local agents. And the disciplines of archaeology and history
developed in parallel (and in collusion with) the nation and emphasized and contributed to
similar place-making activities. In other words, history and archaeology are very good at
making meaning from place, but not as good at understanding the transnational non-places

 

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at the contemporary periphery.
This is where Sebastian’s talk last night really got my attention. When I asked something
along these lines, he pointed out that people still worked, lived, loved, and played in the
Bakken. These individuals have agency within a world that struggles against the
commodification of everything and the alienating spread of the new core. So the ongoing
lives of people in the Bakken - from the contingent workforce to the longtime residents present a desperate strategy to stability their own places.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/07/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-90/
Fri, 07 Mar 2014 13:44:06 +0000
It’s overcast Friday morning here in North Dakotaland, but the temperature has inched its
way over the 0 mark and promises to get around 20 ABOVE by later this afternoon. I’ll
spend the morning looking for sunscreen!
As we enjoy in this balmy late winter day, it is my pleasure to provide you with some reading
material.
• Papyrus and looting from (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/03/opinion/papyrusprovenance-and-looting.html) Douglas Boin and
(http://englianos.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/papyrus-clay-and-the-market/) Dimitri
Nakassis.
• (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/02/pompeii-collapses-ancient-city) More
collapse in Pompeii.
• In related news, (https://soundcloud.com/charinos/poehler) this is what happens when
you sample one of my favorite Pompeiiologist voice.
• (http://www.aarome.org/news/features/kimberly-bowes-faar%E2%80%9906-newandrew-w-mellon-professor-charge-school-classical-studies) Kim Bowes was named the
new professor-in-charge at the American Academy in Rome.
• (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlBBvWlCbig) Sebastian Heath is doing Sebastian
Heath things here.


 

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• (http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/news/eventDetails/building-archaeology-corinthsforgotten-architects) Kostis Kourelis will be talking about “Corinth’s Forgotten Architects”
here and his talk will be streamed. You can get
(http://kourelis.blogspot.com/search/label/Corinth%20Architects) a quick primer on his talk
by perusing his blog here.
• (http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/03/2014/empowering-local-womenat-the-archaeological-site-of-umm-el-jimal) Socially responsible archaeology.
• (http://www.avclub.com/review/even-more-so-part-one-300-rise-empire-rotten-power201838) The sequel to the 300 looks… strange.
• But more importantly, (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/06/fur-flies-rocketcats-warfare-manual) I’m always disappointed when scholars go and ruin something as cool
as Medieval rocket cats.
• And we’re supposed to convince people that our discipline is not boring! (I kid, because
(http://middlesavagery.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/stop-saying-archaeology-is-actuallyboring/) this is a well considered post.)
• (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ottoman-tower-tops-list-of-buildings-made-withbones.aspx?pageID=238&amp;nID=63000&amp;NewsCatID=375) Bone buildings.
• (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/toilet-tissue-anthropologists-uncover-all-theways-weve-wiped/) Anthropology and how we poo.
• (http://www.prairiebizmag.com/event/article/id/17972/) Apparently, all evidence for the oil
industry in North Dakota will be gone in 100 years.
• (http://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.html) If the moon was one
pixel.


 

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• Atari and archaeology: (http://archaeogaming.wordpress.com/2014/03/07/breaking-atariburial-ground-excavations-and-documentary/) this is so cool and potentially important for
how we understand the archaeology of 21st century capitalism.
• (http://nplusonemag.com/train-in-vain) Writers on the train. This is a cool and clever idea.
• Some cool stuff on Philadelphia this week. First,
(http://www.phillyhistory.org/blog/index.php/2014/01/fifty-years-before-the-war-onpoverty/) some photographs of Philadelphia slum from the early 20th century. Next,
(http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/opinion/sunday/the-sound-of-philadelphia-fadesout.html) the decline of the Philadelphia accent. Finally,
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3lZFiyd_-0) a little primer on how some folks talked
where I grew up.
• (http://www.tourlentes.com/Stephen_Tourlentes_Web_site/Photographs.html#0)
Landscape photos of prisons with death row.
• (http://demnpl.com/2014/03/04/kiara-kraus-parr-seek-n-d-dem-npl-endorsementattorney-general/) Good luck to Kiara Kraus-Parr/Jendrysik in her run for state attorney
general!
• What I’m reading: M. Weimer, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/learner-centered-teachingfive-key-changes-to-practice/oclc/818865862) Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key
Changes to Practice. Second Edition. 2013.
• What I’m listening to: The New Puritans, Fields of Reeds. Beck, Sea Change.


 

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Learning-Centered Teaching
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/learning-centered-teaching/
Mon, 10 Mar 2014 12:26:44 +0000
This morning, I’m off to a faculty seminar organized by our Office of Instructional
Development. The seminar will discuss the new edition of M. Weimer’s
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/learner-centered-teaching-five-key-changes-topractice/oclc/818865862) Learner-Centered Teaching (2013). The book is well-known to
folks interested in finding new ways to reach students in the classroom and questioning the
traditional commitment to lecture style classes. Her book provides a useful summary the last
two decades of work to shift the teaching environment into one that moves the learner and
learning to the fore. Most of the techniques she espouses involve giving up some authority
to the students in the class as a way to get them to buy into the learning process. The book
has obvious parallels with my efforts in the Scale-Up classroom this semester.
Despite the acclaim and the good intentions, these kinds of books (and this one in
particular) leave me a bit cold. Here’s why:
1. The Problem. Like many books of this kind, the author assumes that the existing system
of higher education has a problem that learning centered teaching can fix.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/some-thoughts-on-academicallyadrift/) The problem is ill-defined, but revolves around student engagement, the absence of
deep learning, and sense of frustration that many faculty members (myself included!) feel
when entering a tradition classroom. While there certainly is a feeling of crisis in higher
education these days, the cause for these problems are hard to pinpoint. Maybe it’s
students have changed, perhaps its the technology, maybe it’s the expansion of “audit
culture”, or perhaps we as faculty have changed in some way that has put us out of touch
with our students. One thing is clear: the “problem” remains far more poorly defined than
the myriad solutions. This book is no exception. The point of departure is that we, as faculty,
can do better than soldier on with traditional methods of teaching, and most of the

 

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scholarship that she marshals assumes that the current system is some how broken.
2. Who is the learner? Like one would expect, she locates the solutions to the current
problem (however defined) in the classroom and the shift from a “teacher centered”
approach to a “learning centered” approach to eduction. As a college-level educator, I
agree with her call to change how we teach, but I remain skeptical that changing what we
do in the classroom alone will somehow transform student expectations and practices. The
entire culture of student learning in the U.S. revolves around teacher centered activities,
and, while this might be changing, the response of students to our “learning centered”
environment remain deeply conditioned by the consistency of traditional teaching practice.
In other words, I am skeptical that the success of learning centered teaching comes from it
being “better” as much as from it being different. Its difference depends upon the relatively
stable landscape teacher centered learning in secondary and post-secondary eduction
today.
3. Do we really share authority? For Weimer, sharing authority in course design is a key
step in shifting from a teacher-centered to a learner-centered classroom. Students may be
reluctant at first, but they enthusiastically respond to opportunities to become involved in
course design, deciding on activities and even point values within a class. I am hesitant to
see this as sharing authority as, in my experience, student decision making is pretty
predictable and in most cases we are not ready to allow students to access inner sanctum
of learning or content goals for the class. In other words, the most important things that
faculty “author” remain set apart from student input. Weimer’s suggestion then, reads more
like a stratagem or teaching trick than actual ceding of authority to students.
That being said, my experience is that students generally want to remain in their comfort
zones and for classes to be more traditional (i.e. teacher-centered) than learning-centered.
While we can certainly load the deck so that students have to share experience of the class
within a learning-centered paradigm (and Weimer advocates as much), there remains a vast
grey area between the edges of our authority as experts and student expectations for a
class. I’ve allowed students to push into the area of course and content goals in the past
and found it fairly disconcerting. How and where to set the limit for shared authority remains

 

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unclear.
———
My skepticism toward book runs the risk of overshadowing some of the really positive things
that I learned from it.
1. The Learning-Centered Classroom. I shifted to more of learning-centered teaching
method because I began to have anxiety attacks when attempting to lecture to a large
auditorium style classroom. I have no idea why these attacks started, but they were
paralyzing and deeply unpleasant with side-effects lasting for days. As a result, I changed
my teaching style and started using classroom time as laboratory time where students
worked to solve historical problems, interrogate primary sources, and produce historical
analysis.
While I no long dread going to teach, I often find myself at loose ends during class time. In
the Scale-Up room, in particular, well designed assignments leave very little for me to do in
the classroom other than watch the students work. Weimer addresses this feeling and, in
essence, told me it was to be expected. That little reassurance, as superficial as it is, makes
a big difference in how I engage the classroom.
2. Student Failure. I am still uncomfortable with assignments that students struggle to
complete successfully, but my tolerance for failure in the classroom is increasing. I think it is
a produce of the learning-centered classroom, in fact. Students have to be given space to
approach problems on their own, make a mess, and then regroup and attack the problem in
another way. Failure in the classroom or on an assignment is a productive prelude to
innovation and, if approached in the right way, authorizes students to find their own path, to
individualize methods, and to own content.
3. Coverage and Uncoverage. I still get obsessed with coverage in my history classes, but
recently I’ve become more and more interested in how LITTLE I can cover before the course
become so generic and so method driven that it loses disciplinary integrity or meaning.

 

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Interestingly, students push back in part because they love the stories that history offers and
they love the vast panorama of the past more than the hard work of analysis, interpretation,
and research. Balancing coverage and content with method and practice comes up again
and again in Weimer’s book giving me confidence to know that I’m not the only one
struggling with the limits of content in a learning-centered environment.
———
Finally, when I put the book down on Saturday afternoon, I did think a good bit about the
large implication of learning-centered teaching. I wondered how this approach speaks to
larger changes in how universities work and what we’re expecting from education. On the
one hand, we can argue that focusing on learners and learning prepares them for a rapidly
changing world where their greatest skill might be their ability to learn.
On the other hand, I always worry that we’re teaching students to exchange traditional
forms of authority (of the teacher, for example) with a less centered and more ubiquitous
form of authority that is both everywhere and nowhere.
I’ll update this post after the seminar this morning.
UPDATE: Instead of updating my post, I’m going to post
(http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/dexter-perkins-und-should-renew-focusteaching-and-learning) a link to an editorial written by Dexter Perkins in our local paper. It’s
relevant because he talks about some of the same kinds of learning centered approaches
that we discussed in seminar yesterday.


 

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The Goals for Archaeological Blogging
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/the-goals-for-archaeologicalblogging/
Tue, 11 Mar 2014 12:46:19 +0000
The final prompt in the 2014 SAA Blogging Carnival was pretty direct and serves to get me
thinking about (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/an-article-abstracton-archaeological-blogging/) the abstract on archaeological blogging that I submitted to
Colleen Morgan’s proposed volume of Internet Archaeology. Andrew Reinhard, punk
archaeologist, musician, and director of publications at the American School of Classical
Studies at Athens, has agreed to co-author my contribution and to contribute his thoughts
on how blogging (or the larger constellation of tools and genres produced on the web) will
shape the future of archaeological publication.
So (http://dougsarchaeology.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/blogging-archaeologyresponses-to-febs-question-or-how-i-killed-blogarch-and-final-question/) this prompt is a
good first step to getting a few of me thoughts down:
The last question is where are you/we going with blogging or would you it like to go? I leave
it up to you to choose between reflecting on you and your blog personally or all of
archaeology blogging/bloggers or both. Tells us your goals for blogging. Or if you have
none why that is? Tell us the direction that you hope blogging takes in archaeology.
From the start my goals with this blog and for archaeological blogging in general was to
produce an alternative mode of scholarly communication. At first, it was directly largely to
people interested in my fieldwork projects in Cyprus, but by midway through my first year
blogging, I realized that I had access to a much more diverse audience that included both
scholars, non-academics, students, teachers, and interested lurkers from around the world.


 

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As I watched my page views and visitors slowly increase over the first few years of this blog
and a few fearless colleagues start their own blogs, we began to discuss the potential of
our efforts to disrupt the standard methods of scholarly communication. Academics love to
imagine themselves to be rebellious trailblazers, but mostly we’re as conventional as anyone
who sits in cramped offices under florescent lights taking a paycheck and “doin’ work”. At
the same time, we do have the freedom to be a bit more unconventional than the average
cubicle jockey and we have generally been trained to challenge authority.
It is hardly a revolution to see blogging as a more interesting mode of academic
communication than the traditional scholarly routine of poorly-attended conference papers,
barely-read (much less cited) articles, and the skimmed battery of echo-chamber forged
book reviews. The appeal of academic blogging might be as simple as the regularity,
visibility, and immediacy of the content. But it might also be that bloggers have generally
developed their pages as personal vehicles and, like our favorite teachers in high school
and college, weave in their own personality throughout the posts. In contrast to the
austerely “scientifical” prose favored in traditional academic publications, blogs and
individual blog posts can be (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/not-agood-paper-the-art-of-digital-archaeology/) informal,
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/10/16/thinking-about-trash-in-the-mancamps-of-north-dakota/)
provisional, (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/08/19/an-open-letter-to-ournew-provost-and-dean/)
flippant, (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/fitness-and-thearchaeologist/) humorous, (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/somecricket-archaeology/) random, and
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/09/25/does-a-university-need-a-library-aresponse-to-a-response/) polemical without undermining their integrity as a academic
products. For many of us, the blog carries the our more dynamic classroom personas into
public space and toward the realm of academic publication.
Along the way, our blogs develop loyal readers, commenters (especially when combined
with the social media), and (http://englianos.wordpress.com/) like
 

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(http://kourelis.blogspot.com/) minded (http://corinthianmatters.com/) fellow(http://electricarchaeology.ca/) bloggers (http://englianos.wordpress.com/) have begun to
formulate a new perspective on the long-standing academic back-channel. This group not
only believes in the existence of (http://middlesavagery.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/stopsaying-archaeology-is-actually-boring/) a community of people who are interested in
academic archaeology, but also feels it appropriate to share with this community the
process of archaeological thinking from the first random scribbles on an idea to the fully
formed working papers and publications. The unveiling of the archaeological process works
to demystify the “science” of archaeological thought and to invest the community in the
process as much as the product.
The final step in the disruptive potential of archaeological blogging is returning to the
traditional realm of scholarly publications and somehow infusing it with the sense of
community, transparency, excitement, and energy of blogging. Some of this has already
happened with experiments in open peer review, comment enabled publications, a
commitment to working papers, and deeper engagements with social media. The future of
academic publications in archaeology and how willing they are to reflect trends in blogging
remains unclear, but it seems like the nature of the conversation in our discipline has begun
to change, and it’s cool to have been part of that transformation.


 

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Scale-Up Midterm Report
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/scale-up-midterm-report/
Wed, 12 Mar 2014 13:22:05 +0000
This past week I finished grading the midterms for my History 101 class in a Scale-Up
classroom. I also submitted (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/arevised-draft-teaching-history-in-a-scale-up-classroom/) a revised draft of the article that I
co-authored with my T.A. last spring reflecting on our teaching in this room. So it seemed
like a good time to stop and take stock of how my semester has gone and some thoughts
on my future work in this room.
1. Midterm Evaluation. The students worked over 4 weeks on midterm exams. Each table
produced, one 3000 word essay with sections on the Greek, Roman, and Medieval world.
The most striking thing about the midterm exams came not from the exams themselves
which were of slightly higher than average quality, but from a brief quiz that I gave hours
before the midterm was due. The quiz asked them to reflect on their midterm exams and to
identify one thing that they would change if they could.
I naively expected most of the answers to this quiz to focus on stronger theses, better use
of primary and secondary source evidence, or even one more round of proofreading, and,
indeed, students mentioned these issues. More surprisingly, however, were the number of
students who commented on some aspect of process. Whether it was the way the group
organized their workflow to produce the chapter, the time allowed between various drafts
and revisions, or the distribution of work among members of the group. In fact, a number of
students admitted to not working hard enough or contributing enough to the group’s efforts.
The frankness of the students’ self evaluation was shocking and refreshing. These were not
anonymous. The students clearly recognized that how they worked as a group to write the
chapter had a directly relationship to the quality of their work, and the changes that they
offered were process oriented rather than simply outcome oriented. As this class has

 

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emphasized the close relationship of methods and processes in the production of
knowledge, it was heartening to see that students have internalized this approach to
learning.
2. Repetition and Learning. One the shortcomings of my previous class in the Scale-Up
room was that we spent all semester writing a single chapter of a history textbook. This
allowed us to spend a good bit of time managing research, structuring the chapter and
revising the prose, but we only engaged this process one time through. There was no
repetition to reinforce or refine the processes developed over the course of the semester,
but the end result of our careful work was fairly refined.
The midterm quality was not nearly as good as the work from the final project last semester,
but I’m hoping that the opportunity to reflect and revise their process will improve the final
product at the end of the semester. It has taken a bit of discipline on my part to allow
groups to find their own work rhythms and to turn in products that I know could be better
with more time and revisions. At the same time, I think bringing a part of the class to an end
and presenting a final evaluation has a kind of impact that revisions and other provision
assessments do not have. In short, the students need the grade to establish their own
sense of progress and performance in the class.
3. Peer Review and Consequences. My students are terrible peer reviewers. In the most
recent round of peer critiques I provided them with a template that asked them to award a
grade to the paper that they peer reviewed. No matter how bad the paper was, how
incomplete the ideas, and how poorly proofread the prose, my students found ways to give
it a high-B or A. This astounding act of generosity promised to leave their fellow students
buoyed with confidence at their progress in the class and free to spend spring break taking
some well-deserved down time.
Of course, this kind of uncritical engagement with their fellow students’ work is not at all
helpful to anyone. While the concerned pedagogue in me worries that the my criteria for
grading are not clear or that the students have not internalized the key components of a
good paper, the practical teacher sees these overly optimistic grades as a result of a

 

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reluctance to engage critically their fellow students’ work and a tendency to put a superficial
loyalty to classmates over a longterm commitment to collective learning. The pedagogue’s
concerns are fixed by articulating once again, and maybe with different words, the
expectations for these papers; the teacher’s concerns are best resolved by some mildly
apocalyptic penalties meted out to students who offer uncritically inflated provisional grades
to their fellow students. Middle ground is probably best in this case.
———
With my first short article submitted on my experiences teaching in the Scale-Up room, I’ve
begun to think about a follow up article or two. While I’m slated for sabbatical next year, I’m
sorely tempted to ask to teach in the room next spring as part of a three year research cycle
that focuses on three iterations of my class in this kind of learning-centered environment.
That would be the topic of a second article of a trilogy. The third article would look at the
relationship between learning-centered spaces and the changing architecture of higher
education with references to online teaching, MOOCs, Scale-Up rooms, and traditional
lecture bowls. This paper will take some research and more careful consideration, but
(http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/teaching-thursday-thepanopticon-and-online-teaching/) as this blog has suggested, our growing interest in
process and making “invisible learning” visible has clear echoes with 20th century modes of
industrial educations that run counter to disciplinary tendencies to history (or the larger
humanities project) as craft.
For more of my reflections on teaching in the
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/scale-up/) Scale-Up go here.


 

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Pyla-Kokkokinokremos and the Political Geography of Cyprus in the
Second Millennium BC
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/pyla-kokkokinokremos-and-thepolitical-geography-of-cyprus-in-the-second-millennium-bc/
Thu, 13 Mar 2014 12:56:16 +0000
i
Dimitri Nakassis brought to my attention that Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project
Alumnus, Michael Brown, had published
(http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S006824541300004X) an article in Annual of the British
School at Athens on the political geography of southeast Cyprus in the Late Cypriot period.
The article derives from his dissertation which focused on the settlement landscape of
southeast Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age and has already informed our analysis of the Pyla
littoral.
Brown beings with a discussion of the Gialias River valley that flows from the Troodos
foothills north of Larnaka to the east coast at Enkomi. His article become more interesting
for readers of this blog when he takes on the fraught task of undermining the political
orthodoxy that the prominent, Late Bronze Age site of atop the Kokkinokremos plateau was
somehow associated with the arrival of Aegean settlers.
title="kokkinokremos_2007_.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/kokkinokremos_2007_.jpg"
alt="Kokkinokremos 2007" width="450" height="299" border="0" />
Vassos Karageorghis, Pyla-Kokkinokremos’s most recent excavator, has tirelessly advanced
this interpretation of the site and while scholars have generally met this analysis with
skepticism, the impressive location of Kokkinokremos, its casemate style architecture, and
seemingly abrupt appearance in the Late Cypriot IIC period (and equally abrupt
disappearance around 1200 BC) has underscored the unusual nature of this site. From the


 

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perspective of political geography, its location is curious as it represents one of three large
settlement sites on Larnaka bay alongside Hala Sultan Tekke and Bronze Age Kition. It
remains difficult to understand the political or economic circumstances that allowed two
contemporary settlement to develop very close to each other (Hala Sultan Tekke and Kition)
and a third some 10 km to the east.
Brown focused some significant attention on the area around Pyla-Kokkinokremos and
followed our general arguments from various PKAP publications: the main asset available
for the development of Pyla littoral and Pyla-Kokkinokremos was likely the presence of a
now-infilled embayment that formed a natural harbor at the site. Moreover, for the Bronze
Age Brown has pointed out that there is evidence for earlier settlement in vicinity of PylaKokkinokremos at the sites of Steno, Pyla-Stavro, and Verghies. Each of these smaller, less
monumental sites, demonstrated a population who may have already availed themselves to
some of the environmental assets of the region.
For Brown, the catalyst for the development of the monumental site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos
was the maritime connections available through the natural embayment at the base of the
plateau. Without entirely dismissing site’s fortified character, he gently suggests that the
casemate wall was more architecturally imposing than militarily robust. There is evidence albeit unpublished and only obliquely mentioned in this article (“although possibly not an
uninterrupted ‘fortification’”) - that the casemate walls had openings to the exterior of the
settlement. Brown noted that this would not have detracted from the appearance of the
walls at the site, but would have reduced their quality as fortification. Perhaps, then, the wall
around Kokkinokremos was more of a mark of civic identity in the region and its orientation
toward the sea.
The maritime orientation of the site perhaps indicated strong connections with the Levant.
Brown concludes his article with a discussion of Alashiya, a word that might refer to part of
Cyprus in Syrian and Babylonian texts. While not all scholars agree that Alashiya refers to
Cyprus, Alashiya was noted as a source of copper. Brown offers the interesting observation
that the site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos is only 10 km from the copper mining area around
Troulli which was exploited at least as late as the Roman period and maybe as early as the

 

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Bronze Age. Perhaps, then, the location of Kokkinokremos allowed the community to
engage productively with metallurgical resources, avoid the concentration of economic and
political power at Kition and Hala Sultan Tekke.
Brown’s article summarizes a raft of interpretations of the Pyla littoral that both developed
during and informed the interpretation of this region that will appear in the monograph
describing our work in the wider Pyla microregion. It is good to see some of Michael’s work
in print and I hope we can incorporate citations to this article in our volume.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/14/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-91/
Fri, 14 Mar 2014 13:19:56 +0000
With yesterday’s springlike weather, I’ve started to count down the days to the end of the
semester (and (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/my-plan-to-notwaste-my-sabbatical/) my sabbatical beyond). My students aren’t helping by noting that
“after spring break, the semester is basically over.” There are six weeks left!
More to the point, I have three substantial projects that are due by the end of the semester,
so I can’t afford to relax yet.
I can, however, allow myself a little distraction with some quick hits and varia.
• (http://corinthianmatters.com/2014/03/13/call-for-papers-byzantine-maritime-technologyand-trade/) A Call for Paper for the 2015 Archaeological Institute of America meeting:
Byzantine Maritime Technology and Trade.
• (http://englianos.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/gender-disparities-in-archaeology/) On a
related note, gender disparities in the archaeology based on the 2014 Archaeological
Institute of America’s Annual Meeting.
• (http://asorblog.org/?p=6979) Micoarchaeology in Israel.
• (http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/hagia-sophias-from-museums-tomosques/) From museums to mosques in Turkey.
• (http://middlesavagery.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/cfpo-then-dig-the-senses-andaesthetics-of-archaeological-science/) One more Call for Papers: The Senses and


 

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Aesthetics in Archaeological Science.
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/08/world/middleeast/among-the-wounded-in-syriaswar-ancient-history.html?_r=0) More on the destruction of Syria’s archaeological heritage.
• (http://vimeo.com/87816089) And along similar lines, the cats of Istanbul.
• (http://projects.au.dk/sacredtravel/single-event/artikel/est-is-hosting-its-first-symposium/)
Another Call for Papers: Excavating Pilgrimage.
• (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2577292/An-800-year-old-cliffhangerRemains-medieval-monk-discovered-legs-poking-cliff.html) Monk legs in a cliff and
(http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/03/08/usc-archeology-students-help-dig-upremains-of-famed-horse/) horse bones ready to be moved.
• (http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/01/a-visit-to-the-weirdest-archaeological-site-innorth-america/) A really strange article about a strange archaeological site.
• (http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/03/end-of-the-world-cinema/) This will be a strange
site in the future.
• (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/11/ancient-egyptians-cursed-u-s-by-claiming-itfor-demonic-lord-baal-spiritual-archaeologist-says/) Back in the day, Egypt cursed the U.S.
• (https://stackedit.io/#) I sort of like StackEdit as a markup editor.
• (http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2014/03/happy-birthday-web/) Happy birthday
interwebs from the Library of Congress.
• (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2014/03/09/expertise/) Some thoughts about expertise in
audiophile circles.


 

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• (http://tomwaitsmap.com/) A map of Tom Waits.
• (http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2014/01/nirvana-for-two-year-olds.html)
How to teach a kid about Nirvana.
• (http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2014/03/the-sadness-of-t-pain.html) TPain is sad.
• (http://www.inlander.com/spokane/tiny-houses/Content?oid=2274657) Tiny houses.
• What I’m reading: Bill McKibben, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/enough-staying-human-inan-engineered-age/oclc/51093100) Enough. (2003).
• What I’m listening to: The Twilight Sad, No One Can Ever Know; New Order, Low Life.


 

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Coins, Raids, and Dates in 7th Century Cyprus
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/coins-raids-and-dates-in-7thcentury-cyprus/
Mon, 17 Mar 2014 13:38:41 +0000
I plan to dedicate most of this week to putting words on the page for an article on
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/settlement-on-cyprus-in-the-7thand-8th-centuries/) settlement on Cyprus in the 7th and 8th centuries. The article will start
with a brief treatment of the difficulties associated understanding settlement in this period.
These difficulties which range from problems with the ceramic chronology to the
dependence on poorly understood historical events to date archaeological evidence make
the second half of the 7th century a particularly opaque period in the history of Cyprus.
The first issue that I’m working to tackle is what I’ve termed “the Heraclius problem”. The
emperor Heraclius (r. 610-641) yas always had a special place in the history of Cyprus.
One of the first moves in the future emperor’s revolt was securing the island of Cyprus in
608 at which time he began to mint coins in his own name on the island. His efforts to
secure Cyprus revealed an understanding of the island’s strategic significance for
controlling the eastern Mediterranean. Heraclius’s appreciation of the island’s strategical
value continued in his conduct of the Persian Wars. The island represented an important
staging area for Roman forces cycling in and out of the east. The importance of the island
as a base for campaigns in Syria, Egypt, and southern Asia Minor likely accounted for the
interest shown by Arab forces in the middle decades of the 7th century and their eventual
stationing of a garrison on Cyprus, probably on Paphos.
One result of the island’s special relationship with Heraclius and the key role that it played
as a staging area for 7th century campaigns in the Levant is the ubiquity of coins minted
during the reign of Heraclius. In fact, coins minted under Heraclius are the most common
issues from the 5th-7th century on the island. This likely reflects the issuing of coins to pay
troops moving back and forth through the island and the coins minted by Heraclius on the

 

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island from 608-610. Coins from Heraclius’s successor Constans II (r. 641-668) are almost
as common. The number of coins drops precipitously after the reign of Constans II largely
owing to the decline of regional mints and the political and economic ambiguity of the island
as it passed into the strange condominium period during which both Arabs and Byzantines
had some authority on the island.
The abrupt drop in coins after the reign of Heraclius and Constans II poses an interesting
problem for archaeology on the island. Because the number of coins declined so
dramatically, we can probably assume that coins of Heraclius stayed in circulation for at
least a generation, if not more. As a result, the use of coins of Heraclius to date
archaeological features is a particular challenge. In the archaeology of Cyprus, however, this
is a common occurrence. For example, coins of Heraclius date at least a dozen of the 70odd Early Christian basilicas on the island. In most cases on Cyprus, the evidence from
ceramics or other datable artifacts from stratigraphic contexts does not accompany the
evidence from coins. Coins alone appear to date the structures.
The use of coins to date buildings, destruction levels, and stratigraphy is problematic on
archaeological grounds. Despite the appeal of coins as firmly dated artifacts, they are only
useful if they are the latest object in a level. Moreover, the absence of coins from the 8th
century on the island means that any dating by coins alone becomes problematic because
of the uneven supply of currency to the island.
The use of coins to date these basilicas to the middle decades of the 7th century reinforces
arguments for the collapse of Cypriot settlement and society at this time. In particular, the
coins of Heraclius tend to support arguments from the destruction of these buildings as a
result of the Arab raids on the island around 650. Of the 70-odd basilicas on the island,
excavators have argued that a third of them were damaged or fell out of use over the
second half of the 7th century and attributed this trend to the Arab raids.
I sometimes joke with my ceramicist friends that our continued efforts to trace the use and
production of traditional Late Roman red-slipped wares and storage amphora into the 8th
century will eventual force us to change the dates on some well-known emperors. The

 

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“funny” is that I assume we can use ceramics to date coins and then to date political events
just as coins have often been used to date ceramics. The ongoing revision of ceramic
chronologies and a more critical treatment how coins work in an archaeological context are
important steps in understanding 7th century settlement on the island.


 

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Giving Oral Exams in an Undergraduate History Class
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/giving-oral-exams-in-anundergraduate-history-class/
Tue, 18 Mar 2014 12:58:48 +0000
This past week I decided to try our oral exams in my history 240 class. This class is
required for all majors, and the first half of class is basically a survey of historical thought
from Herodotus to the digital
age.(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/oral-exams-in-a-midlevelhistory-class/) I explain my rationale for trying oral exams here, and I promised to report
back with the results.
The exam was 20 minutes with two 10 minute questions. Many students took about a
minute to think through the question and to compose their answer with many using a
notecard to organize their thoughts. Then they general declaimed for 3-5 minutes before
running out of steam. At that point, I prodded them to clarify points, to expand on particular
ideas, or, most frequently,
Here are my observations.
1. Different format, same issues. My greatest fear with an essay exam is that the question
itself worked to obscure the best possible responses. In a traditional written exam, I knew
that the student’s solitary struggle with an essay made it impossible for me to intervene and
correct a possible misunderstanding, set them gently on the right path, or encourage them
to dig just a bit deeper. My idea was that an oral exam would allow me to intervene to fix
potential problems, probe the limits of what students understood, and gently guide them
through a historical problem.
After sitting through 4 hours of oral exams, I feel much better that my written exams work.
The same issues arose. The best students were able to explore the connections between

 

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primary sources, individuals, and events. The less good students struggled with the most
basic recall of names, dates, and evidence. Even with my gentle nudges and prompts, some
students struggled to support even the broadest generalizations with specific details. If
anything, the oral exam environment was more frustrating than mediocre exams because the
students lost a bit of autonomy in how they could obfuscate what they didn’t know. In the
oral exam environment, I tried to nudge them to disclose information that I considered basic
and vital rather than allowing them to craft an exam that papered over or simply avoided
challenges.
2. Nerves. I was shocked by how nervous the students were and how much the nerves
inhibited their performance. This is a small class - 10 students - and the classroom is
comfortably relaxed. In the one-on-one environment of an oral exam, however, the relaxed
classroom environment turned to darting eyes and nervous fidgets. I held the exam in a
student lounge which I hoped to be a neutral venue. The sun was out and the weather warm
enough for me to open a window. I tried to chat a bit with the students to break the intensity
of the mood. I thought I did everything I could to defuse test anxiety.
Despite my efforts, even the best students struggled to relax for the first half of the 20
minute test. I was heartening, however, to see some students get into a groove by about the
10 minute mark and answer their second question better than their first. If I do this in the
future, I have to find a method for getting the students to relax (at least some) prior to the
most rigorously evaluated part of the oral exam.
3. Facing the Students. Perhaps the most valuable part of the oral exam is facing the
students as they struggle to articulate answers, look for evidence, and respond to my
prompts and challenges. There was something deeply humanizing about the oral exam
experience.
Some of my colleagues have taken to providing oral feedback on papers and exams using
our course management system software. They feel that this helps them to connect with
their students in ways that written responses do not. While I haven’t experimented with this
particular technique, I think the oral exam shares some obvious similarities. It reminded me

 

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how foreign the concepts that I am trying to teach are to the students. The idea of evidence,
specifics, and argument are so fundamental to how historians approach the world. It was
revealing to see students struggle to articulate arguments, marshall evidence, and piece
together causality.
This experience has reminded me
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/slow/) to slow down and to model
more explicitly and clearly the process of using evidence to support arguments, being
specific, and finding connections.


 

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Gender at the American Schools of Oriental Research Annual
Meeting
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/gender-at-the-american-schoolsof-oriental-research-annual-meeting/
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 13:33:27 +0000
Last week (http://englianos.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/gender-disparities-inarchaeology/) Dimitri Nakassis wrote an insightful post documenting the percentages of
men and women at member organized panels at the Archaeological Institute of America’s
annual meeting last year. This post was a response
(http://dougsarchaeology.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/gender-inequalities-in-archaeologyplays-out-in-nsf-funding/) to a short study on Doug’s Archaeology blog which highlighted
the disparities between men and women in NSF archaeology grants. As a member of the
program committee at ASOR, I thought I should run the numbers from our annual
conference and the good folks (especially LeeAnn Barnes Gordon!) obligingly sent along
the participants, panels, and papers in table form for the 2013 annual meeting. You can
check my numbers against (http://www.asor.org/am/2013/schedule_2013.shtml) those in
the 2013 annual meeting program here.
My findings from ASOR more or less parallel Dimitri’s from the AIA. First, I looked at
Member Organized Panels. These are panels where the organizers of the panel participate
directly in inviting, evaluating, and organizing sessions. 44% (N=12) of these panels were
organized by men, 30% (N=8) by women, and 26% (N=7) by both men and women. These
numbers are similar to the numbers from the ASOR sponsored panels. These are essentially
standing sessions at the annual meeting and the chairs are selected from among the willing:
49% (N=17) were chaired by men, 40 (N=14) by women, and 11% (N=4) by both.
At member organized panels chaired by men, 66% of the papers were given by men and 34
% were given by women. This is identical to the numbers Dimitri produced for the AIA


 

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annual meeting. At panels chaired by women, 46% of the papers were given by men and
54% were given by women. In panels organized by both men and women, 82% of the
papers were given by men.
The numbers produced above refer to only the presenter as listed in the ASOR program,
but because I had the program in a tabular form, I was also able to look at coauthors of
papers. I didn’t break these down according to session type because I wasn’t sure that it
was relevant. It is interesting that of the 56 papers listing a man as the primary authors, 45
had male coauthors (80%) and 19 had female coauthors (33%) with 9 (16%) having both.
(These numbers do not add up to 100% because it is possible to have both a man and a
woman as a coauthor!) Overall numbers are a bit more charitable with the 54 papers had
82 male coauthors and 27 female (75% versus 25%).
For 51 papers authored by women with coauthors, 57% (N=29) had female coauthors,
53% (N=27) had male coauthors, and 14% (N=7) had both. 56% of the total coauthors
on women authored papers were men and 44% were women.
Finally, I can offer some overall numbers. 58% of the named authors on papers are men and
42% are women. 55% of papers list men as the primary author and 45% list women.
Some final thoughts. Since I’ve been on the program committee there has been a
consistent interest in using the annual meeting to influence the shape of the profession. For
example, we have implemented an appearance policy designed to ensure spots are
available in the conference for a wide range of perspectives and to prevent the conference
from becoming dominated by a small group of ambitious and aggressive presenters. I
wonder whether we need to think a bit about how to use the annual meeting to promote a
more gender balance in the profession.


 

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Writing as Process and the 7th Century on Cyprus
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/20/writing-as-process-and-the-7thcentury-on-cyprus/
Thu, 20 Mar 2014 12:21:16 +0000
Spring break is one of my favorite times in my busy semester because for the last few
years, I’ve been able to dedicate this time to a sustained writing project. In a normal
semester, my writing has tended to get broken into tiny fragments of time - a morning here
or an afternoon there - between teaching responsibilities, service, and other faculty duties.
The result of this situation is that anything I write tends to be highly granular and composed
of tiny 300 word snippets cobbled together and smoothed over in editing.
This is fine in some circumstances, but is hardly conducive to producing sustained and
careful arguments. Spring break writing (and this goes for winter break and late, post-field
season, summer writing too) holds forth the elusive opportunity to write in a series of 1000
word chunks over the course of five consecutive days (until a wife-mandated “rest day/date
night”!).
What this sustained writing has helped me to see are the little strands that make intuitive
connections communicable. For my paper on Cyprus in the 7th century, for example, I’ve
been able to notice the arguments for the appearance of handmade pottery in 7th century
contexts on Cyprus and the disappearance of large issue coins are interrelated in my
argument. Handmade pottery appears in assemblages alongside both imported fine wares
and locally produced cooking wares indicating that it was not a response to the abrupt end
of regional or local trade and production. Instead, it would appear that handmade table and
utilities wares appeared on Cyprus in a gradual way as a local response to slowly changing
pattern of access. As for coins, the disappearance of large issues on Cyprus has
sometimes been seen as evidence for abrupt economic decline, and there is little doubt that
the disappearance of large issues after the reign of Constans II indicates some kind of
economic change on the island. At the same time,

 

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(https://www.academia.edu/398715/_Problems_in_Interpreting_Rural_and_Urban_Settlem
ent_in_Southern_Greece_AD_365-700._) Guy Sanders has noted that we are likely
missing many of the small issues (nummi or minimi) that circulated throughout Late Antiquity
because they were so small that they slipped through the excavator’s sieves. Like
handmade pottery, these tiny coins served to shape Late Antique life on Cyprus in a way not
entirely visible to the 20th century excavator.
Nummi and handmade pottery have parallels with the ephemeral character of short term
settlement to the careful eye of the contemporary survey archaeologist. We know that local
communities throughout history adopted flexible strategies to manage agricultural risk even
during times of apparent economic, political, and social stability. During times of unrest or
rapid change, like the middle decades of the 7th century, there would be a tendency to
adopt more flexible approaches to survival and to shy away from longterm investments that
would be more visible to the archaeologist 1500 years later. Like handmade pottery and
nummi, ordinary features of everyday life would have persisted as low risk strategies and
objects like imported pottery or large issue coins would decline as communities and
individuals became less inclined toward significant investments or more substantial
economic transactions warranting the use of larger coins.
The fragments of my writing over the course of a normal semester reflect the day-to-day
strategies adopted to survive 21st century academic as a moderately productive scholar.
The long, lazy writing days of spring break allow higher risk strategies to unfold, and these
included interrogating intuitive connections and making obvious their relationships.


 

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Friday Quick Hits and Varia
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/friday-quick-hits-and-varia-40/
Fri, 21 Mar 2014 12:52:04 +0000
Spring in North Dakota comes in like a lion and goes out like delicious grilled lamb. I have
no idea what that means, but we’re under some kind of winter storm warning right now.
There’s snow, wind, and some kind of airborne slush as well. Happy Spring!
title="Scene.jpg" src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/scene.jpg"
alt="Scene" width="450" height="158" border="0" />
• (http://www.lagazzettadelmezzogiorno.it/english/artemis-fresco-stolen-from-pompeiino702848) Stolen fresco from Pompeii, a serious bummer.
• Thanks to the American School of Classical Studies and their efforts to make their journal
Hesperia accessible to as many people as possible,
(http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/publications/hesperia/article/79/3/385-415) there is
now more Caraher on the internet.
• The University of California has followed a similar route and
(http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft6k4007sx;brand=ucpress)
finding this book online was very helpful yesterday.
• (http://www.asor.org/news/2014/03/mfm2014.html) It’s time for ASOR’s March
Fellowship Madness!
• (http://chronicle.com/article/16-Million-Grant-Will-Better/145399/) A $1.6 million grant to
help Ph.D.s in History prepare better for careers outside of academia.


 

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• Along similar lines, (http://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectiveson-history/march-2014/new-data-on-the-history-ba) the number of B.A.s in History
continue to decline, I think, or something. Where is Nate Silver when we need him (see
below).
• (http://religionforbreakfast.com/2014/03/13/how-did-early-christians-view-noahs-ark/)
Early Christian views of Noah’s Ark.
• (http://melissaridleyelmes.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/its-not-on-the-syllabus-cultivatingcollegiality-as-a-graduate-student/) Some interesting advice to graduate faculty and
graduate students on cultivating collegiality.
• (http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2014/03/18/290236647/an-imaginary-townbecomes-real-then-not-true-story) The perils of pretend
towns! (http://www.viralnova.com/takes-pictures-of-model-town/) And here’s another,
perhaps more cool, fake town!

(http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dc_home_where_minor_threat_played_first_show_hits
_the_market/8084?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=Sunday+February+9th,+
2014&amp;utm_medium=headline) A little bit of punk archaeology.
• People love Nate Silver so much and (http://fivethirtyeight.com/) people love his newly
refocused FiveThreeEight site, (http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117068/nate-silversfivethirtyeight-emptiness-data-journalism) it’s refreshing to read some critique.
• (http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n04/rebecca-solnit/diary) I just really like Rebecca Solnit’ stuff.
And (http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/13/5488558/danah-boyd-interview-the-era-offacebook-is-an-anomaly) I also like danah boyd.
• What I’m reading: C. Stewart, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/domes-of-heaven-thedomed-basilicas-of-cyprus/oclc/320836271) Domes of Heaven: The Domed Basilicas of

 

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Cyprus. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Indiana. 2008.
• What I’m listening to: War on Drugs, Lost in the Dream; Unwound, Rat Conspiracy;
Lanterns on the Lake, Until the Colors Run.
• (http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/the-war-on-drugs-gets-ready-to-play-thebig-rooms/) Read this about the War on Drug’s album.


 

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The Slow Movement and Modernity
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/the-slow-movement-andmodernity/
Mon, 24 Mar 2014 12:11:40 +0000
I keep turning over in my head ideas for a contribution to
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/a-special-issue-of-north-dakotaquarterly-slow/) North Dakota Quarterly’s issue dedicated to the slow movement that I’m
co-editing this fall ((http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/a-specialissue-of-north-dakota-quarterly-slow/) go here for the call for papers!). While I suspect I’ll
write something on slow archaeology, I spent some time this weekend with Paul Halstead’s
new book (http://www.worldcat.org/title/two-oxen-ahead-pre-mechanized-farming-in-themediterranean/oclc/859168771) Two Oxen Ahead: Pre-Mechanized Farming in the
Mediterranean (2014) and it got me thinking about our current fascination with slow in the
context of the preindustrial world.
Halstead’s book looks, in part, on the rhythms of pre mechanized farming in Greece through
several decades of ethnographic and archaeological research. One thing that comes
through in his work is that very little about the process of farming in the preindustrial world
was properly slow. In fact, during crucial times of the year - like when harvesting and
threshing overlap or when multiple fields require plowing - there is constant pressure on the
farmer to move from one task to the next. Halstead’s informant on Amorgos harvested in the
morning, transported around mid-day, and threshed in the afternoon. Time pressure also
accompanied sowing and plowing routines in the fall when delaying by even a day risks the
loss of seed to birds or miserable situation of having to plow waterlogged fields. Constant
communication with members of the community as well as strategic collaboration ensured
that farmers kept abreast of situations present in distant or dispersed fields.
At the same time I was reading this, I was reading over some of the buzz about the
unplugging movement and the(http://nationaldayofunplugging.com/about-us/) National Day

 

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of Unplugging (March 7-8). The idea behind unplugging relates somehow to an ancient
practice of taking a day of rest where you disengage from the rest of the world. Whether the
organizers have understood these “ancient” ideas correctly or not is less a concern than the
general indulgence in anachronistic notions among unpluggers and slow advocates. They
seems to hang onto this romantic notion that somehow life was slower, less rushed, less
dominated by the press of time in the past. Advocates of the infamous “work-life balance”
likewise harken back to a mythical day when work and life were sufficiently well defined to
be set in balance against one another.
The irony, of course, is that questioning the value of a hectic pace of life is a luxury available
only in modern, industrialized societies. In other words, it is a profoundly modern indulgence
that we can slow down without fear of crops being ruined and we can disengage from our
social networks without losing information vital to our survival as individuals or a family.
Does this irony undermine the basic idea that a slower, less distracted pace of life is better?
I don’t think it does. Certainly, the intense pace of life experienced by farmers in a
preindustrial economy was not conducive to long, healthy lives. In fact, Halstead points out
that the toil of harvesting alone was something that 20 or 30 years olds could endure best,
but older folks - you know, in their 40s! - avoided, reminds us that the physical exertions of
premodern life were intense and, by modern standards, debilitating. Maybe remembering
this will help us keep our rhetoric in check a bit. Slowing down and unplugging are modern
indulgences available to a very small number of individuals in the wealthy, western world.
We should celebrate these opportunities, but always realize that they very tools that we
blame for the robbing us of work/life balance are the the same tools that have allowed us to
define work and life as separate entities.


 

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http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/25/3869/
Tue, 25 Mar 2014 11:01:44 +0000
A simple post today in memory of a student that we lost over spring break.
In memoriam:
Matthew J. Heisler


 

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Day-to-Day Life in the Scale-Up Room
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/26/day-to-day-life-in-the-scale-uproom/
Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:40:05 +0000
My brother recently asked me to explain what went on in my Scale-Up class. He's a middle
school principal with more than serious interest in pedagogical innovation, technology, and
student engagement. I realize that over the past couple of years of writing on it, I probably
haven't described what I do in the classroom very effectively.
For those who haven’t followed (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/scaleup/) my adventures of teaching history in a Scale-Up classroom, I’ll give a quick overview.
The Scale-Up classroom accommodates over 150 students at 20, 9-student tables. Each
group of 9 works around 3 laptops in 3, 3-person pods.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/07/teaching-history-in-a-scale-upclassroom-2-0/) The goal of my class in the Scale-Up room is to produce a textbook and
each table works on 3, 3000 word chapters over the course of the semester. The three
chapters cover chronologically the Greek, Roman, and Medieval world and each table
writes on either cultural, political, social, economic, or military history for each period.
Of course, last nights class was probably not a model, but I can at least explain what I
should have done (and what I did) to demonstrate that some things work and others do not.
I start most classes with a quiz, and like almost everything in the class, the prompt for the
quiz is delivered by a powerpoint slide. Typically it's a maintenance quiz that asks the
students to demonstrate that they did something outside of class. Often, I ask the students
to summarize a critique given to written work on the class wiki. I'll prompt them with a simple
powerpoint slide and say: "Having read the peer reviews of your chapter, what is the most
important thing to revise in the coming week?" Or, in other cases, I'll offer a quiz that will
prompt them to demonstrate that they've done their reading for the week "Brainstorm 5 key

 

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issues or pieces of evidence relevant to your chapter."
This week, I went a bit outside of the norm and let the group to brainstorm a bit on their
topic before I asked them to take an individual quiz on the work of the group. I thought it
would interesting to see how much student engagement there was. We'll see when we
have graded the quizzes this next week.
After some kind of quiz, I usually have a short lecture that frames the week's work. Lately, for
example, I've been troubleshooting problems with group dynamics so I tend to focus on
ways that help groups work more efficiently. Usually I also offer some modest comments on
content as well.
After this interlude (when student who take more time with their quiz can finish up), I usually
move on to group work starting with the three-person pod. On my best days, the pod work
builds upon the individual quizzes. If the quiz features an individual brainstorm, then the pod
work asks the students to bring together their quiz answers into a synthetic list.
Pedagogically, the goal is to have students discuss their answers with each other and toss
out poor ones and build on the good answers. Realistically, some pods work better than
others and some pods engage the process of compare and critique at a higher level than
others. I offer little in the way of direction for these exercises.
As pod work is well underway, my GTA and I typically circulate the room constantly
responding to questions by pods and tables. In most cases, questions at this point revolve
around clarifying expectations or definitions. For example, students struggle to differentiate
between social and cultural history, and since these are two chapter topics, they often
request some guidance. Depending on how well a table works together, the pod work often
develops directly into table level work.
The next step is generally bringing pod level work together as a table. This is when we move
from collecting evidence as an individual and a pod to organizing evidence as a table. This
is where my GTA and I have to work the most. Groups struggle to find ways to integrate the
work produced by individuals and pods. At this point we usually emphasize the importance

 

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of The most obvious struggle is that the table wants to both validate the work done by
individuals and pods and use existing evidence collected by the pods rather than collect
more evidence.
Most of our intervention involves critiquing the table’s thesis statements and helping groups
organize their ideas into a cohesive chapter. In some cases, we provide nudge groups in a
particular direction particularly if they appear to be heading off track or taking a tack that will
be difficult for them. In other case, we make sure groups working on adjacent periods (e.g.
the cultural history of the Roman Republic and the cultural history of the Roman Empire) or
overlapping topics (e.g. the social and economic history of the Roman Empire) do not focus
on the exact same areas.
As the semester has gone on, students have become better at organizing their workflow at
the table, but not quite as good as I had hoped. Last night, for example, I did not dictate the
move from pod work to table level work and found that tables struggled a bit to organize
their activities. The biggest problem, this week was that without the definite prompt to move
from pod work to group work, students did not stop and formulate a thesis. Instead, they
created a list of ideas and then forged a crude outline that did not support a statement of
historical argument. Since we’ve been pushing students to formulate a thesis consistently
over the course of the semester, watching tables skip this step was disappointing. It also
showed how dependent the groups remained on prompts from us to structure their work.
Moreover, without the clear prompts from pod work to table work, groups tended to rush
through their tasks and hurry to leave the room. The prompts helped the groups to structure
their time and move through their work deliberately. Without the prompts, many groups left
class a half-an-hour early.
As we move toward the end of the semester, we will experiment further with removing
prompts that structure the groups’ engagement with the writing process. In general, we had
hoped to slowly move the groups toward a more independent, collaborative process. We’ll
have to see how this goes.


 

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Some up coming events
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/some-up-coming-events/
Thu, 27 Mar 2014 11:40:05 +0000
While usually I recommend that people spend their time reading my blog, other blogs, or
waiting for my blog or other blogs to post, I do concede that occasionally folks need to go
out and, you know, do stuff.
Fortunately, there is stuff to do next week here in Grand Forks, North Dakota. First, there is
the 45th Annual Writers’ Conference which will take place that the North Dakota Museum
of Art on the beautiful campus of the University of North Dakota. The theme is “Imagine: A
Literary Festival on the Prairie” and (http://und.edu/orgs/writers-conference/currentconference/wc-schedule.cfm) here’s a link to the schedule for it.
(http://joeljonientz.com/) It has a sweet poster:
title="2014_WC_poster.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/2014_wc_poster.jpg"
alt="2014 WC poster" width="469" height="600" border="0" />
But, wait, there’s more! On April 9th the Working Group in Digital and New media is
hosting Ed Ayers, digital history pioneer and President of the University of Richmond, at the
Gorecki Alumni Center at 4 pm.
Here’s the press release:
Leader in Digital History Comes to Campus... Virtually
On April 9th noted Civil War historian and digital pioneer Edward Ayers, President of the
University of Richmond, will look back on "20 Years of Digital History". As is fitting for a

 

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pioneer in digital history, Ayers will visit campus digitally via a live video feed from the
University of Richmond's campus. His talk will present a sweeping overview of the
developments in digital history.
President Ayers talk coincides with the ongoing commemoration of the 150th anniversary of
the Civil War. Professor Eric Burin, UND's own Civil War Historian and historical database
guru, noted:
"Ayers's is one of the premier scholars on the Civil War Era. His "Valley of the Shadow"
project revolutionized research on the Civil War. It not only made available countless
historical documents; it allowed researchers to navigate those documents in an almost
infinite number of ways. Thanks to Ayers's path-breaking work, every researcher can offer
"alternative readings" of the war."
Ayers' work in digital history has received national accolades including the 2013 National
Medal for the Humanities awarded by Barak Obama in the White House, the Bancroft Prize,
Beveridge Prize, and has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.
As a teacher he has been recognized as the National Professor of the Year from the
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and his digital history projects have
been used in classrooms around the world. He is also the co-host of BackStory, a nationally
syndicated radio show that ties history to the present day.
The talk is sponsored by the Working Group in Digital and New Media and the College of
Arts and Sciences. Joel Jonientz, Associate Professor of Art and Design and the Chair of
the Working Group in Digital and New Media, notes that the innovative ways of bring a
speaker like Ayers to UND is :
".. fitting that we're using digital technology to bring one of the most renowned digital
historians to campus. It gives the UND community the chance to interact and learn from a
global scholar in the humanities, and to think about the future of the past."


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-92/
Fri, 28 Mar 2014 12:48:46 +0000
Spring has almost sprung here in North Dakotaland. I walked home last night without
alerting the National Guard that I was outside alone and in casual winter garb. More than
that, there was standing water on sidewalks this afternoon and slippery ice last night (yes, I
did fall). So we’re almost out of woods.
As we celebrate the annual rite of thaw and prepare for next(http://und.edu/orgs/writersconference/current-conference/wc-schedule.cfm) week’s writers’ conference, peruse
some quick hits and varia:
• Despite being an archaeologist, (http://ciams.cornell.edu/2014/03/20/wadi-al-jarfdiscoveries-are-rewriting-the-history-of-the-pyramid-age/) I am still fascinated by really old
artifacts.
• (http://www.city-journal.org/2014/bc0327bs.html) A strange review of a strange movie.
• (http://news.yahoo.com/qatar-biggest-ever-funding-sudan-archaeology-140804628.html)
Qatar gives Sudan a bunch of money to preserve its archaeological heritage.
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/opinion/sunday/lessons-from-the-little-iceage.html?_r=0) Lessons from the Little Ice Age.
• (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/roads-to-istanbuls-third-bridge-to-cross-first-degreearcheological-sites.aspx?pageID=238&amp;nID=64065&amp;NewsCatID=340) This has
to be the worst road plan (from an archaeological perspective) of all time.


 

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• (http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2014/03/italian-government-steps-uppompeii.html) More security at Pompeii.
• (http://modern-conflict-archaeology.blogspot.com/2014/03/lawrence-and-tooth-hillcamp.html) Lawrence of Arabia’s camp in Jordan.
• (http://www.orthodoxartsjournal.org/holy-icons-in-todays-world-pt-2-icons-and-modernart/) Icons and Modern Art.
• (http://museumspoliticsandpower.org/2014/03/25/orhan-pamuk-on-small-museums/)
Small museums.
• (http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/josef-schulz-ubergang) Abandoned border
checkpoints.
• (http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/think-you-know-ugly-think-again/) Ugly.
• (http://www.npr.org/2014/03/25/294385139/rip-et-the-legend-of-the-long-buried-videogame) This story of archaeology and late capitalism never seems to end.
• (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OIsn40WkOq0/UwBBvjo15-I/AAAAAAAAD1A/HwZBwx8GoI/s1600/oncle+house+255c+vd+fully+crr+wm.gif) This is odd and lovely.
• (http://ils.indiana.edu/media/paper/PWJan07meho.pdf) The rise of citation analysis (a
pdf).
• (http://www.avclub.com/article/wu-tang-clan-releasing-single-copy-album-you-can-o202691) I’m not sure whether this is a joke or Wu-Tang being Wu-Tang.
• Well, (http://www.movoto.com/blog/top-ten/dangerous-small-cities/) this is depressing for
ole Wilmington, Delaware, but (http://blog.estately.com/2014/03/u-s-states-ranked-from-


 

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most-to-least-prepared-for-the-zombie-apocalypse/) it would be safe from zombies.
• What I’m reading: P. Halstead, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/two-oxen-ahead-premechanized-farming-in-the-mediterranean/oclc/859168771) Two Oxen Ahead: PreMechanized Farming in the Mediterranean. (2014).
• What I’m listening to: Lightnin’ Hopkins, The Herald Recordings.
title="Ayers_Talk_Flyer_pdf.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/ayers_talk_flyer_pdf.jpg"
alt="Ayers Talk Flyer pdf" width="466" height="600" border="0" />


 

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What can we learn about settlement from Sonny Boy Williamson's
Little Village?
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/29/what-can-we-learn-aboutsettlement-from-sonny-boy-williamsons-little-village/
Sat, 29 Mar 2014 16:45:13 +0000
Sonny Boy Williamson has a great track on his “album” (for lack of a better word) Bummer
Road. It’s called “Little Village”. (This is
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Boy_Williamson_II) Alex “Rice” Miller Sonny Boy
Williamson).
title="SBWBummerRoad.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/sbwbummerroad.jpg"
alt="SBWBummerRoad" width="450" height="450" border="0" />
For Williamson, to quote:
"The little village is too small to be a village
Not large enough to be a town…”
But he complicates it:
“Talkin’ 'bout your little town
Small little place, you know
It's not large enough to be no city, couldn't be no town
Small little place, small little village couldn't be a town
It's too small to be a village, and not large enough to be a town


 

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But I fell in love with a swell little chick, that’s why I can be stickin’ around."
Between those verses however, he gives us a hint at the significance of the village or the
small town in an exchange with Leonard Chess:
((http://people.carleton.edu/~jlondon/Little%20Village%20Text.pdf) The transcription here
is from Justin London’s website at Carleton College (pdf).)
LC: Go ahead we're rolling, Take 1
What's the name-a this?
SB: “Little Village” pause
“A Little Village,” mother f*cker! “A Little Village!”
LC: There’s isn't a mother f*ckin' thing there about a village
You son-of-a-bitch! Nothin' in the song has got anything to do with a village
SB: Well, a small town
LC: I know what a village is!
SB: Well alright, goddamn it! You know, you don't need no title
You name it up, you, I got-get through with it, son-of-a-bitch
You name it what you wanna. You name it your mammy, if ya wanna
This exchange is a good sign. It means that the status of village or town is incidental to the
song, despite its prominence in the title. It is possible, however, that little villages could have
pads like palaces:
“She got a pad like a palace, everything was cruisin' kind
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, she take me to her pad, an’ everything was cruising’ kind…"
This need not imply monumental architecture, but certainly suggests a kind of opulence.
Perhaps it’s the presence of a palace that prompts Williamson to change the lyrics later in
the session:


 

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“You know I dropped in a little place, too small to be a village,
an' not large enough to be a town
Yeah, it's a little place--too small to be a village an' too large enough to be a town
Yeah, now it's large enough to be a village and too small to be a town
But I fell in love with a small little chick, that one night she'd taken me down
She had a cruise, cool apartment, and she invited me around
She had a cruise cruisin’ lil apartment, an’ she invited me around”
Here Williamson clearly links the village’s transformation to the lady’s apartment.
In the end, as much as he’d like to stick around: “But I got to leave you now, ‘cause
tomorrow I’m Chicago bound.”
So to answer the question at the start of this blog: this song doesn’t tell us much about
settlement patterns.


 

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Teaching, Learning, and Resistance
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/teaching-learning-and-resistance/
Mon, 31 Mar 2014 11:58:25 +0000
This morning we were supposed to meet to discuss more of
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/learner-centered-teaching-five-key-changes-topractice/oclc/818865862) M. Weiner’s Learner-Centered Teaching. Revised Edition 2013,
but a little blizzard has interrupted our regularly scheduled program. Since blogging
headquarters remains unaffected by the trivialities of weather, the show must go on!
If I recall correctly, we were planning to talk a bit about resistance to learner-centered
approaches. As readers of this blog know, I’m pretty interested in
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/resistance/) resistance in the student
ranks and Weiner’s book provides a short survey of the causes of resistance to “innovation”
in teaching.
To my mind, resistance occurs in three different ways, and much of this happens because of
the tendency in contemporary academic life to displace the relationship between knowledge
and learning. My observations here do not, necessarily, undermine the validity or
effectiveness of these various displacements, but they do, I think, shed light on occasions
where students resistance is likely to happen and perhaps even elucidate its causes.
I’ll explain more below.
First, students resist bodies of knowledge that they see as unimportant. This is painfully
obvious to anyone who has taught an introductory level history course. We regularly
confront students who find the idea of learning history intrinsically unimportant for their
future as managers, occupational therapists, engineers, or nurses. On the one hand, we
can’t blame them for this critique; it is ubiquitous in the media. Many question the values of


 

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the liberal arts in our contemporary economy.
Faculty play into this, of course, by explaining to our students that history might not be their
thing, but it does help them develop “transferable skills”, “critical thinking”, and “information
literacy.” In this context, a series of rather bankrupt catch phrases for “education” displaces
the disciplinary knowledge foundational to history. It is hardly a shock that students find this
ruse disingenuous no matter how much passion faculty muster for the elegance of a
transferred skill or a critical thought. We might even go so far to present the old cherry that
“we’re teaching you for jobs that haven’t been invented yet” or rattle off a series of wellknown figures with history backgrounds. Students are justified in resisting this disjuncture
between disciplinary knowledge, educational goals, and their future plans. If history is
merely a vessel for these other kinds of skills, then students should have a say over the
medium in which learning happens. The displacement of empty learning goals for
disciplinary knowledge authorizes this critique and mocks our pained attempts to reduce
disciplinary knowledge to mere method.
Second, students resist approaches to teaching that they see as trivializing learning. Much
of learner-centered teaching involves slight of hand. Faculty engage the students in coauthoring their learning environments with the hope that such coauthoring will help the
students master a set of faculty-dictated learning goals that invariably include methods,
processes, and content. Again we see a strategic displacement. The course goals and
teaching methods are set by a faculty member who then, within rigorously defined limits,
allows students pick their own path through the course. Student resistance tends to occur
along the seam of displacement where the more clever students refuse to choose their own
“punishment” and defer to the teacher. The most common example of this comes in the
simple question from the student to the teacher: “what options would you choose?”
This subversion of learning-centered teaching approach both announces to the teacher that
the limits of student authority are known, and questions the legitimacy of a technique
designed to obscure authority in order to co-opt student energy for the goals of the class.


 

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Finally, students resist approaches that run counter to the practice of deskilling faculty and
disciplinary knowledge. Over the past two decades,
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/writing-sotl-assessment-andembodied-knowledge/) academia has embraced whole-heartedly “audit culture” as a tool to
deskilling the academic workforce and undermining the primacy of disciplinary knowledge.
From the standpoint of management, this turn against disciplinary knowledge parallels the
rise in Taylorism and scientific management principles. The goal is to transform faculty from
engine that drives higher eduction, to interchangeable cogs in a machine. By emphasizing
the universal character of teaching and learning, faculty become interchangeable and the
university trades disciplinary knowledge for the teaching of skills as I have argued in point
one. In other words the displacement of authority grounded in disciplinary knowledge to that
grounded in terms of employment authorizes students to act as consumers and to defend
their rights. We’ve all experienced this kind of resistance as faculty members.
In this context, student resistance represents both a recognition of their authority in the
classroom as well as the displacement of faculty authority from particular, specialized
knowledge to teaching skill. In this place, student resistance supports the growing power of
the assessocracy and metadisciplines like SoTL (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning).
While I am tempted, in my most cynical moments, to see student resistance in this context
as anti-faculty, when I critically reflect, I tend to see student behavior as part of the larger
transformation of higher education away from artisnal practice and toward a model of 20th
century efficiency. For my blog post today, I am more interested in recognizing that student
resistance developed along the rifts created by the displacement of authority grounded in
disciplinary, academic knowledge for that grounded in our position - however tenuous - on
the assembly line.
The goal of my post today is to identify the location of student resistance within our
discourse of practice in teaching and learning. Resistance seems most likely to occur in
places of weakness where our imagining of the world has flaws and inconsistencies. I
identify these were moments of displacement where we say one thing and do something
else or have a foot planted, none-to-firmly, in two mutually exclusive discourses of
authority.

 

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A Working Paper on Settlement on Cyprus in the 7th and 8th
Centuries
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/a-working-paper-on-settlement-oncyprus-in-the-7th-and-8th-centuries/
Tue, 01 Apr 2014 11:54:47 +0000
Since we’re in excavation mode today after our spring storm yesterday, I’ll offer up a
working paper for your inspection. The paper looks at settlement on Cyprus during the 7th
and 8th centuries and argues three interrelated things.
First, it challenges the idea that scholars should consider Late Roman Cyprus to be
normative and late-7th and 8th century Cyprus in decline. Cyprus during 5th-early 7th
century experienced a rather extraordinary period of economic prosperity and economic
integration with both the Roman state and markets across the Mediterranean basin.
Next, I suggest that our inability to grasp the situation on Cyprus during the late 7th and 8th
century (as well as our tendency to declare Cyprus in decline) exists at the intersection of
archaeological methods and historical circumstances. Our tendency to rely on artifact that
circulated widely in the Mediterranean to establish chronological control of sites on Cyprus
and our inability to consistently recognize locally produced ceramics (except those
produced Cyprus that circulated widely), created a situation where disruptions to the
Mediterranean economy in the late 7th and 8th centuries disrupted our ability as
archaeologists to study communities on Cyprus.
Finally, I follow the well-trod path of a gaggle of recent scholars who have suggested that
there is evidence for continued economic activity in the late 7th and 8th centuries across
the island, but we need to become more sensitized to the kinds of evidence present. Arab
coins, handmade pottery, and late forms of well-known, earlier types will tell the story of a

 

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dynamic, persistent, if more contingent economy, during the so-called “Dark Ages.”
More on this paper (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/20/writing-asprocess-and-the-7th-century-on-cyprus/) here,
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/coins-raids-and-dates-in-7thcentury-cyprus/) here, (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/more-oncyprus-during-the-7th-century/) here, and
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/settlement-on-cyprus-in-the-7thand-8th-centuries/) here.
Or you can just read the working paper here:
[scribd id=215397597 key=key-re7z2shr8scfux6wc31 mode=scroll]


 

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What do I do all day?
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/what-do-i-do-all-day/
Wed, 02 Apr 2014 12:36:52 +0000
One of the most common questions an academic gets is “what exactly do we do?” The
inconsistent timeline of academic publishing, the rhythm of the academic year, and the wide
variation in course taught, grading loads, and service responsibilities can make it very
difficult to explain to a member of the non-academic public what we do.
So, for the past 50 days, I’ve used (http://www.reporter-app.com/) an app called Reporter
to document what I do all day. The app for my iPhone bugs me an average of 7 times per
day to provide information on what I’m doing. It’s annoying and obtrusive, but I like it
anyway.
The application prompts me to enter details at random times throughout the day, but I try to
be respectful of the various situations that my job and life require. For example, I don’t report
to the application while teaching and I’m fairly disciplined about my 8 hours of sleep each
night. The other 16 hours a day are fair game, however.
Of these 16 hours, I work around 68% of them or just under 11 hours a day, every day.
55% of my work day is devoted to writing, reading, or editing, and this is largely research
related. 29% goes to teaching related tasks including marking student papers, preparing for
class, grading, or teaching. Teaching is under-represented for obvious reasons. 6 hours of
my work day involve research and writing and the other 3 involve teaching work.
32% of my life is dedicated to leisure time or about 5 hours a day. The distribution of this
time is even more approximate because my activities are more diverse. That being said, I’ll
admit (with some embarrassment) that I watch TV 22% of that time. That’s over an hour a
day, but, frankly, most of that happens on the weekends. (NASCAR races are LONG). 35%
of my time is dedicated to eating and drinking or about an hour and 45 minutes per day.

 

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That’s a healthy 30 minutes for lunch and more leisurely
((http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/slow/) might I say, slow?) meal in the
evening. About 20% of my leisure is dedicated to some kind of exercise, usually walking or
biking.
Just for reference, 3.5% of my day is dedicated to email: that’s a little over 30 minutes. I feel
like I do a good job of keeping that monster in check, although I will admit to doing it in little
bursts throughout the day and it might be that my sample size is still too small to capture
the true impact of email on my daily work regimen.
Part of the reason why no one is quite sure what we do is that we so often do it alone. I
spend 67% of my time alone. This number is probably a bit too high and the 6% of the time
I spend with other people is probably too low as I spend at least that amount of time each
week in the classroom (approximately 6 hours per 77 hour work week or 116 awake week)
where I am less likely to report to the application. The 25% of my time I spend with my wife
is probably spot on.
I documented where I spent my time as well. I spent 28% of my time in my home office and
21% of my time in my office on campus. 37% of my life happens at home, which I used to
designate the kitchen and living room in our house, but not the basement where I workout
and spend 4% of my time. I spend 7% of my time other places, but again, this number
perhaps should be higher as I tend not to report in unfamiliar social situations or while in the
classroom.
This is what my life looks like when plotted on Google Earth. The urban area is Grand Forks.
title="Google_Earth.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/google_earth.jpg"
alt="Google Earth" width="450" height="261" border="0" />
One final thing that I recorded was whether I exercised or not. I exercise 71% of the days I
recorded. I rode my bike 56% of the days and walked another 16%. I don’t know whether

 

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this will help at all when I’m tromping around the Argolid, but it has to be better than
nothing!


 

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A Working Paper: Contingency, Periphery, and Late Capitalism in the
Bakken Man Camps
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/a-working-paper-contingencyperiphery-and-late-capitalism-in-the-bakken-man-camps/
Thu, 03 Apr 2014 11:52:41 +0000
This week has been split between three projects: I revised a paper for the Bakken Goes
Boom book on the North Dakota Man Camp Project, I’ve started working on
a(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/an-article-abstract-onarchaeological-blogging/) n article for a volume of Internet Archaeology on archaeology and
blogging, and (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/a-working-paperon-settlement-on-cyprus-in-the-7th-and-8th-centuries/) I wrapped up a working draft of an
article on 7th and 8th century Cyprus.
Phew.
I’m pretty appreciative of (http://und.edu/orgs/writers-conference/current-conference/wcschedule.cfm) the noon panels organized by the University of North Dakota’s Writers’
Conference. They give me a neatly packaged escape from the persistent glow of the
computer screen.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/what-do-i-do-all-day/) Since I’ve
been pounding the good out of the keyboard lately, my post today will be short. The
following paper is an evolving draft and it captures my most recent thoughts on the
archaeology of workforce housing in the Bakken boom. I’m becoming more and more
interested in the archaeology of Late Capitalism. I think this has grown out of conversations
with Bret Weber, (http://arts-sciences.und.edu/american-indian-studies/faculty-staff.cfm)
Sebastian Braun, and (http://kourelis.blogspot.com/) Kostis Kourelis, and with a little bit of
luck, I’ll have more to say about this (and another evocative case-study to announce) next


 

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week.
For now, I have been thinking a good bit about Talal Asad’s 1992 essay
“(http://scholar.google.com/scholar.bib?q=info:JXpq13IwEw0J:scholar.google.com/&amp;o
utput=citation&amp;hl=en&amp;ct=citation&amp;cd=0) Conscripts of Western
Civilization” in which he locates the possibilities available to the post-colonial subject within
the discourse of modern nationalism. In other words, the modern, national discourse even
shapes the strategies for resistance available to the disposed, restive, or politically marginal.
Late capitalism, particularly the transnational kind manifest in the Bakken, marks a departure
from Asad’s thoughts as it undermines the territoriality of the nation, the moral cohesion of
modernity, and obscures the structure and movement of capital. In this context, workforce
housing, particular as embodied by the postmodern “non-places” central to the organization
of labor in the Bakken, presents a distinct challenge to the kind of developmental
regionalism that characterized the expansion of modern, national capitalism. One can easily
expand this critique to core and periphery in the Bakken and the absence of true cores and
true peripheries in the world of transnational capital. To put this another way (and a way that
fits with the repackaged, nationalist rhetoric that portrays work in the Bakken oil fields as a
patriotic contribution to national energy independence), the workforce in the Bakken are
“conscripts of post-nationalism”.
Enjoy and, as always, feedback is appreciated.
[scribd id=216094155 key=key-lialg6c6bp6ihnozvms mode=scroll]


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-93/
Fri, 04 Apr 2014 13:29:27 +0000
I had a late night. Delicious food, adult beverages, and good company. I think is the
persistent snow or the impending North Dakota Humanities Council meeting or the positive
vibes from the University of North Dakota Writers’ Conference. Or something.
So this will be a bit quicker than most of my quick hits and maybe have a bit less varia.
• (http://www.livescience.com/44514-byzantine-monks-used-asbestos-beneathartwork.html) Asbestos and wall-paintings in Byzantine Cyprus.
• (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harrymount/100074025/latin-graffiti-the-key-thatunlocks-ancient-rome/) Graffiti in ancient Rome and RTI.
• (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/29/augustus-rome-lost-mausoleum) Efforts
to restore Augustus’ mausoleum in Rome.
• (http://www.maryjahariscenter.org/blog/the-emperor-in-the-byzantine-world-47thbyzantine-spring-symposium/) The emperor and the Byzantine world at Cardiff.
• (http://askthepast.blogspot.com/2014/04/how-to-use-bacon-c-530.html) Bacon in Late
Antiquity.
• (http://archaeology.org/news/1981-140402-israel-mosaic-byzantine) Some new
Byzantine mosaics from Israel.
• (http://www.colorado.edu/classics/grek1013/index.html) Classical Greek online at
Colorado!

 

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• (http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2014/04/002.html) A Roman meal for 2,000
people at Buffalo!
• (http://savageminds.org/2014/04/02/i-think-princeton-university-press-kinda-jumped-theshark-on-this-one/) NO MORE MYCENAEANS!
• (http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2014/04/01/world-s-oldest-weather-report-couldrevise-bronze-age-chronology) Bronze Age weather.
• (https://roadtrippers.com/blog/harvard-discovers-three-of-its-library-books-are-bound-inhuman-flesh) Books bound in human flesh at Harvard.
• (http://www.culinarybackstreets.com/athens/2014/greek-food-idioms/) Funny Greek
sayings that involve food.
• (http://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2014/apr/01/looking-back-egypt-potterygallery) Egyptian potters.
• (http://theappendix.net/issues/2014/4/mug-shots-a-small-town-noir) Mug shots and small
town life.
• (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/29/brilliant-peopleschedules_n_5055953.html) How “geniuses” spent their day.
• (http://www.papermonument.com/web-only/from-undermining/) An excerpt from Lucy
Lippard’s book Undermining.
• What I’m reading: R. Guins, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/game-after-a-cultural-study-ofvideo-game-afterlife/oclc/844789683) Game After : a Cultural Study of Video Game
Afterlife. 2014.


 

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• What I’m listening to: Bamboos, 4; The War on Drugs, Slave Ambient.


 

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Archaeology, Blogging, and Community
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/archaeology-blogging-andcommunity/
Mon, 07 Apr 2014 13:50:58 +0000
This past week, I’ve slowly worked on an article for
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/an-article-abstract-onarchaeological-blogging/) a special issue of Internet Archaeology that will focus on
blogging and archaeology. My article, co-authored with Andrew Reinhard, the Director of
Publications of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, looks at how blogging
in the field of archaeology had contributed new directions to traditional, academic
publishing.
We’ve split the article into two parts, with me contributing the first two sections. I’ve been
working on the first section over the past couple of weeks. It sought to articulate how the
blogging community among archaeologists constitutes a community of practice. Over the
past decade archaeological bloggers have come to act in certain ways that actively
constitute the production and reproduction of a community. The most simple example of this
is the practice of using hyperlinks to provide connections between blog posts (or a blog
post and other online content). This not only is a shared practice among bloggers, but
explicitly creates links that represent the relationship between various locations of content
on the web. The oft-mocked term blogosphere reflects the concept of a blogging
community by evoking the universalizing metaphor of the sphere for the world (and also,
perhaps, recognizing the organic nature of the blogging environment).
In earlier days, blogrolls forged explicit links between members of the blogging community,
but the practice of maintaining an active list of blogs on related topics has gone into
decline. In fact, some major blogging platforms have stopped supporting this feature. I can
recall, however, surfing the blogosphere by jumping from one blogs blogroll to the next.
RSS readers - like the late, lamented Google Reader, largely replaced the blogroll by taking

 

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the space for aggregating related content (or the space of articulating the blogging
community) from the space of the content provider (the blogger) to the consumer (the
reader). That being said, aggregators, like (http://planet.atlantides.org/maia/) Tom Elliot’s
Maia, continue to provide a curated point of access to the archaeological blogosphere.
The practice of commenting on blogs has also provided a space for the interaction among
members of a broadly construed blogging community. Unfortunately (I suppose), comments
fields on academic blogs have tended to be fairly deserted. A recurring complaint among
academic bloggers is that they have so few commenters on their work. In my assessment,
much of this has to do with the rather circumscribed space of the individual blog. The
archaeological community remains relatively small and the loyal readership of any particular
archaeological blog smaller still. More than that, compared to contemporary social media
sites, the relative infrequency of posts and the fairly small audience on an academic blog
creates a situation where the opportunities for comments and conversation remain few and
far between. In other words, the structure of the blogging community provides only a
modest space for communities to develop through commenting (except in particular,
exceptional circumstances).
Social media space is instructional for academic bloggers. The size of a networked
audience and the regularity (and diversity) of posts has created a new space for
conversation and commenting largely replacing the comments section on a blog. The
multiple points of entry, formally structured relationships between commenters, and the
sustained activity alone conspires to encourage conversation in the same way that the
informal space at the hotel bar during a busy conference often produced more useful
insights than the formal period of content at the end of a panel.
Archaeological blogs represent a particular situation for content distribution on the web. In
the blogging world, then communities of practice developed not through the staccato burst
of daily interaction in comment feeds, but through the development of linked content. With
the social media providing a space of interaction and conversation, the blog is a platform for
communicating academic ideas and for the engagement with dynamic linked content.


 

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Photo Friday: Mapping in the Western Argolid
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/?p=4075
Fri, 30 May 2014 04:37:15 +0000
This summer, at least while I’m working with the Western Argolid Regional Project, I’m
going to post photographs on Friday. Keeping with my fondness for alliteration (e.g.
Teaching Thursday, Wreading Wednesday, et c.), I’ll call it Photo Friday.
Yesterday, was our first day mapping in survey units for the 2014 field season. This involved
heading into the field with compasses, GPS units, paper maps, and laser range finders. The
goal of the mapping trip was to set up units for the field teams to walk systematically next
week. Each unit was between 2000-5000 sq m and, once they are walked, we’ll assign
them numbers and digitize them in our project GIS.
The day was overcast and windy, but the sun peaked through the clouds throughout the
afternoon.
title="P1060142.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1060142.jpg"
alt="P1060142" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
I worked with two team leaders and our GIS expert on the upper slopes of the valley that we
will survey this summer. The fields were terraced and alternated between neglect and olive
trees.
title="P1060132.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1060132.jpg"


 

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alt="P1060132" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
The team leaders did a great job and working in the field with our GIS coordinator allowed
us to understand the workflow starting in the field and ending on the computer.
title="P1060135.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1060135.jpg"
alt="P1060135" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1060138.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1060138.jpg"
alt="P1060138" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1060155.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1060155.jpg"
alt="P1060155" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1060152.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1060152.jpg"
alt="P1060152" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
The first day of mapping exposed our teams to the Greek landscape and the challenges of
building our own maps to understand it. Fortunately the day was mild, the scenery dramatic,
and spirits were high! Be sure to follow us on the Twitters and Facebook with the
(https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&amp;q=%23WestARP) #WestARP hashtag!
title="P1060164.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1060164.jpg"
alt="P1060164" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Day of Digital Humanities 2014
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/08/day-of-digital-humanities-2014/
Tue, 08 Apr 2014 11:19:15 +0000
Today is the long awaited Intergalactic Day of Digital Humanities. While we have not heard
whether we’ll be joined by any off planet humans and the usual uproar about whether “the
humanities” are offensive to non-human lifeforms has yet to flair up, I commend the
organizers for melding together humanocentric jingoism with a open-armed inclusiveness.
The digital humanities are, after all, big tent.
(http://dayofdh2014.matrix.msu.edu/billcaraher/) My posts today will appear here.
But I’ll keep a little updated index on this page so none of my regular readers will miss out.
(http://dayofdh2014.matrix.msu.edu/billcaraher/2014/04/07/hello-world/) A Digital Morning
(http://dayofdh2014.matrix.msu.edu/billcaraher/2014/04/08/digitally-mediated-learning/)
Digitally Mediated Learning
(http://dayofdh2014.matrix.msu.edu/billcaraher/2014/04/08/the-afterlife-of-old-media/)
The Afterlife of Old Media
(http://dayofdh2014.matrix.msu.edu/billcaraher/2014/04/08/the-keymaster-and-thegatekeeper/) The Keymaster and the Gatekeeper


 

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A Lecture Today and The Magic of Bonus Points
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/a-lecture-today-and-the-magic-ofbonus-points/
Wed, 09 Apr 2014 12:08:38 +0000
At 4 pm today, the Working Group in Digital and New Media is hosting Ed Ayers, Professor
of History and President of the University of Richmond, for a talk titled “20 Years in Digital
History” at the Gorecki Alumni Center on the beautiful, spring-drenched campus of the
University of North Dakota. For more details, check out the flyer at the bottom of this post.
Following regular procedure, we encouraged students to attend, then we cajoled them to
doing something on campus that was free and better than whatever they had planned to do
instead, then as the excuses roll in (work, class, family, everyday life, cereal, whatever), we
finally resort to bribery.
Traditionally, I’ve offered 1 million points to students who attend campus events like ice
hockeying contests, weekend parties, and, of course, academic lectures. I’ll do almost
anything to encourage students to engage in the life of campus. The key thing about these
points is that they are not just ordinary points; they’re bonus points.
Bonus points are magical. While mathematically they work the same as regular points, they
have an allure that can draw even the most disengaged student to a torpid ice hockeying
contest or the most anti-intellectual curmudgeon to a on campus lecture. To use the words
of contemporary university administration, bonus points are “transformational.”
The remarkable thing is, bonus points are like Dumbo’s feather. They really aren’t any
different from the normal points that students consistently disregard, mock, resist, and
ultimately hemorrhage over the course of a semester. For example, my history 101 class is
rapt by the potential bonus points earned at the lecture tonight. This is the same class
where I have to constantly remind students to put their names on the work they submit for

 

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ordinary points.
I suppose the magic of bonus points is that they preserve the illusion of being something for
nothing. This is the same class where students take significant exception to the possibility
that a student in their group would get credit (ordinary points, mind you), without doing their
share of work. They will gladly accept bonus points, however, on the allure of getting
something for nothing.
In any event, I decided to offer these same bonus points to anyone who attends the lecture,
whether they are in my class or not.
title="Ayers_Talk_Flyer_pdf.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/ayers_talk_flyer_pdf.jpg"
alt="Ayers Talk Flyer pdf" width="466" height="600" border="0" />


 

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The Northern Levant at the End of Antiquity
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/10/the-northern-levant-at-the-end-ofantiquity/
Thu, 10 Apr 2014 12:41:43 +0000
I was pretty excited to read Jesse Casana’s very recent article on
the(http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ojoa.12034/abstract) Late Roman
landscape of the Northern Levant in the most recent Oxford Journal of Archaeology. I’ve
been poking, in a tentative way, around this region lately (via articles and books, mind you)
in an effort to situate Cyprus more clearly in its regional context. Casana’s article was
particularly insightful because he relied heavily on evidence from survey archaeology.
He drew upon a number of recent survey projects (Ghab Regional Survey and the Amuq
Valley Regional Project) to demonstrate that the lower Orontes Valley in the immediate
neighborhood of Antioch was densely settled throughout the 5th and 6th centuries. The
settlements on these fertile valley bottoms have largely been overlooked by scholars of the
Late Roman period distracted, it would seem, by the dramatic remains of the “Dead Cities”
of the limestone massif some 20 km to the west. The Dead Cities are remarkably wellpreserved largely because the relatively arid landscape of the limestone massif was not
reoccupied in later periods leaving the substantial limestone structures standing until
today. Moreover, scholars working in the Orontes Valley tended to study the prominent tell
sites which primarily date to the Bronze Age and Iron Age and overlooked the scattered
tiles and ceramics that provide evidence for Roman and Late Roman occupation of these
regions.
The evidence for Late Roman occupation in this region was substantial and, as Casana
documented in a small-scale excavation, included elaborate buildings whose walls were
either robbed for building material in later times or were made of mud brick. Casana argues
that these apparently affluent settlements developed in response to markets in Antioch,
Apamea, and accessed by sea from the coast of the North Levant. The Dead Cities,

 

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occupying more marginal land, are part of this same process of producing for booming
urban markets and dynamic regional trade.
Casana’s understanding of the boom in the Orontes Valley coincides with
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/a-working-paper-on-settlementon-cyprus-in-the-7th-and-8th-centuries/) my reading of settlement on Cyprus. The Late
Roman period in the East - perhaps into the 7th century on Cyprus - represented a period
of urban prosperity, a high degree of monetization, and thriving regional markets in the
Eastern Mediterranean stimulated at least, in part, through imperial policy and the needs of
the army on the frontiers and the capital at Constantinople. The opportunities of the market
stimulated the exploitation of marginal lands and this coincided with a gradual diversification
of agricultural production from strictly subsistence practices to limited, opportunistic
production for market. (http://www.worldcat.org/title/tilling-the-hateful-earth-agriculturalproduction-and-trade-in-the-late-antique-east/oclc/316430311) As Michael Decker has
argued for the same region marginal lands sometimes become opportunities for niche
production and the traditional reading of the Dead Cities on the limestone massif suggested
that these villages produced olive oil primarily for export (although more recent work has
shown that the villages may have also produced wine and grain perhaps for local
consumption).
As a conclusion, Casana frames the issues involving the structure of settlement in the
Northern Levant as primarily archaeological in character. In other words, the remarkable
preservation of the Dead Cities of the limestone massif has led scholars to overlook and
mischaracterize contemporary settlement on the more fertile lands of the Orontes valley.
This, as one can imagine, distorted the reading of settlement in this region and overlooked
the massive expansion of settlement present in the region. The work of the two surveys
summarized by Casana brings the Northern Levant in line with contemporary settlement
patterns in the so-called “(http://aha.missouri.edu/people/rautman.html) busy countryside”
of Late Roman Cyprus. Like the Northern Levant, the booming urbanism of Late Roman
Cyprus and access to the substantial and monetized Eastern Mediterranean economic
world supported the expansion of settlement across the island. When the cohesive Eastern
Mediterranean market faltered in the face of invasions and plagues in the later 7th century

 

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(on Cyprus and perhaps in the Levant as well), urban areas declined and regional markets
returned to levels prior to the momentary stimulus provided by the state and an exception
period of economic and political integration.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/11/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-94/
Fri, 11 Apr 2014 11:54:17 +0000
Spring has finally arrived here on the North Plains and the snow piles are rapidly shrinking.
Traditionally this is the end of the snow and the beginning of the “mud” season.
title="IMG_1254.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/img_1254.jpg" alt="IMG
1254" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
I have my tickets to Greece and, by the end of the today,
(http://news.xbox.com/2014/04/ent-attend-atari-landfill-excavation) my tickets to
Alamogordo. I have three manuscripts in some degree of “written-ness” and my classes are
set to wrap up more or less on schedule despite missing a week with snow days.
Things are good and hectic, but I still have plenty of time for some quick hits and varia.
• For those who missed it, I contributed to this year’s
(http://dayofdh2014.matrix.msu.edu/billcaraher/) Day of Digital Humanities here.
• (http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.83.issue-1) The new Hesperia is out with
almost 80 pages dedicated to the Panayia field.
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/science/scrap-of-papyrus-referring-to-jesus-wifeis-likely-to-be-ancient-scientists-say.html?_r=0) The scientists weigh in on the Jesus wife
papyrus. Bloggers moved very quickly to discredit text on philological grounds;
(http://ntweblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-jesus-wife-fragment-is-back.html) here’s a
nice index of what the bloggers said about this newest scientific revelation.


 

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• Some Byzantine news from the Getty.
(http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/art_of_byzantium/) Their new exhibit opened and
(http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-getty-museum-newtestament-greece-20140407,0,4884712.story#axzz2yZnqkLdq) they are going to return a
12th century New Testament stolen from Greece.
• (http://america.aljazeera.com/multimedia/photo-gallery/2014/4/afghanistanabandonedbasephotos.html) Abandoned temporary base in Afganistan.
• (http://photogrammar.yale.edu/map/) Some old photos of North Dakota and elsewhere.
• Some cool articles on design: (http://www.minimallyminimal.com/blog/braun-sk55) Braun
SK55 and the (http://www.minimallyminimal.com/blog/sony-walkman-tps-l2) Sony
Walkman TPS-L2.
• More slow TV: (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2014/03/popularnorway-reality-tv-show-starring-birds/8751/) The Piip Show in Norway.
• (https://thebluereview.org/faculty-time-allocation/) How professors use their time.
((http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/what-do-i-do-all-day/) Where did
I read something very similar to this…)
• (http://excessofdemocracy.com/blog/2014/4/the-best-prospective-law-students-readhomer) This will contribute to the revival of Classics!
• (http://chronicle.com/blognetwork/castingoutnines/2014/04/08/the-problem-is-not-thestudents/) This is a great response to comments on a blog post about flipping the
classroom.
• (https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/givers-vs-takers-the-surprising-truth-aboutwho-gets-ahead/) Givers and Takers and who gets ahead.


 

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• (http://priceonomics.com/why-ups-trucks-dont-turn-left/) UPS trucks don’t turn left.
• (http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/the-science-of-going-viral/34145) How to go viral.
• (http://www.customchannels.net/streaming/mcintosh/) McIntosh really is a lifestyle brand.
• With the re-release of Mobb Deep’s The Infamous,
(http://www.complex.com/music/2011/04/my-infamous-life-excerpts) we need to all
remember this story.
• What I’m reading: Jeff Ferrell, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/empire-of-scrounge-insidethe-urban-underground-of-dumpster-diving-trash-picking-and-streetscavenging/oclc/76963954) Empire of scrounge : inside the urban underground of
dumpster diving, trash picking, and street scavenging. 2006.
• What I’m listening to: Mac DeMarco, Salad Days; The Budos Band, III.


 

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Punk Archaeology, Buried Atari, and Disciplinary Anxiety
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/punk-archaeology-buried-atari-anddisciplinary-anxiety/
Mon, 14 Apr 2014 11:57:24 +0000
This weekend, I finished R. Guins' impressive new book
(https://www.worldcat.org/title/game-after-a-cultural-study-of-video-gameafterlife/oclc/844789683) Game After: A Cultural Study of Video Games Afterlife. As
people who follow me on (https://twitter.com/BillCaraher) the social medias know, I am
heading to Alamagordo, New Mexco next week(http://news.xbox.com/2014/04/ent-attendatari-landfill-excavation) to excavate a deposit of millions (perhaps) of Atari games with a
documentary film grew directed by Zak Penn, Prof. Guins himself, and some of the
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/punk-archaeology/) Punk
Archaeology Collective (Andrew Reinhard, Richard Rothaus, and K. Lindsay Eaves). I was
super excited about this possibility when Andrew Reinhard first brokered our participation,
and reading Guins' book got me more excited.
Guins positioned the study of early '80s video games in the context of performance
(although not explicitly). In six thoughtful chapters, he considered how scholars, players,
collectors, conservators, and fans engage video games in a range of contexts from the
museum to the arcade and warehouse. Guins himself venerated early games in the
Smithsonian collection. Conservators, lovingly restored, fixed, and even scrapped for parts
neglected and broken games. The public scoffed, reminisced, and, more importantly, played
the games in various arcades, museum exhibits, and conventions occupying the familiar
pose in front of the cabinet with legs positioned shoulder width apart. These different
postures framed the afterlife of video games through individual actions that articulate their
significance. The various performances communicated made clear the differing social
meanings for the games. The gaze of a museum visitor at an arcade game set apart in a
glass case is different from that of a veteran restorer laborious applying black lacquer or an


 

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enthusiast immersed in game play at a meet up of vintage games.
This emphasis on how we engage these relics of a past era grounds the games firmly in the
present. The book does very little with the conceptualization, production, and design of
video games other than recognize that these stages are also part of the biography of these
objects. Guins interviews a famed game packaging artist and a few game designers
including those associated with some of the earliest video games, but he does not talk to
folks involved with managing the design teams, manufacturing the games, selling them in
retail stores, or marketing them to the masses. As a result, the games Guins studied spoke
for themselves in the hands of consumers, connoisseurs, and scholars.
Chapter 5 was dedicated to the famed E.T. burial ground in New Mexico where Atari
apparently buried millions of overproduced and returned games in 1983 in the city's landfill.
The team of archaeologists is going to this site to supervise the extraction of these games
and to observe the context of their deposition and recovery. In a simple way, we are
positioning ourselves in relation to these games as archaeologists and by doing so we hope
to impart some social significance to these artifacts, their deposition, and their recovery.
In the spirit of punk, our actions will denature the objects.
(https://www.worldcat.org/title/after-modernity-archaeological-approaches-to-thecontemporary-past/oclc/653077389) As R. Harrison and J. Schofield have noted, punks
challenged our assumptions of the purpose and function of zipper, safety pins, make-up,
and even musical instruments. Feedback was music, zippers served no function, and torn
jeans defined their ruined state to create an identity dependent upon questioning the
standards of civility in polite society.
(http://punkarchaeology.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/punk-and-place/) Punk rockers
performed in churches, mental hospitals, and abandoned buildings intentionally calling into
question the architectural context for musical performance in the same way that
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/punk-archaeology-recap-andreflections/) our punk archaeology conference brought academics together in a Fargo bar
to give papers on archaeology and music.


 

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Next week, when we participate in excavating 30 year old Atari games from a New Mexico
landfill, we'll be performing another transgressive action by assigning corporate, consumer
"junk" archaeological status and figuring out how to extract a sample of the possibly millions
of cartridges and related matter from a landfill. More than that, we're going to do this while a
documentary crew looks on, with a limited budget, specific priorities, and a different kind of
appreciation of the objects of our excavation. For example, the production company wants
to give away some of the excavated objects and apparently have permission to do this.
As the idea of what we're going to do next week sunk in, I immediately became
apprehensive. First off, I'm a Mediterranean archaeologists and despite my dalliances in the
archaeology of the contemporary world, I am far more comfortable with the rules of
archaeology in Cyprus or Greece than in the U.S. More than that, I am more comfortable
with objects and material that are traditionally archaeological in terms of date (i.e. at least
100 years old!), context (within a controlled research setting), and policies (governed by a
clear set of cultural property laws and policies). While this is not meant to diminish the
cultural significance of more recent objects, it does push me to consider the limits of a
formal "archaeological status" - in the narrowest, disciplinary sense.
Is it the buried location of the Atari games that make them archaeological?
Would a million E.T. cartridges in a warehouse attract the same kind of archaeological
scrutiny?
Furthermore, an E.T. cartridge in a private collection does not produce the same kind of
ethical tension as, say, a well preserved African red slip plate dating to the 6th century A.D.
In other words, the nature of a modern cultural object works against my traditional
disciplinary expectations of significance. (And for those of you who are regular readers of
this blog, this is the same tension that arose when I first started working on my
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/work-camps/) North Dakota Man
Camp Project).


 

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On the one hand, the discipline of archaeology becomes centered on process rather than
location or object. On the other hand, it is clear that the limits imposed by the location of the
games in a landfill (and the toxicity of the site), the limits imposed by our collaboration with a
documentary film crew, and the need to use backhoes and other heavy equipment, defy a
narrow reading of archaeological process. Our work in Alamogordo will be at the fringes of
disciplinary practice at best, and the most useful thing about the exercise will be a chance
to reflect on the limits of archaeology as performance. Just as video games enter the realm
of “culture" through the performance of curators, conservators, and scholars, the limits of
the discipline come through the posture of its practitioners.
I’m left thinking about a lovely poem by Cris Kirkwood:
Many a hand has scaled the grand old face of the plateau
Some belong to strangers and some to folks you know
Holy ghosts and talk show hosts are planted in the sand
To beautify the foothills and shake the many hands
Nothing on the top but a bucket and a mop
And an illustrated book about birds
You see a lot up there but don't be scared
Who needs action when you got words
When you've finished with the mop then you can stop
And look at what you've done
The plateau's clean, no dirt to be seen
And the work - it was fun
Nothing on the top but a bucket and a mop
And an illustrated book about birds
You see a lot up there but don't be scared
Who needs action when you got words


 

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Many hands began to scan around for the next plateau
Some said it was Greenland and some say Mexico
Others decided it was nowhere except for where they stood
Those are all just guesses
Wouldn't help you if they could...


 

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Blogs and Archaeology Published Quickly
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/15/blogs-and-archaeology-publishedquickly/
Tue, 15 Apr 2014 11:55:45 +0000
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been nudging a draft of
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/an-article-abstract-onarchaeological-blogging/) an article on blogging archaeology forward a little bit each week.
I’ve posted part of it (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/archaeologyblogging-and-community/) here already. The first part of the article looks at blogging among
archaeologists as a community of practice. The second part will look at blogging as one of
the ways that archaeologists are speeding up the pace of archaeological knowledge
production.
This is done not by archaeologists working faster, but rather through a regular stream of
information available about archaeological research on the web. Transparency removes
what appears to be long pauses from the field work and research process and makes
visible the incremental efforts, small revelations, and baffling setbacks that characterize
archaeological research.
Here you go:
Compared to the social media, blogs develop content rather slowly. Even the most fast
paced commercial blog rarely rewards more then two or three visits a day to the site.
Academic blogs, true to to longstanding rhythms of disciplinary production, tend to update
on a much more gradual schedule. At the same time, compared to the traditional print
publications, the practice and medium of blogging allows the posts to appear at a blistering
pace. Unencumbered by such time consuming processes as editorial oversight, peer
review, typesetting, and proofreading, blogs can appear as quickly as the author has words
to fill them. Of course, the speed at which blogs posts can appear and the absence of peer

 

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or editorial oversight represent blogging practice, and this has attracted the attention of
critics who remain skeptical of the value of blogging to the larger academic discourse. Our
ability to push unfiltered archaeological knowledge into the web has both outpaced the
institutional practices designed to evaluate and control the flow of academic knowledge as
well as our interpretative habits which often rely on clear generic indicators to define the
character and utility of scholarly production.
Field archaeology is a meticulous process that proceeds at its own pace dictated by the
vagaries of manpower, artifact recovery, and recording. The publication process frequently
fall prey to the same gradualist approach as famous excavations can take years or even
decades to reach publication. While some of this can be attributed to the workflows of
particular excavators and their teams, at least some of the issues reside in the traditional
process of publishing a field project which involves significant time dedicated to review,
editing, and layout. The published results of the field publications are regarded as definitive,
although even the most hardened empiricists recognize a difference between a preliminary
excavation report and the final publication.
The basic character of blogging streamlines many of these concerns, traditionally going with
limited editorial attention and drastically simplified layouts. Both in terms of practice and as
a medium, blogging lacks the substantial friction associated with print publication, has
allows for almost instantaneous online publication. Bloggers now report on field projects
from the field and use the blog to speculate on their work, hypothesize, and even report
tentative conclusions. These practices not only lift the veil on the interpretative processes
that produce archaeological knowledge
((https://www.academia.edu/2365783/DIY_and_digital_archaeology_what_are_you_doing_
to_participate) Morgan and Eve 2012; Maguire 2008 for similar attitudes), but also
communicate some of the experiences of archaeology from the edge of the trowel. My blog,
for example, both documented our misguided expectation that a basilica style church stood
on the site of a Hellenistic fortification, and explored the tensions among the project’s senior
staff as we struggled to balance the educational and research components of our work. A
similar, if more radically inclusive process, was used on the Prescot Street excavations in
the U.K. in which all participants were invited to blog and to document their work on the

 

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excavation.
While few will argue against the value of blogging for provide a sense of the archaeological
experience and to expose archaeological practice to a wider audience, there are limits to
the kind of immediacy and transparency that blogging can provide. For example, some
nations control stringently the right to reproduce images of objects, architecture, and sites,
but have yet to develop comprehensive policies extending to the digital realm. A blog may or
may not represent a digital publication. On an even more practical level, announcing the
results of an ongoing excavation during the season might make a site more susceptible to
looting or other forms of disruption. As with all archaeological work, the limitations and
opportunities of a particular medium or practice is not the final work on a decision to
disseminate information.
If field work blogs have the potential to make the field processes more transparent, research
blogs invite readers into the creative and generative process associated with scholarship.
The ability to present ongoing research to a wide audience of peers fits into a continuum of
scholarly communication that begins with the conference paper (or perhaps with the
informal conversation) and culminates in the peer reviewed book or article. The blog is less
clearly vetted than the conference paper or the late, barely lamented, “note” or
“correspondence” section of academic journals. In the lead up to the 2014 Society of
American Archaeology blogging panel,
(http://dougsarchaeology.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/blogging-archaeology-blogarch-allof-the-responses-to-why/) Doug’s Archaeology Blog curated a blog carnival involving many
prominent archaeological bloggers. The responses to the question “Why do you blog?”
revealed the range of purposes associated with research from publishing snippets of
programing code useful to archaeologists, to staking claim to academic ideas in process
and sharing academic problems as they arise in scholarship. As S.W. Kansa and F.
Deblauwe have recently noted in their survey of web tools for research in Zooarchaeology ,
scholarly use of blogs to circulate research remains inconsistent
((http://escholarship.org/uc/item/1r6137tb) Kansa and Deblauwe 2011). The practice of
exposing ideas to critique is part of the academic process, but we have yet to completely


 

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exploit the potential of blogging for communicating ongoing research.
The recent responses to the prompt posted on Doug’s Archaeology Blog likewise
demonstrate the importance of the public nature of blogging which has allowed it to
become a venue to communicate scholarly work to a broader audience. The popular appeal
of archaeology has provided a ready-made audience for efforts to bridge the gap between
academic research and the public fascination with the past. At the same time, there is an
important aspect of outreach in archaeological blogging. Because archaeologists rely on an
informed public both to identify and to protect archaeological sites and objects. In a broader
sense blogging to a public audience allows archaeologists to communicate disciplinary
boundaries and expertise to a wider group of stakeholders.
The process of blogging research as it occurs also increases the pace of archaeological
knowledge production by disseminating and acknowledging the significance of provisional
conclusions. Archaeologists make tentative observations regularly over the course of their
research and analysis. By making these public on a blog, we demonstrate that the
production of archaeological knowledge is not always a plodding, incremental, ponderous
slog through reams of data, but often jumps and dances across a landscape of ingenious
false starts, brilliant failed hypotheses, and provocative dead ends. Making the intellectual
leaps and bounds public hints at both the importance of process and the potential utility of
failure for both the academic community and the general public. While it may seem like
archaeological publication takes years because of inactivity on the part of archaeologist
(and surely some of that is true), in most cases, archaeological analysis is rarely stalled by
long delays and is regularly punctuated with exciting, if incremental accomplishments.
Archaeology done quickly makes these little victories (and failures) visible.


 

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Matthew Kirschenbaum Lecture at UND Today
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/16/matthew-kirschenbaum-lecture-atund-today/
Wed, 16 Apr 2014 11:42:44 +0000
The UND Working Group in Digital &amp; New Media is happy to present "Track Changes:
A Literary History of Word Processing," A Virtual Talk by Matthew Kirschenbaum. The talk is
free and open to the public and will take place at 4pm on Wednesday, April 16 in the East
Asian Room in the Chester Fritz Library.
(https://conted.breeze.und.nodak.edu/digitalhistory) You should be able to stream his talk
here.
title="KirschenbaumFlyer_pdf.jpg"
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alt="KirschenbaumFlyer pdf" width="450" height="357" border="0" />
Matthew G. Kirschenbaum is Associate Professor in the Department of English at the
University of Maryland and Associate Director of the Maryland Institute for Technology in the
Humanities (MITH, an applied think tank for the digital humanities). He is also an affiliated
faculty member with the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at Maryland, and a member of
the teaching faculty at the University of Virginia’s Rare Book School. Kirschenbaum served
as the first director of the new Digital Cultures and Creativity living/learning program in the
Honors College at Maryland.
A 2011 Guggenheim Fellow, Kirschenbaum specializes in digital humanities, electronic
literature and creative new media (including games), textual studies, and
postmodern/experimental literature. He has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia,
and was trained in humanities computing at Virginia’s Electronic Text Center and Institute
for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (where he was the Project Manager of the
(http://www.blakearchive.org/blake/) William Blake Archive). His dissertation was the first

 

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electronic dissertation in the English department at Virginia and one of the very first in the
nation.
Kirschenbaum’s first book, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/mechanisms-new-media-and-theforensic-imagination/oclc/79256819) Mechanisms: New Media and the Forensic
Imagination, was published by the MIT Press in early 2008 and went on to receive
numerous awards. Kirschenbaum serves on the editorial or advisory boards of a number of
projects and publications, including Postmodern Culture, Text Technology, Textual Cultures,
MediaCommons, and futureArch. His work has received coverage in the Atlantic, New York
Times, National Public Radio, Wired, Boing Boing, Slashdot, and the Chronicle of Higher
Education. For more information, (http://mkirschenbaum.wordpress.com/) see his website.


 

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How should things end?
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/17/how-should-things-end/
Thu, 17 Apr 2014 12:29:16 +0000
For the last five years, I’ve taught the undergraduate methods class in the history
department at the University of North Dakota every semester (History 240). Next year, I go
on sabbatical and when I come back, it’s my understanding that my services will no longer
be required in this class. So this will be my last time teaching the course for the foreseeable
future.
(http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/teaching-thursday-revisingthe-historians-craft/) I designed the course in 2009, and made it a combination
historiography and historical research methods. The goal was to introduce students to the
history of the discipline of history and to use that to situate how we approach historical
research and writing today. In general, the course was successful, although I am not entirely
sure that the methods introduced in the course were reinforced enough to be second
nature for our students by the time they reached our capstone class. In fact, we’re
introducing a class between History 240 and History 440 (our capstone) next year to
reinforce many of the basic research skills introduced in history 240. As a result, the
character of History 240 will have to change. More than that, I suspect that my own
idiosyncratic approach to the course will not continue. That’s ok, though. I’ve had my time.
The end of teaching this class did get me thinking about how to end a class. My usual
approach at the end of the semester is to scribble down some notes about how the class
went and what I might want to change. These notes and some quick and dirty statistical
summary of student performance (based on grades) allowed to adjust the class the next
semester by shifting the emphasis slightly, reinforce key points, and even eliminate
assignments on which students performed irregularly.


 

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This semester, however, there is no need to do that. I’m not teaching the class again, and if I
do, it won’t be the same class. So as the semester winds down in this course, I find myself
without a clear sense of purpose. I guess I never developed or even considered an
endgame strategy.
Thinking about my lack of endgame, got me to reflect on the various initiatives that begin
with promise on university campuses, but seem to lack a formal endgame. This is particular
significant at a place like UND where our administrators rotate through every 3-5 years and
bring with them a new set of priorities, strategies, and vision. More than that, the economy,
technology, and disciplinary boundaries appear to have entered a period of particular fluidity
and dynamism that calls into question the value of any project or program that would
continue
If faculty have the initiative and resources to invest in new programs or projects, then, then
we must also understand the environment in which we work. Project, programs, and even
classes need to have endgames which are more than just slipping quietly into sabbatical or
watching interest in a program or project decline until it is quietly discontinued. Just as
archaeological projects generally have plans to move from field work to publication, I
wonder whether programs and projects on campus should have requirements for
productive, reflective conclusions. These conclusions not only allow for the assessment
(and if we know anything about the modern university, it’s that they love assessment) of the
results of the program, the class, and the project over a set length of time, but also hold all
parties accountable for the resources committed to the undertaking. Productive
undertakings that succeed in their goals will have the opportunity to make a strong case of
continued support - over another fixed duration with another set of clear goals;
unproductive undertakings or ones that do not achieve their goals over a realistic span of
time, will not get continued support freeing up resources for new, innovative programs.
This approach may seem overly mechanistic and run counter to an open-ended spirit of
humanistic inquiry. But, spending the last few weeks thinking about the trajectory of a
course has made me realize that a class’s endgame has to produce a more satisfying and
productive results than my current situation. As I wrap up teaching History 240 - perhaps

 

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for the last time ever and certainly the last time in its current configuration - I’m struck by a
feeling of pointlessness. Five years of teaching the class and I have no ability to reflect on
what I accomplished over that duration in a synthetic or systematic way.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/18/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-95/
Fri, 18 Apr 2014 14:52:23 +0000
I am under brutal, continuous assault by allergies this month so I had a slow, headachy,
mucus-filled morning at Archaeology of the Mediterranean World Headquarters.
But, the blog must go on and my readers deserve their quick hits and varia on this springlike
Easter weekend.
• (http://www.npr.org/2014/04/16/303747666/under-the-streets-of-naples-a-way-out-forlocal-kids) Social practice and archaeology in the Naples catacombs.
• (http://www.heritagedaily.com/2014/04/roman-dig-transforms-understanding-of-ancientport/102829) Some cool archaeology at Late Roman Ostia.
• (http://www.ansa.it/english/news/lifestyle/arts/2014/04/14/roman-theatre-discovery-inflorence_1c9bd451-0c4a-44c7-9bbb-7ac53f8e38da.html) The ancient theater at
Florence.
• (http://outofedenwalk.nationalgeographic.com/2014/04/11/drones-archaeologys-newesttool-to-combat-looting/) Drones and archaeology in Jordan.
• (http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/98907.aspx) This is mildly disturbing (that someone
could express this in public).
• (http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/british-academy-fears-for-humanities-inopen-access-world/2012729.article) Curious consequences of British Open Access rules.


 

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• (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/10/books/review/13ware.html) Chris Ware
on numismatics.
• (http://incyprus.philenews.com/en-gb/Top-Stories-News/4342/41214/diplomats-toattend-famagusta-mass) Mass in Famagusta.
• (http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2014/0412/Overcoming-looting-andyears-of-war-Iraq-Museum-moves-to-reopen) Reopening of the Iraq Museum.
• (http://www.movoto.com/blog/novelty-real-estate/americas-music/) An American listening
map.
• (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lettersfrombaghdad/letters-from-baghdad-a-filmabout-gertrude-bell) A film on Gertrude Bell.
• (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26969150) A 13-year old girl in Mongolia hunts
with a golden eagle.
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/books/gabriel-garcia-marquez-literary-pioneerdies-at-87.html) RIP Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
• (http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/currency/2014/04/the-commecial-allure-of-theeighties.html) The commercial value of the 1980s (and some notes on the Atari dig).
(http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/where-ataris-e-t-ranks-among-video-game-flops/)
FiveThirtyEight chimes on the relative crappyness of E.T.
• (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-peak-beard-says-about-humansexual-selection-180951124/) Clearly there is a lot of misinformation about the power of
beards in the scientific community.


 

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• (http://www.news-record.com/news/local_news/article_10b97a1c-c4d7-11e3-bbfc0017a43b2370.html?mode=image&amp;photo=0) Little boy with a big trashcan.
• (https://medium.com/p/26b004cd0f6f) Some will be more upset about the risk to quinoa
than others.
• (http://www.wired.com/2014/04/worlds-biggest-rv/) This will be my tour vehicle.
• What I’m reading: W. Rathje and C. Murphy, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/rubbish-thearchaeology-of-garbage/oclc/25026293) Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage. (1992).
• What I’m listening to: EMA, The Future’s Void.
Maiden Flight
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WoFZgEhxeQ]


 

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Fantasy, Fanboys, and Archaeology
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/21/fantasy-fanboys-and-archaeology/
Mon, 21 Apr 2014 14:56:56 +0000
I've been reading Ernie Cline's (https://www.worldcat.org/title/ready-playerone/oclc/687652381) Ready Player One in anticipation of meeting him at week's end in
Alamogordo, New Mexico as we assemble
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/punk-archaeology-buried-atariand-disciplinary-anxiety/) to track down millions of dumped Atari cartridges. The book is
entertaining and captures a particular strain of distopian science fiction that contrasts a
decaying, dangerous, and impoverished world against a gleaming virtual reality. Gibson
framed it most famously as the contrast between the sprawl and the abstracted flow of data
through the matrix. Cline's book is also laced with vaguely archaeological references.
Without giving too much away of the plot, the dorktastic main character engages in a quest
in a massive game simulation to win a dead billionaires fortune. The quest involves the main
character exploring tombs, ruins, or places frozen in time.
The archaeological character of the book, set in the middle decades of the 21st century,
plays off an explicit sense of nostalgia for the 1980s. It fits nicely in the growing nostalgia
for that decade that fuels, in part, the desire to track down and excavate the buried Atari
cartridges in the New Mexico desert. The goal of this excavation, like the quest in Cline's
novel, is to solve a mystery, but it's also to restore the objects buried in ground (hidden and
discarded) to a place within our cultural consciousness. The act of restoring value to copies
of the E.T. video game, finds a nice parallels with the plot of the movie (and the goal of the
game) where the homesick alien struggles, but ultimately finds his way home.
This kind of Romantic quest for restoration projects a utopian future grounded firmly in a
past that is somehow more authentic, innocent, and just. Just as Freud understood
excavation as the method to uncover our primordial humanity by cutting away the cluttered
overburden of the conscious mind, the nostalgic trip into the New Mexico desert to restore

 

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the game E.T. to its rightful place in our nostalgic utopian view of the past.
(https://www.worldcat.org/title/metahistory-the-historical-imagination-in-nineteenthcentury-europe/oclc/700666) Hayden White, following Northrop Frye, recognized
Romantic forms of emplotment as evoking anarchist ideologies although not necessary in
the strictest, most doctrinal sense of the word. The act of Romantic restoration, however,
does fit well the task of the archaeologists who build their ideal futures through the careful
reconstruction of the past.
There is something of an echo between the archaeologist's craft and our desire to make
the past whole again, and the fantasy of science fiction which so often - in its most popular
form - follows the well-worn path from impending distopia to redeemed utopia. The
nostalgic fanboy recognizes the Romantic emplotment common to fantasy and archaeology.
The Atari dig embodies the powerful impulses of nostalgia, science-fiction, fanboy
enthusiasm, and archaeological epistemologies.


 

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Joel Jonientz
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/joel-jonientz/
Tue, 22 Apr 2014 12:10:47 +0000
Yesterday we lost Joel Jonientz, one of my closest friends, collaborators, and neighbors. He
was 46 and has a wife and three small kids. It sucks.
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Joel was a remarkable guy. He had vast knowledge ranging from painting, drawing, and
comics (his scholarly specialty) to music, technology, baseball, football, and (while he
refused to discuss it as a Seattle sports fan) the NBA. He knew how to use a circular and a
table saw (and rebuilt my front porch while I helped). Whenever there was something to do,
he’d remind me: he could read how to do it on the internet, and he had a masters in FINE
arts. He could go from moderating a panel of poets, artists, and writers at the UND Writers
Conference to complaining about an offseason move by the Seahawks in a moment.
He co-produced a podcast and (http://www.professorfootnote.com/) you can hear it here.
He maintained (http://joeljonientz.com/) a blog that documented his art here.
He (http://vimeo.com/user3695627) has videos on Vimeo here including
(http://vimeo.com/25245568#at=0) this one in Mayan.
He designed an amazing poster for
(https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/punk_arch-poster1.jpg?w=862&amp;h=1200) Punk Archaeology here for free because he though the entire
thing sounded fun. He laid out the book and

 

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(https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/punka_cover_1.jpg?w=900&am
p;h=900) designed the cover art.
He always stayed to the end of the game when watching sports at my place. When things
were going well for one of our teams, he would insist on high-fives. I don’t do high fives.
title="Joel.jpg" src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/joel.jpg"
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He understood that it was just as important to hang out when things were going poorly. In
2011, he was the only person watching the NLDS with me (in a crowded house) and we
both noticed Ryan Howard limping after running hard to first on the final out of the Phillies’
losing effort.
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More than any of that, he was a family guy. He loved his wife and kids in a way that gave
perspective to the entire world and gave him a consistent set of priorities that guided his
life, work, and friendships. When he and I were stressed out about something, he’d smile
and tell me that when he got home, he had three little people who would remind him of what
was really important in life and produce joy.
Whenever I needed something, he would be there to help. He was supportive of most of my
ideas (and he was supportive of most of his friends’ ideas) even if it was largely because
“he loved a bad plan.”
Yesterday, I was barely able to function, but today, I think I’m seeing a bit more clearly.
Anyone who met Joel - even just for a moment - remembers him, and we’ll all feel his loss
for a long time.


 

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Joel and I had plans! He was the co-director of The Digital Press at the University of North
Dakota with me. We had both worked hard to direct the disparate energies of the Working
Group in Digital and New Media (there was even talk of us getting a web page!). He was
fascinated by my work in (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/workcamps/) the Bakken and, when we last talked on Easter,
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/punk-archaeology-buried-atariand-disciplinary-anxiety/) he was excited for my plan to excavate Atari games in the New
Mexico desert.
If yesterday, I was wracked by grief, and, while today I don’t feel any less sad, I also realize
how much work I have to do to live up to Joel’s legacy.
A little update : This post has received over 400 page views in the last few hours. Joel used
to tell me that a mention on my blog was worth about 30 page views on his. He and his
friends are returning the favor 10 fold. So take a few minutes to (http://joeljonientz.com/)
click through to his blog, (http://www.professorfootnote.com/) listen to a podcast, or
(http://vimeo.com/user3695627) check out a video. This image
was (http://joeljonientz.com/?attachment_id=411#main) touching today.
One update more: (https://soundcloud.com/taiko-1/joel-ripple) My good friend Tim Pasch
shared this with us today. It’s a cover of Grateful Dead’s Ripple.
There is a road, no simple highway,
Between the dawn and the dark of night,
And if you go no one may follow,
That path is for your steps alone.


 

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Digging E.T.
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/23/digging-e-t/
Wed, 23 Apr 2014 14:03:15 +0000
So, this has been a bad week for our community and I am still in shock from what happened
this weekend. At the same time, one of the last conversations I had with Joel was about the
Atari excavation. He was so excited about it and wanted to hear about it as soon as I could
officially tell him anything. (In fact, I had said that I would send along some unofficial
updates via email as the project developed).
So this afternoon, I’m off to Alamogordo, New Mexico to excavate a landfill and to document
the search for some 4-5 million discarded cartridges of the Atari game E.T. The team is
sweet: Andrew Reinhard is our fearless leader, Richard Rothaus and K. Lindsay Eaves know
how to do things, and Bret Weber and I will be there to theorize, contextualize, and learn.
We’ll also be joined by Raiford Guins, author of (http://www.worldcat.org/title/game-aftera-cultural-study-of-video-game-afterlife/oclc/844789683) Game After, Ernie Cline, author
of (http://www.worldcat.org/title/ready-player-one/oclc/687652381) Ready Player One,
and a band of merry and accomplished filmmakers.
I’ve blogged on locating this work in a larger conversation about
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/punk-archaeology-buried-atariand-disciplinary-anxiety/) the archaeology of late capitalism and
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/21/fantasy-fanboys-and-archaeology/)
in narrative strategies embraced by fantasy, fanboy, and gamer culture. I think we should
also think about how excavating a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico contributes to our
image of the modern American West where high-tech industries intersect with open and
unpopulated spaces and failed dreams. I’ll be leaning on Bret Weber’s expertise in Western
History as we track the final journey of the games from the Atari distribution center in El
Paso to the landfill in Alamogordo.


 

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While I am not sure whether we’ll be allowed (or have time) to tweet or blog from the dig,
but if we can, I will. In the meantime follow the hashtag #diggingET to see what’s up.


 

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Digging E.T. Starts in El Paso
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/digging-e-t-starts-in-el-paso/
Thu, 24 Apr 2014 14:01:50 +0000
i
“(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/joel-jonientz/) I love a bad plan."
Our journey to excavate the cache of discarded E.T. Atari cartridges began on a rainy,
Wednesday afternoon in Fargo…
It was an afternoon ripped from the pages of a dimestore noire thriller by Hammett or
Chandler. We caught the 5:45 to Chi-town and then the 9:20 to El Paso.
It was after midnight (makes it sound more dramatic, right?) when Bret Weber and I landed
in El Paso and spent the night in a seedy airport hotel (it was actually quite nice). We’re not
sure why where here in El Paso (actually, it’s the closest airport to our final destination in
Alamogordo), but we know where to look (because we read
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/game-after-a-cultural-study-of-video-gameafterlife/oclc/844789683) Raiford Guins's fine book on the afterlife of video games.)
There are three addresses associated with Atari here and on our way West, we’ll stop at
them and see what there is to see and take some photographs. Then we’ll head west into
the desert, to see what it has for us.
Depending on our schedule, any limits that the producers place on our media output, and
what we do, I’ll have updates here.
For updates in (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23DiggingET) the social medias follow
#DiggingET.


 

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(http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/und-archaeologist-seeks-atari-legend-newmexico) Here’s some coverage in my local daily.


 

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First Impressions on the Atari E.T. Excavations in Alamogordo, New
Mexico
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/28/first-impressions-on-the-atari-e-texcavations-in-alamogordo-new-mexico/
Mon, 28 Apr 2014 14:27:59 +0000
After three hectic days in the New Mexico desert, I’m ready to go home and finish up the
semester. We have hard drives full of images, notebooks full of description, and audio and
video files to come to describe and transcribe. (We also have piles of stinky clothing and a
fear that we’ll never lose the smell of the landfill from our skin and hair!).
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alt="P1040983" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
In the interest of capturing the moment, I can offer a few quick impressions here.
1. Real archaeology was possible. The strangest thing about the project was that the
archaeology team did not direct the excavation of the exploration. We did manage to make
ourselves present throughout the entire process, however. The first day(s) involved taking a
series of bucket auger cores from various places in the landfill. We arrived a bit late on
Thursday so we didn’t see all this work, but we did manage to catch the last few holes and
get a clear sense of the fill’s stratigraphy. On Friday, we observed the excavator dig several
5.5-7.5 m deep holes and then on Saturday we were present for the extraction of the final
levels in the landfill which contained the Atari games. The trying weather conditions
(including 50 mph winds) made it impossible to document the finds on site except in a very
superficial way. On Sunday, however, we were able to process artifacts and take study
photographs before turning the collection over to the city of Alamogordo.


 

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2. Stratigraphy was present and visible. There was clear stratigraphy present in the landfill
and we were able to document it reasonably well. There were clear layers of soil on the top
of the fill which covered a later layer of trash that we understand to have been a single
dumping episode. It covered another layer of soil, which was the soil cover for the major
landfill episode at the site. The major landfill at the site came up black both with
decomposition and evidence for ash and burning. This level was a distinct depositional
process that involved vertical columns of trash and it rested immediately atop the deposit of
Atari games, which were, apparently, layered horizontally along the bottom of the cut made
for the trash and covered with a thin and irregular layer of concrete.
3. The problems with abundance. Once the material started to come out from the fill, we
discovered that most of the layers atop the Atari deposit consisted of domestic trash. This is
not surprising. We did quick reads of these levels, but the pace of excavation and the
quantity of material (as well as the safety concerns and the production company’s priorities)
made it impossible to perform any formal garbagology on the non-Atari landfill levels. The
quantity of trash was overwhelming and even the more homogenous Atari deposit was too
much to quantify in the time that we had. As a result, we can talk fairly confidently about
what was present in the deposit and coarsely about the relative proportion of the material.
Our sample was random, in that it reflected the location of the trench excavated rather than
the deposition process itself, but it may or may not be representative of the entire
assemblage. The size of the sample which probably represented less than 10% of the entire
assemblage provided us with enough material to make some good observations on the
processes that formed this group of material.
4. Multiple narratives. The most interesting thing about our experience here is the different
narratives that have emerged surrounding the excavation. Some narratives are local and
involve the validation of stories circulated by local residents for years. Some are global and
involve the conclusion of (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/21/fantasyfanboys-and-archaeology/) a romantic quest for a fragment of a shared (albeit consumerist)
past. Even within the archaeological team, there are various narrative ranging from an
interest in confirming an video game legend to critiques of late capitalism, questions of
disciplinary boundaries, and the history of the American west. At the same time, being part

 

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of a documentary, our position within the project remained dependent on a kind of
overarching narrative that embraced (and authorized in a practical sense!) our work. Finally,
there was the media that ranged from the new and social media to myriad marketing groups
who attempted to embed our activities within their stories. It’ll take a while to figure out how
these things all interact.
5. The uncertain end. As we pack up our clothes to head home, I can’t get the final scene
from(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdjf4lMmiiI) Raiders of the Lost Arc out of my
mind. The artifacts are property of the city of Alamogordo and they have plans to store and
distribute the artifacts from the excavation. The production company will get some and we
hope that some come to our team for further study, conservation (if necessary), and
archiving. At the same time, it seems likely that some copies of the game have “wandered
off” and will soon appear for sale. It’ll be interesting to think about the ethical implications of
selling these objects and the role of archaeologists (as well as the media) in creating market
value for these artifacts.
My thoughts these issues will continue to develop over the next few weeks especially as we
begin to process the myriad of data collected and write up the preliminary report. Stay
tuned.


 

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The Secret of the Atari E.T. Excavation
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/the-secret-of-the-atari-e-texcavation/
Wed, 30 Apr 2014 14:11:02 +0000
The aftershocks of this week’s Atari E.T. excavation continue to ripple through my humble
existence. The most significant recent event, however, was that the production company
has asked us to be selective with what we report and write about. The amount of press
coverage of the excavation, the flurry of activity in the social media, and the presence of
three or four official, but separate crews documenting the event for Microsoft and related
entities created a perfect storm of publicity that we might describe as hyperreal. The
intersection of the press, the documentary film team, and our own interest as “real”
archaeologists intersect at a request for secrecy that is, from what I understand, completely
devoid of irony.
It makes sense, of course, that they want us to be selective about what we reveal. The
funding for the excavation was not meant to support scientific inquiry, but rather a
successful documentary film. If we told the world what happened before the film appeared,
we would blunt the impact of the movie and undermine the value of their investment.
Moreover, archaeologists are familiar with various kinds of embargoes on information from
permit restrictions, to ethical considerations and the slow pace of publishing, we
understand that knowledge is a commodity.
I decided, however, that I can tell the secret. I am going to reveal what happened this
weekend on the Atari E.T. excavations.
The signs were all there: (http://www.ernestcline.com/ecto88/) Ernie Cline’s Delorean for
example. It was made in Northern Ireland, designed by an Italian studio, engineered
(belatedly) by Colin Chapman, powered by a French engine, and built by a former GM
executive who ultimately is arrested for drug trafficking (that most 1980s drug cocaine). The

 

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unfinished cars were purchases by Big Lots.
We were given Microsoft Surface tablets to use in documenting our work.
These things were all harbingers.
The secret of the Atari E.T. excavation was that it revealed, for just a few moments, the end
of the world.
It happened late Saturday afternoon. The wind whipped the desert sand across our faces.
The deep rumble of the excavator had gone silent. The piles of mangled, damp, and
discarded Atari games flanked the gaping hole torn through the heart of the Alamogordo
landfill. That hole released, just for a moment, something so horrible that the producers,
directors, archaeologists, and onlookers have been asked to be silent in an effort to
suppress this event.
The fencing that separated the assembled crowd of onlookers from the work of the
excavator came down and they descended on the piles of excavated games rabidly. They
were gleaning the games from the pile. Then the grey water truck came by spreading its
miasma in an effort to keep the scouring dust at bay. The gleaners kept going through the
piles of games even as the grey water covered them as they continued to pick through the
piles.
The excavation pushed humanity to cross the barrier between us and our own waste. It
started with the landfill and culminated with the grey water. It was the end of the world.
Nostalgia for the 1980s fueled the search for Atari’s E.T. burial ground, but it wasn’t just an
innocent nostalgia for a particular decade and particular values. The nostalgia for a “simpler
time” opened the doors to a deeper, anarchic past at the edge of what makes us human.


 

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Three Things That I Learned about Teaching
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/01/three-things-that-i-learned-aboutteaching/
Thu, 01 May 2014 12:37:33 +0000
This semester has been hectic. Between some travel on my part (although not as much as
in past years), the weather, and some unforeseen events, I’ve spent a good bit of time trying
to figure out whether I am coming or going. To make matters worse, I’ve been a bit guilty of
looking ahead to sabbatical and organizing my teaching priorities with an eye toward
2015/16 academic year. This has not helped me live in the moment.
At the same time, I have begun to think a bit about what I could have done better this
semester in my classes, and have three general things:
1. Repetition versus Reinforcement.
The first time that I taught (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/scale-up/)
History 101 in a Scale-Up classroom, I painstakingly walked groups of students through
writing a single textbook chapter on a single, relatively narrow, topic and period. The results
were decent, but at about week 10 of a 15 week semester, I began to detect diminishing
returns. The students continued to go through the motions and revise their work, but the
quality improved only slightly and the class struggled to remain engaged. This spring, I
compressed the writing and revision process for a single chapter from 10 to 3 weeks and
asked each group of students to write 3 chapters. This definitely kept the students more
focused, but I am not sure whether the writing has improved. In other words, despite giving
regular feedback and nudging the students toward a more systematic and efficient
approach to historical writing, the students continue to make the same mistakes. I need to
find a way to ensure repetition reinforces good habits rather than just providing
opportunities to make the same mistakes.


 

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2. Technique versus Content.
Finding a way to break through the repetition versus reinforcement quandary is the first step
toward understanding how what I teach (content and method) and how I teach (pedagogy
and classroom management) intersect. It seems like every field these days is looking for a
“signature pedagogy” (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/writing-sotlassessment-and-embodied-knowledge/) that links a particular pedagogy to the unique
epistemological suppositions of a field or a discipline. In our an academic world
characterized by increasing competition for resource between the disciplines, the ability to
link disciplinary understandings of knowledge to specific teaching practices is vital to justify
continued support.
One of the focal points of my sabbatical will be on making sure my classroom techniques
and practices reinforce the disciplinary content and methods that I value as a historian. In
my Scale-up class, for example, I have a good understanding what I need to do to keep
students focused on task (see my first point), but now I have to use these techniques to
communicate the historical method.
In my upper division classes, I have tended toward more traditional practice grounded in
lectures and set discussions of primary source texts. Since I only occasionally taught upper
level courses, I have not spent much time working on how to teach in this environment.
Moreover, I’ve found upper level students to be more or less self-motivated and so I have
put less energy into thinking about how to engage them in the learning process. With a year
off, I am going to create at least one new class focused on the ancient world and I want to
think carefully and critically about how I can make this class a history class in both what I
teach and how I teach.
3. Manufacture Time.
My inability to manufacture time was my greatest frustration this semester. I lost about two
weeks of the semester to weather and travel and fell behind in my undergraduate historical
methods class. Thinking it unfair to force the students to hurry through the regularly

 

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scheduled assignments in a shorter period of time, I cancelled the major paper and spent
more time working with the students on the other assignments in the class.
The problem, of course, is that I usually schedule about a month or five weeks for major
assignment and losing two weeks left me with three weeks when the students and myself
are more or less at loose ends. While I can reinforce certain basic skills, provide some
additional content, and even work on aspects of the class that usually get passed over
quickly, this work typically goes to support the final paper.
What I need to get better at doing is manufacturing time so that I have more flexibility in how
I approach the course schedule. This includes using new media to deliver content, adjusting
assignments on the fly, and thinking through alternative assignments that can be made
ready at a moment’s notice. This approach will not only help me be a more dynamic and
flexible teacher when we do not encounter a time crunch, but also force me to think more
carefully about the goals of individual assignments and how these goals could be
accomplished in different ways.


 

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Friday Quick Hits and Varia
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/friday-quick-hits-and-varia-41/
Fri, 02 May 2014 11:55:36 +0000
It has been an exciting, but exhausting two weeks since my
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/11/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-94/)
last Friday Quick Hits and Varia.
Next week, I wrap up the semester, recover from my Atari dig, and start to prepare for
(http://westernargolid.org/) WARP.
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/arts/design/repatriated-works-back-in-theircountries-of-origin.html?_r=0) A strange article on repatriated antiquities and museums.
• (http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/egypt-archaeologist-could-have-discovered-the-tombof-alexander-the-great/) Who knows?

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/research_projects/all_current_projects/sudan/ama
ra_west_research_project/the_town_of_amara_west/house_d127.aspx) An ancient house
in Sudan.
• (http://www.nature.com/news/ancient-bones-show-signs-of-struggle-with-coeliacdisease-1.15128) Coeliac disease in antiquity.
• (http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/identify-mystery-text-win-1000/) Mystery text deciphered.
• (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/04/28/why-studentsusing-laptops-learn-less-in-class-even-when-they-really-are-taking-notes/) Why writing
longhand may be better than

 

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typing ((http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/04/22/0956797614524581.abstract)
the scholarly article is here).
• (http://detroit.jalopnik.com/general-motors-will-build-you-a-tidy-little-shipping-c1569884815) A cool tiny house from GM.
• (http://m.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/04/the-adjunct-professorcrisis/361336/) Adjuncts revolt.
• Some links on the Atari dig:
• (http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2014/05/01/punk-archaeology-andexcavating-video-games-in-new-mexico/) Some punk archaeology over at the AAA blog.
• (http://almostarchaeology.tumblr.com/post/84509623583/exhuming-atari-or-punkarchaeology-levels-up) Almost Archaeology.
• (http://readwrite.com/2014/04/28/atari-et-dig-alamogordo-gamelist#awesm=~oD6qRBLdpquPof) Readwrite.
• (http://www.wired.com/2014/04/atari-et-dig/) Wired.
• (http://jimgoldenstudio.bigcartel.com/) Relics of technology.
• (http://theedgeofthevillage.com/2014/05/01/historic-movie-theaters-restoring-the-wallawalla/) Restored movie theaters.
• (http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2014/04/squatters-in-venezuelas-45-story-tower-ofdavid/100721/) Abandonment and squatting in Caracas, Venezuela.
• What I’m reading: D.B. Weiss, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/lucky-wanderboy/oclc/50166622) Lucky Wander Boy. New York 2003; I. Bogost and N. Montfort,

 

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(http://www.worldcat.org/title/racing-the-beam-the-atari-video-computersystem/oclc/312933472) Racing the Beam: the Atari Video Computer System. Cambridge,
MA 2009.
• What I’m listening to: The Moles, Flashbacks and Dream Sequences: The Story of the
Moles.
title="IMG_1702.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/img_1702.jpg" alt="IMG
1702" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Digital Methods in the Journal of Field Archaeology
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/digital-methods-in-the-journal-offield-archaeology/
Mon, 05 May 2014 12:10:58 +0000
The most recent issue of the Journal of Field Archaeology has
(http://www.maneyonline.com/toc/jfa/39/2) a little gaggle of interesting contributions to
digital methods in our discipline. The two that stood out most to me involved the use of 3D
modeling to map complex and challenging site types resistant to traditional forms of
archaeological documentation. These articles both demonstrated how digital techniques are
doing more than producing flashy presentations and moving field documentation forward in
terms of efficiency, accuracy, and precision.
(http://www.maneyonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/0093469014Z.00000000077) The first
article looked at the use of photogrammetry and structure-from-motion imaging to
document the 4th c. B.C. Mazotos shipwreck near Cape Kiti, Cyprus. The complexities of
documenting shipwreck sites and particularly those in relatively deep water, are well-known.
Using digital cameras and straightforward structure-from-motion software like Agisoft
Photoscan, S. Demesticha and her team were able to document the substantial pile of
amphora left behind after the ship sank of the south coast of Cyprus. Using Agisoft
Photoscan required that a diver take a series of photos from both directly above the wreck,
but also at oblique angles. This software, however, eliminated the need for myriad control
points or grids to ensure that the photographs overlapped enough to be accurate. As a
result it was possible to take the photographs necessary to produce a highly accurate plan
of the shipwreck on a daily basis during excavation. One of the upshots of this easy and
accurate technique of recording their excavation was that they were able to identify the 6th
century A.D. seabed level on the basis of a stray amphora sherd, and document more
accurately the undersea formation processes that shaped the site.


 

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The second interesting article discussed
(http://www.maneyonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/0093469014Z.00000000081) the
potential for using a laser scanner to document the Skoteino Cave on Crete. The cave saw
occupation from the Bronze Age through the modern period and has long been the object
of archaeological investigation. Caves, however, are particularly difficult to document
accurately as steep grades, difficult sight lines, and their unsuitability for GIS has tended to
produce plans rife with errors and inconsistencies. 3D laser scanning is an expensive
alternative to these other techniques with gear costing into 6 figures, but one that offers the
possibility of creating highly accurate 3D models (and plans) of the cave. Interestingly, the
use of laser scanning at Skoteino cave did not produce a more accurate plan of the site
prior to the publication of the article. This is largely because of the massive size of the data
set produced by the laser scanner was too difficult to manipulate in a way that retained
accuracy. This, however, is a limitation that will soon be ameliorated through the use of
cloud computing, higher-powered processors, and ever increasing amounts of RAM and
hard disk speeds.
Both articles showcased the next generation of archaeological documentation in a journal
that most would regard as traditional, but not unsophisticated in character. Predictable,
both articles demonstrated the limitation of print journals in an era of 3D field
documentation. The flat images in Demesticha et al.’s article on the Mazotos shipwreck
simply did not do justice to the dynamic methods used to document their work. The
existence of sites that make 3D manipulation possible on the web makes the absence of a
link to even one 3D model a shortcoming rather than an oversight.
I wonder if we’re close to the point where it might be excepted that the team from Skoteino
cave should make their dataset - however massive - available for someone with substantial
processing power to convert into either a 3D or even old fashioned 2D plan. Since the
article did not present the fruit of their labor and the limitation was largely technological, I
can see no reason not to share the raw data to at least demonstrate the validity of their
approach.


 

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Despite these shortcomings, these two articles and the others in this volume show that 3D
imaging technologies are no longer the domain of a fringe group of tech savvy (tech
obsessed?) archaeologists, but increasingly available to solve real archaeological problems
of field documentation.


 

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Settlement on Cyprus in the 7th and 8th centuries
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/settlement-on-cyprus-in-the-7thand-8th-centuries-2/
Tue, 06 May 2014 11:39:20 +0000
This past week R. Scott Moore and I sent off a draft of a paper on settlement in Cyprus
during the Early Byzantine period.
This has been a work in progress for the last few months and developed partially from our
work on Cyprus at the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project and at the site of PolisChrysochous.
(http://www.scribd.com/doc/215397597/Settlement-on-Cyprus-during-the-7th-and-8thCenturies)
This is the earlier draft of this paper, and you can read more on this paper :
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/20/writing-as-process-and-the-7thcentury-on-cyprus/)
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/coins-raids-and-dates-in-7thcentury-cyprus/
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/more-on-cyprus-during-the-7thcentury/
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/settlement-on-cyprus-in-the-7thand-8th-centuries/
[scribd id=222312961 key=key-1xrrhrlumtok8tobhd55 mode=scroll]


 

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Curating Digital Joel
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/curating-digital-joel/
Wed, 07 May 2014 12:49:41 +0000
On Monday evening, some of Joel Jonientz’s University of North Dakota colleagues and I
began the gut-wrenching process of preparing his digital archive. (For more on Joel,
(http://joeljonientz.com/) check out his blog here and
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/joel-jonientz/) my little post on him
here.)
While Joel was trained as a painter, in the last decade he had moved heavily to digital media
for his work. His animation, design, video, and audio content was scattered over three
computers and a bunch of hard drives. After a quick look, we determined that almost
everything on these machines was work related, but his organization was a bit complex, so
instead of just grabbing content files, we imaged the drives on the computer (more or less)
to make sure that we got everything we might need.
As we did this, we looked over the terabyte or more of data and realized that the process of
curating this content would be more than just a long evening or weekend. Joel has three
kids and a fabulous wife and they wanted copies of his digital legacy. Moreover, we wanted
to make some of Joel’s legacy available to the university archives as part of its mission to
archive the work of faculty. They are just now coming to terms with the complexities of
archiving digital work, so my colleagues and I are looking to help them as much as possible.
So far, we’ve encountered three issues curating his digital collection:
1. Formats. Joel worked pretty easily across multiple proprietary software platforms for
image, video, and audio editing as well as layout and design. As result, his hard drives are a
bewildering array of file types that will have to be converted to archival formats. In some
cases, that will be easy. Audio files can be converted to .wav files and Photoshop files

 

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convert easily to uncompressed .tiff formats. Video files present a different challenge, of
course, as they have - from what I can tell - garnered the same kind of wide agreement for
an archival format.
More than that, the formats of files do preserve traces of Joel’s artistic process. Animation
for example might easily involve both proprietary still image formats, design, and video.
While we plan to have several copies of the imaged drives preserved, we began to think
about how the relationship between proprietary file types and process should be
represented in the more carefully and selective curated archive. Converting all the propriety
file types to archival formats runs the risk of overwriting part of his creative process by
obscuring the tools he used to make his works.
2. Structure. The issue of curating process extends to file structure as well. When we
produce a curated copy of his files saved to archival formats, we will have to make some
difficult decisions on how to reconcile the formats present on multiple hard drives with
multiple file structures that often preserved parts of the same project or projects. Some of
this will involve working closely with people familiar with various projects. Joel was an
intensely collaborative dude who worked with multiple people on multiple projects so it will
be a challenge to figure out who can help understand the key components and organization
of his work.
3. Stability. This is the biggest challenge and one that we don’t have to face alone. We
need to move a significant amount of data to a stable medium that will be there for his kids
when they start to get interested in their father’s work. Right now hard drives are not
particularly stable when we’re looking at a decade or more of storage. In fact, hardware in
general is not stable over such long periods of time. So we’ll have to make a plan to keep
migrating the data to new hardware and to make sure that it will be available for the future.
For now, we have a solid start on organizing and curating Joel’s digital legacy. Once I get
back from summer fieldwork, we are going to start to digital curation process in earnest. As
we do that, and make progress, I’ll keep the world in the loop.


 

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Contributing to the Media Circus
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/08/contributing-to-the-media-circus/
Thu, 08 May 2014 11:19:13 +0000
I’ll admit to being somewhat overwhelmed by the media attention surrounding the
excavation of Atari games in the New Mexico desert. At the same time, I couldn’t resist
contributing to it.
First, (http://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/77754/indiana-jones-myth-reality-and-21stcentury-archaeology) here is an interview I did yesterday that focused on the punk
archaeology movement. In the last segment, we talk about the Atari dig.
And here is something the University of North Dakota’s College of Arts and Sciences staff
writer put together for their newsletter:
Digging Atari
When the words Atari and archaeology appear together, one usually thinks of such iconic
video games as Pitfall! or Raiders of the Lost Ark. It is almost impossible to think of the Atari
console itself or games designed for it as archaeological artifacts. At the end of April,
however, Prof. Bill Caraher from the Department of History, the Working Group in Digital
and New Media, and the global Punk Archaeology Collective, headed to Alamogordo, New
Mexico to excavate the famous Atari graveyard from the city's old landfill.
According to the urban legend, the Atari corporation buried millions of returned, damaged,
and even new games in the Alamogordo city landfill to hide massive losses incurred in
1982. The most famous object in this lot was the ill-fated E.T. game which some critics
have rated among the worst video game ever. Atari dumped the games in Alamogordo both
to hide poor selling, damaged, or returned games from investors, but also because the
Alamogordo landfill owners offered company a good deal not far from their El Paso

 

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distribution center.
"We landed in El Paso and checked out the completely nondescript building where the
games originated. It's not a box factory, but in the early 1980s it was a distribution center for
Atari. It reminded us straight away that culturally significant objects from the late 20th
century will not necessarily originate in the hands of crafts people or exotic locales. These
are consumer goods, made in anonymous factories, and shipped through boxlike
warehouses," Caraher noted, "We wanted to locate these objects in their social context
from the start. These are not exotic."
For a shockingly large number of retro-video games enthusiasts and nostalgic
40somethings, the games nevertheless had meaning. The 2014 Atari Expedition was an
extension of a documentary film directed by Zak Penn which sought to to determine the fate
of the Atari burial ground. The documentary is scheduled to appear this year on Microsoft's
Xbox platform. Caraher was part of an archaeological team coordinated by Andrew
Reinhard and was joined by Bret Weber from the Department of Social Work, and
archaeologist Richard Rothaus (NDSU). They were joined by Raiford Guins from Stony
Brook University, one of the foremost video game experts in the world. They spent four days
in the New Mexico desert offering archaeological perspectives to the documentary film and
recording the finds and excavation process.
"Our goals," Caraher said, "were somewhat different from the guys making the
documentary. We were there to record what was happening in as detailed way as possible.
They were there to make a movie."
For Caraher and Weber, the work in New Mexico was an extension of their interest in the
archaeology of workforce housing in the Bakken. Since 2012, they have co-directed the
North Dakota Man Camp Project which explores the material and social environments of
North Dakota's so-called man camps. Like the Atari dig, the NDMCP takes the material
culture of the last 30 years seriously as a way to explore social, economic, and political
relationships that traditional ethnographic and historical practices over look. Both projects
emphasized not only the recent past, but also privileged the production large-scale

 

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photographic archives as the primary form of data collection.
"The Atari project was a great opportunity to see the excavation of a landfill which can tell
us as much about an American community as the traditional texts of historians. So we were
interested in documenting the landfill as much as finding the games," Caraher said.
The games, however, told another story. While Caraher and the archaeology team will wait
for the documentary to appear to disclose all that they found, he can say that the Atari
assemblage is unique in the history of archaeology. The rapid pace of life at the end of the
20th century moves objects from pride of place in our house to archaeological contexts at
an alarming rate. Just as the oil companies have promised to leave the western North
Dakota landscape without a trace, we purge our house of outdated technology and send it
to landfills at the edge of town, and bury it away from human sight and memory.
The archaeological recovery of objects cast aside by consumers casts them in a new light
and gives them new value. Caraher and the archaeological team were as interested in the
way that archaeological excavation transformed these once discarded games into object of
desire.
"While most of what we excavated has become property of the city of Alamogordo and the
production company, we have worked with city to identify objects from the dig that would
communicate the story effectively in a museum context," Caraher says.
The project also captures some of the spirit of Punk Archaeology. Caraher and Reinhard
were key players in the formation of the Global Punk Archaeology Collective and both see
the Atari dig as part of that movement. Punk Archaeology emerged as a movement that
celebrated the flexible "Do It Yourself" (DIY) spirit flourishing among archaeologists. It also
emphasized the process of taking every day objects and placing them in new contexts.
"Punk rockers frequently challenged how we see the world by taking every day objects - like
safety pins - and turning them into jewelry or taking perfectly good blue jeans and ripping
holes in them. These acts are senseless, but they show how the presentation and use of

 

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objects defines their meaning," Caraher explained.
The Atari E.T. excavation was covered widely in the media and the archaeologists had to
work with both documentary filmmakers, who funded the project, and contractors, city
officials, and members of the media. The result was a complex web of priorities and
activities at the dig site. At times, the archaeologists were excluded from observing
excavations because of safety concerns. The landfill was unstable and posed challenges to
the massive excavator used to dig over 20 feet below the surface to exhume the games. To
make matters more complicated, the entire crew was battered by 40-60 mph winds on the
days of excavation that whipped desert sand across the landfill making it nearly impossible
to document finds in the field. The production team had their own priorities. At times, they
withheld information from the archaeologists to create suspense in the documentary.
His students were particular eager to hear about the dig on his return.
"The students, of course, got the uncensored story, and it provided me with a chance to
introduce students to the punk archaeology movement and make them more attuned how
our interaction with objects - even mundane ones like Atari games - create value in the
world. If I can encourage students to think about how their relationship with objects through
the absurd example of the Atari dig, then I think I've started to get them to think about their
world and how capitalism works in a bit of a different way."
The scholarly results of the Atari dig will appear over the next year or so while Caraher is on
sabbatical, but he has already contributed to an article to appear on the The Atlantic's
webpage and will contribute to an article for Archaeology Magazine as well as more
scholarly publications.
"I've never worked in an environment like the Atari dig or on material like that which we
found in our excavations there. We're excited to prepare some academic publications that
document both the results and our experiences on a project like this.


 

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Grading Music
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/09/grading-music/
Fri, 09 May 2014 13:02:03 +0000
isPermaLink="false) http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/?p=3974</guid>
Today is a pretty intense grading day for me, so instead of my usual Friday Varia and Quick
Hits, I thought I’d provide my grading playlist:
For me, grading is all about maximizing my flow:
Bob Marley, Exodus.
Tom Petty, Full Moon Fever.
Frightened Rabbit, The Midnight Organ Fight.
Boston, Boston.
Iggy Pop, Lust for Life.
Iggy Pop, The Idiot.
Grace Jones, Nightclubbing.
Fleetwood Mac, Mr. Wonderful.
The tunes are coming from a late-1970s-ish Marantz 2235B driving a pair of Energy C-2
book shelf speakers. The source is my reliable MacBook Pro running unmodified iTunes
through a Schiit Modi DAC. Cables are all Audioquest.


 

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Summer Reading List
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/summer-reading-list-2/
Mon, 12 May 2014 12:25:32 +0000
One of my annual rites of late spring is to pull together my summer reading list for both
travel to and from The Europe and long summer evenings on the front porch. For the past
few years, I’ve poked around the edges of the cyberpunk genre and wrapped up some
reading important to my teaching and research.
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/summer-reading-list/) Here’s
2013 and (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/summer-cyprusreading-list/) 2011.
I think I’ve probably read enough cyberpunk stuff for a while, but I’ll continue to do some
science fiction for the summer just to get my ready for my afternoon naps in the field. I have
loaded on my Kindle the first two volumes of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy:
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/annihilation/oclc/846545382) Annihilation and
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/authority-a-novel/oclc/851421063) Authority. And I have an
itch to re-read Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy. I’m not sure why I want to reread it, but I
do and it seems like as good a summertime reading as anything. I also have Thomas
Pynchon’s (http://www.worldcat.org/title/bleeding-edge/oclc/837179750) The Bleeding
Edge moldering on my Kindle. I want to read it, but it seems sort of daunting.
I have a handful of books that I started, but haven’t finished yet. These sort of gnaw at my
existence. Mostly, I haven’t finished them because I got distracted my something else rather
than because of any shortcoming of the book. So I need to read the last 100 pages or so of
Paul Halstead’s (http://www.worldcat.org/title/two-oxen-ahead-pre-mechanized-farming-inthe-mediterranean/oclc/859168771) Two Oxen Ahead: Pre-Mechanized Farming in the
Mediterranean. I figured 8-weeks of work on an intensive survey project in rural Greece will
give me a nice backdrop to that book. I should also finish up Nick Montfort’s and Ian
Bogost’s (http://www.worldcat.org/title/racing-the-beam-the-atari-video-computer
 

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system/oclc/312933472) Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System as well as
D.B. Weiss’s novel (http://www.worldcat.org/title/lucky-wander-boy/oclc/50166622) Lucky
Wander Boy. Between the world of technology and rural Greece sits the unfinished volume
by Jeff Ferrell called (http://www.worldcat.org/title/empire-of-scrounge-inside-the-urbanunderground-of-dumpster-diving-trash-picking-and-street-scavenging/oclc/76963954)
Empire of Scrounge: Inside the Urban Underground of Dumpster Diving, Trashing Picking,
and Street Scavenging.
For quiet evenings, I think I’ll take with me - in paper no less - the new City Lights’ edition of
Gertrude Stein’s (http://www.worldcat.org/title/tender-buttons/oclc/858895188) Tender
Buttons.
Finally, (and I forgot to include this in my original post) I’m going
(http://kourelis.blogspot.com/2014/05/r7l17-preliminaries.html) to collaborate with Kostis
Kourelis to read Ruskin’s (http://www.worldcat.org/title/seven-lamps-ofarchitecture/oclc/19886931) Seven Lamps of Architecture.
That should get me through at least the first part of my summer.


 

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Collaboration
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/13/collaboration/
Tue, 13 May 2014 12:59:40 +0000
Today, Brett Ommen is going to begin recording (http://www.professorfootnote.com/) the
final episode - at least for now - of Professor Footnote. It is a memorial episode for
(http://joeljonientz.com/) Joel Jonientz who died late last month before more episodes could
be recorded and produced. A number of his friends are going to swing by the the Working
Group in Digital and New Media lab to chat with Brett about Joel and, in keeping with the
theme of the program, any topic outside our area of expertise.
I want to talk with Brett about a couple of topics that I had just begun to share with Joel. So
I thought I would get some thoughts down here before I head into the studio.
One thing that Joel could do better than anyone I've ever met was collaborate. He had the
ability to shape his creativity into almost any form required in a project and manage his
frustrations with us and the project in an almost superhuman way. Since he died, I've been
thinking about what he had that allowed him to collaborate so easily with a range of other
folks across campus and what we could take away from Joel's commitment to collaboration.
First, collaboration is not longer a luxury in academia today. We're not longer in a world
where individual projects celebrate the lonely genius of devoted scholar. Today, noncollaborative work represents - in most cases - a poor investment for funding institutions
and disciplines. Collaborative work takes advantage of economies of scale and the idea that
two people working together and sharing expertise can accelerate the production of
knowledge in ways that a solitary scholar working away in his or her dimly lit office cannot.
Collaboration, of course, take many forms and should not diminish from an individual's ability
to contribute to their field or the debate, although it might effect the credit and control an
individual has over their contribution.


 

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In the humanities, our most common collaborative moments happen in the background. We
regularly rely on editors, conscientious colleagues and interlocutors, and, of course, our
students who rarely get explicit credit for their contributions. Perhaps it is our familiarity with
that model that make more involved and elaborate collaboration between scholarly peers
less appealing.
Whatever the reason, Joel had certain characteristics that made him an effective and willing
collaborator, and while it is dangerous to generalize from a single example (I do live
dangerously, of course), I think we can learn something from his methods:
1. Take risks. Over the past few weeks, we've probably worn out Joel's enthusiasm for bad
plans. That being said, his willingness to go along with a bad plan reflected his relatively
high tolerance for risks and his own confidence that he'd be able to figure out a way to
make something happen. In fact, as with many entrepreneurs, I suspect his tolerance for risk
was no greater than most of us, but his confidence in his abilities to mitigate that risk was
greater.
The ability to manage risk is crucial in collaboration. By including more people and more
moving parts, the number of variables increases and our ability to control all aspects of a
project decreases.
2. Have a dynamic body of work. Joel's work was spectacularly dynamic from traditional
humanities-type scholarship in the history of comics and animation to painting, computer
animation, video work, and most recently sound. His ability to move from one medium to the
next allowed him to both understand the challenges facing collaborators as they struggled
to develop specialized skills, as well as to supply skills over a range of different areas.
Collaborations usually depend on our ability to understand the diverse workflows of various
actors, the best academic collaborators have produced dynamic body of work that
demonstrates both their ability to adapt and understand challenges outside their area of
specialty.


 

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3. Have skills. Closely tied to experience with different media, is the need for real,
substantial, specialized skills. The best collaborators bring a specific body of expertise to a
project. This expertise might be a distinct skill - in Joel's case this ranged from graphic
design to animation - or honed understanding of a particular set of tools - in Joel's case this
meant digital tools.
title="P1030926.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1030926.jpg"
alt="P1030926" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Having a well-defined skill set or area of expertise helps to formalize the conditions of
collaboration by defining clear domains of responsibility. Just as having a dynamic body of
work ensures that a good collaborator can understand diverse workflows, a clear set of
skills ensures that a collaborator have a set of realistic responsibilities.
4. Be willing and able to work independently. One of the silliest things I hear from people
resistant to collaboration is that they don't like to work with other people. This is crazy. The
best collaborations do not necessarily involve working together. In fact, I might suggest that
the best collaborative ventures involve individuals with distinct skills working independently
toward a common goal.
Over the past year or so, I worked with Joel in creating
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/the-digital-press/) a new digital press.
The project had (and will continue to have) its challenges moving forward. Even when the
project bogged down in university politics or our own overwhelming schedules, I could rely
on Joel to take the initiative and get things done without constant badgering or pressure. He
could work independently to move a project forward.
5. Advocate for collaboration. Finally, the best collaborators are advocates for collaboration.
One of the most bizarre things taking place at the University of North Dakota is how they go
about encouraging collaboration on campus. They provide funding for collaborations at the
beginning of projects, but so far have done little to reward collaborations when they're

 

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completed.
title="P1030927.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1030927.jpg"
alt="P1030927" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
It doesn't take much creativity to propose a collaborative project, but it does involve
creativity to bring one to completion. I'd suggest that our fine university consider the the
preceding criteria as a way to ascertain the whether a collaboration is likely to result in a
positive outcome.
More importantly, however, they need to work toward practices that ensure that faculty are
rewarded for successfully completing collaborative practices. Joel contributed to a white
paper produced by our Working Group in Digital and New Media that helped ensure that
faculty who do collaborate get recognized in the same way as those who toil away
(inefficiently) on their individual projects. Recognizing the results of collaboration will do
much more than funding projects at the onset to support collaborative work on campus.
I’ve blogged on similar topic
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/collaboration-and-work-campsout-west/) here and (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/thinkingabout-collaboration-and-digital-history-in-practice/) here.


 

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New Beginnings
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/14/new-beginnings/
Wed, 14 May 2014 13:06:34 +0000
I heading to Greece this morning and am about as packed as one might expect at the end
of a hectic term and a hectic month.
So my blog might become a bit more intermittent over the next couple months, but please
be assured, dear readers, that I will keep you in mind and send along my regular musing on
… well, whatever it is that I’m musing on.
For now, I’d like to direct you to (http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/letter-facultyleaving-und-will-be-sorely-missed) a letter to the editor printed yesterday in our local
newspaper. Even the casual reader of this letter and my blog will recognize my desperate
need for a “reset” (to use gamer lingo picked up at
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/atari-excavation/) the Atari dig).
And, for updates from my ongoing work (in absentia) in Cyprus, please check out
(http://ancienthistoryramblings.wordpress.com/) my colleague Scott Moore’s blog. He and
Brandon Olson are continuing our work this sumer at
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/polis/) Polis(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/polis/) Chrysochous and
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/pyla-koutsopetria-archaeologicalproject/) Pyla-Koutsopetria on Cyprus while I let myself be distracted by new horizons in
Greece. We have a largely completed manuscript documenting the first substantial body of
new analysis at Polis-Chrysochous and Brandon and Scott and cleaning up a few loose
ends. We also have a roughed out manuscript of the second volume in the PylaKoutsopetria series. Pyla-Koutsopetria 2: Excavations at Pyla-Koutsopetria and Pyla-Vigla. It
will, with any luck, appear alongside the forthcoming Pyla-Koutsopetria 1 as a volume in
American Schools of Oriental Research Archaeological Report Series. And we think that’s

 

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pretty cool.
More on my new beginnings in the next few days!


 

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Thessaloniki
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/thessaloniki/
Mon, 19 May 2014 06:58:43 +0000
It’s been seven years since I’ve been Thessaloniki. For a Byzantinist, and one interested in
ecclesiastical architecture, this is a problem. It was also a problem that my wife had not
been to Thessaloniki ever. So this past week, we made our way to Thessaloniki for a couple
of days of site-seeing at a vacation pace.
((http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/thessaloniki/) Here are
some photos from my last visit.)
title="P1050505.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050505.jpg"
alt="P1050505" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
While some of my friends are doing the movement’s work by
(http://www.athenscongress.com/documenti/abstracts/E_230.pdf) documenting 19th
century mountain villages (.pdf), Susie and I were nourishing our urban spirituality by
traipsing around Thessaloniki getting pretty churches to pose seductively.
First, Ay. Sophia. When you think of inscriptions in mosaic on the dome of an 8th century
Byzantine church you have to rock the KJV:
"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up
from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."
title="P1050442.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050442.jpg"
alt="P1050442" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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title="P1050449.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050449.jpg"
alt="P1050449" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
It’s hard to get a day going without a basilica. The Acheiropoietos church, probably late-5th
or early 6th century:
title="P1050473.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050473.jpg"
alt="P1050473" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Domes on cylinders on cubes at the 14th century church of Profitis Elias:
title="P1050534.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050534.jpg"
alt="P1050534" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Our host at Ay. Dimitrios, with all his pre-iconoclastic serenity:
title="P1050564.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050564.jpg"
alt="P1050564" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Ay. Panteleiomon rises from the busy streets:
title="P1050576.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050576.jpg"
alt="P1050576" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Some mosaics from the Rotunda of St. George:


 

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title="P1050590.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050590.jpg"
alt="P1050590" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Tombstone from the once vibrant Jewish community in the city appear in the stone piles
around the Rotunda to remind us of the city’s difficult and tragic past:
title="P1050610.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050610.jpg"
alt="P1050610" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
Some art deco for Richard Rothaus (and an example of some of the remarkable street art in
Thessaloniki):
title="P1050646.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050646.jpg"
alt="P1050646" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1050512.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050512.jpg"
alt="P1050512" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Finally, one of my favorite monuments, the church of Ay. Apostoloi:
title="P1050745.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050745.jpg"
alt="P1050745" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
We departed the city having - for the moment at least - our fill of urban bustle and retired to
more idyllic environs… More soon!


 

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(For the hard working guys over carrying on my research at the
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/pyla-koutsopetria-archaeologicalproject/) Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project and the
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/polis/) Polis-Chrysochous Medieval
Project, go and read (http://ancienthistoryramblings.wordpress.com/) Scott Moore’s
amusing and delightful blog. He and Brandon Olson are working to look over once more the
material from the South Basilica at Polis in support of manuscript that Scott, Amy
Papalexandrou, and I have prepared for submission this fall. They then head over to Larnaka
to spend some quality time with the big Hellenistic deposit from that site that is poised to
provide a significant contribution to our understanding of Hellenistic ceramic assemblages
from the island. )


 

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A Hike to see a Hellenistic Site in Epirus
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/a-hike-to-see-a-hellenistic-site-inepirus/
Tue, 20 May 2014 08:05:35 +0000
On our way down the Ionian coast of Greece this week, Susie and I could not resist
stopping at a few of the brown archaeological signs. In fact, we wanted to check out a few
of the Venetian and Ottoman fortifications on this strategically important shore. In particular
we wanted to see the Karavostasi fort near Syvota south of Igoumenitsa. We missed that
fort, but like many of my stops to hike up to the top of a hill, we did get a chance to see
Hellenistic fortifications.
I was particularly shocked to discover some perfectly good polygonal ashlar walls that I
never visited on any (http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/) American School of Classical Studies trip.
The site fulfilled all the necessary criteria for a stop by the
(http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/programs/academic) American School’s Magical
Mystery Tour. They were situated atop a steep hill, overgrown in most places, stunning
views, vague association with a historical event, and status as a known site. The site is
known as Dymokastro. Hammond discussed the site and identified it with ancient Elina in
the (http://www.jstor.org/stable/626337) JHS of 1945. It overlooked the site of the Battle
of Syvota between Corcyra and Corinth at the start of the Peloponnesian War in book 1 of
Thucydides. Pausanias may have mentioned the sweet water of this site at 7.2.
In short, how did I miss this site on my few years tagging along with the American School’s
Regular Program?
Here’s a view west across the sandy anchorage that Hammond refers to as “at the mouth of
the Paramythia stream” or Vemokastro. The Corinthians seemingly established a base of
operations here in the 430s to obstruct Corcyrean raiders.


 

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title="Hammond_Map.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/hammond_map.jpg"
alt="Hammond Map" width="450" height="353" border="0" />
The right flank of the battered Corinthian fleet retreated to this beach after the first day of
the Battle of Syvota.
title="P1050775.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050775.jpg"
alt="P1050775" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
Here’s the view from Dymokastro (Hammond’s Vemokastro) of the straits between the
mainland and the Ionian islands of Paxoi and Corcyra where the sea battle took place. The
Paxoi are visible to the left of the sun and Corcyra to the left.
title="IMG_1368.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/img_1368.jpg" alt="IMG
1368" width="450" height="97" border="0" />
The fortification on Dymokastro is a good bit later, of course, dating to the Hellenistic period
and excavated over a series of campaigns at the end of the 20th century.
There is ample room for a modern tour bus to idle by the side of the road while American
School students scamper up the east side of the hill. As my wife and I made the steep, but
not overgrown climb up to the summit (or high enough to understand where the summit
was, take some photos, and descend), I could almost hear Merle Landgon’s voice (he was
the Mellon Professor during my first year there) telling us that we had an (seemingly)
impossibly short time to make the climb, visit the site, and be back on the bus. (According
to my memory, Langdon would then vanish and appear - as if without exerting any effort - at
the top of the hill and begin telling us the history of the site).


 

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The walk rewarded us with more than just find views, but also a significant stretch of a wellpreserved wall of polygonal masonry.
title="P1050808.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050808.jpg"
alt="P1050808" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1050804.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050804.jpg"
alt="P1050804" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1050789.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050789.jpg"
alt="P1050789" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1050811.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050811.jpg"
alt="P1050811" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The top of the hill was less rewarding with an overgrown placard marking “private house”:
title="P1050782.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050782.jpg"
alt="P1050782" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
The views, however, are worth the walk. Paxos in the near foreground, Corcyra in the
background, and the Syvota islands on the right.
title="P1050778.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050778.jpg"
alt="P1050778" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Check out Hammond’s photo from the same point:
title="Hammond_Photo.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/hammond_photo.jpg"
alt="Hammond Photo" width="450" height="290" border="0" />
We also saw some nice purple flowers:
title="P1050820.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p10508201.jpg"
alt="P1050820" width="450" height="373" border="0" />


 

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Parga
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/parga/
Wed, 21 May 2014 06:31:14 +0000
For the last few days Susie and I have been hanging out in Parga on the Ionian coast. We
have a picturesque view from our little balcony and have enjoyed decent food and cool
relatively quiet nights. The few days of rest and relaxation from a hectic year has given me
some free time to think about the complex history of this little community and to visit a few
of the local castles that speak to the tense and sometimes violent history of this region.
title="P1050900.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050900.jpg"
alt="P1050900" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Our room is situated just below the massive fortification walls at Parga itself. The main body
of this castle 19th century in date. Parga was a Venetian possession from the early 15th
century and allied itself with the nearby Ionian islands. The infamous Ali Pasha was
responsible for the most impressive parts of these fortifications, but the lower parts of the
walls date to 16th century, perhaps after the Ottoman sack of 1571 (although some parts
might be earlier), with additions throughout the 18th and into the 19th century. The city
itself clings to rather steep slopes leading to two mediocre anchorages. The better of the
two harbors is small and protected by a series of small islands.
title="P1050972.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050972.jpg"
alt="P1050972" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
It was perhaps used in Roman times, but was not deep or large enough for ships in the
16th, 17th, or 18th century. The main town stood on a bulbous headland projecting


 

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between the anchorages and surrounded by cliffs reinforced by fortifications.
The Lion of St. Mark above the gate to the Parga citadel:
title="LionStMark.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/lionstmark.jpg"
alt="LionStMark" width="450" height="353" border="0" />
The year 1571 should, of course, ring a bell for any historian of Mediterranean history as the
date of the Battle of Lepanto which led to the momentary destruction of the Ottoman fleet in
response to the Venetian surrender of Cyprus. Parga, being a coastal possession of Venice
was particularly vulnerable as hostilities between Venice and the Ottoman state escalated
over the final third of the 16th century. This, then, is the context for the initial fortification of
the citadel at Parga.
title="P1050927.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050927.jpg"
alt="P1050927" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The vulnerability of this community, however, provided ample opportunities for the town to
invest in fortifications and make strategic alliances with various Mediterranean powers. The
town was a Venetian possession on the mainland until the defeat of the Republic by the
French in 1797, when it followed the Ionian Islands under French control. By1800,
however, the city became independent although under the protection of the Ottomans and
the Russians. This preserved the community against the acquisitive practices of Ali Pasha
whose sought to capture the town from first French, and Russo-Ottoman control. The treaty
of Tilsit in 1807 led the Russians to depart the Ionian Islands and Parga (which they only
occupied in a symbolic way) and opened the door to the return of the French who
garrisoned Parga against the ambitions of Ali Pasha. This state of affairs persisted until
1814, when Ali Pasha occupied the town of Agia on the border of Parga and forced the
French to withdraw. Parga then fell under the protection of the British who had occupied
the Ionian Islands and had forces at both Paxos and Corfu. Needless to say, the raising of

 

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the British flag over the fortress of Parga gave Ali Pasha pause. He continued to fortify his
positions on the borders of the city - at both Agia and further north at Magariti to remind the
Parghini of his very proximate (and erratic) threat.
title="IMG_1384.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/img_1384.jpg" alt="IMG
1384" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The city fell under Ottoman control when it was left out of the Treaty of Paris which granted
the Ionian islands to the British. The community at Parga asked both the British for
clarification and, as an insurance policy against the independent ambition of Ali Pasha, sent
emissaries to the Ottoman state. Neither worked and the city was granted to Ali Pasha in
the name of the Ottoman state through an agreement with Britain. For the next century,
Parga would remain under Turkish authority.
title="P1050939.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050939.jpg"
alt="P1050939" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
For more on this check out
(http://books.google.gr/books?id=9bzR1p2ylRkC&amp;lpg=PA132IA2&amp;ots=wNeaLvFizE&amp;dq=A%20brief%20history%20of%20suli%20and%20par
ga&amp;pg=PA56#v=onepage&amp;q=A%20brief%20history%20of%20suli%20and%2
0parga&amp;f=false) Bosset’s 19th century account of the history of Parga,
(http://books.google.gr/books?id=5mRn8H_IIKgC&amp;dq=editions%3ArKoshy4jqrwC&a
mp;pg=PA523#v=onepage&amp;q=Parga&amp;f=false) Leake’s nearly contemporary
discussion (based largely on an earlier Greek work), or
(http://books.google.gr/books?id=Xc5HAQAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PA229&amp;ots=Un4fkUe
dcx&amp;dq=Margariti%20castle&amp;pg=PA207#v=onepage&amp;q=Margariti%20cas
tle&amp;f=false) Allan Brooks’ more recent discussion of the fortifications here and
throughout region.


 

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Other Castles Near Parga
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/other-castles-near-parga/
Thu, 22 May 2014 06:09:08 +0000
Today we depart from lovely Parga and our views of its scenic, if entirely inadequate harbor,
lovely rooms, delicious tavernas, and Scandenwegian tourist bustle. Over the last few days
we have spiced up our vigorous routine of sitting very still and reading quietly with some
visits to important local castles.
Our main interest were those forts built or rebuilt by Ali Pasha. (At first, I had hoped to read
the 15,000 word epic poem the Alipashiad dedicated to his feats while relaxiating on my
sun-drenched balcony. Leake provides a summary of some of the text, and
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/parga/) Sathas provides the full
text and it’s available here.) Ali Pasha was peripatetic during his rule in Epirus regularly
traveling from one part of his despotate to the next, quelling rebellions and instilling fearful
respect in his subjects. To facilitate this, he built a series of castles with well appointed
quarters to house himself and his retinue.
Overlooking Parga and the base for his near continuous pressure on the town was his
fortress in the village of Anthousa or Agia. Despite being designed by Italian military
architects, was primarily a show-piece with an imposing exterior, but rather thin walls. It’s
position overlooking the fortified town of Parga did effectively communicate the impending
threat of Ali Pasha. We can all think about Foucault’s panopticon here, and the power of
being seen. It stands just outside of the territory of Parga and was built in 1814 as Ali
Pasha worked to negotiate the occupation of the town.
title="P1050959.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050959.jpg"
alt="P1050959" width="450" height="600" border="0" />


 

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View from the Anthousa castle to Parga:
title="P1050899.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050899.jpg"
alt="P1050899" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The castle is still maintains its basic form: a platform for guns with stands to 6 m in height
and two courtyards. The courtyards provide access to a various quarters from a garrison
and Ali Pasha’s retinue.
The main gate:
title="P1050825.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050825.jpg"
alt="P1050825" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1050862.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050862.jpg"
alt="P1050862" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Gun port atop the main rectangular platform:
title="P1050846.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050846.jpg"
alt="P1050846" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
One of the courtyards:
title="P1050854.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050854.jpg"
alt="P1050854" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Groin-vaulted space beneath the main platform:
title="P1050873.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050873.jpg"
alt="P1050873" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The exterior walls have vaulted passageways beneath the platforms compromising the
thickness of the walls:
title="P1050860.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050860.jpg"
alt="P1050860" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
After wandering Anthousa castle for a bit and wanting more, we headed up to Margariti
castle. This castle has good 16th century credentials when it was built by the Ottomans in
1549 before being taken by the Venetians in the aftermath of Lepanto in 1571. By 1573,
the castle returned to Ottoman control. The castle controlled the passes from the region of
Souli where a group of families and villages of Christian Albanians remained largely
independent from Ottoman control, to the coast near Parga. The castle was rebuilt by Ali
Pasha and stood between the independent Souliotes and the Parga.
The castle is overgrown but nevertheless imposing with the west wall standing to over 10 m
in height.

title="P1060015.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1060015.jpg"
alt="P1060015" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
The interior was too overgrown to really understand, but it looked like a standard plan of Ali
Pasha built castles with an open courtyard and several vaulted areas beneath a platform for

 

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guns:
title="P1060012.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1060012.jpg"
alt="P1060012" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1060009.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1060009.jpg"
alt="P1060009" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The views over the wide valley leading out of the Souli are stunning though:
title="P1050996.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050996.jpg"
alt="P1050996" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1050992.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1050992.jpg"
alt="P1050992" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
There were also more purple flowers:
title="P1060023.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/p1060023.jpg"
alt="P1060023" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Vacation's End
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/vacations-end/
Fri, 23 May 2014 05:35:34 +0000
Vacation is over:
title="ProfileofParga.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/profileofparga.jpg"
alt="ProfileofParga" width="450" height="327" border="0" />
Work time starts now:
title="photo (5).JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/photo-5.jpg" alt="Photo 5"
width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Forms and Features in the Western Argolid
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/forms-and-features-in-the-westernargolid/
Mon, 26 May 2014 04:26:15 +0000
Those of you who follow this blog regularly probably caught hints of my newest adventure
in the Western Argolid. Starting this past weekend, the (http://westernargolid.org/) Western
Argolid Regional Project (WARP) began its maiden season. To be fair, the project’s
directors, Dimitri Nakassis, Sarah James, and Scott Gallimore, have been working hard for
weeks and months leading up to this weekend to make sure the local logistics, funding, and
permits are in the works, but the team of archaeologists have only begun to arrive over the
last few days. I’m part of that team.
The plan is to conduct an intensive pedestrian survey in the Western Argolid near the
modern village of (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyrkeia) Lyrkeia and the ancient polis of
Orneai. The region consists of an east-west running valley formed by the Inachos river and
providing a major land route between the city of Argos, which stands beyond the eastern
limits of our survey area, and Arcadia to the west.
title="IMG_0693.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/img_0693.jpg" alt="IMG
0693" width="450" height="109" border="0" />
The method we use to document this valley will be familiar to all lovers of Mediterranean
intensive survey. Teams of 4 field walkers, spaced at 10 m intervals, will walk units of
between 3000 and 5000 sq. m., and count and collect all the artifacts they see in their 2 m
wide swath. Ceramicists will study the artifacts, the teams will record the context of these
artifacts in a database, and we’ll map the units in a GIS application. The general approach is
time-tested and straight forward in Mediterranean archaeology and familiar to anyone who


 

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has worked in Greece over the past thirty years.
My job on the project will focus on helping with field and digital aspects of data collection.
So, this week, for example, I’ll work on preparing the databases that the project will rely
upon to record information as it comes out of the field. I’ll also work closely with our GIS
specialist to prepare a daily workflow that ensures that field teams have maps for the field,
have guidance and support when entering their spatial data (e.g. survey units) into the
project’s GIS, and have a system set up for daily data recording by team members and
project leaders in a series of databases. I fulfilled a similar role on the Pyla-Koutsopetria
Archaeological Project over the past decade, and much of our data structure will come from
that project.
So far, we have a form:
title="WARP_2014_unit-form.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/warp_2014_unit-form1.jpg"
alt="WARP 2014 unit form" width="423" height="600" border="0" />
title="WARP_2014_unit-form_2.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/warp_2014_unitform_2.jpg" alt="WARP 2014 unit form 2" width="423" height="600" border="0" />
The only part of the form that’s not complete is the feature field. We had a monster 8 hour
meeting yesterday focused largely on features. I proposed a romantic and impossible idea
of arming each team with a 1:1000 plan of each units with a satellite image as a faint base
map. The teams would then prepare a sketch plan of the unit including any cultural (terrace
walls, cisterns, piles of plastic pipe, ancient tholos tombs, Early Christian basilicas, et c.)
and natural (slope, subtle soil changes, drainages, et c.) features on this map. We anticipate
being able to walk 500-700 units this summer and I was enthralled with producing an
amazing mosaic of hand-drawn interpretative maps of the neighborhood of Lyrkeia. My
colleagues - bless them all - systematically demonstrated how this would not work
procedurally with out slowing the pace of the field teams to a crawl, confusing and annoying

 

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our rather exceptional corp of team leaders, and burdening our GIS person with an endless
routine of preparing over 100 individual maps each day. It could also be a challenge
economically: the cost of printing hundreds of maps daily would soon tax our limited “office
supply budget” and cut into, say, the availability of food for the survey methods and data
specialist. So, to keep the peace, I relented.
((http://ancienthistoryramblings.wordpress.com/) Scott Moore and David Pettegrew will
recognize my willingness to let go of impossible plans gracefully a hallmark of Bill 2.0). I still
plan to mention the idea from time to time.
So without my genius plan for preparing (http://www.handmaps.org/) hand-drawn maps of
the entire valley (which is very much in keeping with my interest in
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/toward-a-slow-archaeology-part1/) Slow (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/toward-a-slowarchaeology-part-2/) Archaeology), we are forced back to something less elegant (but
probably more possible) like a combination of field notebooks and free-text boxes in the
database which is probably better than an unwieldy and swarm of check boxes associated
with features. Maybe I can get the directors to relent and encourage the teams to produce
daily maps of their area...
title="IMG_1440.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/img_1440.jpg" alt="IMG
1440" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
Keep checking back here for more on the project this summer and we’ll even post
sometimes to the Twitters using the hashtag #WestARP.


 

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Planning a Project
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/27/planning-a-project/
Tue, 27 May 2014 05:41:59 +0000
Unlike most research in the humanities, archaeological field work requires a significant
amount of logistical preparation and organization. During the first year of a project, it
frequently feels like the logistics overwhelms the archaeology in terms of time and attention.
The number of participants in a project also increase the level of complexity and the time
committed to making arrangements and plans.
This summer, instead of directing my own project with my colleagues
(http://ancienthistoryramblings.wordpress.com/) R. Scott Moore, David Pettegrew, and
Brandon Olson, I’m taking some time to work with Dimitri Nakassis, Sarah James, and Scott
Gallimore on their project, the (http://westernargolid.org/) Western Argolid Regional
Project, a new intensive survey that will focus on a valley in the western hinterland of
Argos.
As the project is gearing up, I’ve had a chance to contribute to creation of the database,
preparing the GIS, and getting our field team leaders up to speed on survey methods and
procedures. Fortunately, I’ve been spared most of the logistical aspects of the project (so
far), and I have to admit that I do not miss them at all.
To give you a sense of the kind of logistics, I’ll offer a few examples.
1. Rooms. One of the biggest expenses and headaches on a project is figuring out how to
organize the rooms in an efficient and humane way. We are in the small village of
(http://westernargolid.org/?page_id=76) Myloi ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myloi,_Argolis)
or Mili) on the Argolic Gulf. The student accommodations are first rate, but they are
expensive and when the entire team is here, the project will have students scattered
throughout the village. I suspect each hotel has different rates, different room types, and

 

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different availability. On my first day here, I witnessed a rather intense conversation among
the project directors as they sought to sort out the various rooms available for the team
leaders and myself. The goal is to use the rooms as efficiently as possible and adapt the
accommodations so the changing needs of the project. This is a nightmare, but one that
WARP has handled well.
title="IMG_0715.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/img_0715.jpg" alt="IMG
0715" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
2. Food. The next great logistical hurdle for any project is arranging meals. Right now we eat
in the village for dinner and have lunch and breakfast in our rooms. The savings on lunch
and breakfast make it easier to spend money on dinners, but when the entire team arrives
next week (25 undergraduates), dinners will come from local tavernas, but lunch will still be
served in the rooms. This may sound simple enough, but it means that food must be
purchased daily, prepared, cleaned up, and arrangements have to be made at multiple
establishments for dinners. This involves different rates, different receipts, lots of contact
with taverna owners, and this all takes tons of time. It is vitally important that our field teams
(and staff!) be well fed to keep morale high and field work consistent and efficient.
3. Budget. The biggest nightmare for archaeology in the 21st century is the budget. Unlike
our friends in the hard and applied sciences, archaeologists do not have a support staff
dedicated to streamlining the receipting and budgeting process. So it generally falls on the
archaeologist - often in the field - to make sure that all activities fall within the increasingly
restrictive accounting guidelines. In the last few decades budget guidelines have become
more and more restrictive as universities seek to demonstrate fiscal responsibility in an era
of spiraling tuition and heavily critiqued budgets.
(Of course, the irony is that every accountant hired to scrutinize submitted receipts likely
costs more than an assistant professor in the humanities contributing in their own way to
increased tuition, but this is the cost of good political theater in a risk adverse environment.)


 

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So the project directors, particularly Sarah James, have to be careful how they spend their
money not just to stay within budget, but to stay within budget guidelines that often do not
apply to the real world in Greece. To make matters worse, our budget for this summer
draws on multiple grants that each have their own restriction.
I’m immeasurably grateful for the efforts that the project directors have made to keep my
insulated from the financial and logistical challenges of running a project on this scale and in
this environment. It frees me up to actually think about archaeology, but watching them deal
with the intricacies of leasing a apotheke (a secure storeroom for artifacts), negotiating the
changing assemblage of rooms, and building up the contact and social capital to make all
the other logistical aspects of a project run smoothly.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter with the hashtag #WestARP!


 

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Late Antiquity in the Western Argolid
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/late-antiquity-in-the-westernargolid/
Wed, 28 May 2014 10:50:34 +0000
The Western Argolid Regional Project has the distinct benefit of two senior staff members
who specialize in Late Antiquity. Scott Gallimore, one of the co-directors, recently finished a
dissertation on Late Roman Crete, and people who read
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/landscape/) this blog should be
pretty aware of my interest in that period.
This concentration on the Late Antiquity is, at first blush, appropriate for a project in the
Argolid which scholars have long understood to be a center of activity in this period. The
city of Argos, for example, appeared on most of the prominent Late Antique geographies,
and had a prominent bishop in Late Antiquity who attended the council of Constantinople in
381, Chacedon in 451, and Constantinople II in 680. The ancient city was riddled with
Early Christian basilicas, cemeteries, and mosaic fragments of Late Roman date. So-called,
“slavic" pottery, appeared in Argos suggesting that it saw a change in material culture
consistent with sites elsewhere in the northeastern Peloponnesus.
Outside of Argos, there is evidence for rather intensive activities throughout the coastal
region of the Argolic Gulf. The village of Myloi, where we stay, produced a Late Roman
building, probably an exurban villa, of Late Roman date, and Late Roman activity extended
inland from there around the village of Skaphadaki. Across the Gulf, Nauplion produced
inscriptions of the 4th century (and an informal walk through town reveals spolia of Late
Antique date) and a villa was discovered near the site of Asine - better known for its earlier
remains. In the well-explored Southern Argolid, Halieis and Hermione witnessed signifiant
activities in Late Antiquity with the former a production center for Late Roman 2 amphora
and the latter featuring a Early Christian basilica complex with impressive mosaics and
inscriptions mentioning a bishop Hermias. Troezene appears in Hierokles and was a center

 

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of ecclesiastical activity with a basilica and inscriptions, and despite its coastal location it
appears to have survived into the 8th century with a bishop appearing at the Second
Council of Nicaea reinforced with evidence from seals. The churches in the area of
Epidauros are well-known and long thought to be among the earliest in Greece (on the
dubious basis of architectural style). At Ano Epidauros a substantial quantity of Late Antique
activity appeared, including the intriguing church at Lailoteika which may date to the 7th
century or later. Scholars have long debated the reason for the Late Antique flourishing of
activity on the small islands of the Saronic Gulf like Spetses, Dolkos, and Chinitsa which
seems to have continued in the 7th century.
The Late Romans did not spare the Argolid’s famous Bronze Age sites, with the
neighborhood of Limnes, Prosymna, and the mighty Tiryns producing Early Christian graves
and the citadel of Midea featuring activities in the 5th or 6th centuries.
To use a vivid Appalachian saying: you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting Late Roman or
Early Christian remains in the Argolid.
In contrast, the valleys of the Western Argolid including our survey area which follows the
upper reaches of the Inachos River from the village of Kaparelli east through Lyrkeia and
ancient Orneai, toward Sterna and the northwestern suburbs of Argos. This region is a
blank space without almost no published sites of Late Roman date. In fact, the most
prominent Late Roman site in our survey area appears in a two-page reference to some
Early Christian remains around the village of Lyrkeia by Dimitrios Pallas in the ADeltion of
1960 (pp. 100-101).
Needless to say, this is odd. The valley bottom is fertile and the river provided a
transportation route between the densely settled Argive plains and Arcadia which continued
to prosper at least judging from the numerous buildings of Late Roman in this region.
Moreover, the (relatively) easily traversed passes, strategic hill tops, and accessible valley
walls, presented exactly the kind of topography to attract the attention of Late Roman
military planners. This kind of “marginal land” also tended to attract Late Roman settlement.
Recent scholarship has seen 5th and the first half of the 6th centuries as a period of

 

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population growth and settlement expansion manifest in monumental architecture and
extensive trade in easily recognized ceramic types. In other words, the upper Inachos valley
is exactly the kind of place where you’d expect Late Roman activity.


 

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Databases and Digital Natives for the Western Argolid
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/29/databases-and-digital-natives-forthe-western-argolid/
Thu, 29 May 2014 06:35:47 +0000
The last few days here in the Western Argolid have been punctuated by database
development in the lead up to our first days in the field next week. I’m a bit terrified at the
prospect of managing data for five field teams walking 20-30 units a day and producing
500-800 units per week. In a single week, the Western Argolid Regional Project will
produce as much data as as my previous project, the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological
Project produced over all their field seasons and by the end of the season we’ll have
produced more data than the Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey produced in its
three-seaon run. Lots of data.
More and more projects are turning the data management load over to a dedicated IT
person or even a team of IT people who set up a local server, develop an integrated data
management plan, and supervise the initial collection and processing of data. We don’t
have a dedicated IT guy. We have me and a GIS person and a couple of digitally savvy codirectors, and a good group of team leaders.
This situation has led to some particular decisions in our digital workflow. So, in this context,
I can offer three observations:
1. (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/forms-and-features-in-thewestern-argolid/) Paper Forms. We’re sticking with paper forms in the field for a few
reasons. First, we have no resources to devote to developing a tablet application for digital
data capture. This means that we don’t have the staff to develop, maintain, or trouble shoot
it. And we don’t have the resources for the actual hardware. So, we’re going to stick with
paper forms.


 

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Paper forms do have some advantages beyond being cheaper and easier to implement.
They also ensure that there is an intermediate stage between data collection in the field and
data entry into our field databases. This step allows us to vet our data at an intermediate
stage and to familiarize ourselves with the data as its arriving from the field. This is possible
with a digital field collection, but necessary with paper forms. We also enjoy the flexibility of
paper forms. This will be our first year in the field and while we’re reasonably confident that
our form and database will work to represent the archaeology of our region, we also have to
be flexible and a paper form is a very flexible tool which can be easily edited on the fly to
accommodate unforeseen circumstances.
2. Decentralized Databases. Since we don’t have a server here and we don’t have the skills
or the resources to set one up, we have to run multiple versions of the database in an
unsynchronized way and then integrate them periodically throughout the season.
This is less than optimal on a number of levels, but it does bring the our team leaders and
project directors all into the data management process. It also pushed us to keep our
databases simple. These databases are largely flat tables without complex one-to-many
relationships. This will not only facilitate our regular merging of multiple copies of the
database, but also makes it easier to integrate with our GIS.
3. Changing Student Skills. When I was at the American School of Classical Studies as
faculty in 2007-2008, Jack Davis, then director, and I (and I believe a Skyped Sebastian
Heath) did a short seminar on GIS one afternoon. At the start of the seminar, we asked the
assembled graduate students from some of the best programs in the U.S. who had GIS
experience. I think only one students raised their hand.
This summer, we are joined by a great gaggle of graduate students who will run our field
teams and ALL of them have experience using GIS. These students are capable of
performing almost all the daily GIS-related tasks for an intensive survey and some more
complex analysis on landscape data. We have a dedicated GIS person, but she’ll serve
more as a coordinator than a dedicated specialist.


 

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The level of digital competence among the students also allowed me to beta-test my
database with them and they were able to provide remarkably focused and knowledgeable
feedback. They not only understood the basic function of the database, but showed a clear
understanding of the structure of the data.
Times are changing in Mediterranean archaeology!
A year or so ago, (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/archaeologicaldata-and-small-projects-a-draft/) I gave a paper describing the uneven flow of digital
technology in the world of Mediterranean archaeology. I argued - in a roundabout way - that
we’re no longer in a world where archaeologists are skeptical of the value of using
sophisticated digital tools, but that resources tend to dictate access to technical skills and
the necessary hardware to embrace digital technology to the fullest.
WARP does not have the resources this season to leverage every tool in the digital
archaeology tool kit, but we do have the resources to create a cohesive plan that is
consistent with best practices. I’ll let you know how things go as the season progresses.
Follow us on the Twitters and Facebook at the
(https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&amp;q=%23WestARP) #WestARP hashtag.


 

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Important Note on Survey Archaeology
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/important-note-on-surveyarchaeology/
Sun, 01 Jun 2014 16:16:06 +0000
After a lengthy and important meeting of the Western Argolid Regional Project, we have
decided that it is very important not to approach a large-scale intensive pedestrian survey
archaeology project like this:
title="ImportantGIF.gif"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/importantgif.gif"
alt="ImportantGIF" width="284" height="233" border="0" />
It’s a metaphor.


 

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The Pallet Project
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/the-pallet-project/
Mon, 02 Jun 2014 04:44:49 +0000
Nothing gives me time to think quite like time to think. So far my good friends Sarah James
and Dimitri Nakassis have been doing virtually all the heavily lifting on the Western Argolid
Regional Project where I am now stationed, and this has left me time to think up bad plans
and half backed ideas.
This week, I’ve begun to think more carefully about Jeff Ferrell’s Empire of Scrounge as well
as some recent work on landfills as the critical locus for the study of material culture as well
as consumerism and household archaeology. Most of this bibliography appears in journals
associated with the field of cultural studies or sociology rather than archaeology. One of the
things that this scholarship has emphasized is the complex life of everyday objects. This is
profoundly archaeological, of course, as archaeologists like to imagine their work as
intervening in the life of an object and resurrecting an object from obscurity. As
archaeologists, we do this by not only bringing an object to the surface physically, but also
subjecting it to the scholarly gaze through cataloguing, describing, and displaying the object
in a systematic way.
This process of redeeming an object is quite empowering (as you might imagine, most
archaeologists have some kind of savior complex), and pushes the archaeologists and
scholars of material culture to look at the world - usually the past - in a different way.
Refocusing our redemptive gaze on contemporary society is challenging in everyday life as
we are trained to look through the most common objects in our world. Ironically, it is many
of these very common objects that have the most significant impact on the functioning of
our culture, economy, and society. The trick is figuring out how to refocus our gaze in
everyday life.


 

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So along these lines, I’ve inaugurated the Pallet Project. For now I’m using my iPhone
camera and (http://daringfireball.net/) John Gruber’s little (http://vesperapp.co/) Vesper
Application to collect photos with some short notes on location. For a ubiquitous object like
shipping pallets, I decided to use a ubiquitous device.
title="ImageFromVesper.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/imagefromvesper.jpg"
alt="ImageFromVesper" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
There are few objects more ubiquitous in 21st century society than wood shipping pallets.
The North Dakota Man Camp project documented the use of pallets in a wide range of uses
from elevated walkways to fences. Just as Jeff Ferrell became sensitized to the “empire of
scrounge” that existed throughout the everyday world in the forms of trash piles, street
scavengers, recycling centers, thrift shops, and dumpster diving, I hope to use the simple
directive of documenting the location and context for shipping pallets to refocus my
archaeological impulse on everyday objects.
title="ImageFromVesper (1).jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/imagefromvesper-1.jpg"
alt="ImageFromVesper 1" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
Pallets are interesting for the archaeologist not only because they are so common around
the world, but also because
(http://www.slate.com/articles/business/transport/2012/08/pallets_the_single_most_import
ant_object_in_the_global_economy_.html) they represent evidence for the workings of the
global economy. Just as ancient amphora are not particularly significant as transport and
storage amphora (they are not, for example, particularly dynamic or complex expressions of
ancient culture when compared to, say, fine wares or religious architecture), the distribution
of amphoras provide a key indicator of the extent and nature of ancient trade. Pallets are not
nearly as diagnostic as ancient amphora, however, but they do demonstrate how deeply the
global economy penetrates our modern world. The form of the pallet, their expansive
distribution, and the range of secondary uses for these objects demonstrates the

 

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convergence of the global movement of goods, global markets, and local practices.
title="ImageFromVesper (2).jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/imagefromvesper-2.jpg"
alt="ImageFromVesper 2" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
If I was a book writing guy, I’d write a book with chapters that were like this:
I. Introduction: (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/punk-archaeology/)
Pondering a Punk Archaeology
II. (http://www.scribd.com/doc/82186248/Between-Sea-and-Mountain-The-Archaeologyof-a-Small-World-in-Greece) Lakka Skoutara:
(http://mediterraneanworld.und.edu/collections/show/4) Formation Processes in a 20th
Century Rural Settlement in Greece
III. (http://www.scribd.com/doc/216094155/The-Archaeology-of-Man-CampsContingency-Periphery-and-Late-Capitalism) The Man Camps and the Bakken:
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/work-camps/) Short-term Settlement
in a 21st Century Context
IV. (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/atari-excavation/) Digging Atari:
Speed, Context, and the Life of Objects in Late Capitalism
V. The Pallets Project:(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/trailersflorida-and-spring-break/) Common Objects and the Archaeological Gaze
VI. (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/08/13/backyard-archaeology/) The
Small Town Yard: A Test Trench into the American Dream
VII. (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/slow/) Archaeology and Slow:
Digital Practices and Refocusing the Archaeologists Gaze
VIII. Toward a Punk Archaeology of Late 20th Century Capitalism
So, the ball is in your court publishers, make me an offer I can’t refuse!


 

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Coming Back to the Corinthia
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/02/coming-back-to-the-corinthia/
Tue, 03 Jun 2014 03:57:07 +0000
In my first decade of archaeological fieldwork, I focused my energies on the Corinthia.
Yesterday, in the lead up to the start of the Western Argolid Research Project, the field
teams made a quick trip to Ancient Corinth to look at a sample of pottery from the region. I
was able to slip away to meet up with my old colleague David Pettegrew and check out a
few Corinthian landmarks for his book.
title="P1060240.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060240.jpg"
alt="P1060240" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
In particular, we checked out (http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/pdf/uploads/hesperia/147077.pdf)
the course of the trans-isthmian wall documented by James Wiseman in the 1960s (pdf).
Pettegrew is putting the final touches on a book that will document the history of the
Corinthian Isthmus. I’ve read a draft; it’s good. So I tagged along, and we walked part of the
course of the trans-isthmian wall along the various ridges that dominate the Isthmian “plain”.
title="P1060233.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060233.jpg"
alt="P1060233" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1060228.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060228.jpg"
alt="P1060228" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
I then met up with the WARP team at Nikos’s taverna in Ancient Corinth for a lovely lunch,
and we wondered out to the largely abandoned Pentaskophia village to look at formation

 

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processes. Taking the field teams to the abandoned village gave us a chance to talk about
formation processes. We looked at the way in which tiles collapsed from roofs, the use of
sherds and tile fragments as temper in the mud brick, and the various ways in which houses
continue to function in the rural landscape after they no longer serve as homes.
title="P1060246.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060246.jpg"
alt="P1060246" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1060250.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060250.jpg"
alt="P1060250" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1060254.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060254.jpg"
alt="P1060254" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1060260.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060260.jpg"
alt="P1060260" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1060266.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060266.jpg"
alt="P1060266" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
From Pentaskouphia village we headed up to Acrocorinth to check out the imposing citadel
of the city of Corinth. The grey sky gave our visit some nice flat light for photography and an
appropriate romantic ambiance for the place for Byron’s:
Arise from out the earth which drank
The stream of slaughter as it sank,
That sanguine ocean would o'erflow

 

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Her isthmus idly spread below :
Or could the bouts of all the slain,
Who perished there, be piled again,
That rival pyramid would rise
More mountain-like, through those clear skies,
Than yon tower-capt Acropolis
Which seems the very clouds to kiss.
title="P1060297.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060297.jpg"
alt="P1060297" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1060302.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060302.jpg"
alt="P1060302" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1060306.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060306.jpg"
alt="P1060306" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1060314.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060314.jpg"
alt="P1060314" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1060318.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060318.jpg"
alt="P1060318" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1060338.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060338.jpg"
alt="P1060338" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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title="P1060304.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060304.jpg"
alt="P1060304" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
In the final picture, you can just make out the height of Mt. Artimision in the far distance to
the left of Pentaskouphi castle. Artimision overlooks our survey area in the Argolid.
Be sure to follow us (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23WestARP&amp;src=typd) on
Twitter at #WestARP!


 

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First Day in the Field on the Western Argolid Regional Project
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/first-day-in-the-field-on-thewestern-argolid-regional-project/
Wed, 04 Jun 2014 02:26:35 +0000
Most of you have figured out that I’m in Greece and helping some excellent colleagues put
together a new field project called the Western Argolid Survey Project. After a couple minor
set backs, including a one-day delay on the permit and some rain (!), we are heading out
into the field for our first day in about a half an hour.
It’s 5:15 here and I was WIDE AWAKE at 4 am excited and apprehensive about all the
moving parts that are vital to making the first day and all the subsequent days work
smoothly. These moving parts range from the field forms, mapping procedures, databases,
the GIS, walker morale, and artifact counting and collection. There will be bumps in the
road, for certain, but I think we have covered enough of our bases to ensure that the first
few days in the field are a success.
I’ll report back later this afternoon, but for now I’ll leave you with a dramatic image of clouds
snagged on the top of Mt. Artemision overlooking our survey area. Our hope is that these
clouds are dispersing leaving us with a clear field season, but they are always provide a hint
of doom!
title="P1060358.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060358.jpg"
alt="P1060358" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
Be sure to follow us at (https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&amp;q=%23WestARP)
#WestARP on the Twitters.


 

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Survey Units are Unique Like Snowflakes
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/04/survey-units-are-unique-likesnowflakes/
Thu, 05 Jun 2014 02:23:59 +0000
I had a mini database meltdown on the first day of field work and data entry. The specific
problem with the database mostly involved how we were using it (and the limits on the
particular tool we chose to use), but it highlighted the relationship between the unit as
space and the unit as a procedural unit in intensive pedestrian survey. To put this another
way, we can only walk the same unit once, and we are thinking about how to make our
database reflect this.
title="P1060425.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060425.jpg"
alt="P1060425" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
We began the process of creating new unique number for each field by creating a value
that reflected the space of the survey (keyed to a polygon in our GIS) and the procedure we
used to walk the unit. We identified four procedures: standard survey, grab samples,
resurvey, or unsurveyed (used to describe, for example, a fenced area or a unit that is too
close to the edge of a sheer cliff).
title="P1060408.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060408.jpg"
alt="P1060408" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
As I thought about this unique identifier for each unit in our database (and in our analysis), I
got to wonder whether we need to refine this identification of a unit more. For example,
there is the slim possibility that we could resurvey a unit more than once. So perhaps we
should use as our unique identifier the space of the unit, the procedure, and the team

 

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leader. After all, this would allow us to distinguish as unique, different engagements with the
unit led by different individuals. Even this might not be enough. If we’ve learned anything
from (https://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/JMA/article/viewArticle/2705) Big Al
Ammerman, it’s that you can never walk the same survey unit twice. Maybe we need to
make the unique identifier the unit number, procedure, team leader, and date.
title="P1060404.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060404.jpg"
alt="P1060404" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
This is all a good bit to think about on the first day in the field, especially when it was damp,
overcast, and muddy. Maybe it was being out in the field, however, and away from the blue
light of the computer screen that prompted me to think about how we imagine space. It
could also be that I managed to help to screw up mapping a few units as I got my survey
legs back. Nothing like real fields in a changing landscape to shade my understanding
digital contexts.
title="P1060382.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060382.jpg"
alt="P1060382" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Photo Friday: The First Week in the Western Argolid
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/05/photo-friday-the-first-week-in-thewestern-argolid/
Fri, 06 Jun 2014 03:31:03 +0000
We started fieldwork this week on the Western Argolid Regional Project (WARP) and so it
is only natural that I share some photographs of our time in the field.
I really like the valley-edge view of our survey area particularly the bands of olive trees on
the sides of the valley above the village of Lyrkeia in the distance.
title="P1060499.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060499.jpg"
alt="P1060499" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
This is the view from where we generally eat dinner. The hill of the Palamidi outside of
Nafplio is in the distance under the large cloud. It’s a great view, but generally we’re too
tired to enjoy it much.
title="IMG_1489.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_1489.jpg" alt="IMG
1489" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
I’ve been trying to get a photo of the teams working in the field that shows the paperwork
side of things. This is my best so far:
title="P1060180.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060180.jpg"
alt="P1060180" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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The project directors, Dimitri Nakassis and Sarah James, have their dog with them in the
field on most days. The dog is cute and named Holly. This is my best picture of the dog so
far:
title="P1060394.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060394.jpg"
alt="P1060394" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Sometimes a Cave is Just a Cave
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/sometimes-a-cave-is-just-a-cave/
Mon, 09 Jun 2014 02:59:09 +0000
This past week, I went on a little hike up the side of a hill to look at a cave situated to the
west of a high saddle in the mountains that bound the south of our survey area in the
Western Argolid. The cave, of course, was natural and was probably used at some point as
a shelter for local shepherds, their flocks, and their dogs (judging by the remains).
title="P1060510.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060510.jpg"
alt="P1060510" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1060507.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060507.jpg"
alt="P1060507" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The high saddle and pass associated with it probably did not serve as a high traffic route
even for shepherds taking their flocks to the mandres in the surrounding uplands. The route
is too steep.
title="P1060519.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060519.jpg"
alt="P1060519" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The walk itself, though, was worth it. It took me up through dense maquis beyond the
highest and now neglected terraces to areas frequented by goats. The slopes of the valley
were quiet except for the wind and an annoyed hawk floating in the updrafts.


 

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title="P1060514.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060514.jpg"
alt="P1060514" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The survey teams disappeared into olive groves, terraces, and fields of wild oats.
title="P1060529.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060529.jpg"
alt="P1060529" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The trip down, of course, is always a bit more challenging then the trip up the hill. On the
way up, there are certain economies of effort that lead to calculated decisions in how to
ascend a hill. You tend to scrutinize the possible routes because the cost in ascending the
wrong way is substantial and immediate.
title="P1060521.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060521.jpg"
alt="P1060521" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
Descending is another matter. I find that I tend to chose my paths more impulsively and get
stuck moving carefully over steep rocks, entangled in impenetrable barriers, and negotiating
sprawls of scree.
title="P1060523.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060523.jpg"
alt="P1060523" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
It was a pretty exhausting hike, but we now have a set of notes on the hill, the cave, and the
route up to the high saddle.
title="P1060531.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060531.jpg"

 

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alt="P1060531" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
We’re off to the region around Lake Stymphalia and the lovely Cistercian Abbey of Zaraka
today since it’s Pentecost and everything is closed. Look for updates on this trip and some
other #WestARP adventures tomorrow.


 

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Archaeology with your Feet
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/10/archaeology-with-your-feet/
Tue, 10 Jun 2014 15:44:45 +0000
A good archaeologist once told me that excavation required hands in the dirt. The feel of
the soil, the sound of the trowel in the matrix, and the appearance of each layer of strata
combined to organize archaeological space.
A survey archaeologist spends much less time with dirt between his or her fingers and no
time at all with the ting or tang of the trowel (depending on the brand). We spend our days
walking across units and feeling the differences in soil with our boots.
A field plowed several seasons ago feels different:
title="IMG_1562.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_1562.jpg" alt="IMG
1562" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
From a field plowed this season:
title="IMG_1565.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_1565.jpg" alt="IMG
1565" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The loose soil in a field with cobbles and coarse gravel feels very different:
title="IMG_1563.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_1563.jpg" alt="IMG
1563" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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from a field hard packed and baked in the summer sun:
title="IMG_1564.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_1564.jpg" alt="IMG
1564" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
So as we spent the day on the (http://westernargolid.org/) Western Argolid Regional
Project mapping units for our field teams to walk, I thought as much with my feet as my
eyes.


 

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From Atari to the Argos: Mediterranean and Modern Archaeology at
UND
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/11/from-atari-to-the-argosmediterranean-and-modern-archaeology-at-und/
Thu, 12 Jun 2014 02:30:49 +0000
Last month, I was prompted to write a little press statement for office of university relations
at the University of North Dakota. (http://und.edu/features/2014/06/atari.cfm) It appeared
on UND’s home page today with a little story. What made this even cooler was that my
story appeared at the same time (http://library.und.edu/news/2014/06/award-winninghistory.cfm) as the announcements that a paper by one of our undergraduate’s, Joe Kalka’s,
had won the Merrifield Prize.
title="UND__University_of_North_Dakota.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/und__university_of_north_d
akota.jpg" alt="UND University of North Dakota" width="450" height="189" border="0" />
It’s always interesting to see how the office of university relations changes my text. Here’s
the original:
Less than a month after excavating the famous Atari burial ground in Alamogordo, New
Mexico, Bill Caraher traveled to the small sea-side village of Myloi, in the region of Argos,
Greece to start his newest field project. The Western Argolid Regional Project is a
collaboration between scholars at the University of Colorado, University of Toronto, and
Wilfred Laurier University to study the archaeology of settlement and movement in a valley in
the rural Greece. Caraher was invited to participate in this project as a specialist in
Mediterranean archaeological survey, Geographic Information Systems, and data
management.


 

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The work in Greece is very different from his punk archaeology adventures in the New
Mexico desert where he encountered a media circus surrounding the well-publicized
excavation of thousands of Atari game cartridges from a landfill. The three-day dig in New
Mexico attracted international media attention and even earned mention in the Grand Forks
Herald.
"Being part of the team supervising and documenting the Atari dig in New Mexico was
great. It gave me more first hand experience working in late-20th century archaeological
contexts. This is work at the fringes of the traditional disciplinary definitions of archaeology
which has tended to privilege the ancient or at least 'really old' artifacts.
"The Atari dig, however, can speak to us a in a very immediate way about how we live today.
The rapid pace of change in contemporary world propels objects from being things we can't
live without to things that we cast aside, want hidden away from us and buried in a landfill.
Archaeologists tend to study things that were, for whatever reason, cast aside, but with the
Atari dig we had a chance to witness and participate in the rapid cycling of culture where
something as common and popular as Atari games is desired, discarded, and, then,
excavated as cultural, and historical artifact. So for us, the process of discard and discovery
creates a cultural artifact, and the interest of the Smithsonian in some of the excavated
games confirms the enduring importance of what we did and what it produced."
His work in the Argolid, Greece is more consistent with what we imagine as traditional
archaeological practice. The field project will focus on a valley that connected to prominent
regions of the ancient world. Caraher will help manage the archaeological data both in the
field and in the digital realm. He will draw upon over a decade of running his own projects
on the island of Cyprus:
"Unlike the Atari dig where we basically has to combat the idea that what we were doing
wasn't archaeology because the objects and processes that we studied were so recent,
work in Greece has to challenge the idea that the seemingly remote and picturesque Greek
landscape has never been modern. In fact, the valley we're studying has been a significant
thoroughfare for thousands of years including today where Greece's most modern highway

 

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runs along its north slopes. This should lead us to see the valley as unchanging over time,
but to push us to understand how this region functioned in different economy regimes,
political powers, social and religious systems over time. So to put it another way: by saying
that the ancient is so similar to the modern, we're observing not that the rural world of
modern Greece is somehow static, but rather that we have every reason to assume that
rural Greece in antiquity was every bit as dynamic as our modern age. The ceramics
scattered across the surface of the ground are antiquity's Atari cartridges and can tell us
about how people lived and worked in the Classical, Hellenistic, Roman, or Medieval
periods."
The progress of the Punk Archaeology movement, his work on Greece and Cyprus, in the
digital world, and all sorts of other stuff appears almost daily on his blog:
His work this summer can be followed on the hashtag
(https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&amp;q=%23WestARP) #WestARP on the Twitters.


 

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Photo Friday on the Western Argolid Regional Project
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/13/photo-friday-on-the-westernargolid-research-project/
Fri, 13 Jun 2014 13:19:24 +0000
It’s the end of the first full week of WARP, and I am glad we only have a few more days of
field work left this season.
So I stepped up my efforts for photo Friday in celebration of our vigorous activities.
First, I’ve been trying to capture the “essence” of survey archaeology. For me and for most
of our dedicated team of field walkers, intensive pedestrian survey means forms and maps:
title="P1060862.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060862.jpg"
alt="P1060862" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1060773.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060773.jpg"
alt="P1060773" width="450" height="314" border="0" />
The look is familiar to most survey archaeologists. The head is inclined over a form:
title="P1060811.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060811.jpg"
alt="P1060811" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1060842.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060842.jpg"


 

358

alt="P1060842" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
I have also been trying to capture the range of things that Greek farmers hang from trees:
title="P1060770.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060770.jpg"
alt="P1060770" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1060804.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060804.jpg"
alt="P1060804" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Finally, I’ve been working on some photographs of fields that convey the range of different
textures and soils encountered in a field day:
title="P1060808.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060808.jpg"
alt="P1060808" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1060831.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060831.jpg"
alt="P1060831" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1060848.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060848.jpg"
alt="P1060848" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1060780.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060780.jpg"
alt="P1060780" width="450" height="600" border="0" />


 

359

Extensive Survey on the Western Argolid Regional Project
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/16/extensive-survey-on-the-westernargolid-regional-project/
Mon, 16 Jun 2014 13:11:57 +0000
It is almost inevitable. People invite me to join survey projects hoping that I can become a
valued contributor to a well-ordered field season. Before long, however, I am sent off into
the field as the “Extensive Team”.
Most intensive survey projects have a team responsible for exploring areas not suitable for
intensive survey methods. These tend to be areas overgrown with vegetation, steep slopes,
or marginal landscapes unlikely to support the kind of sustained human activities that tend
to produce survey assemblages. The extensive team also serves as a good way to remove
annoying people - like me - from regular contact with field walkers and staff. In my
experience, extensive survey is practically defined as “survey of fields not near other people
on the project.” That being said, I take my work seriously. I dutifully map areas onto a
1:5000 map and take detailed notes.
Sometimes I find
(http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/publications/hesperia/article/75/3/327-356) cool stuff
in (http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/publications/hesperia/article/79/3/385-415)
extensive survey (and this generally alarms people), but
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/sometimes-a-cave-is-just-acave/) most of time I find spiky maquis, overgrown fields, goat poo, scree, and social
isolation.
So last week on the (http://westernargolid.org/) Western Argolid Regional Project where
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGIAjjeOuLU) I serve as Assistant to the Directors, I
was asked to take on Extensive Survey duties. Usually it takes a few weeks on a project to


 

360

be “promoted” to the Extensive Team, but here at WARP everything takes less time.
Despite the exile from all human contact, I find the Extensive Team a good chance to think.
Today for example, I visited the remains of a well-appointed seasonal house or kalyvi near
the village of Lyrkeia. The little house had lost its roof, but it was well-built.
title="P1070056.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070056.jpg"
alt="P1070056" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Its two court yards were clearly defined and carefully constructed of slightly shaped field
stones. The cypress trees were a nice touch.
title="P1070070.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070070.jpg"
alt="P1070070" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1070050.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070050.jpg"
alt="P1070050" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Nearby, there are some beautiful terrace walls. It is well know that the team from the Argolid
finished third in the International Terrace Building Competition held in Bern, Switzerland in
1928. A possibly apocryphal story holds that they would have finished higher had the Greek
state appropriated sufficient funds to ship over 10 tons of local, Argolidic limestone to
Switzerland for the Terrace Building Finals. Supposedly, Venizelos favored a Cretan team
who finish first in the Greek Terrace Championship, but had been disqualified on a
technicality. As a sign of support for Venizelos, the newly formed “five parties” coalition
refused to support the shipment of stone for Greek team from the Argolid, and this cost
them a better finish in Bern.


 

361

Whatever the case, the reputation of terrace builders from the Argolid was well deserved:
title="P1070077.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070077.jpg"
alt="P1070077" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
Near the elegant little kalyvi stood a similarly well-constructed mandra or animal pen. This
animal pen crossed over a series of four small terraces. I suspect that animal pen was for
goats. Its construction atop rather narrow terraces suggests the transition from growing
grain on the steep and unforgiving slopes of the valley and using the slopes for grazing.
title="P1070081.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070081.jpg"
alt="P1070081" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Further along the same slopes were a number of lovely pocket terraces for olive trees. I
haven’t seen many of these in my wanders around the eastern Peloponnesus so it was
pretty nice to see them in our survey area.
title="P1060994.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060994.jpg"
alt="P1060994" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1060990.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060990.jpg"
alt="P1060990" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The other advantage of being on the Extensive Team is enjoying a peaceful sunrise through
the maquis.
title="P1070037.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070037.jpg"

 

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alt="P1070037" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
Or over a lonely olive tree.
title="P1070048.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070048.jpg"
alt="P1070048" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
Snack-time views aren’t bad either. Note the cypress trees associated with the kalyvi in the
center of the photograph.
title="P1070112.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070112.jpg"
alt="P1070112" width="450" height="600" border="0" />


 

363

Pallet Project Update
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/pallet-project-update/
Wed, 18 Jun 2014 04:05:15 +0000
The Pallet Project continues apace. I have developed an ad hoc sampling strategy which
involves taking photos of pallets when I see them with my iPhone 5 camera. For a brief
description of (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/the-pallet-project/)
the Pallet Project, go here.
To be honest, I don’t really have a plan right now, but I suppose, being a bit of a compulsive
archaeologist, I expect that once I get a substantial collection of randomly collected pallet
photographs, I’ll build a typology.
So far, I can say that in Greece, pallets are set aside and stored, despite their seeming
ubiquity. Sometimes they are set aside in designated areas, such as
(https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/imagefromvesper1.jpg?w=450&amp;h=600) this growing stack of pallets behind a sports field in the village
of Myloi:
title="IMG_1497.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_1497.jpg" alt="IMG
1497" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
And other times, they are left about in plain view. These are on a busy side street near the
municipal market in Argos:
title="IMG_1474.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_1474.jpg" alt="IMG


 

364

1474" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
In a backstreet in Nafplio:
title="IMG_1539.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_1539.jpg" alt="IMG
1539" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Pallets appear regularly as walkways and steps:
title="IMG_1518.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_1518.jpg" alt="IMG
1518" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
Pallets also serve as impromptu fences to keep goats from a little garden high on the side
of Mt. Braimi in the Argolid:
title="IMG_1608.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_1608.jpg" alt="IMG
1608" width="450" height="250" border="0" />
These uses resonate, of course, with
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/trailers-florida-and-spring-break/)
the use of pallets the world over.


 

365

Three Thoughts from the Western Argolid Regional Project
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/three-thoughts-from-the-westernargolid-regional-project/
Thu, 19 Jun 2014 13:27:46 +0000
I know it’s cliche, but archaeology provides a good context for thinking. Over the last few
weeks, I’ve gotten some good thinking done.
Since it’s the middle of the middle week of the survey season on the Western Argolid
Regional Project, and thanks to “a non-serious, fatigue-related, incident”, I’ve been stranded
in my lux-u-ary apartment for the last two day, I’ve scrawled down a few thoughts about a
few things:
1. Team Leaders. One of my arguments in favor of a return to a
“(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/slow/) slow archaeology” is that we
have created an increasingly atomic view of the archaeological process. Our dependence
on forms, digital data collection, and methodology to produce archaeological knowledge
has inhibited our ability as archaeologists to understand and represent the complex
interrelationships between objects, context, architecture, and landscape. In short, our
tendency to parse archaeological knowledge ever more finely in the field has created a
practice that runs counter to the integrative goals of the discipline.
My fear is that archaeologists no long have a complete grasp of the archaeological universe,
but only their little part of it. Our graduate student team leaders this summer have
undermined my argument by demonstrating the ability to move fairly easily from the detailed
documentation of a unit to the more expansive view of the landscape necessary for mapping
units. Moreover, these team leaders not only have field experience, but also have experience
with GIS and databases. Their training has prepared them to do more than simply collect
data carefully in the field, but also to analyze it using the increasingly robust tools available
to archaeologists. This shift in training is remarkable and suggests that the computer lab

 

366

has become as much a place of analysis as the field.
title="photo (6).JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/photo-6.jpg" alt="Photo 6"
width="450" height="337" border="0" />
2. Internet Objects. One of my favorite finds so far this season was a very modern, mouldmade, ceramic roof tile with the website of the manufacturer’s on it. Since it is not permitted
to publish a possibly ancient artifact in a digital format prior to the end of the season, I can’t
show you the artifact here, but I can offer a link to (http://www.xalkis-sa.com/) its digital
object which has already been published. (Director’s Note: Actually Bill could show it, if he
had a photo because it’s not an antiquity.) It is easy, then, to go and check out the location
of production, the specifications of the tile, and even the cost. More interesting than that:
the tile is a physical icon for a virtual object. This relationship between the tile and the
website, however, is only temporary. When the website disappears, changes location, or is
updated, the link between the particular tile and the virtual object is changed or broken.
There is significant talk these days about (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_Things)
the internet of things where physical objects and virtual objects exist side-by-side. The roof
tile might be one of the humblest examples of these interconnections, but one that
nevertheless demonstrates the archaeological complexities of the internet as a mediating
entity between objects separated by vast distances and connected by unstable, mutable
links.
title="P1070183.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070183.jpg"
alt="P1070183" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
3. Performing Archaeology and the Rhetoric of Fieldwork. We’ve had some interesting
conversations at the dinner table and in the field about how archaeological field work
employs performative positions grounded in traditions of masculinity. The “work hard, play
hard” attitude, for example, which characterized an earlier, almost pre-professional model of

 

367

archaeological field work clearly drew upon premodern labor practices. Experience in the
field produced through apprenticeships to senior archaeologists counted as much as
training and the ability to conform to social expectations of field practice.
The need to perform field work in such a way that conforms to social expectations that exist
outside of formal methodological assumptions. For example, despite almost a half century of
discussions of archaeological sampling and the limits to archaeological definitions of space
and the landscape, there continues to be pressure for full coverage survey and grueling
excavation schedules that produce more data than will ever be published in a project
director’s lifetime. The “mo’ fieldwork, mo’ knowledge” paradigm holds its appeal to
archaeologists, in part, because the discipline remains ambivalent toward modern practices
even as it embraces technology and “scientific” practices in the field.
So at the same time that the discipline is modernizing field practices and defining the
landscape or trench as a series of tick boxes, numbers, and fields on a form, archaeology
continues to have this patina of premodern practices that rely a largely hidden set of social
expectations about doing archaeology “the right way”. It should come as little surprise that
an "old boys club” are responsible for much of this unwritten pressure that still shapes
certain aspects of the discipline. I have a longer post of this in the slow cooker where I try to
work out some of the issues, but I think I need a few more conversations with my
conspirators here on WARP to get the argument worked out.


 

368

Three Thoughts from the Western Argolid Regional Project
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/three-thoughts-from-the-westernargolid-regional-project-2/
Thu, 19 Jun 2014 13:36:51 +0000
isPermaLink="false) http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/?p=4180</guid>
I know it’s cliche, but archaeology provides a good context for thinking. Over the last few
weeks, I’ve gotten some good thinking done. In fact, my colleagues, The Directors of the
project, have been extremely patient interlocutors this summer. I am convinced that an
important part of archaeology remains the close and continuous intellectual and social
contact between participants. In fact,
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/not-a-good-paper-the-art-ofdigital-archaeology/) I write about that very thing in the context of digital archaeological
practice here.
Since it’s the middle of the middle week of the survey season on the Western Argolid
Regional Project, and thanks to “a non-serious, fatigue-related, incident”, I’ve been stranded
in my lux-u-ary apartment for the last two day, I’ve scrawled down a few thoughts about a
few things:
1. Team Leaders. One of my arguments in favor of a return to a
“(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/slow/) slow archaeology” is that we
have created an increasingly atomic view of the archaeological process. Our dependence
on forms, digital data collection, and methodology to produce archaeological knowledge
has inhibited our ability as archaeologists to understand and represent the complex
interrelationships between objects, context, architecture, and landscape. In short, our
tendency to parse archaeological knowledge ever more finely in the field has created a
practice that runs counter to the integrative goals of the discipline.
My fear is that archaeologists no long have a complete grasp of the archaeological universe,
but only their little part of it. Our graduate student team leaders this summer have

 

369

undermined my argument by demonstrating the ability to move fairly easily from the detailed
documentation of a unit to the more expansive view of the landscape necessary for mapping
units. Moreover, these team leaders not only have field experience, but also have experience
with GIS and databases. Their training has prepared them to do more than simply collect
data carefully in the field, but also to analyze it using the increasingly robust tools available
to archaeologists. This shift in training is remarkable and suggests that the computer lab
has become as much a place of analysis as the field.
title="photo (6).JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/photo-6.jpg" alt="Photo 6"
width="450" height="337" border="0" />
2. Internet Objects. One of my favorite finds so far this season was a very modern, mouldmade, ceramic roof tile with the website of the manufacturer’s on it. Since it is not permitted
to publish a possibly ancient artifact in a digital format prior to the end of the season, I can’t
show you the artifact here, but I can offer a link to (http://www.xalkis-sa.com/) its digital
object which has already been published. (Director’s Note: Actually Bill could show it, if he
had a photo because it’s not an antiquity.) It is easy, then, to go and check out the location
of production, the specifications of the tile, and even the cost. More interesting than that:
the tile is a physical icon for a virtual object. This relationship between the tile and the
website, however, is only temporary. When the website disappears, changes location, or is
updated, the link between the particular tile and the virtual object is changed or broken.
There is significant talk these days about (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_Things)
the internet of things where physical objects and virtual objects exist side-by-side. The roof
tile might be one of the humblest examples of these interconnections, but one that
nevertheless demonstrates the archaeological complexities of the internet as a mediating
entity between objects separated by vast distances and connected by unstable, mutable
links.
title="P1070183.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070183.jpg"

 

370

alt="P1070183" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
3. Performing Archaeology and the Rhetoric of Fieldwork. We’ve had some interesting
conversations at the dinner table and in the field about how archaeological field work
employs performative positions grounded in traditions of masculinity. The “work hard, play
hard” attitude, for example, which characterized an earlier, almost pre-professional model of
archaeological field work clearly drew upon premodern labor practices. Experience in the
field produced through apprenticeships to senior archaeologists counted as much as
training and the ability to conform to social expectations of field practice.
There is a need to perform field work in such a way that conforms to social expectations
that exist outside of formal methodological assumptions. For example, despite almost a half
century of discussions of archaeological sampling and the limits to archaeological
definitions of space and the landscape, there continues to be pressure for full coverage
survey and grueling excavation schedules that produce more data than will ever be
published in a project director’s lifetime. The “mo’ fieldwork, mo’ knowledge” paradigm
holds its appeal to archaeologists, in part, because the discipline remains ambivalent toward
modern practices even as it embraces technology and “scientific” practices in the field.
So at the same time that the discipline is modernizing field practices and defining the
landscape or trench as a series of tick boxes, numbers, and fields on a form, archaeology
continues to have this patina of premodern practices that rely a largely hidden set of social
expectations about doing archaeology “the right way”. It should come as little surprise that
an "old boys club” are responsible for much of this unwritten pressure that still shapes
certain aspects of the discipline. I have a longer post of this in the slow cooker where I try to
work out some of the issues, but I think I need a few more conversations with my
conspirators here on WARP to get the argument worked out.


 

371

Photo Friday on the Western Argolid Regional Project
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/photo-friday-on-the-westernargolid-regional-project/
Fri, 20 Jun 2014 03:14:09 +0000
After another week of the Western Argolid Regional Project, I’m once again prompted to
ask whether (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/three-thoughts-fromthe-western-argolid-regional-project-2/) this is over yet. This isn’t to suggest that I’m not
having fun, but to say that this has already been a long field season!
But we’re hard at work. As you can see, Scott Gallimore, one of the directors, is hard at
work documenting the upper reaches of our survey area on Mt. Braimi south of Lyrkeia.
title="P1060977.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060977.jpg"
alt="P1060977" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
This one is from one of our team leaders, Machal Gradoz. Her field team is lined up in a field
of wheat:
title="NewImage.png"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/newimage.png"
alt="NewImage" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
A selfie of myself in the reflection of water in a cistern:
title="P1070152.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070152.jpg"
alt="P1070152" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

372

Red fruit crates in a green apricot grove:
title="P1070164.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070164.jpg"
alt="P1070164" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
A less welcoming sign hanging from an olive tree:
title="P1070215.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070215.jpg"
alt="P1070215" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The Argive Heraion is (http://westernargolid.org/?p=234) one of the top three sites in
Greece for the clarity of the archaeological remains, the archaeological (and political)
questions it has inspired, and, above all, the view:
title="P1060922.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060922.jpg"
alt="P1060922" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1060940.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1060940.jpg"
alt="P1060940" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Dawn on the way to the survey area. It almost makes that 5 am alarm sound sweet:
title="IMG_1626.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_1626.jpg" alt="IMG
1626" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The walk to dinner last night:


 

373

title="IMG_1638.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_1638.jpg" alt="IMG
1638" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
My after dinner constitutional:
title="IMG_1642.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_1642.jpg" alt="IMG
1642" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="IMG_1639.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_1639.jpg" alt="IMG
1639" width="450" height="600" border="0" />


 

374

Sometimes a Cave 2
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/sometimes-a-cave-2/
Tue, 24 Jun 2014 14:43:26 +0000
Last week I posted about how
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/sometimes-a-cave-is-just-a-cave/)
sometimes a cave is just a cave.
(https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070422.jpg)
This week, I can post that sometimes a cave is a super cool cistern from the modern period
with a great view and an opportunity to practice my field drawing skills.
(https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070408.jpg)
Sorry to miss posting for a few days, my usually reliable MacBook Air is on the blink, so I’m
slumming in PC land.


 

375

A Bridge
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/a-bridge/
Wed, 25 Jun 2014 15:13:41 +0000
This is mainly to start a blog post with the line that I want you use at the beginning of an
important article:
“The study of Ottoman bridges in the Western Argolid remains in its infancy. The goal of
this brief article is to bring attention to a small, but important body of Ottoman bridge work
in this region.”
(https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070483.jpg)
(https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070482.jpg)
This lovely arch spanned a small ravine and carried a switchback kalderimi road down a low
saddle to the village of Lyrkeia and our survey area. The stone work is lovely consisting of
local grey limestone faces with smaller stones used as chinking. The arch itself is made of
thinner stones arranged carefully with a substantial quantity of pebbly white mortar.
The road that leads to this bridge runs on its own carefully wrought terrace through olive
groves. The is evidence that the bedrock had been cut back to let the road pass more
easily. The bedrock was close enough to the surface to allow it serve as paving for part of
the route, and it probably made this particular field appealing for use as a road (and less
than appealing for agriculture!).


 

376

Archaeology of Sound
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/archaeology-of-sound/
Thu, 26 Jun 2014 02:40:03 +0000
isPermaLink="false) http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/?p=4211</guid>
Every now and then when I’m in the field, I panic about falling behind in my journal reading
and letting the ENTIRE DISCIPLINE PASS ME BY.
WHAT?? Archaeological Dialogues has an issue dedicated to ROMANIZATION?
(http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/romanization-andchristianization/) I thought about that once, like four years ago! I must… read… now!
WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY has forthcoming volume dedicated to the archaeology of
sound? I know people working on that RIGHT NOW and how can I possibly interact with
them without being familiar with soon-to-be-published articles. More than that, I’m an
audiophile and I need to understand the archaeology of connectors. And I’ve done
archaeology of the contemporary world (forthcoming) so I must understand what was
albums were found on the floor of a commune where the Grateful Dead once live.
It’s not that it has to happen eventually - like say
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/my-plan-to-not-waste-mysabbatical/) while I’m on sabbatical - it has to happen now.
So instead of spending a weekend catching up on vital scholarship and remaining relevant
to my discipline, I decided to clean up some audio file that I captured over the past few
weeks in the field.
On my hike to the cave, I encounter a fairly agitated hawk and this what he (or she) sounded
like:


 

377

[audio https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16994195/WARPHAWK.mp3 ]
We’ve also had the good fortune of encountering some very vocal goats:
[audio https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16994195/WARPGOATS.mp3 ]
And some excitable frogs (especially at night!):
[audio https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16994195/WARPFROGS.mp3 ]
Finally, you can faintly hear the bells of the church at Kaparelli at the western edge of our
survey area:
[audio https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16994195/WARPBELLSshort.mp3 ]


 

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Photo Friday on the Western Argolid Regional Project
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/photo-friday-on-the-westernargolid-regional-project-2/
Fri, 27 Jun 2014 03:16:57 +0000
This week, I mapped some, drew some, and barely survived the rest of the time. I’m pretty
sure that this is the last week of the season on the Western Argolid Regional Project.
I got some good photos of members of our field teams out working. Grace Erny is super
photogenic in the field (although she’d deny it). She’s always doing something
archaeological:
title="GraceBrighter.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/gracebrighter.jpg"
alt="GraceBrighter" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
One of the project directors, Dimitri Nakassis, is very proud of being a University of
Michigan graduate and also very happy to finally be getting into the field on a consistent
basis:
title="P1070331.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070331.jpg"
alt="P1070331" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
Phil Cook and I spent a long day drawing a an early modern fortified site:
title="P1070371.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070371.jpg"
alt="P1070371" width="450" height="600" border="0" />


 

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I saw the usual array of scenic and curious things in the field.
Prof. Nakssis makes lots of phone calls from the field because he’s the boss:
title="P1070232.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070232.jpg"
alt="P1070232" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
This is what a day that will approach 40 degrees looks like at the start:
title="P1070508.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070508.jpg"
alt="P1070508" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
This what about 38 in the field looks like:
title="P1070522.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070522.jpg"
alt="P1070522" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
On a hot day of mapping, we were caught off guard by a ZETOR in the wild (it’s a Czech
tractor company):
title="P1070507.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070507.jpg"
alt="P1070507" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
A magic bus:
title="P1070531.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070531.jpg"


 

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alt="P1070531" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
More of things Greek farmers put in trees.
A hoop:
title="P1070315.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070315.jpg"
alt="P1070315" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
More bottles presumably of pesticide:
title="P1070537.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070537.jpg"
alt="P1070537" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
A bucket:
title="P1070530.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070530.jpg"
alt="P1070530" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Coat and boots:
title="P1070221.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070221.jpg"
alt="P1070221" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
One last picture… the low clouds snagging on the peak and the dramatic difference of
scale and focus gives the picture a tilt-shift look:


 

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title="P1070218.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/p1070218.jpg"
alt="P1070218" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
For more on what’s going on with the project, (http://westernargolid.org/) check out the
project blog here.


 

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Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project Volume 1
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/pyla-koutsopetria-archaeologicalproject-volume-1/
Tue, 01 Jul 2014 13:10:18 +0000
After several rounds of edits, some fiddling, and some polishing, David Pettegrew, Scott
Moore, and I have finally (once again) submitted the final draft of Pyla-Koutsopetria
Archaeological Project 1: The Archaeological Survey of an Ancient Coastal Town. It will be
published in the Archaeological Research Series of the American Schools of Oriental
Research.
The manuscript will invariably still require some editing but it is complete in terms of content
and style. You can see our complete survey data set
(http://opencontext.org/projects/3F6DCD13-A476-488E-ED10-47D25513FCB2) here at
Open Context.
And, as a teaser, check out the table of contents and introduction here:
[scribd id=232052894 key=key-Ct4D50Uu4fVbfUHvh5BG mode=scroll]


 

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Bees and Marginal Landscapes in the Western Argolid
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/bees-and-marginal-landscapes-inthe-western-argolid/
Wed, 02 Jul 2014 14:06:04 +0000
Bees! I hate bees. I’m partially convinced by the position of the environmentalist lobby that
bees somehow contribute to the good of all humanity. That being said, we should recognize
that pollination but like global warming, evolution, and gravity, is a THEORY meaning that it
may or may not be true. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, and all that.
At the same time, I’ve become interested in the use of marginal landscapes in the Western
Argolid for bee keeping, and keep my eye out for evidence of these practices on the
(http://westernargolid.org/) Western Argolid Regional Project.
On Monday, we encountered a bee keeping complex on the northern slope of the Inachos
valley above the village of Lyrkeia. There was evidence for long term olive cultivation and the
neglected remains of broad terraces serve as reminders of grain cultivation.
Today, however, the olives are mostly neglected and the grain has gone wild, but bees
continue to be kept and honey harvested. There were a few active hives near the compound
(I didn’t get too close!), but it looked like the area was mostly used for the preparation of
hives with bee food, broken down hives, and various storage containers in evidence.
title="P1070608.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070608.jpg"
alt="P1070608" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The compound was filled with empty bee hives, metal lined covers, and the metal racks
where the honey comb develops. The wood on many of these abandoned hives is beginning


 

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to rot, but the metal frames and hinges will stay behind long after the wood disappears.
title="P1070610.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070610.jpg"
alt="P1070610" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The Inachos river is another marginal landscape. It is seasonal and during the dry summer
months, it serves as a road, dumping ground, and temporary apiary!
title="P1070707.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070707.jpg"
alt="P1070707" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Further up on the slopes, discarded be hives litter an open field. The frames in some were
intact, although the metal lined covers had been largely removed.
title="P1070720.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070720.jpg"
alt="P1070720" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
I suppose in a few years, when all the bees are gone, all we’ll have left to show their impact
on these marginal landscapes will be scraps of metal.


 

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Pallets and Scavenging
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/pallets-and-scavenging/
Thu, 03 Jul 2014 14:20:09 +0000
Archaeologists are scavengers. We collect objects that have been cast aside and reuse
them as sources for reconstructing the past.
As a result archaeologists are pretty good at finding inventive ways to reuse whatever is at
hand to serve their purposes. As part of my Pallet Project,
(https://uc.academia.edu/ChrisCloke) my buddy Chris Cloke sent along some pallet
pictures from (http://proteus.brown.edu/knodell/4552) Alex Knodell’s new Mazi Project in
Attica, Greece. To pinch some pennies, the project acquired shipping pallets which after
some cleaning and basic maintenance became project beds.


 

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Photo Friday on the Western Argolid Regional Project
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/04/photo-friday-on-the-westernargolid-regional-project-3/
Fri, 04 Jul 2014 13:35:43 +0000
Now, I’m almost entirely sure that there is only one more week of full on field work. This
past week was cooler and slightly less exhausting, but we still have two weeks to go before
we wrap up the first season of the (http://westernargolid.org/) Western Argolid Regional
Project.
This morning, I did some field walking for the first time this year. As we filled in a few units
that the survey teams missed, Dimitri Nakassis and Stephanie Steinke check the GPS unit
to make sure that we are in the right spot.
title="P1070880.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070880.jpg"
alt="P1070880" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
The sheep are out in the field first thing in the morning:
title="IMG_1706.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/img_1706.jpg" alt="IMG
1706" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The day before I hiked up to the rock shelter fort for the last time this season to fill in a few
points on our plans and finish one drawing. It was a cool opportunity to think about how
archaeological field work shapes how we hold our bodies.
title="P1070828.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070828.jpg"

 

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alt="P1070828" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1070825.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070825.jpg"
alt="P1070825" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1070830.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070830.jpg"
alt="P1070830" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1070668.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070668.jpg"
alt="P1070668" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1070777.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070777.jpg"
alt="P1070777" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
I continue to document the things Greeks hang from trees:
title="P1070636.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070636.jpg"
alt="P1070636" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1070900.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070900.jpg"
alt="P1070900" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1070906.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070906.jpg"
alt="P1070906" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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title="P1070654.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070654.jpg"
alt="P1070654" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
I’ve also been drawn to other agricultural equipment in the field. For example, I liked how
these irrigation heads looked in a klouva and the alternative:
title="P1070674.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070674.jpg"
alt="P1070674" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1070677.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070677.jpg"
alt="P1070677" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Sunrise over the survey area.
title="P1070877.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070877.jpg"
alt="P1070877" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1070582.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070582.jpg"
alt="P1070582" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
And some high-tension electrical wires:
title="P1070697.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070697.jpg"
alt="P1070697" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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The survey area from the north:
title="P1070556.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070556.jpg"
alt="P1070556" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
And a field selfie for kicks:
title="P1070887.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070887.jpg"
alt="P1070887" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Western Argolid Regional Puppies
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/western-argolid-regional-puppies/
Mon, 07 Jul 2014 12:35:45 +0000
Every archaeological project experiences a crisis at some point. Fortunately, the Western
Argolid Regional Project managed to avoid all serious crises until the very last week of
intensive field work.
title="P1070980.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070980.jpg"
alt="P1070980" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Over the last week or so a dog and her puppies has been hanging out at the church of Ay.
Eleni and Konstantinos in our survey area. Apparently they were left in the care of the saints
at some point in the last few weeks. A local woman was feeding the dogs and we provided
them with some food and water. On the whole, it was not a very good situation, but one that
was stable.
title="P1070969.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070969.jpg"
alt="P1070969" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
One of the puppies grew up and “went off to college,” but the other puppy seemed to be
doing fairly well. This weekend, the mother decided that she had done her best and left to
try her luck elsewhere leaving the puppy alone.
title="P1070972.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070972.jpg"
alt="P1070972" width="450" height="600" border="0" />


 

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When we understood the situation, Dimitri Nakassis and I immediately panicked. We then
called Sarah James. And I then called my wife. All the while Machal Gradoz was bonding
with the puppy and decided to take it back to adopt it on the spot. We made a quick run to
the vet in Argos and got some puppy supplies and puppy formula and the crisis has been
averted.
The puppy’s name is Eleni after the saint who looked after her for the first few weeks of her
life.
title="photo (7).JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/photo-7.jpg" alt="Photo 7"
width="450" height="600" border="0" />
So for today, we are the Western Argolid Regional Puppy (project).


 

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Towers on Euboea
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/08/towers-on-euboea/
Wed, 09 Jul 2014 03:27:07 +0000
The most recent (http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/publications/hesperia) Hesperia has
an interesting article on (http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.83.2.0277) the
ancient towers of the Paximadi Peninsula on Euboia. This is one of the best know groups of
towers in Greece despite their poor state of preservation. Becky Seifried and Bill Parkinson
begin their work with the catalogue of 25 towers prepared by Donald Keller in the 1980s
and then expanded by Southern Euboia Exploration Project some ten years later.
The article presents a revised and expanded version of Keller’s catalogue and offer some
significant insights into the function of these towers. Without going to too much detail,
Seifried and Parkinson more or less agree with many of the observations that
(http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/pdf/uploads/hesperia/40981055.pdf) David Pettegrew, Sarah
James, and I made about the fortifications at the site of Ano Vayia (.pdf). We argued that, at
least for the Late Classical and Early Hellenistic period, many rural fortifications reflect local
concerns rather than concerns of the polis or some kind of central authority.
(As an aside, I was really excited to see all the round towers of Classical date on the
Paximadi peninsula. I tended to associate round structures with more sophisticated building
practices and a more skilled workforce perhaps associated with regional level powers. This,
then, confused me when we encountered a round tower at the relatively isolated site of Ano
Vayia. The frequency of round towers on the Paximadi peninsula provided me with a nice
body of comparanda for our fortification at Ano Vayia (below).)
title="www_ascsa_edu_gr_pdf_uploads_hesperia_40981055_pdf.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/www_ascsa_edu_gr_pdf_u
ploads_hesperia_40981055_pdf.jpg" alt="Www ascsa edu gr pdf uploads hesperia
40981055 pdf" width="439" height="579" border="0" />Fortifications on Ano Vayia in the

 

393

Corinthia
Our arguments, however, were limited by our focus on a single site with a unique location,
Seifreid and Parkinson take our argument a step further by looking at a group. One of the
more intriguing aspects of their argument is the possibility that the towers built during the
Classical period served to protect the limited agricultural resources present on the
peninsula. In fact, the towers may have been built by individual landowners to protect their
farms and land. The high degree of inter visibility between the towers of Classical date
suggests that landowners worked together to create a mutual defense network.
title="Seifried_and_Parkinson_2014_Offprint_pdf__page_34_of_39_.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/seifried_and_parkinson_20
14_offprint_pdf__page_34_of_39_.jpg" alt="Seifried and Parkinson 2014 Offprint pdf page
34 of 39" width="432" height="427" border="0" />Lines of site between Classical period
towers on the Paximadi Peninsula, Euboia
The relationship between the towers, then, is not the product of a central government, but
rather the relationship between individual landowners who invested in a kind of social
insurance based on the locating of towers in intervisible locations in the landscape. One
might even see the locating of towers as part of a community of practice that recognized
mutual defense in a threatening world was as much a priority for farmers as terraces,
threshing floors, and access to water.


 

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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly on the Western Argolid Regional
Project 2014
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-onthe-western-argolid-regional-project-2014/
Fri, 11 Jul 2014 13:27:28 +0000
Yesterday was the last full field day with our field teams on the Western Argolid Regional
Survey. So I thought I should do a traditional “Good, Bad, and Ugly” post from our field
season.
I should emphasize that the project was pretty remarkable. We covered an amazing amount
of territory (almost 5.5 sq km), our field teams held up well, our team leaders remained
(more or less) in good spirits, and we produced interesting results. With one week
remaining we mostly have odds and ends to sort out, some drawings and photographs, and
the usual work of data curation.
So without further ado:
The Good.
1. Units, Resolution, and Efficiency. We walked close to 2400 units while keeping our
average unit size to under 2500 sq. m. and through most of the field season we walked an
average of 92 units per day. The average unit took a little over 5 minutes to walk so taken
together our field teams walked for around 7 hours and 40 minutes per day or about 2
hours per team per 6 hour field day. There are certainly gains to be made in efficiency, but
the cost will be steep with our current manpower.
2. Good Field Clothing. The project produced a spectacular display of innovative, synthetic,
hip looking field clothes. The maquis, heat, spiders, and sweat took a toll on all field


 

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clothing. I destroyed a pair of decent field pants, but my (http://www.mountainkhakis.com/)
Mountain Khakis held up with only one repair (generously made by Sarah James). Better
still, my sub-$20 Dickies long-sleeve work shirts proved their reputation for indestructibility.
Whatever I lost in terms of being stylish, my clothes survived the rigors of a 6+ week field
season.
title="P1060856.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1060856.jpg"
alt="P1060856" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
3. Beautiful Landscapes. We could not ask for a nicer survey area in terms of scenery. The
upper reaches of the Inachos Valley was beautiful especially in the morning light which
filtered through the olive trees and the vanishing dew.
title="P1070124.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070124.jpg"
alt="P1070124" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1080032.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1080032.jpg"
alt="P1080032" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
4. Maps. We mapped our survey units using two sets of very recent satellite images on we
printed on a sheet of paper and other we carried with us on our Garmin Oregon GPS units.
The two maps were taken at different times of year so they provide different views of the
vegetation in our survey area. Mapping onto these high resolution and very recent satellite
images was much easier than our practice with earlier surveys where we mapped onto
1:5000 maps or the 1960s era aerial photographs taken by the Greek army.
The Bad.


 

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1. I’m old. This was the hardest field season that I have ever experienced. My body started
to ache about week 4 or 5 and by the end of week 6, I was ill with some kind of fatigue
induced cold. My ankle is swollen, my knee is glitchy, and I’m riddled with little cuts, sores,
and rashes.
title="P1080028.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1080028.jpg"
alt="P1080028" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
2. Boots. The sharp-edged limestone of the Argolid and Corinthia is absolutely brutal on
boots. So far this season, I’ve seen gashed soles, torn leather, eviscerated nylon, and other
boot related disasters.
3. Puppies. I’ve never been a dog person, but I’ll admit that watching
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/western-argolid-regionalpuppies/) the puppy saga unfold this year on WARP was heartrending. I’m glad that we
managed to save the “micro-dog” although I’m worried that it’ll never learn to walk properly
(although people say at 6 weeks no puppy can walk properly). So this is not a bad thing in a
traditional sense, but it was an unexpected emotional outlay.
The Ugly.
1. Spider Sticks. The Western Argolid is filled(http://westernargolid.org/?p=264) with
large spiders who build beautiful webs between closely spaced trees. These things are
creepy and the webs are sticky and annoying especially when you come upon them
unexpectedly while field walking. Students (and staff!) discovered the value of a the spider
stick. This is a stick - usually made of olive wood - that can brush aside spider webs as you
field walk. Unfortunately, they can also be used as weapons to beat down a team leader
who has pushed a bit too hard. We only narrowly averted a spider stick uprising in the
waning weeks of the season.


 

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title="P1080008.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1080008.jpg"
alt="P1080008" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
2. (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/forms-and-features-in-thewestern-argolid/) Paper Forms. Our data recording involved two steps. Writing on paper
forms in the field and keying the data into a database. The days of paper forms are almost
over, however. We saw how the Mazi Project is using iPads to streamline data flow from the
field to the laptop. I think there is also a chance that iPads will allow for better, more robust
datasets that include more images, more field drawings, and more integrated data both in
the field and in the lab.
title="P1080042.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1080042.jpg"
alt="P1080042" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
3. Larry Potter. This season was the season of Larry Potter. As my colleagues pointed out,
this cohort of students have been involved with Larry Potter from the time they learned to
read and the novels, movies, and soundtracks dominate their world. In fact, we had to talk
about the possibility that the bamboo sticks used to separate lots in our workspace might
be tempting swords, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quidditch) Quidditch sticks, or wands
and how that might be facilitate an unhelpful blurring of the line between the productive
space of the archaeological workroom and the fantasy space of Larry Potter and friends.


 

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Features and Forms Again
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/4293/
Wed, 16 Jul 2014 13:07:22 +0000
I probably have one more day in the field this season on the (http://westernargolid.org/)
Western Argolid Regional Project. Over the last 6 weeks, we’ve surveyed close to 2500
units and recorded important data for each unit on paper maps and paper forms. We then
keyed this data into a database and plotted our maps on a GIS to produce density maps.
Our ceramicists, Scott Gallimore and Sarah James, continue to move through the 30,000
artifacts recovered from the field. These objects come from about a 10% sample of the
surface of our survey units (in other words, we walked each unit observing 2 m of 10 m
swath, but only about 50% of each swath was visible.)
All of our field data was recorded on
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/forms-and-features-in-thewestern-argolid/) paper forms in pen by our field teams. It is instructive for us to understand
that over the course of a 6 hour field day (around 7 am to around 1 pm) our teams spent
around 2 hours walking. The remaining four hours was spent filling out paperwork, moving
from unit to unit, and taking care of collected artifacts. As readers of this blog know, I’ve
been thinking a bit about the benefits and liabilities of increasingly the efficiency of
fieldwork. In fact, I’ve generally advocated approaches to fieldwork that encourage teams to
slow down, move more carefully, observe more closely, take time to think critically, and
resist the urge to turn time in the field into simply recording.
Of course, it is easy to advocate these practices from the luxury of a faculty office at repose
in the warm embrace of tenure. In the field, where resources and time are limited (both to a
6 week season and a 3 year permit in Greece), it is really hard to slow down field work. If
anything, there is relentless pressure to speed up, do more, sleep less! The temptation is
particularly strong when it comes to the systematic collection of data. The urge to produce
an impressive map, a substantial database, and quantitatively meaningful dataset can

 

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quickly drown out a commitment to more open-ended practices. If handwriting, paper forms
in the field, (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/slow/) slow the pace of
data collection or
(http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/04/22/0956797614524581.abstract) even
improves our ability to understand the complexities of the archaeological landscape, then
perhaps the extra time necessary to write on paper is worth it.
Even a continued commitment to paper forms, however, does not ensure that our team
leaders and field teams record thoughtfully (rather than just systematically) everything that
they observe in the field. For example, we noticed that larger features that cannot be
quantified or documented according to a set of rigorously enforced standards tended to get
less attention from our teams. For feature recording we asked our teams to describe walls,
buildings, kilns, wells, cisterns, or other manmade “features” in a free text area of the survey
form. In general, these teams struggled to consistently record the shape, construction style,
and location of features in units. We don’t think that our teams overlooked features as much
as under-documented them over the course of their typical field day. The filling out of a
survey form, then, became a microcosm for the larger issue facing intensive survey (and
perhaps all of archaeology). The temptation is to collect easily quantifiable data or
phenomena that we can articulate within relatively narrow parameters at the expense of
more complicated artifacts in the fields. The latter slows the field team down because each
instance requires a new description and this kind of creative engagement with each
instance on its own terms produces a kind of messy data that is difficult to aggregate. The
request by team leaders and field walkers to streamline feature description reinforced the
pressure that they felt to document objects in the landscape in a thorough and systematic
way without structured prompts.
As we spend the week organizing data from the field, I once again thought about whether
we need to move more aggressively to using tablets to collect data in the field. Part of me
sees the transition from paper forms as part of a larger process of improving the efficiency
of basic data recording. This should, in turn, free up our team leaders to understand the
landscape in a more nuanced and synthetic way. On the other hand, the demise of paper
forms may push us further along a path where we engage the landscape in a highly

 

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fragmented, systematized and granular way in the name of efficiency.
So as we continue our digitally-mediate move toward efficiency in archaeology, I’ll continue
to think about how the tools we use shape the landscape we create.


 

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Western Argolid Regional Project T-Shirts
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/western-argolid-regional-project-tshirts/
Mon, 21 Jul 2014 12:58:22 +0000
Every real archaeology project needs a t-shirt for every field season. Experienced
archaeologists collect these shirts as a living symbols of their archaeological prowess. (And
I mean living literally. After a few days or weeks in the field archaeology t-shirts come to
support a thriving ecosystem of bacteria, funguses, and tiny insects).
On WARP we invited our students to contribute suggestion for the shirts. All of the
contributions were good, but two were the best.
The front of the shirt shows a field walker in profile holding a compass in his or her left hand.
The rakish hat and backpack add a bit of style to the figure. The text says Western Argolid
Regional Project 2014.
title="IMG_1785.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/img_1785.jpg" alt="IMG
1785" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The back of the shirt, designed by a different student, shows the great Larissa fortress that
overlooks the Argive plain. Beneath it roll the six cars transporting the eager field teams
through the dawn light to their assigned tasks.
title="IMG_1784.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/img_1784.jpg" alt="IMG
1784" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Containers and Connectivity
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/containers-and-connectivity/
Tue, 22 Jul 2014 14:50:10 +0000
If you haven’t read Andrew Bevan’s recent article in Current Archaeology, you should drop
everything and read it now. It’s titled “(http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/677034)
Mediterranean Containerization” and presents a concise history of containers for trade in
the Mediterranean basin from prehistory to modern times. His article begins with amphora
and moves to barrels, crates, modern shipping containers, and, of course, wood pallets. His
main focus is on liquid products, olive oil and wine, and his argument centers on the
“precocious” character of these containers in a Mediterranean context. I won’t even attempt
to summarize his intricate arguments on this blog post, but I want to highlight a few things
from it.
1. Mediterranean connectivity (or liquidity in Bevan’s terms, a clever play on the liquid in
Mediterranean containers and the liquid state of the sea through which these containers
travelled). Bevan makes the point that the connection between various Mediterranean
regions created an environment susceptible for certain parallel strategies to mediate
interregional contact. While Bevan is careful to avoid any kind of environmental determinism,
he does note that the need to communicate through the network of Mediterranean places
(and here we can clearly see the shadow of both (https://www.worldcat.org/title/corruptingsea-a-study-of-mediterranean-history/oclc/42692026) Horden and Purcell’s and
(https://www.worldcat.org/title/making-of-the-middle-sea-a-history-of-the-mediterraneanfrom-the-beginning-to-the-emergence-of-the-classical-world/oclc/844789745) Cyprian
Broodbank's works) required certain technological solutions. The development of the
ceramic amphora and certain changes of these vessel shapes, capacity, and distribution
demonstrate the shifting contingencies of the political, economic, and social life in the
Mediterranean basin.


 

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2. Reuse. For Bevan, the significance of containers extends well beyond their primary use
as transport vessels. Storage vessels designed for large scale transport of goods around
the Mediterranean basin often enjoyed long lives as local storage containers, burial pots,
and even houses. The ubiquitous character of these transport amphora and other containers
created a kind of utilitarian koine built around the adaptive reuse of these objects. In modern
times, the reuse of shipping containers and (yes!) wooden shipping pallets, provides a good
example about how the containerization of transport creates a medium for other expressions
of culture. (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/pallets/) My pallet project
and studies of the famous “blue tarp” follow certain lines by showing how these ubiquitous
aspects of global transport culture have created distinct modes of expression characteristic
of our contemporary culture.
title="P1060941.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1060941.jpg"
alt="P1060941" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
3. Amphoras and Other Transport. One thing that Bevan notes is that amphora were not the
only way in which commodities were moved around the Mediterranean landscape. I can’t
recommend enough my buddy Scott Gallimore’s recent article in the most recent ZPE on
some ostraka from Chersonesos on Crete. Scott argues that these ostraka (as well as some
from near Carthage in North Africa) were chits used to record the transfer of wine from
skins used in overland transport to amphora for overseas exports from Crete. The use of
wine or oil skins to transport goods from small producers overland is something often
overlooked by scholars who have tended to see amphoras almost exclusively as the marker
of trade contacts.
This has particular significance for
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/pyla-koutsopetria-archaeologicalproject/) my site of Pyla-Koutsopetria on Cyprus where we have a superabundance of Late
Roman 1 amphora. It may be that these locally produced amphora (although not at our site)
received olive oil from the region around Koutsopetria and it was transferred to amphora for


 

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export at our site, and this accounts for the massive quantity of amphora sherds at our site.
4. Responses and a Reply. I really liked the format of the article which included several
responses which almost read like peer reviews of the article. The editors let Bevan reply to
the critiques and he clarified some of the more controversial or opaque statements. The
conversational aspect of the article expanded how I read his work. In particular, some of the
respondents showed interest in thinking about how these containers manifested a Latourian
sense of agency. Bevan does not talk in any great detail about this but the first respondents
clearly thought that this was a productive route for further inquiry transforming the meaning
of the article through their research interests.
The wealth of this article is almost impossible to summarize. It is among the most stimulating
articles I’ve read for quite some time.
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/?s=Bevan) As with most
(http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/people/staff/bevan/#tabs-3) of Bevan’s stuff, his work is
grounded in empirical research, and while there are a few little issues that our hardcore
ceramicists (Mark Lawall’s comments demonstrate this) will pick up on and dispute, it is
more important to appreciate the larger concepts involved his efforts. And even if you
disagree with all of his conclusions, you have to admire his willingness to present in an
article a synthetic overview of something as profoundly significant as containerization in a
Mediterranean. His work will at very least be a point of departure.


 

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Expertise and Audiophiles
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/expertise-and-audiophiles/
Wed, 23 Jul 2014 12:49:24 +0000
Over the last few months, Scot Hull over at (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/) Parttime
Audiophile has been putting together some very thoughtful posts on what it means to be an
expert in the audiophile community. These posts were nominally in response to rather
defeatist (or perhaps nihilistic) (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2014/03/09/expertise/) essay
by Roger Skoff. Skoff basically argues that there is no such thing as an audiophile expert.
This is a nice, democratizing sentiment, but unfortunately most of us know (and rely upon)
expertise. Scot Hull responded with a five part
reply: (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2014/03/21/on-experts-reviews-and-drive-byshootings-part-1/) part 1, (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2014/03/30/on-experts-reviewsand-drive-by-shootings-part-2-1/) part 2.1, (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2014/04/06/onexperts-reviews-and-drive-by-shootings-part-2-2/) 2.2,
(http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2014/04/13/on-experts-reviews-and-drive-by-shootingspart-3/) part 3, (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2014/07/15/on-experts-reviews-and-driveby-shootings-part-4/) part 4. The entire thing is worth reading and I wish I had the
intellectual discipline to respond to his posts, but I don’t. Instead, I’m going to offer my take
on the subject. I’m going to argue that expertise in the audiophile community is a key
component in our community of practice and, my little essay will keep in the background
lessons I’ve learned from (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/talkingabout-machines-and-thinking-about-archaeology-and-teaching/) Julian Orr’s landmark
study of Xerox repair people.
title="P1020110.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/p1020110.jpg"
alt="P1020110" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Before anyone reads on, you should understand that of us who fussy and fiddle with our
two-channel stereo systems obsessively are a strangle lot of people. We tend to have
strong opinions about gear, sound, and music and support them with our (mostly) hard
earned cash dollars. As a result, we tend to be a contentious lot and engage as much in
debates about equipment over whose advice and opinions we should trust as experts.
The concept of being an expert on how high-end stereo equipment works and sounds is not
all that difficult to grasp, of course. Folks who design and engineer equipment have a
practical grasp of how to transform electricity into the sound that we're willing to pay top
dollar to enjoy. These individuals, however, are not the object of Mr. Hull's thoughtful
remarks because few would dispute their authority and understanding in matters of sound
reproduction.
Mr. Hull sets his sights on the other, more ambiguous group of experts who fill paper and
web pages with opinions and work at serious stereo stores all around the world. These
individuals tout various products, communicate difficult and obscure technical details to the
public, and engage in sometimes rancorous debates regarding the quality (and, less
frequently, value) of particular equipment and approaches to sound. Sonic measurements,
technical details, and other "objective" arguments animate discussions among audiophiles
especially on hot-button issues like the value of expensive, highly-engineered cables,
speaker design philosophies, or various room tuning devices.
The core of these audiophile conversations, however, is the description of sound using
words. Most audiophiles love to listen to music and stereo equipment, but also love to read
about, discuss, and even watch other people listen to stereo equipment and music. The
interplay between our own listening and the listening of others provides a structured set of
expectations way in the pages of audiophile magazines, websites, and in retail
establishments. Audiophile experts deploy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypallage)
transferred epithets in a way that would make Homer (the poet, not the Simpson) proud.
They easily talk about speakers being “bright”, headphones being “smokey", amplifiers
having “rhythm” and so much “intimacy” that it is sometimes hard not to blush. Parallel to
and interspersed with this poetic language, is the technical language of “zero feedback”,

 

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“single-end triodes”, “jitter”, “(http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews2/apertura/1.html) dual
resonant intermodulation minimization”, and, of course
“(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuUJfYcn3V4) illudium Q-36 explosive space
modulators”.
title="P1020126.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/p1020126.jpg"
alt="P1020126" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
This is all to say that as audiophiles we both listen to music and read (and listen) to people
talk about music. Within this community, experts carry authority primarily through how they
write and talk about sound. There is a consistency in vocabulary and even in tone that
characterizes audiophile conversations. Major consumer publications like
(http://www.theabsolutesound.com/) The Absolute Sound and
(http://www.stereophile.com/) Stereophile have establishes standards for the kind of
language used in the audiophile community. Major web publications like Scot's
(http://parttimeaudiophile.com/) Confessions of a Parttime Audiophile,
(http://www.6moons.com/) the impossible to navigate 6Moons, or (digitalaudioreview.net)
John Darko's Digital Audio Review follow more or less along the same lines as the print
publications. There is some little overlap between contributors to web and print
publications, but authors and publishers of web concerns regularly contribute to other
websites. Darko writes from TONEAudio and 6Moons. Scot Hull has written for the
(http://www.audio360.org/) headphone-oriented Audio360 and The Absolute Sound. The
ease with which authors can move across various sites both reflect and contributes to the
common tone and approach to describing audio gear. Even the homey and relaxed tone of
(http://jeffsplace.me/wordpress/) Jeff Day at his Jeff’s Place blog belies
(http://jeffsplace.me/wordpress/?page_id=4023) his contributor status at
(http://www.positive-feedback.com/) Positive Feedback Online.
The willingness and ability to communicate in a common language and tone is only part of
what constitutes expertise in the audiophile community. Most experts in our hobby have
access to more exotic brands which can have exorbitant costs and exceedinly limited

 

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distributions. Most of will not have the luxury of auditioning in our own home
(http://www.dagostinoinc.com/) D’Agostino amplifiers or
(http://www.wilsonaudio.com/index.shtml) Wilson Speakers not to mention smaller more
bespoke brands who create products when ordered or lack robust distribution networks.
Experts in the audiophile community mediate access to expensive, rare, and high-quality
gear through the use of a common language. As non-experts, we may not always agree with
these experts in their opinions of high-end stereo equipment, but they nevertheless have
access to equipment that we do not.
This intersection of readers and writers in the field of high-end stereo equipment creates
what some have called a community of practice. These communities function through a
series of shared expectations and mutually understood actions. Not all members of the
community will share equally in the prestige within the community, access, or technical
proficiency. In fact, the community includes both the audience for experts as well as the
experts themselves.
This almost too long discussion (although not as long as Scot's) is meant to contribute his
efforts to define expertise in our hobby. That we have struggled to define the character of
experts in our community is not a huge surprise. The conversation about audio gear
depends on how we talk about equipment that in many cases we will never own or even
hear. The nature of expertise in this context depends as much on how we talk about things
as the things themselves.


 

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Archaeology, Punk and Drunk
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/24/archaeology-punk-and-drunk/
Thu, 24 Jul 2014 13:08:48 +0000
Yesterday was a big day for various alternative archaeologies (for lack of a better term).
Andrew Reinhard premiered his Drunk Archaeology podcast and
(http://harpers.org/blog/2014/07/the-glitch-in-the-video-game-graveyard/) Josh Wheeler's
story appeared on Harpers webpage on the punk archaeologist involvement in the Atari
excavation this spring. Andrew Reinhard was the inspiration and organizational force behind
both of these things, and his energy and enthusiasm for exploring the edges of the
profession is inspiring and thought provoking.
In the Harpers’ piece I was called the soul of
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/punk-archaeology/) the punk
archaeology movement although the author admitted that he didn’t quite understand what it
was. This has become a persistent problem for punk archaeology. I spend more time
attempting to convince folks that punk archaeology does not need to have a cohesive,
unified philosophy, method, or approach than talking about what the intersection of
something like the punk aesthetic could mean for a discipline like Mediterranean
archaeology. For me, at least, punk archaeology has more to do with challenging the
traditional conventions of archaeological practice both in the field and in our approach to
disseminating knowledge. A conference and concert, for example, in a local watering hole in
Fargo represented an unconventional way to tell stories about archaeological practice. Selfpublishing either on a blog or by creating a small press (stay tuned!), represents another
angle where a DIY and anti-conventional approach to the production and presentation of
archaeological knowledge comes to the fore. The issue with these kind of DIY approaches
is that they fit awkwardly within the current model of professionalism which depends upon a
structured network of relationships (a community of practice?) to authorize new
archaeological knowledge. Peer review, for example, depends upon both institutional


 

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structures and the mutual understanding of collegial rank and status (i.e. being peers).
At the Atari excavation the punk approach to archaeology manifest as a critique of late
capitalism which both
(https://twitter.com/zakpenn/status/487758173567074304/photo/1) colonized
archaeology in the interest in the ((http://recode.net/2014/07/17/microsoft-to-shut-downxbox-entertainment-studios/) apparently stillborn) effort to produce content for Microsoft’s
X-box platform and created the object of their investigation: Atari’s E.T. video game. Like my
work around workforce housing in the Bakken Oil Patch, punk archaeology attempted to
position itself in a way to critique the changing nature of material, labor, and consumer
culture. The archaeological aspects of both projects focused on the quickening pace of
contemporary society where objects and settlements moved more quickly from objects of
desire to artifacts of study. The pace of culture means that archaeology as a discipline must
engage an ambiguous body of material that is flowing at an alarming rate from objects in
use in everyday life to archaeological artifacts.
Punk archaeology looks to blur lines at the edges of the discipline. In some ways, this is
good. It opens up our discipline to think about new ways of doing things, which range from
new approaches and methods to new ideological commitments and new definitions of
disciplinary limits.
On the other hand, professional archaeology and academia in general worked to
democratize the production of knowledge. It is a bit concerning that punk rock music,
despite its flirtation with gender bending and
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8J9WssSj7Q) androgyny, and to some extent punk
archaeology is a movement (can I really call it that?) that shares this aggressive, masculine
encoding. More than that,
(http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/punk-archaeolog/) punk
had strong roots in a white, suburban subculture and often rejected middle or even upper
class values while at the same time romanticizing a kind of lost urbanism in decades
characterized by white flight and disintegration of traditional cities. As much as academic
professionalism remains committed to a commodified and industrial model of knowledge

 

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production, it had the useful side-effect of breaking down some the gender, racial, and
economic barriers that had made academia a bastion of white, male, upper class privilege.
On its best days, punk archaeology seeks to critique the professionalization of the academy
(and the contemporary rise of the post-industrial assessocracy) while preserving the gains
that this process has made.
(https://soundcloud.com/drunkarchaeology/episode1) Andrew Reinhard’s Drunk
Archaeology goes even further along the lines of blurring professional boundaries. If the DIY
of punk archaeology rejects many of the institutional character of knowledge production,
Drunk Archaeology challenges professional standards even further. As E.P. Thompson and
others have argued intoxication has a long tradition as a form of resistance. The most
famous manifestation of this is St. Monday when workers would be absent on Monday as
they recovered from weekend indulgences. Drunk Archaeology continues in this tradition by
injecting alcohol into an rollicking conversation about the site of Pompeii with Eric Poehler
and Francesca Tronchin. The podcast shares many of the characteristics of punk
archaeology (and punk rock) with its raw language, challenged production standards, and
intellectual irreverence. Reinhard manages to use the drunkenness of the conversation to
good effect punctuating the conversation with the clinking of ice in refilled glasses and
swirly audio effects as three participants romp through the history and archaeology of
Pompeii. The podcast is good despite its rough production and oddly unscripted chat. Think
of as the MC5’s Kick Out the Jams
It ask shares with Punk Archaeology a bit of ambivalence in its critique. Is the drunkenness
meant to be simply playful? Or is it meant as a hat tip to traditions of the booze-soaked,
hyper-masculine, preprofessional archaeologist who follows a honed intuition rather than
methodology or formal training to discover the past. Could it even be a subtle wink to the
parallels between archaeology and the long, complex, and damaging history of alcohol in a
colonial context?
I think I’d prefer to read (listen?) to the podcast as a more complex critique which uses
alcohol as a way to challenge the overwhelming force of rationality, methodology, and
scientism in our discipline and instead emphasizes the passion, mystique, and … fun, of

 

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archaeological work. As much as I am skeptical of the scientific, dry-as-dust, method driven
archaeology of the 21st century, I can also see the risks in this statement (just as I am
aware of the risks in my punk archaeology). None of us really want to return to the days of
informal, ribald, and chaotic colonialist archaeology any more than
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAOcGB3-EPw) we’d want Johnny Thunders
excavating a sensitive context. But we both would like our discipline to be more aware of
how professional limits shape the kind of knowledge we produce.
Go check them both out and decide for yourself.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-96/
Fri, 25 Jul 2014 11:57:19 +0000
I know its been a while, but after a little summer hiatus, I think I'll start up my Friday Quick
Hits and Varia again. There has been a good bit of interesting stuff this summer on the
interwebs and I’ll do what I can to sort through my backlog and pass on the greatest hits.
• It’s worth a few minutes to surf through this year’s posts on
(http://underthemediterraneansun.blogspot.com/) Rangar Cline’s Under the Mediterranean
Sun.
• Congratulations to (http://underthemediterraneansun.blogspot.com/) Jon Frey for receiving
an NEH Digital Implementation Grant for their work to produce an online workspace for the
study of archaeological notebooks.
• Adam Rabinowitz writes about reading Herodotus spatially on Hestia:
(http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118747/ivy-league-schools-are-overrated-send-yourkids-elsewhere) Part 1, (http://hestia.open.ac.uk/reading-herodotus-spatially-in-theundergraduate-classroom-part-ii/) Part 2, (http://hestia.open.ac.uk/reading-herodotusspatially-in-an-undergraduate-classroom-part-iii/) Part 3.
• (http://sebastianheath.com/unidentified-roman-emperors/sculpture.html) Sebastian Heath
is using structure-from-motion 3D images of Roman Emperors in his Roman archaeology
course.
• (http://metamorphoses.classified-comic.com/) Ovid’s Metamorphoses as a web-serial
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• Along similar lines:
(https://www.academia.edu/7543739/Isocrates_Against_the_Sophists_A_Comic)
Isocrates, Against the Sophists adapted to 21st century academia.
• (https://soundcloud.com/drunkarchaeology/episode1) Drunk Archaeology and
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/24/archaeology-punk-and-drunk/)
my response.
• (http://www.paulmworley.com/disciplinarity/dh-questions-getting-hit-by-the-proverbialbus/) Digital Humanities, innovation, and sustainability.
• (http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118747/ivy-league-schools-are-overrated-sendyour-kids-elsewhere) I guess Ivy League schools are overrated.
• (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/shipping-containerapartment-being-erected-in-washington-this-week/2014/07/20/50adbd04-0e01-11e4b8e5-d0de80767fc2_story.html?tid=sm_fb) Shipping containers as apartments. This is
depressing.
• (http://chronicle.com/article/Top-10-Books-on-Teaching/147015/) Ten books on
teaching.
• What I’m reading: S. Foote and E. Mazzolini, (https://www.worldcat.org/title/histories-ofthe-dustheap-waste-material-cultures-social-justice/oclc/813844876) Histories on the
Dustheap. 2012.
• What I’m listening to: Amen Dunes, Love.
title="IMG_1778.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/img_1778.jpg" alt="IMG
1778" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Punk Archaeology, Digital Humanities, and DIY
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/28/punk-archaeology-digitalhumanities-and-diy/
Mon, 28 Jul 2014 14:07:52 +0000
A few weeks back my buddy(http://www.paulmworley.com/disciplinarity/dh-questionsgetting-hit-by-the-proverbial-bus/) Paul Worley penned an interesting blog post on digital
humanities and “getting hit by the proverbial bus.” The post talked about the ripple effect of
(http://joeljonientz.com/) Joel Jonientz’s death in our little digital humanities community on
campus. For the University of North Dakota, the digital humanities was an explicitly
collaborative affair with almost all of the successful project from the Working Group in
Digital and New Media involving more than one member. It seems like Joel was central to
most of these projects as much for his willingness to learn a new skill (or fake it) as his
interest in what another member of the Working Group called “O.P.P.” (other people’s
projects).
One of the consequences of Joel’s passing is that many of us have had to pick up where he
left off and actually try to learn new tools to complete our projects. The good Dr. Worley
learned to animate using Photoshop, Dr. Ommen deployed his raw, but vivid illustrating
skills to finish his adaption of
(https://www.academia.edu/7543739/Isocrates_Against_the_Sophists_A_Comic)
Isocrates’ Against the Sophists, and I rolled up my sleeves and immersed myself in the
intricacies of Adobe’s InDesign to keep
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/the-digital-press/) The Digital Press
at the University of North Dakota afloat. It is appropriate that the first book that I worked on
is (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/punk-archaeology/) an edited
collection of essays on Punk Archaeology where the DIY ethic thrives and compromised
production values represent an aesthetic choice as much as a practical reality.


 

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As Paul noted, dynamic, collaborative Digital Humanities projects should always be
somewhat fragile as DIY skills pass from one collaborator to the next and projects transform
in changing contexts. The significance and potential of collaboration will always extend
beyond specific outcomes - e.g. a book or a successful grant proposal - and the value of
catalytic individuals like Joel and spaces for collaboration like the Working Group, is in the
transfer of specialized skills from one member of the collaboration to the next. From the
university’s perspective, this transfer of skills provides stability and continuity for (sometimes
well-funded) initiatives. From an individual faculty perspective, however, the fuzzy outcomes
of digital humanities initiatives which often come in the form of skills rather than products,
can be difficult to articulate, for example, within traditional tenure and promotion guidelines.
To some, this tension is terrifying and represents the contradiction between the goals of the
university as a community and the expectations placed on its individual members.
That being said, the task of taking new skills and using them is pretty scary too.


 

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Trash, Pollution, and the Rural World
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/29/trash-pollution-and-the-rural-world/
Tue, 29 Jul 2014 12:50:36 +0000
I have really enjoyed getting back into some scholarly habits the past couple weeks. I have
even engaged in this primitive activity where I open a bound stack of paper and read the
words, in order, written on each. I’ve heard that some scholars call it reading.
I was pretty excited to read some of the contributions to the Stephanie Foote’s and
Elizabeth Mazzolini’s little volume called (http://www.worldcat.org/title/histories-of-thedustheap-waste-material-cultures-social-justice/oclc/813844876) Histories of the
Dustheap: Waste, Material Culture, Social Justice (MIT 2012). The book collects a series of
articles on the history of trash, waste, and rubbish, and grounds them, to varying degrees, in
the cross-disciplinary nexus of material culture studies and critical theory. The book,
however, avoids being too theory laden and manages to speak to practical issues as much
as conceptual ones. This practical edge reflects a particular strength of recent work on the
history of trash and discard.
The article that caught my attention most in the volume was Phaedra Pezullo’s “What Gets
Buried in a Small Town: Toxic E-Waste and Democratic Frictions in the Crossroads of the
United States.” She looks at the politics surrounding the discard of PCB in Bloomington,
Indiana and locates her treatment in a larger consideration of rurality and pollution in
American (although arguably also in global) history. Marginal places, like the rural west (e.g.
North Dakota or Alamogordo, New Mexico) become the settings for morally ambiguous
practices. It is hardly a leap to apply many of these paper to my recent research
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/work-camps/) in the Bakken Oil
Patch in sparsely populated western North Dakota or
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/atari-excavation/) role in excavating
Atari games from a landfill at the edge of a small town in New Mexico.


 

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In fact, the long Western tradition of sparsely populated, “wild” places as the source of
various kinds of corrupting influences (from the so-called Germanic hordes who supposedly
destroyed the Roman world to the uncivilized “wildlings” in the Game of Thrones) has
provided a context for activities that would be far more problematic in the more densely built
up core. The willingness to treat the periphery in a different way also captures the binary
logic of Western colonialism where behaviors and attitudes unacceptable in the core meet
with ambivalence in colonial places.
This process of internal colonization follows the rough and irregular edge of a rural-urban
divide across the United States. Pollution caused by extractive industries in, say,
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/work-camps/) the Bakken Oil Patch
in western North Dakota, is simply the “price of progress” for residents of the core and for
small communities who see sacrifice as a road to deeper integration with the core and
access to economic and political power. In Pezullo’s study of Bloomington, Indiana, the
social, economic, and political power of companies like Westinghouse helped to protect the
use of PCBs in manufacturing in Indiana even as the risks became visible and known to the
community. The absence of strong counterweights to wealthy and powerful corporate
interests pervades the Bakken as well.
Pezullo’s observations on pollution in rural America could likewise be applied to the
dumping of thousands of unsold and returned
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/atari-excavation/) Atari video games
in a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico. This moment in time reflects the “remoteness” of
Almagordo from the prying eyes of shareholders. The presence of White Sands missile
range nearby only reinforces the suitability for this sparsely populated stretch of rural land
for activities set apart from the settlements and interests of most Americans.
The next paper in the book looked at the discard and collection of trash on the slopes of Mt.
Everest. Further chapters considered the pollution present in minority neighborhoods
impacted by hurricane Katerina in New Orleans. Most of the papers considers the social
construction of discard practices and pollution as mediated through varying degrees of
economic and political remoteness. For anyone interested in grasping better how trash fits

 

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into our modern (and arguably premodern) world, the studies contained in this volume are
valuable reads.


 

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Archaeology and Craft in the 21st Century
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/archaeology-and-craft-in-the-21stcentury/
Wed, 30 Jul 2014 13:51:29 +0000
It feels very odd to say that a conversation on Twitter spurred me to think a bit more about
archaeology as craft. Yesterday a group of archaeologists, mainly in the U.K., and
(https://twitter.com/clmorgan/status/494147041254440961) seemingly spurred by
Colleen Morgan who began a discussion on the decline of the craft of excavation spurred in
part by a rereading of (http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/ant/063/Ant0630275.htm) C. Tilley’s
well-known article on archaeology as theater. Tilley speaks out against the growing (in
1989) fixation with gathering information in archaeology that privileges excavation
(particularly salvage excavations) and manifests itself in the dreadfully scientific site report.
The published reports in excavation tend to reduce the complexity of excavations and
conform to what Tilley sees as a kind of “strident professionalism” that limits access to
meaningful readings of the past. Nowhere is this more evident, at least for Tilley, than in the
practice of excavation focused solely on a research question articulated by an
archaeologist. Instead, Tilley suggests that archaeologists should entertain the possibility of
less scientific excavation to open the process to the voices and hands of the community as
a way to generate a truly multi-vocal articulation of the past.
(http://archaeobookclub.wordpress.com/2014/07/29/tilley-1989-excavation-as-theatre/)
Here’s a link to Sarah May’s take on the article.
Tilley’s argument is short, dense, and not entirely convincing, at least in the 21st century. He
does, however, identify some of the key problems with scientific excavation characteristic of
disciplinary archaeology. The disciplinary tendency to expect (or at least to present) linear
progress from data collection to final publication embeds professional archaeological
knowledge within a tradition of industrial production that is one with the basic structure of
the modern American university. This is the point of departure for many of my observations


 

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on archaeology as craft.
At the same time that I was eavesdropping on this Twitter conversation and reacquainting
myself with Tilley’s article, I was also reading a pre-publication draft of an article by Sara
Perry. I won’t spoil the fun before its 2014 publication, but the title is “Crafting Knowledge
with (Digital) Visual Media in Archaeology.” Set aside Collen Morgan’s work, it has
reminded me that there are compelling efforts to bridge the gap between digital tools and
craft practice. ((https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/not-a-goodpaper-the-art-of-digital-archaeology/) My efforts were NOT compelling in any way.)
Anyway, these conversations have spurred me to make three observation.
1. Slow. As with everything on this blog, I can’t help but make this conversation about my
own work (although (https://twitter.com/electricarchaeo/status/494163025058734080)
Shawn Graham who brought me into the Twitter conversation indulged me as well). My
interest in Slow Archaeology has less to do with the pace of archaeological work (either
excavation or survey) and more to do with creating an alternative to the kind of methoddriven, industrial practices that have emerged as a component of disciplinary archaeology. If
methodology promotes a transparent and - as much as possible - linear relationship
between field procedures, analysis, and interpretation, then Slow Archaeology advocation
complicating this process. Tilley offers one way to complicate the mechanical (if not
mechanistic), method driven disciplinary archaeology by making room for practitioners to
think about archaeological work outside of atomistic data recovery guided by hypothesis
testing.
Survey archaeology is particularly suitable to this kind of practice because it is largely nondestructive. Walking across a landscape without a notebook or a camera might seem like
an effete indulgence of 21st century Western intellectuals or even a lingering expression of
colonial dominance (and these critiques are consistent with views of the Slow movement
more generally). On the other hand, this practice would promote - even just for a time - a
less-structured engagement with the archaeological landscape.


 

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2. Embodied Knowledge. Sara Perry’s article reminded me to read
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/body-of-the-artisan-art-and-experience-in-the-scientificrevolution/oclc/52381123) Pamela Smith’s The Body of the Artisan (Chicago 2004). It has
been on my “to read” list for about three years, but I think that I need to move toward a more
sophisticated understanding of the role the body plays in knowledge production. I was
particularly interested this summer in the posture of our team leaders and field walkers.
Team leaders consistently presented hunched shoulders over a form on the clipboard and
field walkers carry an inclined head toward the ground scanning a narrow swath of the
surface to either side of the path.
title="P1070932.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1070932.jpg"
alt="P1070932" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
To me, this posture makes clear the shift away from viewing the landscape as a unified
space and toward a view of the archaeological universe that privileges distinct bits of data,
recorded diligently, and the projected on computer generated maps for analysis. Over the
course of our field season on the Western Argolid Regional Project, I encouraged team
leaders and students to tilt their heads up from time to time to take in the larger landscape,
but the pressures of covering as much ground as possible and documenting the presence
of individual sherds on the surface of the ground.
We can contrast that with, for example, the posture that archaeologists have when
illustrating a feature. In the photo below, we can see how our two archaeologists are literally
part of the object they are illustrating (an Ottoman bridge). Their posture and position
(although not necessary when they’re smiling for the camera!) reflects a different
engagement with the archaeological object.
title="P1080331.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/p1080331.jpg"
alt="P1080331" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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3. Craft and Archaeology in the 21st Century. All of this thinking about craft and
archaeology (and a small, but compelling body of recent scholarship) has me thinking that I
should run another series of guest blog posts on the topic. That our conversations have
begun in Twitter is perfect for this kind of digitally mediated conversation. My growing
experience moving text from the blog to more traditional paginated medium (see two soon
to appear books based on the (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/punkarchaeology/) Punk Archaeology blog (and conference) and the series of posts on
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/3d-modeling-in-mediterranean-archaeology/)
3D Modeling Mediterranean Archaeology) is itself a manifestation of craft practice and
becoming familiar with the tools and technologies required to move documents through the
process of publication.
So, here’s a draft proposal:
Archaeologists have become increasingly interested in the intersection between the
growing number of new digital tools, methodologies, and field procedures, and the
longstanding traditions of archaeological expertise and practice. This interest reflects both
optimism for a more highly visible, transparent, and democratic archaeology, but also a
concern for the skills and knowledge that will be lost as archaeology fully embraces its
place as a (post)industrial discipline. This conversation is not distinct to archaeology, of
course, with scholars across the humanities and social sciences reflecting on the potential
of “craft” as a meaningful and familiar way to articulate what we may be losing.
Who would be interested in contributing to this kind of forum? I volunteer my blog to host it
and The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota to push out a quick publication.


 

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Ghosts Towns, Process, and Product on the World Wide Web
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/31/ghosts-towns-process-andproduct-on-the-world-wide-web/
Thu, 31 Jul 2014 13:09:25 +0000
I had originally intended to write about the local humanities this morning, but I was
distracted by an interesting little discussion on the internet. A local author, Troy Larson, took
issues with a website produced for a class offered by Tom Isern, a historian at North Dakota
State University. Tom had designed the class, as far as I can recall, to produce a catalogue
of North Dakota “Ghost Towns”. Troy Larson is the local expert on North Dakota Ghost
Towns and has published a couple of coffee table books on the subject and maintains
(http://ghostsofnd.com/) a remarkable blog called Ghosts of North Dakota. By all means,
(http://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-North-Dakota-Troy-Larsonebook/dp/B00CC40R3W/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1406808344&a
mp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=ghosts+of+north+dakota) go and buy his book and surf his
blog. They’re both pretty cool things.
Update: (http://sonictremormedia.com/put-it-in-your-own-words/) Troy has responded to
my post here, and, better still, included a link to his (http://sonictremormedia.com/its-abouttime/) original thoughts on the issue here with screen shots.
The website prepared for Tom’s class had a list of ghost towns on it with a series of links to
Troy’s blog. From what I gathered, these links were designed to get students started on
Tom’s larger ghost town project. In general, Troy has dedicated his blog to photographs
with very short historical sketches of the towns with
(http://www.archives.gov/research/census/) a bit of census information and
(http://www.webfamilytree.com/North_Dakota_Place_Names/index.htm) some notes about
local postal service. Most of this information is
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_North_Dakota) available in one way or another
on the internet. In many cases former and even current residents of these towns make

 

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comments on Troy’s blog. In short, Troy’s blog is one of the best points of departure for
research on small places in North Dakota.
The kerfuffle began when Tom’s class page pointed to Troy’s blog as a point of departure
for student research on ghost towns. Apparently, the goal of Tom’s class was to produce a
book or part of a book on abandoned places in North Dakota. From what I understand that
goal has not been achieved yet so there is no final product. The internet, as this blog is
ample evidence for, provides access to process, however, and Troy objected to the process
that Tom’s class was using to start their research. And then this all hit Facebook and got
pretty exciting for a couple of days.
This is an interesting problem on two levels. First, it demonstrates two fundamentally
different ways of viewing information made available on the web. Troy naturally feels
protective of the work he has invested into an impressive resource that he generously made
available on the web. I can’t really say for sure what Tom’s motives are, but I suspect they
were similar to mine when I created an index to my History 101 class that consisted entirely
of links to Wikipedia. If a resource is available on the web, I feel pretty comfortable
deploying it for whatever schemes or goals I have in mind. (Tom is a sometime reader of this
blog and is known to have a wry smile about many things in life, so maybe he’ll post a
comment).
In fact, much of my academic career has been dedicated to creating resources that I hope
other people will do more with than I have. For example, I included a catalogue of over 200
churches in
(https://etd.ohiolink.edu/ap/10?0::NO:10:P10_ACCESSION_NUM:osu1057071172) my
dissertation, and it is available for free for download via Ohio State’s library catalogue. I fully
(and optimistically) expected someone to use my catalogue to produce their own studies of
Early Christian basilicas in Greece. In fact, I think the enduring value to my work is probably
not the analysis (which will always represent strains of thinking grounded in a particular time
and place), but the catalogue, which will hopefully represent a resource for the next
generation of scholars. David Pettegrew and I have made available a photographic
catalogue of houses at the site of (http://mediterraneanworld.und.edu/collections/show/4)

 

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Lakka Skoutara in the southeastern Corinthia and
(http://opencontext.org/projects/3F6DCD13-A476-488E-ED10-47D25513FCB2) our
data from our work at Pyla-Koutsopetria on Cyprus.
From what I understand, and please Troy correct me here, is that Troy objects to his project
being used as a sources of data for another similar project. Since the internet provides a
kind of transparency of process, he was able to see how another group was using his
“data” and object prior to the appearance of a final product that may or may not compete
with his work.
Much of the debate on Facebook centered around matters of etiquette. Troy was
particularly put out that Tom did not ask for permission to use his content as a point of
departure for his class. I’ve had a few scholars ask for permission to use my dissertation
catalogue, but this is hardly necessary.
Perhaps a better point of comparison is that I ask people who read and cite my working
papers to ask permission by including in bold across every page: “Do Not Cite Without
Author’s Permission.” This is largely because most working papers get updated regularly
and a more current copy of a paper might exist or the paper gets published and a more
stable citation exists for the same content. I suppose Troy could ask people who want to
use his content or link to his page to ask permission, but I am not sure that this would do
anything but limit the reach and audience of his work.
The debate is still simmering on Facebook as I write this post and with any luck Troy and
Tom will comment here to clarify their positions. What interests me the most is seeing how
the relative transparency of the internet has created new social expectations. I think back to
my largely pre-internet graduate school days where certain resources like
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/later-roman-empire-284-602-a-social-economic-andadministrative-survey/oclc/792013) A.H.M. Jones’ Later Roman Empire (1964) or
(http://www.wutang-corp.com/artists/wu-artist.php?id=7) well-acronymed
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/oxford-dictionary-of-byzantium/oclc/22733550) Oxford
Dictionary of Byzantium served as guides for many issues in the Late Antique world. Neither

 

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Jones nor Khazdan could know, of course, if we were using their work and its hard to avoid
the idea that many recent books and encyclopedias on these topics used the exhaustive
efforts of Jones and Khazdan as a guide. I wonder whether Troy would have felt different
had Tom used a paper syllabus and assigned copies of Troy’s books as a guide for his
class? Would Troy have ever even known?
I also wonder whether the relatively small and tight nit community of scholars interested in
North Dakota also played a part in how this particular controversy took place? It seems like
Troy was particularly offended that Tom didn’t ask or contact him before linking liberally to
his blog. The courtesies, much like waving on a lonely rural road in North Dakota, are the
kind of thing that happens regularly in small communities where people know one another
and both Tom and Troy live in Fargo. I wonder whether Troy would have felt the same way if
Tom was a professor at, say, the University of Texas or University of Queensland in
Australia?
Finally, it is interesting that some of the rhetoric (and I’ll ask Troy to clarify this, if he thinks
I’m mischaracterizing him in any way) is grounded in the difference in how academics and
non-academics see resources made available on the web. As we academics explore small,
privately produced collections on the web (many of which are curated by antiquarians like
Troy), we will have to think more carefully about how we use these resources both to
respect the significant investment of time and energy that they involved and to transfer their
value effectively to an academic context.
I’m reluctant to see either Troy or Tom in the wrong here, but this little controversy (by the
standards of the internet) reminds us how far we are from understanding how this media
works even after in the 25th year of the World Wide Web Era.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/01/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-97/
Fri, 01 Aug 2014 12:33:20 +0000
One month into my sabbatical, I find it is slowly slipping away without much of anything
happening. For some reason I assumed that having a year free from teaching would instantly
produce an unprecedented outburst of productivity. So far, it’s mostly produced anxiety
about my lack of productivity. Only ten more months left, so pressure’s on.
Before I go on with my typical list of gewgaws and links, I do want to direct some attention
to a benefit event being held to help out my youngest brother. He’s the creative one in the
family and he’s fallen on some tough times. Over the past decade,
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/for-a-brief-musical-interlude/)
Fritz has worked to coordinate charity events and benefits in the Ft. Myers area. Now, some
of his friends are putting together
(https://www.facebook.com/events/882475268448677/) a benefit concert to help with his
mounting medical bills. That’s right, (http://www.gofundme.com/cec5t4) we have Fritz Aid.
Let’s do this.
While I fret about all the things that need to happen today, you should take this opportunity
to relax and enjoy some quick hits and varia.
• (http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/about/position#CORINTH%20MUSEUM
INTERNSHIP) There’s a paid internship position at the Corinth Museum that looks pretty fly.
• (http://www.citylab.com/politics/2014/07/explaining-the-pull-of-the-worlds-unrulyplaces/375008/) The draw and significance of unruly places.


 

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• (http://www.livescience.com/47026-origins-world-trade-center-ship.html) The ship under
the World Trade Center.
• (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/31/greek-court-acquits-farmers-shotstrawberry-pickers) The story of the Greek farmers who shot at their Bangladeshi guest
workers is truly disturbing, although (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre) I
recognize that any censure from Americans will ring particularly hollow.
• (http://gizmodo.com/how-to-scan-50-miles-of-historical-documents-into-an-on1609143001) New ways to scan massive quantities of historical documents.
• I’m fascinated by exotica and nothing was more exotic than the Kahiki Restaurant in
Columbus, Ohio. (http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/tiki-hangover/) Here’s
something on the exotic dining in the
U.S.(http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2010/08/25/10-years-after-torchesgo-out-kahiki-memories-live.html) Here is something on the sad last days of the Kahiki.
These stories are best read while listening to (http://exoticaproject.com/) a selection music
from the Exotica Project.
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/19/us/a-classroom-leaves-the-syllabus-to-thestudents.html) I love these unstructured learning environments. I wish I understood better
how to get students to take such ownership of their education.
• (https://medium.com/message/lets-fly-d566ecd35678) How to survive travel. I wish I had
this before my summer trips.
• Some things just sound cooler when spoken by a legendary South African cricket player:
“(http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/quote/765681.html) I am currently on the
bush with Bouchy, looking after rhinos.”


 

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• (http://www.mandatory.com/office-meeting-quote-generator/) For your next endless
meeting…
• What I’m reading: E. Kohn, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/how-forests-think-toward-ananthropology-beyond-the-human/oclc/827528818) How Forests Think: Toward an
Anthropology of beyond the Human. (2013).
• What I’m listening to: Black Keys, Turn Blue; A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Sea When
Absent.
title="IMG_1807.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/img_18071.jpg" alt="IMG
1807" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
The Mighty Milo in Repose
Blurred for Effect.


 

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A Proposed Blog Series: Archaeology and Craft
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/04/a-proposed-blog-seriesarchaeology-and-craft/
Mon, 04 Aug 2014 11:55:49 +0000
Over the past few years there has been a renewed interest in the role of craft in
archaeological practice. The locus classicus of this discussion is the influential, if not
unproblematic, article by (http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/282303) Michael Shanks
and Randall Maguire in the 1996 volume of American Antiquity. This article, however,
focused more on the role of craft in archaeological epistemology and less on the practical
aspects of a craft approach. The growth of methodology as a substantial discourse in the
discipline and the transformative impact of new digital technologies have provided particular
challenges to the less standardized practices that have traditionally formed the basis
foundations of archaeological knowledge.
At the same time, a more systematic and methodological approaches to archaeological
knowledge have undoubtedly benefited the field and the discipline. In fact, the development
of a archaeological methods grounded in standardized practice has characterized the
belated professionalization of the discipline with all the attendant social benefits of this
process. The growing interest in craft and the abiding confidence in archaeological method,
then, represent two countervailing, if not mutually exclusive, trends in archaeological
practice.
A conversation last week over Twitter and across several blogs stimulated me to think a bit
more systematically about the intersection of craft and archaeology.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/archaeology-and-craft-in-the-21stcentury/) I posted on it here and hope that others might consider continuing the
conversation.


 

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From my perspective there are three significant issues involving craft in archaeology (but I’m
sure there are more!):
1. Craft in the Field. How and where do craft approaches exist in archaeological practice
and how have recent trends in archaeological methodology limited the influence of
traditional craft approaches to field practice (for better or for worse). In craft, the master
craftsman has intellectual and bodily control over the entire productive process. How do we
reconcile craft modes of archaeological production with those grounded in more industrial
modes?
2. Craft in the Discipline. While the modes of knowledge production associated with craft
have sometimes taken on a nostalgic glow in recent years, they can also carry forward a set
of deeply conservative attitudes regarding access to the field (both literally and figuratively)
and the authority to produce archaeological knowledge. In many cases, the authority within
a system of craft derives from vaguely defined notions of “expertise” and “experience”
which while important in archaeological work, tend to reinforce hierarchical social
arrangement and privilege certain groups who have had traditional access to field work
opportunities, material, and the previous generation of archaeological masters (e.g. old,
white, men). In contrast, in professional archaeological knowledge is a product of rigorous
adherence to modern, industrial, field practices (often mediated by technology) which could
be acquired through the study of published work on methodology. This had the advantage
of opening of the discipline to a wider group of practitioners by undermining field practices
that reproduced traditional social hierarchies. Do appeals to archaeology as craft present
real risks for archaeology as a discipline?
3. Craft and Technology. In recent years, it appears that archaeology’s increasing
engagement with technology would bring about a revolution in field and publication
practices. With more data collected in more sophisticated way and at a faster rate,
technological changes has accelerated the slow process of field documentation. This has
ensure that we have more information from our time in the field, and less time for the
deliberate and contemplative aspects of the archaeologist craft. I realize that juxtaposing
craft with practices mediate by technology is not entirely fair or accurate; at the same time, I

 

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can think of few technologies used regularly in archaeological work that explicitly reinforce
the kind of haptic, embodied knowledge of traditional archaeological experience. Does
archaeology used technology in such a way to marginalize opportunities for engagements
grounded in craft?
These issues are meant as points of departure rather than limits on what we can consider in
this series of posts, and they are meant to be a bit polemic to stimulate reflection on the role
of craft in the discipline. I’d welcome contributions that go beyond these rather simple
proposition or reject them completely. (For some of my own reflections on archaeology,
history, and craft (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/craft/) go here.)
Over the next few months, we hope to present a series of contributions on the issue of craft
in current archaeological practice. The contributions will appear weekly either on my blog
here, or, if we can arrange it, on (http://arf.berkeley.edu/then-dig/) Then Dig. Once we have
an assemblage of contributions, I am willing to edit and publish them in an ebook and paper.
Better still,, I'm open to co-editors or even guest editors to help with the practical and
intellectual aspects of the editorial process. I’m currently finishing up editorial duties on
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/3d-modeling-in-mediterranean-archaeology/)
last years’ 3D Thursday contributions and they will, with any luck, appear early this fall.
As for the mechanics of contributions, I’m willing to be the contact person for now, so
please drop me an email at billcaraher [at] gmail [dot] com or leave a comment on this post.
I don’t see any need to impose word limits on contributions and longer post can be broken
across several weeks if that would work better. I’m happy to post images as well, and
having necessary permissions and publication quality images (e.g. 600 dpi or better) will
facilitate the final editing process for publication.


 

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Excavating my Office
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/05/excavating-my-office/
Tue, 05 Aug 2014 13:26:25 +0000
I know it’s a bit hackneyed now for archaeologists to document the material culture of their
office, but I cleaned my office yesterday for the first time in about five years.
I won’t say anything profound or amazing, but I was shocked by the quantity of residual stuff
floating around my office.
title="IMG_1815.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/img_1815.jpg" alt="IMG
1815" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="IMG_1816.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/img_1816.jpg" alt="IMG
1816" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="IMG_1819.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/img_1819.jpg" alt="IMG
1819" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
For example, I found a ticket stub for a Son Seals’ concert at Little Brother’s in Columbus,
Ohio in 1997.
title="IMG_1817.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/img_1817.jpg" alt="IMG
1817" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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I found some Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh CDs.
title="IMG_1818.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/img_1818.jpg" alt="IMG
1818" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
And some photographs and old pictures that my wife sent with me to Athens when I was at
the American School of Classical Studies in 2007-8.
title="IMG_1820.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/img_18201.jpg" alt="IMG
1820" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
I’ll admit to being a bit of a packrat and keeping stuff rather than discarding it (note the
stacks of paper articles on my big table in the first photograph). The persistence of such
flotsam in my office assemblage made me think about how even in a world characterized by
digital archiving and remarkable abundance we still find objects hanging around in
perishable forms for decades.


 

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Connectivity on Cyprus and Corinth
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/connectivity-on-cyprus-andcorinth/
Wed, 06 Aug 2014 20:09:41 +0000
David Pettegrew and I are working up a paper for a volume on connectivity in the ancient
Mediterranean. Connectivity has been a buzz word in Mediterranean archaeology since
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/corrupting-sea-a-study-of-mediterraneanhistory/oclc/42692026) Horden and Purcell’s The Corrupting Sea used it to describe the
regular pattern of small-scale connections between microregions. These microregions
depend upon connectivity for political and social stability and economic subsistence.
Our original plan was to compare the artifact assemblages at our two research sites on
Cyprus: Polis-Chrysochous and Pyla-Koutsopetria and show how these two sites engaged
the broader Mediterranean world in a different ways. They not only showed links to different
regional networks of exchange, but also showed different kinds of relationships to these
networks. Polis, for example, was a small city and Koutsopetria seems to have been a
regional emporium directed toward the export of agricultural goods.
After mulling this paper over for a few weeks (and missing some deadlines and conjuring
enthusiasm for various arguments), we decided to take a shot at making a very generous
deadline extension and turn the paper in a different direction. (http://corinthianmatters.com/)
David is almost finished his book on the history of the Corinthian Isthmus based heavily on
the work of the Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey (EKAS) and we have also recently
submitted our completed manuscript documenting our
(http://opencontext.org/projects/3F6DCD13-A476-488E-ED10-47D25513FCB2)
intensive survey at Pyla-Koutsopetria. So it occurred to us that we might productively
compare the results from these two survey projects as they share methods and sampling
strategies.


 

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More than that, the assemblages produced by comparable methods have certain clear
similarities. Both study areas produced an abundance of Late Romam material particular
easily-identified Late Roman amphoras. In the case of Koutsopetria, these are largely Late
Roman type 1 amphora. In the Corinthia, the survey area produced a substantial quantity of
Late Roman type 2 amphoras. While neither amphora was produced locally, both are
regional types and LR1 kilns are known on Cyprus and there are LR2 kilns in the Southern
Argolid. Both of these amphora types have been associated with forms of administrative
trade in the Late Roman world, and provisioning the army on the borders of the empire in
particular.
Connectivity has tended to focus on the small-scale trade between interdependent
microregions rather than the larger-scale, administrative trade. In fact, considering the role
of this larger-scale trade in our notions of connectivity marks a return to older notions of
trade in the Late Roman world which saw economic activity largely stimulated by the
requirements of supplying the capital and the armies. The Corinthian Isthmus featured both
imperially funded construction in the Hexamilion wall and, at least in the 6th century, a
garrison of troops at fortress at Isthmia. The appearance of LR2 amphora in this context
suggests the movement of goods into the area most likely to provision the garrison and to
supply construction crews associated with the Hexamilion wall renovations in the 6th
century.
At Koutsopetria, the abundance of LR1 is perhaps tied to the need to supply the army in the
Balkans. The site may have served as a transshipment point for agricultural produce leaving
Cyprus through the small embayment there. The numerous fragments of amphora there
makes it unlikely that they represent goods coming into a small community, but more likely
represented exports. The uniformity of the amphora types also suggests that goods are
flowing out from the site in a systematic way.
The advantage of comparing these two study areas is to present a useful counterpoint to
the common view of connectivity that emphasizes links between microregions. Our paper
will return to a view of the Mediterranean that considers the links between small places and
the center while at the same time attempting to understand how these connections

 

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influence their relationships to other small places in their regions.


 

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Teaching Thursday: Gyrocopter Professors
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/07/teaching-thursday-gyrocopterprofessors/
Thu, 07 Aug 2014 13:31:47 +0000
This past week, (http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2014/08/05/the-rise-of-thehelicopter-teacher/) Steve Conn penned a column over at the Chronicle of Higher
Education site the describes the rise of the “helicopter teacher”. This is a nice phrase, and
all, but it sounds cooler if you call them the gyrocopter professor. To Conn this term
describes the rise of a group of faculty members who feel compelled to endlessly explain
every aspect of their course to students and to hold their hand as they achieve each
increasingly level of proficiency. Conn argues that these tendencies have emerged at the
intersection of a number of trends in our education system: our growing concern for student
self-esteem as well as our reluctance to allow students to fail; limited face-to-face
interaction with our students, and an increasing dependence on digital mediation to make
up for it; and, no list of ills would be complete without No Child Left Behind. The result is
that students expect more and more handholding, more and more detailed explanations for
even the most simple assignments, and more and more explicit instructions on how to
engage material.
Having just read a series of course reviews of
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/broaching-byzantium/) my Fall
2013 Byzantine History class, I found myself immediately in sympathy with Conn’s
observations. The most consistent critiques of this course was that I didn’t use something
called “The Powerpoint” and I did not circulate questions with my weekly primary source
readings so students were not sure what the point of the readings were. (Of course, they
also complained that they wanted “(http://www.hulu.com/watch/536145) more culture”
somehow overlooking the fact that the primary source readings were one of the main ways
we explored the contours of Byzantine culture.) The requests that my students made, of
course, weren’t unreasonable and are more or less consistent with their experience in many

 

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other classes. I still found the comments disheartening. I don’t use The Powerpoint because
I want students to pay attention to what I’m saying during my lectures rather than slavishly
copying down notes from a Powerpoint slide. I don’t circulate study questions before they
read the primary sources because students tend to become mesmerized by these questions
and find it difficult to think beyond them during our discussions. I hope, perhaps naively, that
students will be curious enough about my lectures and the readings to find their own ways
through the material, and I design my classes to reward unique and unexpected
engagements with the content.
I feel like I can add three observations to Conn’s comments.
First, I suspect that the rise of the gyrocopter professor is also tied to the rise of “audit
culture” (also known as the assessocracy). The insistence from both other faculty members
and the administration that every cognitive move in the class be assessable and evaluated in
relation to a strictly articulated set of course goals. For many administrators, this relates
directly to accountability. Faculty have to be accountable for what they are teaching and the
outcomes have to be trackable. As a result, we simplify the learning process into easily
assessed goals (e.g. “Ability to read and know the meanings of really big words” or “Ability
to clearly articulate a thesis statement”). These goals are then articulated in the syllabus and
invoked whenever a task associated with these learning goals happens in class or on an
assignment. This transparency of learning objectives is commendable to many, but our
students will often see these goals as the ONLY objective of the course. As a result (and
using a great phrase bandied about on the Twittersphere), students drift into becoming
“incurious grade drones” especially as the pressures of the semester mount.
The other aspect of the gyrocopter professor is the slow and steady adaptation of the
humanities to an industrial mode of learning. In craft practice, the master is deeply involved
in all aspects of production from the arrival of raw materials to the final product. In industrial
practice, the creation of the final product is broken into smaller and smaller tasks and each
task receives detailed attention to improve efficiency. From the late 19th century, the
American university system has seen the rising influence of industrial models for learning.
Complex topics such as “ethical behavior,” “the past,” or “literature” are broken down into

 

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smaller and small tasks over a more and more structured curriculum. Each learning task
becomes the subject of audit culture to improve efficiency.
Finally, one observation that got lost in all of this is that it is really difficult to keep your
students engaged in classes that don’t lay out every expectation in great detail. Faculty and
students have to share a significant amount of trust for learning in an unstructured way to
take place over the course of the semester. Building that trust is a difficult, time consuming,
and humbling task. For the average faculty member pressured by research and service
obligations, it is hard to find the time and energy to build these bonds of trust. Students, of
course, are in the same boat. Pressures of work, life, and other classes make it hard for
them to slow down and get to understand the mutual expectations required for learning. In
the place of this painful and protracted process of trust building, we produce little rubrics
and state learning goals and lead our students by the hand through the wilds of learning
hoping that somewhere along the line they move beyond being “incurious grade drones,”
and we can end our daily gyrocopter flights.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/08/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-98/
Fri, 08 Aug 2014 11:46:20 +0000
A week into the frog days of summer brings a sense of serenity. It stays light until around 9
pm and the leaves on the trees give morning a smooth calm light. I only wish I was being
more productive. I guess that’ll come with time.
I was happy to see that our long awaited piece on the Atari Excavation appeared yesterday
on The Atlantic’s website. It’s pretty fun and unlike some of the other media coverage of the
dig, its in our own words! (http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/whywe-dug-atari/375702/) Check it out here.
Once you’re done with that, feel free to enjoy this nice little gaggle of quick hits and varia:
• (http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/news/newsDetails/good-luck-for-the-eutychiamosaic) They are conserving the Eutuchia mosaic at Corinth.

(http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/lessons_learn
ed_reflecting.html) If you really like mosaic conservation, check out these papers.
• (http://kylecassidy.livejournal.com/792706.html) Check out Kyle Cassidy’s view of the
search for the lost mummy!
• (http://kourelis.blogspot.com/2014/08/craft-highlow-brow-conspiracy.html) Kostis
Kourelis on craft.
• (http://imperium.ahlfeldt.se/) A digital atlas of the Roman world powered by Google Maps.


 

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• (http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20140626-turkeys-religious-ghost-town/1) An
abandoned Greek village in Turkey.
• (http://www.1914.org/news/siegfried-sassoons-war-diaries-go-online-for-first-time/)
Siefried Sasson’s war diaries.
• (http://www.openculture.com/2013/11/fly-through-17th-century-london.html) Fly through
17th century London.
• (http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/07/tower-of-london-poppies/) 888, 246 ceramic
poppies cascading from the tower of London.
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/arts/design/censured-delaware-art-museum-plansto-divest-moreworks.html?emc=edit_tnt_20140807&amp;nlid=31495494&amp;tntemail0=y&amp;_r=1)
Delaware Art museum is selling more art.
• Facebooking in the classroom: (http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/why-thisprofessor-is-encouraging-facebook-use-in-his-classroom/54223) here and
(http://tso.sagepub.com/content/42/2/95.abstract) here.
• (http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/how-did-the-federal-government-rate-your-college-acentury-ago/83411) In 1911, UND and Richmond College ranked as “Class II” universities
by the U.S. Bureau of Education. Ohio State was a “Class I” university.
• (http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/possessed-james-brown-eighteenminutes) Watch this 18 minute video for your weekly dose of energy.
• (http://bloody-disgusting.com/videos/3306348/youve-never-heard-thunderstruck-playedlike/) Thunderstruck played by a Finnish bluegrass band.


 

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• What I’m reading: José Antonio Bowen, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/teaching-nakedhow-moving-technology-out-of-your-college-classroom-will-improve-studentlearning/oclc/778417681) Teaching Naked: How moving technology out of your classroom
will improve student learning. (2012).
• What I’m listening to: Owl John, Owl John.
title="IMG_1832.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/img_1832.jpg" alt="IMG
1832" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
A Wet Dog


 

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Back to the Bakken
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/11/back-to-the-bakken/
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 12:58:54 +0000
This week, I’m headed back out to the Bakken to revisit some of our study sites and to think
a bit about a fun writing project for this fall. Tom Isern, at NDSU, and Bret Weber, my codirect at the (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/work-camps/) North
Dakota Man Camp Project, received a grant from the North Dakota Humanities Council to
fund a series of public workshops, called the “Man Camp Dialogues" focused on our work
in western North Dakota. Richard Rothaus, Bret, and I will be involved and we hope to rope
in some of the other participants in our project
Tom suggested that we produce a study guide for these workshops and publish it as a
Circular (no. 2) in a new series produced by his (http://heritagerenewal.org/) Center for
Heritage Renewal. We can then make the study guide available for our talks around the
state and, perhaps, for a show scheduled this winter at the Plains Art Museum that will
focus on art and the oil patch. Apparently these circulars run 15-20 pages, so this is not a
huge writing project, but one that will require a certain amount of thought. Right now, I’m
thinking about how we can present the man camps of the Bakken as a kind of living
archaeological site of our contemporary age. (I am not sure I’d want to encourage tourism of
workforce housing, but the amount of through traffic on Route 2 through the heart of the oil
patch makes a certain amount of curiosity only natural. Folks who live in historical homes or
in historical neighborhoods have experienced this kind of tourism for over a century.)
So as I revisited many of our study sites, I began to think about how to present our research
to a diverse public audience. I figure the circular would start with a basic description of our
work and our study sites. We’re probably introduce our now (in)famous typology and some
of the challenges associated with doing archaeology of the contemporary world.


 

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I think then I’d like to introduce four ways of talking about workforce housing in the Bakken.
1. Stories of the Boom. One of the most interesting thing that we’ve encountered are the
various ways that people have talked about the oil boom in North Dakota. The media, for
example, loves to tell stories of people taking risks to make their fortune as well as folks who
found only disappointment in the Bakken. The Bakken is narrated in so many different ways
and workforce housing, man camps, are typically part of these stories. We could imagine
directing a visitor to the Bakken or someone attending one of our workshops to consider
the various ways that people have told the story of the Bakken boom and how the place
where many of these new North Dakotans live contribute to these stories.
2. Objects and Arrangements. A key aspect of living in workforce housing is that “home” is
often somewhere else. On a practical level, there is workforce housing provides less space
for the kinds of objects that most of us associate with him. On a philosophical level, this
reduced assemblages makes it more difficult for residents of the man camps to express
their own identity through their objects located in and around their residences. In this
context, then, it is useful to consider the objects associated with workforce housing. They
typically range from objects associated with domestic life - grills, coolers, refrigerators, lawn
or camping furnitures - to those associated with work. The latter category becomes all the
more common when the line between the space of sleeping and eating overlaps with the
space for working.
3. Architecture and Innovation. Despite the limited assemblage of material present in many
of these camps, there is nevertheless innumerable examples of innovation as residents of
the Bakken work to transform RVs from season and occasional vehicles to spaces for
longterm habitation. Elaborate mudrooms, platforms, and barriers to block the cold and
wind, expand and refine the limited space available in the standard recreational vehicles.
Large camps, have a vibrant trade in recycled building material and, in some cases,
additions that allow residents to customize their spaces to suit the distinct needs of yearround life in the Bakken. The growing prevalence of mobile housing and the needs of an
expanding contingent and transient workforce is ushering in a new chapter in the history of


 

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vernacular architecture.
4. Images of Home. Most of the world has encountered the Bakken oil boom through the
often-spectacular images published in the national media. These images show a range of
experiences associated with extractive industries, but images of the workers in their
domestic space are relatively rare. The national media then characterizes the Bakken
primarily as a place of work with short-term habitation being a curious, but
underrepresented footnote. This has the risk of dehumanizing the residents of the Bakken
by making them seem an appendage to work rather than individuals who struggle to make a
comfortable, secure, and balanced life just like the rest of us.
Today, we’re going to revisit a bunch more of our study sites around Watford City and
Williston and I’ll post an update tomorrow.


 

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Dynamic Settlement in the Bakken Oil Patch
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/dynamic-settlement-in-the-bakkenoil-patch/
Tue, 12 Aug 2014 14:58:24 +0000
I’ve spent the last couple of days revisiting some of the
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/work-camps/) North Dakota Man
Camp Project study sites in the Bakken Oil Patch, and like every trip into the wild west, I’ve
learned more about how North Dakota communities are adapting to the Bakken Boom, and
how the men and women who work in the industries related to and impacted by the oil
boom are carving out a life for themselves in North Dakota.
So, as we wait for Bret Weber to finish his summer semester grades, I’ll offer a few quick
observations on the changing nature of the settlement in the Bakken.
1. Settlement is changing. We've noticed that the number of
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/a-typology-of-north-dakota-workcamps-2/) Type 2 camps (which are RV parks with electricity and water/sewage) have
disappeared. One of the most interesting sites in our research was the town of Wheelock in
which a Type 2 man camp had developed in and among the few remaining houses. Over
the past 18 months, the number of units in the town center declined and a small settlement
of largely Hispanic workers from Utah had grown up on the outskirts of town. This summer,
both the camp in the center of town and on the outskirts had been abandoned. A similar
trend seems to have taken place in the town of White Earth where two of the RV parks
remain full, but another, situated around the old school in town, seems to have lost about
two-thirds of its residents. When I asked an avuncular tweaker in one of the remaining
camps why so few units were around the school, he looks hazily at the sky and said: “winter
is coming…” As new, better housing becomes available, members of the workforce formerly
satisfied with living in an RV can now do better.


 

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title="P1080638.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1080638.jpg"
alt="P1080638" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
2. Settlements are changing. One of our favorite camps is a Type 2 camp just outside of
Williston called Fox Run. This came had over 300 units in it last summer and showed a
tremendous amount of architectural innovation with elaborate mudrooms, well-kept spaces
around the units, built decks and platforms, and residents describing a genuine sense of
community. In our visit this summer, the material conditions in the camp had clearly
changed. There were fewer elaborate mudrooms (and more mudrooms in reuse), the areas
around units were less well-kept, and the sense of community had palpably changed. There
were far more open lots than we had seen before. It seems like the character of the facility
had changed and, while I use this word guardedly, the camp seems to be in decline. We’re
contemplating writing a history of Williston Fox Run and have begun to look into county and
state records for the parcel. The Type 2 camps are attracting a different kind of resident as
more permanent (or semi-permanent) housing is made available for workers looking to
reside in the Bakken for more than a single season.
title="P1080737.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1080737.jpg"
alt="P1080737" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
3. Settlements and Capital. In our “almost ready for publication” article we noted that man
camps represented a way that industry managed the need for a contingent workforce who
could move at the close to the same speed as global capital. A meeting with the
development office in Watford City complicated our picture a bit by pointing out that man
camps themselves are also a product of the global (or at least national) flow of capital.
Camps like Williston Fox Run were built by developers and maintained by companies with
investors who live far outside the region. In other words, the development extractive
industries in the Bakken and the housing requirements for workforce all derive from the
same pool of non-local capital and predictably respond to the needs and expectation of
investors, managers, and pressures that have only practical concerns for local communities.

 

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This is unsurprising, but we had not explored this aspect of the Bakken boom in past field
and research seasons.


 

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Images from the Bakken
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/images-of-the-bakken/
Wed, 13 Aug 2014 20:55:13 +0000
I don’t usually just post pictures
((https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/photography/) oh, wait, I guess I do),
but I thought I would today as I recover from a few days of Bakken adventures.
An abandoned man camp near Tioga:
title="P1080656.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1080656.jpg"
alt="P1080656" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Another near Wheelock, ND:
title="P1080660.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1080660.jpg"
alt="P1080660" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
An abandoned “dry” camp:
title="P1080829.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1080829.jpg"
alt="P1080829" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Pallets:
title="P1080842.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1080842.jpg"

 

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alt="P1080842" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
I know we shouldn’t call them “man camps”:
title="P1080768.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1080768.jpg"
alt="P1080768" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
Communal space:
title="P1080812.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1080812.jpg"
alt="P1080812" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Work and flares:
title="P1080787.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1080787.jpg"
alt="P1080787" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Another reminder that we’re not the first newcomers on the northern plains:
title="P1080613.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1080613.jpg"
alt="P1080613" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Teaching Thursday: Teaching with Confusion
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/14/teaching-thursday-teaching-withconfusion/
Thu, 14 Aug 2014 13:27:22 +0000
I had another post all thought out and ready to go this morning, when I read
(http://chronicle.com/article/Confuse-Students-to-HelpThem/148385/?cid=at&amp;utm_source=at&amp;utm_medium=en) this short article on
the Chronicle of Higher Education site this morning. The article documents the research of
Derek Muller, an Australian researcher, who has studied how confusion helps students
learn. Muller argued that straight forward, clear, and concise explanations of difficult
problems actually work against student learning as it tends to reinforce preconceived
notions and encourage students to move on before they have completely grasped the ideas
and their implications.
To infuse his lectures with confusion, Muller created a dialogues in which two actors debate
a point. Apparently, the effect of this is confusing, but the results demonstrated both greater
retention and comprehension. These ideas are so cool,
(http://tedxsydney.com/site/item.cfm?item=32058F80C290F6C978AE8A4A7AC8763B)
Muller has a TEDx video.
The idea that confusion is somehow a key ingredient to learning has gained increased
traction lately. One of my favorite little studies is one in
(http://web.princeton.edu/sites/opplab/papers/Diemand-Yauman_Oppenheimer_2010.pdf)
Cognition that shows that by simply using a less legible font, we can increase retention
(pdf). The authors of this article argue that the feeling of confusion called disfluency is
important for deeper learning.
I think that some of these articles relate to
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/07/teaching-thursday-gyrocopter
 

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professors/) my Teaching Thursday post from last week on gyrocopter professors. These
professors feel compelled by a whole raft of institutional and social pressures to hand feed
students information both about the structure of the course and its content. The pressures
to make everything clear - even things that can’t be clarified without losing inherent
dissonance and complexity - have resulted in a simplification of the teaching and learning
process and content.
Over the past few years, I have unknowingly, but intentionally, sowing a certain amount of
confusion in my classes and despite pressures to present the course and its content as
yielding clearly stated objectives. To be clear, I do value student learning and directed
learning. If students in my history course, for example, concluded that we have nothing to
learn from antiquity or that history cannot help us understand our work in a more
sympathetic way, I’d be disappointed and adjust the class to provide the necessary
structure to guide the students to conclusions that I find consistent with my view of the
discipline and the world.
At the same time, I’ve used open-ended assignments with only the most superficial
explanations as standard assignments in my upper level and graduate history courses. The
only thing that I require is that these assignments have a thesis and use primary sources to
support an argument. The arguments and character of the papers is up to the students to
decide. There are no leading questions, rubrics, or templates to structure the papers.
Graduate Historiography Paper. Over the course of the semester, you have maintained
journals based on our weekly reading. Using these journals as a “primary source” present
an argument related to your understanding of historiography or historical epistemology.
Undergraduate Source Paper: Using one or more of the primary sources from class, present
a critical argument (i.e. a thesis supported by primary source evidence) related to the history
of Byzantium.
These rather open-ended assignments invariably cause consternation, if not genuine
confusion, but they also push students to think as much about what makes a good historical

 

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argument (in a generalized way) as specific arguments associated with the subject matter in
the class. To prevent despair, I assure my classes that the discomfort they feel is, in fact,
what it feels like to learn. As most readers of this blog know, real learning is pain and
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/the-roots-of-student-resistance/)
student resistance is often a good indicator of learning taking place.
The challenge from a pedagogical perspective is that so much of our students’ university
experience has become defined by rubrics, templates, and well-defined learning goals
ensures that the confusion threshold in the classroom is very low. This either makes it easier
to create the disfluency necessary for deep learning or suggests that some of the basic
mechanisms of higher education run counter to its most cherished goals.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/15/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-99/
Fri, 15 Aug 2014 12:43:39 +0000
With the onset of sabbatiquol looming, I’m slipping faster into panic as I try to wrap my
head around 40+ weeks of uninterrupted research and writing time. I hope someone calls a
meeting soon so I have something to structure my schedule.
On the other hand, that means at least 40 weeks worth of diligent web surfing to provide
you with a wondrous gaggle of quick hits and varia!
• (http://cig-icg.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-western-argolid-regional-project.html) An
exciting blog post summarizing the Western Argolid Regional Project 2014 field season!
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/arts/design/drones-are-used-to-patrolendangered-archaeological-sites.html) Drones in archaeology (who could’ve thought of
such a thing!).
• (http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/aug/12/archaeologists-greece-tombalexander-great) A really really big (and undoubtedly important) tomb in Macedonia.
• (http://cyprus-mail.com/2014/08/14/significant-human-burial-site-uncovered-byarchaeologists-in-cyprus/) The Alan Simmons Project uncovered an Early Neolithic burial on
Cyprus. Some love for Western Cyprus!
• (http://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/loeb/digital.html) The Loebs have gone digital. What
is this world coming to?
• (http://immigrations-ethnicities-racial.blogspot.com/2014/07/revisiting-ludlow19142014.html) The legacy of Ludlow in photographs. The archaeological work at Ludlow

 

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inspired our work on the (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/workcamps/) North Dakota Man Camp Project.
• (http://www.npr.org/2014/08/07/338586411/before-war-a-punk-drummer-preservedsyrian-chants) Punk rock drummer preserving Syrian chants.
• (http://www.designboom.com/art/mohammad-domiri-intricacy-iranian-mosquesarchitecture-08-06-2014/) Iranian architecture.
• (http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/767583.html) The dark undertone to
cricket journalism and the long shadow of cricket’s imperial past.
• (http://www.gofundme.com/d0yph4) Crowd sourcing to help a local business.

(http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/05/language_map_what_s_the_most_
popular_language_in_your_state.html) Some cool maps of second and third languages in
the U.S.
• (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/upshot/where-people-in-each-statewere-born.html?smid=fbnytimes&amp;WT.z_sma=UP_WPI_20140814&amp;bicmp=AD&amp;bicmlukp=WT.mc_id
&amp;bicmst=1388552400000&amp;bicmet=1420088400000&amp;_r=3#North_Dakot
a) And where people in your state were born.
• (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/discover/1994/) Microsoft website from back in the
day.
• What I am reading: Luke Lavan
ed., (http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/22134522/10/1) Local
Economies? Production and Exchange of Inland Regions in Late Antiquity. Late Antique


 

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Archaeology 10. Leiden 2013.
• (What I’m really reading, thanks to (http://kourelis.blogspot.com/) Kostis Kourelis: Amy
Leach, (http://milkweed.org/shop/product/285/) Things That Are. Minneapolis 2012)
• What I’m listening to: Beck, Morning Phase.
title="IMG_0455.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/img_0455.jpg" alt="IMG
0455" width="450" height="600" border="0" />Sometimes everything is just too much
effort.


 

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Three Calls for Papers: Slow, Public, and Craft
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/three-calls-for-papers-slow-publicand-craft/
Mon, 18 Aug 2014 12:49:21 +0000
If you just managed to submit your abstract for the Archaeological Institute of America’s
Annual Meeting and still have some energy before classes start in earnest, then I have a few
possible, last minute calls for papers to fill up the idle hours.
The great thing about these opportunities is that they all look to a shorter form of writing
(6000 words or less!) and position themselves in the relatively uncharted (academic)
territory of creative non-fiction and less formal, professional writing.
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/a-special-issue-of-north-dakotaquarterly-slow/) Slow. Feel free to circulate this to your creative non-fiction types who are
not archaeologists. The call is for (http://arts-sciences.und.edu/north-dakotaquarterly/callforpapers.cfm) a special edition of North Dakota Quarterly that I’m editing with
Rebecca Rozelle-Stone of our department of philosophy and religion. We’re looking for
thoughtful, interesting, and critical perspectives on the “slow movement” as well as fiction.
I’m working on a more systematic and cohesive version of my slow archaeology screed. The
contributions should be no longer than 6,000 words and will be peer-reviewed. This is due
October 1!
(http://proteus.brown.edu/archforthepeoplecompetition/Home) Public. The Joukowsky
Institute at Brown is hosting
a(http://proteus.brown.edu/archforthepeoplecompetition/Home) competition for accessible
archaeological writing and inviting everyone in the world to contribute an entry. The goal of
the contest is to highlight high quality archaeological writing that nevertheless preserves the
complexity and excitement associated with the archaeological process. The papers should
be between 5000 and 6000 words and are due September 1. There is also a prize of

 

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$5000 for the best paper and that paper and the eight runners-up will be published. I can’t
help but thinking that this is the kind of competition that should be crowd sourced. All the
contributions should be made public and some kind of voting system should be put in place
(perhaps like the system put in place for SXSW panels). After all, it seems like this kind of
competition should be judged by someone other than the faculty and students from the
Joukowsky who have generally focused on academic writing!
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/04/a-proposed-blog-seriesarchaeology-and-craft/) Craft. (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/3d-modeling-inmediterranean-archaeology/) Like last fall, I’m hosting a series of blog posts (short(ish)
articles on “(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/04/a-proposed-blogseries-archaeology-and-craft/) Archaeology and Craft” here on my blog. With some luck
and coordination, I hope to crosspost them over at (http://arf.berkeley.edu/then-dig/) Then
Dig. The plan is to get them out as a short volume within a year via the Digital Press at the
University of North Dakota. The contributions can be any length, but since they start on a
blog, I generally nudge folks to keep them under 5000 words. Of course, we can always
split longer posts into two or more parts. Drop me an email if you want to contribute. I have
a few contributions already, but I like to have five or six before I start to post them regularly.
I just realized this weekend that I’m officially under contract as of August 15, so I need to
start to get focused on my official sabbatical “to do” list (and a post on that will be
forthcoming). Hopefully these opportunities will give you productive distractions as the grind
of semester looms!


 

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Thinking Forests and Resistance
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/thinking-forests-and-resistance/
Tue, 19 Aug 2014 13:51:48 +0000
I spent some quality times over the past month with(http://www.worldcat.org/title/howforests-think-toward-an-anthropology-beyond-the-human/oclc/827528818) Eduardo
Kohn’s brilliant How Forests Think. I’ll admit that little in my training as a historian or
Mediterranean archaeologist prepared my to deal with the ideas that he introduced. My
buddy Dimitri Nakassis pointed the book out to me and I think he discovered it either
through (http://savageminds.org/2014/06/02/an-anti-nominalist-book-eduardo-kohn-onhow-forests-think/) a long interview with Kohn over at the Savage Minds blog, or
(http://englianos.wordpress.com/2013/10/27/homer-the-iron-age-and-materiality/) through
his interest in agency.
It’s difficult for me to describe the book in a way that doesn’t make its ideas seem overly
simple, so I’ll leave careful, critical readings of the work to anthropologists who are more
comfortable with some of his basic discursive formations. In short, Kohn’s book comes from
his field work in the rainforest of Andean Ecuador. In one of the most biologically diverse
regions of the world, he explores about the limits of human culture and understanding the
role that other living things plays in our understanding of the world. He recognizes other
living things as capable of producing their own symbolic sense by drawing on Charles
Peirce’s semiotic theories. By recognizing all life as producing symbols he explores the
place of these symbols in human relational systems. For Kohn, these non-human symbolic
systems do not necessarily function according to the rules of human language, but are
functioning systems nonetheless. This is where it got heavy. He recognized the role that
these other systems played in how we understand the world. As such, culture, that most
human of way of understanding the world, emerges, at least in part, from our relationship
between various dissimilar symbolic systems within the world.


 

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Obviously, this 200 word effort to summarize a complex and nuanced book does not do
justice (or even represent in a completely accurate way) to Kohn’s work. At the same time,
one can understand how Kohn’s work challenges some prevailing efforts to understand
non-human agency. For example, Kohn draws on Peirce’s semiotics to argue for the
existence of systems not grounded in the rules of human language. Efforts to understand
material agency, however, tends to rely on human language to articulate agency in the
material world. The world of living things, however, functions according to its own logic and
rules, that are both consistent and outside of the structures that we’ve built to articulate
culture.
The potential of Kohn’s ideas to influencing archaeological work - at least how it is currently
construed in the Mediterranean - has less to do, in my mind, with the role of non-human
living things in the construction of the ancient world, but as a reminder of our tendency to
limit who we recognize as agents within the production of culture. I immediately thought of
my own - largely unconvincing - efforts to identify
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/resistance/) resistance in the
archaeology of the Late Roman Corinthia. I tried to argue that the existing monuments of
culture preserved evidence for another discourse that runs counter to the prevailing
message of elite power. The key to recognizing these counter arguments goes beyond
simply inverting the message of an object in an effort to discern its opposite, but to expect
and understand messages that are fundamentally incompatible with the language and
discourse of elite authority. Like the language of the forest, articulating resistance needn’t
adhere to the rules established by our monolithic views of elite culture, but perhaps derives
its power by functioning completely outside this system.
(As an irreverent aside, I found Kohn’s book almost completely unhelpful in figuring out what
our new dog wants. I do, however, think more carefully about what, when, and why he
dreams!)


 

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Crowd-Funded Research in Archaeology
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/crowd-funded-research-inarchaeology/
Wed, 20 Aug 2014 13:57:17 +0000
Just yesterday, a friend of mine asked me what I thought about crowd-funded
archaeological projects and sent me a link to a recently funded project on
(https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1488186277/dig-it-archaelology-of-nicaragua)
Kickstarter to support excavation in Nicaragua. A quick search at Kickstarter and another
crowd funding site, (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/greek-archaeological-mission-inmesopotamia) Indiegogo, revealed quite a few other archaeological projects looking to raise
funds for their work. For those unfamiliar with the internets, the way these crowd-funding
sites work is that the fundraiser asks for a certain amount of money over a set amount of
time (usually 1-2 months). Funders donate based on certain “rewards” which, for these
kinds of projects, range from hearty thanks to t-shirts, reports, photos and prints, and for
particularly large donors (depending the ask and the site), trips to the site and guided tours.
Typically, it would seem crowd-funded research support has a student component to it and
in some cases, it is focused on an individual who is seeking funding to go to do field work.
On a related note, this past summer, the Greek Ministry of Culture issued a directive
banning “archaeological tourism”. By this they referred to the practice of well-heeled donors
contributing money to projects in order to come and do archaeological fieldwork for some
time under the supervision of a project. These individuals were classed as “volunteers” and
had no formal archaeological training. To be blunt, they were there as a reward for their
contribution to the project. It is worth noting that a Greek project brought this to the
attention of the Ministry of Culture.
Doing my best (http://www.pqed.org/) Jack Weinstein imitation (and it’s a rather poor one,
at that), I began to think about whether crowdfunding like this is a good idea for academic


 

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research.
On the one hand, it is clear that funding for basic humanities research, particularly on the
scale of archaeological work, is drying up both in the U.S. and abroad, and academics are
becoming increasingly creative to find funds for their work. More than that, archaeological
fieldwork has always attracted wealthy patrons. In the 19th century, for example, donors
might receive artifacts from an ongoing excavation. Today, donors receive t-shirts,
newsletters, and “insider information”. Some prominent sites, like Nemea, have
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aardvark#mediaviewer/File:Porc_formiguer.JPG) non-profit
organizations established to fund the excavation, conservation, and reconstruction (!) of the
site. These groups organize events, et c. I tend to associate the most formal manifestations
of this work with longstanding practices in fundraising at academic institutions. Universities,
research institutions, and professional associations raise money to advance their priorities.
Generally speaking, these groups are in fundraising for the long haul, and see it as
inseparable from a kind of relationship building that at least ostensibly works to broker a
shared vision for the institution with its supporters. There is compromise between the
interests of supporters and the goals of the institution with the institution providing a
substantial check on the more fickle attitudes of funders.
Crowdfunding, on the other hand, strikes me as something different. Rather than brokering
the complex relationship between donors and an institution, crowdfunding asks for onetime, money to support a single project. More than that, limited time allowed to raise funds,
actually discourages, to some existent, a persistent engagement with the project. For the
donor (and I have supported quite a few and quite a range of projects on Kickstarter), there
is less of a feeling of commitment to the cause. In fact, I’m relieved after my donation that I
won’t be pelted with emails for the rest of my life asking me to “affirm my friendship” (as a
famous Ohio State capital campaign once asked). The basic structure of these asks, in fact,
encourages donors to see them as a gift for a very specific reward. Many companies have
come to using crowd-funding platforms as a way to presell devices and generate capital
prior to their investment in manufacturing (or even final development).


 

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In other words, crowdfunding archaeology prioritizes a kind of immediate gratification at the
expense of relationship building. At worst, it encourages the public to see archaeological
research in parallel with a single funding event. This evokes an Indiana Jones kind of field
work model where you find an old map, kill some Nazis, and turn the finds over to “Top
men”. This overlooks the complications of conservation, longterm storage, and study of
finds.
I don’t mean to discourage archaeologists or other scholars from availing themselves to the
potential of crowdfunding for their work, but it does make me wonder what kinds of
expectations and precedents this sets for the non-academic public. By offering a reward for
support, are we encouraging, in spirit, the kind of archaeological tourism that the Greek
government has condemned (if not specifically, at least in sprit).
In other words, does a crowdfunding model for research encourage a view of our research
as product rather than process?


 

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Collecting and Listening
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/collecting-and-listening/
Thu, 21 Aug 2014 14:07:00 +0000
As a member of Kostis Kourelis’ book club, we were encouraged to read
(https://www.worldcat.org/title/do-not-sell-at-any-price-the-wild-obsessive-hunt-for-theworlds-rarest-78-rpm-records/oclc/863695550) Amanda Petrusich’s Do Not Sell at Any
Price (2014). The book describes the remarkable world of 78 rpm record collectors. 78 rpm
records were produced largely before the war (although they were made until the 1960s)
and usually contained pop music, “race music” (including blues and jazz that were marketed
largely to an African American audience), and “ethnic music” that was not widely played on
the radio. The discs themselves measured 10 inches across and were usually made of a
hodgepodge of unreliable materials that allowed for the fledgling recording business able to
produce and circulate music quickly. Most of the masters for these cheap records are lost
and in many cases the only recordings that we have of prewar pop music exist on the
handful of poorly manufactured discs held dear by collectors.
In fact, Petrusich argued that collectors of prewar 78s attracted the attention of folk and
blues artists starting in the 1960s (and Harry Smith’s 1952 Anthology of American Folk
Music was often their introduction to music recorded originally on 78 rpm discs) and
spurred the popular revival of these genres. This connection to 78s has continued to attract
the attention of Jack White and a handful of other oldey timey music fans.
I won’t review this wonderful book, but I do want to use it to make a few little observations
about how we listen to music (and some of my comments relate to my interest in recent
trends among audiophiles).
1. Authentic Sound. One of the most remarkable things about the survival of 78 rpm
records is the incredibly poor quality of many of the prewar discs. First off, the record labels
made these discs of schellac which was a rather fragile and inconsistent material that did

 

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not lend itself to consistent pressings. Compounding matters is that up until 1924 or so,
recordings were made by the “acoustical” method. That is, the performers played into a
horn that amplified the sound enough to move a cutting stylus across a master cylinder of
wax. These recordings could not capture the same sonic range as later electrical recordings
made into microphones, but are more coveted by collectors. The inconsistent character of
shellac discs, however, continued to compromise quality at playback as did the tendency to
press records that did not play at precisely 78rpm and used various frequency response
curves idiosyncratic to particular labels.
As a result, the sound from 78rpm discs might be described as inconsistent, but to some
extent the sound we hear from them defines an era of recorded music. There is an
undeniable authenticity that audiophiles, in their relentless pursuit of perfect sound, tend to
overlook. Recent debates about the LP revival, for example, tend to focus on the idea that
LPs sound BETTER than the compressed sound of mp3 recordings so popular with “the
kids these days.”
At the same time, it is hard to deny that our compressed-to-distortion mp3s are the
authentic sound of music for this generation just as the crackling, warped, and distorted
sound of relatively inexpensive 78s was the sound of recorded music prior to the war. I’ll
admit that I’m not a LP guy and, in fact, I find the sound of digitized 78s difficult to enjoy. At
the same time, I’m not as mortified by the sound of MP3s, as say, Neil Young or other
audiophiles. While I still prefer a CD or even a high-resolution download, reading
Petrusich’s book has reminded me that there is something undeniably authentic about both
78s and mp3s.
2. The Song. One of the great tropes (http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/theattention-span-gap/) in the audiophile press is how the kids these days don’t have the
patience for long-playing records or even albums. They just want the poppy singles, loaded
onto mediocre sounding portable mp3 players (so called “iPods”), and lasting no more than
3 minutes. In fact, some argue that they simply don’t have the attention span for a LP. This,
of course, is crazy as these same young music consumers can watch movies, the NFL, and
go out to concerts in healthy numbers and all of these things last for longer than a single

 

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song.
More than that, the LP era was an aberration in how we listen to recorded music. The 78
era, lasting from the late teens to the World War II, was all about 3 minute singles. And the
average listener couldn’t afford to sit still for too long because once the song was done,
they have to get up and flip over the 78! Perhaps our short attention span for recorded
music is the norm, and the LP generation was, in fact, a group not only too lazy to get up
and flip over an album, but also dulled their music senses by subjecting them to endless,
pointless, mediocre b-sides on long-playing records.
3. Rituals of Listening. One of the great aspects of Petrusich’s book is how she describes
these 78 collectors listening to their prized possessions. None of these guys (and, yeah,
they’re almost all men) hesitated at all to PLAY their records for the author. More than that,
almost all of them clearly enjoyed hearing the music. They tapped their feet, squirmed in
their chairs, fell into trances, gestured in the air, and generally reveled in the listening
experience. They felt the intensity of these authentic listening experiences.
More than that, once they began to listen to 78s, they listened to more and more. The
records flew off their shelves and onto their turn table. More than once the author had to
extract herself from an emotionally draining listening session before her host was done
spinning records.
I found her descriptions of these events to be among the most compelling parts of the book.
The way these seasoned collectors still found something invigorating in these poorly
produced singles reminded me of enduring power of simple rituals.
It also made me want to go and put a CD in my ole CD player (a 1992 vintage Nakamichi
CD4), warm up the tube amp (a very recent Audio Research VSi60), and listen to my big Zu
Omen Defs with their old school full-range drivers.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-100/
Fri, 22 Aug 2014 12:25:28 +0000
It seems like it was only a week ago when I posted the last varia and quick hits… It doesn’t
matter; I’ll still post some more lovely links on a cloudy and grey morning here in North
Dakotaland.
• There are a couple new positions posted by the American School of Classical Studies at
Athens. For those who like their antiquities with a dose of politics and stress,
(http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/about/position#Director%20of Publications) the
director of publications position is open. And for recent Ph.D.s looking to spend some time
in lovely Athens, uncover the inner workings of the American School, and pursue some
research, (http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/about/position#Assistant%20Director of the
School) the Assistant Director position is open.
• I forgot to link to this. (http://www.livescience.com/47457-greek-tomb-artdiscovered.html) ZIG ZAG!
• Another Linked Open Data Vocabulary from the Getty: (http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/gettythesaurus-of-geographic-names-released-as-linked-open-data/) The Getty Thesaurus of
Geographic Place Names.
• (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/latin-makes-surprisingcomeback-in-state-schools-9677092.html) Latin is making a “surprise” comeback in the
U.K.
• (http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2014/08/19/341573332/lessons-from-the-last-timecivilization-collapsed) The NPR reviews Eric Cline’s book on the end of the Bronze Age.


 

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• (http://asorblog.org/?p=7691) A Virtual Vision of Chaldean Ur.
• (http://www.vox.com/2014/8/19/5942585/40-maps-that-explain-the-roman-empire) A
nice little gaggle of maps and figures that “explain” the Roman Empire.
• (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/08/19/341651496/specialty-food-andagriculture-startups-are-ripening-in-greece) Specialty food start-ups in Greece.
• (http://stainedglassattitudes.wordpress.com/2014/08/10/great-mistakes-in-englishmedieval-architecture/) Amusing captions for a few great mistakes in Medieval architecture.
• (https://chroniclevitae.com/news/660-the-case-for-conversationalwriting?cid=VTEVPMSED1) A case for conversational writing.
• (http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/31824) The world’s oldest eel dies.
• (http://bismarcktribune.com/bakken/little-epping-braces-for-its-share-of-oilboom/article_5e036fc8-257e-11e4-b4b9-0019bb2963f4.html) Epping braces from the
Oil Boom.
• (http://jtglover.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/places-between-places/) Interstitial places.
• (http://hiddencityphila.org/2014/08/stay-of-execution-for-furness-church-on-47th/) The
Church of the Atonement, a Furness and co. jewel in Philadelphia has received a stay of
execution (for now).
• (http://feltron.com//FAR13.html) Nick Feltron’s 2013 Annual Report.
• (http://www.stickermule.com/marketplace/1635-grado-rs1-headphone-sticker) Because
you probably need Grado stickers.


 

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• What I’m reading: Vinit Mukhija and Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris,
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/informal-american-city-beyond-taco-trucks-and-daylabor/oclc/858914379) The Informal American City: Beyond Taco Trucks and Day Labor.
MIT 2014.
• (What I’m really reading: I’m still working my way through the latest volume of
(http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/22134522/10/1) Late Antique
Archaeology!)
• What I’m listening to: Phosphorescent, Here’s to taking it easy.
title="IMG_1877.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/img_1877.jpg" alt="IMG
1877" width="450" height="600" border="0" />Let’s get this party started!


 

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Writing and Publishing
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/writing-and-publishing/
Mon, 25 Aug 2014 13:33:34 +0000
I’ve spent a good bit of time this past month preparing the
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/punk-archaeology/) Punk
Archaeology volume for publication (hopefully within the next week or so) and laying out the
volume dedicated to a series of short posts from last year’s
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/3d-modeling-in-mediterranean-archaeology/)
3D Thursday series of blog posts.
At the same time, I was thinking about this year’s series of posts on craft and archaeology,
and it occurred to me that the process of managing a book from writing, to contributors to
lay-out, represents an artisnal approach to production. As the artisan, I’ve managed just
about every step in the process layout, with the appreciation that my late
friend(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/joel-jonientz/) Joel Jonientz did
much of the basic conceptualizing of the punk archaeology, cover design, and laid out the
first draft, and Andrew Reinhard and Brandon Olson have done more than their share of
copy editing for Punk Archaeology and 3D Thursday respectively.
title="PunkA_cover_1.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/punka_cover_1.jpg"
alt="PunkA cover 1" width="450" height="450" border="0" />
Here are some of the things I’ve learned:
1. Book layout is hard. It has taken me endless hours of fussing (and still more on the
horizon) to get the basic layout of the book right. Things like gutters, margins, and overset
texts have become a preoccupation. I still can’t get pagination right: who realized that
chapters almost always start on odd numbered pages? It has taken me weeks of fussing to

 

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get things right for even a relatively simple book design. If the technical details are not
complex, the execution is.
2. Book production is invisible. While I’ve been laying out my own books, I’ve also been
editing page proofs for (http://www.scribd.com/doc/232052894/PKAP-Introduction) PylaKoutsopetria I: Archaeological Survey of an Ancient Coastal Town for the ASOR
Archaeological Report Series. As I’ve carefully re-read the text and made small corrections
here or there throughout, I got to thinking how relatively invisible book designers, layout
people, and even copy editors are within the system of academic production. So many of us
academics consider ourselves sensitive to the various inequalities intrinsic to the various
systems at play in our worlds. At the same time, I’ve never seen a particularly spirited
defense of those folks who participate in the publishing industry below the levels of the
clearly evil corporate overlords who spend their days converting the fruits of academic
labors to the fruits of their table.
(With not a little embarrassment, I remember enabling a co-author to rewrite a good chunk
of an article at the stage of page proofs, and the editors and production folks, through
gritted-teeth, accepting our requests. As someone who is now spending time on the
production side of publishing, I am becoming more and more aware of how our late-game
creative decisions do not exist in a vacuum.)
3. The Heterotopia of Independent Publishing. Over the past few years, the potential of self
or independent publishing has emerged as a largely unrealized threat set against the worst
abuses of the academic publishing industry. As a blogger, I’m sure that I’ve expressed and
even acted on some of those threats (http://www.scribd.com/billcaraher) by pushing out
pre-prints, sacrificing time that I could be spending producing products for publishers to
make my ideas accessible on my blog, and by, finally, using my blog platform as an
incubator for content that I will eventually publish with my low-fi press.
title="New_Digital Press_logo.jpg"
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alt="New Digital Press logo" width="450" height="410" border="0" />
At the same time, by actually following through on becoming an independent/self-publisher,
I’ve realized how much time and energy goes into the production process. The time and
energy involved in preparing a manuscript for publication redirects my work flow from
writing toward editing, layout, correspondence, and even financial matters. The result of this
reassignment of energy is that I will be a less productive scholar - at least for the
foreseeable future.
If our concern is making scholarship accessible to a wide audience in an efficient way, self
and independent publishing represents a way of streamlining the appearance of scholarly
works in print and cutting through a certain amount of corporate overhead. On the other
hand, it shifts the burden of production closer to the hands of the author (and much of this
burden is invisible in traditional, corporate model of academic publishing).


 

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Late Roman Economy and Formation Processes
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/26/late-roman-economy-andformation-processes/
Tue, 26 Aug 2014 13:47:43 +0000
I’ve spent some quality time with the most recent volume of Late Antique Archaeology this
past month in preparation for
writing(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/connectivity-on-cyprusand-corinth/) a short contribution with David Pettegrew on connectivity in the Late Roman
eastern Mediterranean. We plan to compare the Late Roman assemblages produced by
two survey projects: Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Project and Pyla-Koutsopetria
Archaeology Project. An important component of both assemblages is Late Roman
amphoras: EKAS produced substantial quantities of Late Roman 2 Amphora probably
produced in the Argolid; PKAP produced quantities of Late Roman 1 Amphora produced
both on Cyprus and in southern Cilicia. We hope to discuss how the concentrations of
these common transport vessels reflected and complicated how we understand economic
patterns in the Late Antiquity.
Over the past half-century two basic models for the Late Roman economy have emerged.
The earlier models saw the state as the primary engine for trade in antiquity. More recently,
however, scholars have argued that the core feature of ancient trade is small-scale
interaction between microregions across the Mediterranean basin. While there is
undoubtedly some truth in both models, the latter has substantially more favor among
scholars at present and the volume dedicated to connectivity focuses on the kind of smallscale interregional exchange that created a network of social, economic, and even cultural
connections that defined the ancient Mediterranean world. The classic question introduced
to complicate our view of ancient connectivity is: if the ancient Mediterranean is defined by
these small-scale connections, then why did the political, economic, social, and even
cultural unity of the communities tied to the Middle Sea collapse with the fall of Roman


 

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political organization in Late Antiquity?
title="Figure4_18.png"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/figure4_18.png"
alt="Figure4 18" width="450" height="486" border="0" />
This is where David and I want to introduce the complicating matter of formation process
archaeology. The substantial assemblages of Late Roman amphora represent the
accumulation of discard from two “nodes” within the Late Antique economic network. These
two nodes, however, are particularly visible because of the substantial concentration of a
class of transport vessel.
These transport vessels most likely served to transport supplies to imperial troops either
stationed in the Balkans or around the Black Sea, or in the case of the Eastern Korinthia,
working to refortify the massive Hexamilion Wall that ran the width of the Isthmus of Corinth
or stationed in its eastern fortress near the sanctuary of Isthmia. The visibility of these two
areas depends upon a kind of artifact associated with a kind of exchange. As David has
noted the surface treatments associated with LR2 amphora make them highly diagnostic in
the surface record. LR1s, in turn, have highly diagnostic, twisted, handles that make them
stand out from a surface assemblage dominated by relatively undifferentiated body sherds.
In other words, these amphora assemblages represent a visible kind of economic activity.
The impact of this visible type of economic activity on our understanding of Late Roman
connectivity is complex. On the one hand, the kind of persistent, low-level, economic
connections associated with most models of connectivity are unlikely to leave much
evidence on the surface. The diverse and relatively small group of very diverse amphoras, for
example, found upon the coasting vessel at
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/coastal-sites-and-maritimetrade/) Fig Tree Bay on Cyprus would have been deposited at numerous small harbors
along its route. Moreover, the fluidity of the networks that characterized connectivity would
have made the routes of caboteurs irregular and contingent on various economic situations
throughout the network of relationships. This variability and the small-scale of this activity is

 

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unlikely to have created an archaeologically visible assemblage at any one point on these
routes. More than this, overland trade in wine or olive oil
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/containers-and-connectivity/) may
not have used amphoras at all further impairing the archaeological visibility of the kind of
low-level connectivity characteristic of Mediterranean exchange patterns. Between
ephemeral containers and variable, low-density scatters, the regular pattern of
archaeological exchange characterizing connectivity will never be especially visible in the
landscape.
In contrast, imperial provisioning requirements, fueled for example by the quaestura
exercitus, would present exceptionally visible assemblages of material. The interesting thing,
to me, is that the amphoras visible on the surface in the Korinthia and at Koutsopetria are
not what is being exchanged, but the containers in which exchange occurs. The material
exchanged, olive oil and wine, are almost entirely invisible in the archaeological records on
their own. The visibility of these two places reflects the presence of outlets for a region’s
produce. The produce itself, however, leaves very little trace, and we have to assume that
networks that integrated microregions across the Mediterranean functioned to bring goods
from across a wide area to a particular site for large-scale export.
The collapse of these sites of large-scale export during the tumultuous 7th and 8th
centuries did not make trade between microregions end, but it made it more contingent and
less visible, as (http://www.scribd.com/doc/222312961/Settlement-on-Cyprus-during-the7th-and-8th-Centuries) I have argued for this period on Cyprus. The absence of large
accumulations of highly diagnostic artifact types in one place represent a return to our
ability to recognize normal patterns of Mediterranean exchange as much as the disruption of
this exchange. The decline of these sites both deprived archaeologists of visible monuments
of exchange and ancient communities of a brief moment of economic stability within
longstanding contingent networks.


 

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Informal Practices and Space in the Bakken
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/informal-practices-and-space-inthe-bakken/
Wed, 27 Aug 2014 13:58:22 +0000
This weekend I read another selection from the Kostis Kourelis Book Club: V. Mukhija and
A. Loukaitou-Sideris eds., (http://www.worldcat.org/title/informal-american-city-beyondtaco-trucks-and-day-labor/oclc/858914379) The Informal American City: Beyond Food
Trucks and Day Labor. MIT 2014. The book is packed with astute observations on practices
that shape the informal (as opposed to formal, regulated, and standardized) life of American
cities. These range from gardens in vacant lots, perpetual yard sales, hidden apartments,
and spaces beyond the reach or interest of formal zoning policies.
The book got fueled my excitement about housing practices in the Bakken oil patch of North
Dakota which is rife with informal practices motivated as much by the absence of regulation
(or personnel to enforce existing regulations) as the need to adapt existing institutions,
spaces, and places to the needs of a dynamic workforce.
Over the past 2 years, (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/work-camps/)
I have been working on a team that is documenting workforce housing in the Bakken. I have
been particularly romanced by the architectural invention that takes place at what we call
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/a-typology-of-north-dakota-workcamps-2/) Type 2 camps. These camps typically consist of RVs and trailers arranged in lots
with power, water, and sewage. The informality of these spaces comes from the ad hoc
efforts to winterize the units, the techniques done to articulate spatial boundaries, and, most
dramatically, the architectural additions designed to expand the space of the RVs and to
make them more suitable for longterm habitation.
Peter Ward’s contribution to this volume, “Reproduction of Informality in Low-Income, Self
Help Housing Communities,” caught my attention and opened up some new questions

 

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about life in Type 2 camps. Ward’s article looks at colonias and “informal homestead
subdivisions” in the US. These are subdivisions which often lack utilities but are sold to lowincome individuals and families at low prices and with irregular financing arrangements.
They are typically associated with Hispanic communities in the borderlands between the US
and Mexico, they also appear throughout the US at the periphery of cities where
underdeveloped land is inexpensive and unskilled labor opportunities exist. While these
settlements differ from our workforce housing camps because the residents actually own
their land, they are similar because the residents typically engage in all sorts of informal
architecture ranging from shacks built from plywood to RVs and mobile homes. In most
cases, these practices represent an effort to gradually develop their property and housing
with limited resources. The use of blue tarp, scrap wood, pallets, and other material that
could be rearranged and reused for other purposes ensured that the investment was both
modest and the structure itself served as a kind of provisional discard conserving useful
material for other projects as needs change.
Ward’s rather quick discussion of these forms of informal vernacular got me to wonder how
certain practices - like the construction of mudrooms and other plywood and scrap wood
additions - move around the country. Perhaps it is borderland colonias that developed this
important, sustained tradition of ad hoc, vernacular architecture, and it moved northward to
the Bakken following the route of oil patch workers from the Texas oil fields to those
elsewhere in the US.
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/dynamic-settlement-in-thebakken-oil-patch/) During our last trip to the Bakken, we talked with the new management
of one of our study sites, and they explained that they were trying to standardize and “clean
up” the spectacular array of mudrooms present at their site. They argue that the large
mudrooms are safety hazards and often act as extensions to the RVs to accommodate more
people than they are designed to accommodate. During our visit, we noticed an abandoned
mudroom that was set up for just this purpose. Note the use of blue tarp, the sale price of
$1000, and the bed. There were two rooms in this mudroom both set up for sleeping.


 

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title="P1080876.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1080876.jpg"
alt="P1080876" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1080877.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1080877.jpg"
alt="P1080877" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1080878.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1080878.jpg"
alt="P1080878" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
On the one hand, we suspect an actual concern for safety in the camp as plywood
mudrooms can represent a real fire hazard especially when they feature irregular wiring, are
heated with gas heaters, and have inadequate insulation and ventilation. On the other hand,
it is in the best interest of the camp to reduce the number of residents per unit. This not only
increases the amount of rent collected per resident, but also lowers population density of
the camp taking pressure off the basic infrastructure (trash removal, water, electric, parking
et c.) and making keeping order in the camp easier. It was a useful reminder that safety,
order, and regularity are not incompatible with profitability. The formal American city, like the
formal man camp in the Bakken, is not without economic motives.


 

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A Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oilpatch/
Wed, 27 Aug 2014 19:09:49 +0000
isPermaLink="false) http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/?p=4407</guid>
So, I’m thinking about writing something that starts like this:
The Bakken oil patch ranks among the great achievements of the contemporary age. The
arrival of fracking technology in Western North Dakota has led to an industrial renaissance
that transformed sleepy farm communities into the crucial cogs in the global extractive
economy. Today, the area has become a global destination for roughnecks, petroleum
engineers, pipeline “cats”, truck drivers, carpenters, contractors, and electricians as well as
journalists, adventure scientists, academic scholars, photographers, and filmmakers. Lowunemployment, the bustle of extractive industry, and a landscape of dramatic contrasts
holds forth an magnetic attraction for the adventurous traveler. Pack your camera, your
sulfur dioxide sensor, some steel-toed boots and a Carhartts and get ready for a unique
journey to the land where industry and nature meet.
The patch itself is a bewildering sight to the unprepared visitor on account of its vast area
alone (over 100 sq miles) and can quickly overwhelm any simple approach to apprehending
its significance or visiting the most meaningful sites. This short guide is meant to direct a
tourist to a sampling of the many remarkable sites in the “Bakken” with a particular
emphasis on the work and life of the new communities in the area with some reference to
other sites of older historical significance. As with any tourist guide, this is not designed to
be exhaustive, but to identify characteristic types of sites in the region by providing easily
navigated itineraries across the region. Since the practice of industrial tourism remains in its
infancy, this guide will also seek to bring to the fore some thought questions for the
educated visitor to the Bakken both to stimulate discussion and to guide your explorations
of this region of unprecedented industrial, historical, and natural beauty.


 

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title="P1080787.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1080787.jpg"
alt="P1080787" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Route 1: Minot, ND to Ross, ND
The main point of entry into the Bakken from the north is the small city of Minot. Minot is
served by Delta airlines, has an Amtrack station, and sits astride Route 2, the famous “The
Highline”, that runs from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Everett Washington. It is the
northernmost east-west highway in the U.S. and follows the route of the Great Northern
Railroad from which it takes its name. The route from Minot to Williston, North Dakota is
among the most scenic stretch of the Highline, and communities in North Dakota along this
route had been in decline for two generations prior to the most recent oil activity.


 

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Teaching Thursday: Teaching Naked and New Class Design
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/28/teaching-thursday-teaching-nakedand-new-class-design/
Thu, 28 Aug 2014 14:07:12 +0000
Over the past few weeks I’ve worked my way deliberately through Jose Antonio Bowen’s
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/teaching-naked-how-moving-technology-out-of-your-collegeclassroom-will-improve-student-learning/oclc/778417681) Teaching Naked: How Moving
Technology Out of Your Classroom Will Improve Student Learning. (Jossey-Bass 2012). It
is a nice, single volume, highly accessible summary of the last decade of thinking on how
technology has changed teaching. Nothing in this book is revolutionary or even counterintuitive (despite the provocative title), but it was the perfect read as I began to think about
designing a new class over my (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quoll) sabbatiquol.
My course will be a mid-level survey of the ancient world. The course has a few strategical
goals within our curriculum. First, it is designed as a more in-depth treatment of Greek and
Roman antiquity than I offer in a 100 level “Western Civilization” survey course. The hope is
for it to provide a more solid foundation for both majors and non-majors who want to take
upper division courses on the ancient world. Second, I am anticipating the time when the
department will no longer support the teaching of 100-level Western Civilization courses.
This year, we have begun to offer World History, and it is clear that old-heads like me who
cling to their Western Civilization courses will soon lose the battle. Since Western
Civilization classes make up 40% of my teaching load and I’m not qualified (in particular) to
teach World History, I need to find a new course to teach each semester. My hope is that
this ancient history course will be my bread and butter.
The book is pretty rich with ideas, but I found four compelling take-aways as I move forward
in my course design.


 

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1. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom's_taxonomy) Bloom’s Taxonomy. My colleague, Eric
Burin, has been using Bloom’s Taxonomy as a road map for a series of assignments in his
upper level history courses. Bloom sees learning (to simplify radically) moving from simple
forms of thinking, like remembering, to more complex, creative tasks. Bowen, too, likes the
way that Bloom thinks about learning, but supplements it with the work of
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/creating-significant-learning-experiences-an-integratedapproach-to-designing-college-courses/oclc/51009305) L. Dee Fink. Fink stresses the
institutional and personal context for engaging Bloom’s taxonomy. Collaborative learning like what I’ve done in the (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/scale-up/)
Scale-Up classroom - creates a learning experience that could help facilitate or even
accelerate the moving from one point in Bloom’s taxonomy to the next in our effort to
produce more sophisticated reasoning. (Even if you don’t buy Bloom’s whole deal, most
teachers recognize the value of moving from simple tasks to more complex tasks over the
course of a semester long class.)
2. Commenting without Grades. I was heartened to see that Bowen advocated making
comments on work without providing grades. I’ve started to do this more and more and
used it as key part of how I guide students in the Scale-Up class. In this class, students
work in 9-student teams to write a chapter for a Western Civilization textbook. I only provide
comments on the first few drafts of their chapters and only (very reluctantly) offer a tentative
grade on the penultimate draft (after succumbing to student pressure to tell them “what they
would get if they turned it in like it is now.” Generally, I give them 2 letter grades lower than I
think it deserves since these grades are meant for guidance). In general, commenting
without grades has worked to encourage more attention among students (and myself,
frankly) to the process and less on the product (i.e. the grade). Students will still complain
that I comment too harshly, but they much more frequently ask how to fix the problem in
their paper rather than asking me to reconsider my comments.
3. Low Stakes Work. The past few years, I’ve had a genuinely ambivalent relationship with
low stakes work. In my Scale-Up class I used weekly quizzes that were not worth many
points to keep students focused on tasks. While students generally found these annoying,
they found it annoying mostly because they did not want to stay on task rather than finding

 

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difficult or annoying the little exercises worth a small number of points. The downside of
low-stakes work is most students still value grades over learning and it requires me as a
faculty member to dedicate more energy to work that is not worth much in terms of grades
while still keeping a high level of consistency and attention on graded work. In other words,
student culture means that an attention to learning has to exist alongside their own interest
in grades, not in addition to it.
4. Role of Lectures. My original design for the class involved dividing the semester into 5, 5class modules. Each of these modules will include two lectures, two guided, primary source
discussions, and a short project that is begun in class. This makes time in class for lectures,
but the balance remains shifted toward discussion and creative work. While I’ve slowly
moved away from traditional lectures in classes, this past fall, I tried a lecture based upper
level course with the hope that student interest in the topic and a more flexible
“conversational” lecture style would make students excited about the topic. In general, this
approach was a failure despite having pulled it off successfully in past years. Students
today don’t have much time for in class lecturing.
So, I am thinking about preparing the 10 lectures that I’d give over the course of the
semester as podcasts and give them to the student to listen to outside of class. This would
then free up 10 class meetings per semester. As Bowen has noted, lectures can easily be
moved outside the classroom opening up class time to discussing narrative and content,
exploring sources more carefully, and more complex and possible collaborative in-class
“active” learning activities.
Now getting students to listen to podcasts is another matter entirely…


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/29/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-101/
Fri, 29 Aug 2014 10:39:03 +0000
I had a hectic week, you know, by sabbatiquoll standards. I got some writing done, did
some reading, and have an exciting trip to Bismarck for a State Historic Preservation Board
meeting tomorrow. Fortunately, the fall weather this week has made me feel more in the
academic mood.
Anyway, college football starts this weekend, the NFL next week, we’re getting into the
heart of the NASCAR and Formula 1 season, and there’s a bit of intriguing cricket right now
in Zimbabwe in the South Africa, Australia, Zimbabwe tri-series. So I have lots to do to
distract me in coming weeks (plus a relentless series of academic deadlines to keep me in
line).
To start the long weekend right, here’s a little gaggle of quick hits and varia:
• (http://www.asor.org/news/2014/07/ARS-AASOR-editorships.html) The American
Schools of Oriental Research is still looking for nominations for editors of their two book
series.
• (https://soundcloud.com/drunkarchaeology/episode2) The next installment in the Drunk
Archaeology series. Pretty cool guests!
• (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/01/troll-slayer?src=mp) Mary Beard
takes on trolls. (I remember someone said never argue with fools, ‘cause people from a
distance can’t tell who is who.)


 

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• (http://bigstory.ap.org/article/greek-archaeologists-enter-large-underground-tomb)
Apparently that tomb in Macedonia is really big.
• (http://corinthianmatters.com/2014/08/27/digitizing-isthmia-with-the-archaeologicalresource-cataloging-system-arcs/) Jon Frey introduces his Archaeological Resource
Cataloguing System (ARCS) over on David Pettegrew’s Corinthian Matters.
• (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28867884) Armenians in Myanmar (or Burma if you
kick it olde skool).
• (https://soundcloud.com/long-gone-sound/sets/alexis-zoumbas-a-lament) Three track
preview of Alexis Zoumbas on Soundcloud. Olde skool Epiriote music.
• (http://sociologicalimagination.org/archives/13385) Sociology as craft.
• (http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2018/) Beloits annual mindset list for the Class of 2018.
• (http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2014/08/25/why-im-asking-you-not-to-uselaptops/) Don’t use your laptops!
• Two good $300 headphone reviews (http://www.marco.org/headphones-closed-portable)
here and (http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-300ish-headphone/) here. For my
drachma, I prefer the Sennheiser Momentum and the B&amp;O H6 which I think are much
better balanced when driven by a good amp. The Sennies sound decent direct from a
laptop or an iPod.
• (http://ontheroofs.com/hong-kong-2/) The roofs of Hong Kong.
• (http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/game-of-thrones/) An interview with the designer of the
title sequence of King of Thrones.


 

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• (http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/content/stories-williston-boomtown-residents-comeall-over-and-they-have-tales-toil-and-riches) Some people make it in the Bakken and others
do not. (http://www.dailyyonder.com/us-study-finds-resource-curseboomtowns/2014/08/25/7502) Sometimes towns make it and sometimes they do not. As
my wife would say “shockah!”
• Two cricket videos: (http://www.cricket.com.au/video/The-ball-that-broke-Klingers-arm)
OUCH and (http://www.cricket.com.au/news-list/2014/8/26/mitchell-johnson-targetsstraight-hitting-improving-batting) SMASH.
• What I’m reading: L. Dossey, (http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2014/08/25/whyim-asking-you-not-to-use-laptops/) Peasants and Empire in Christian North Africa. Berkeley
2010.
• What I’m listening to: Half Japanese, (http://pitchfork.com/advance/522-overjoyed/)
Overjoyed; Ty Segall, Manipulator.
title="CanWePlayNow.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/canweplaynow.jpg"
alt="CanWePlayNow" width="396" height="600" border="0" />Can we play now?


 

489

A Guide to Industrial Tourism in the Bakken
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/01/a-guide-to-industrial-tourism-inthe-bakken/
Mon, 01 Sep 2014 12:16:02 +0000
During my free moments, I continue to work on my tour guide of the Bakken. I have an idea
that I’ll publish in Tom Isern’s Center for Heritage Renewal Circular Series at North Dakota
State or failing that at the Digital Press at the University of North Dakota.
title="Williston_Type2.jpeg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/williston_type2.jpeg"
alt="Williston Type2" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
I posted (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/a-tourist-guide-to-thebakken-oil-patch/) a rough version of the introduction here. Today, I’ll include the first part of
the first which runs from Minot, ND to Tioga, ND and introduces the intrepid traveler to the
Bakken oil patch. I apologize in advance for the roughness of this draft!
The main point of entry into the Bakken is the city of Minot (pop. approx. 41,000). Minot is
the county seat of Ward county and sometimes referred to as the “Gateway to the Bakken”
Minot is served by Delta airlines, has an Amtrak station, and sits astride Route 2. Route 2
serves as one of the major arteries for the oil patch. It is the northernmost east-west
highway in the U.S. and follows the route of the Great Northern Railroad and it sometimes
shares with railroad the term “The Highline.” The route runs from the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan to Everett Washington and the stretch from Minot to Williston, North Dakota is
among the most scenic drives in North Dakota.
Proceeding west along this route takes you through heart of both workforce housing and
the productive activities of the oil boom. The transformation of this corridor is historically
striking. The traffic along Route 2 picks up noticeable west of Minot, and the number of fleet

 

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pick-up trucks with corporate names stenciled on their flanks will become more common as
will tractor trailers carrying equipment west into the oil patch. The border between Ward
and Mountrail Counties is pocked with “prairie potholes” or small lakes amidst rolling hills.
Upon entering Mountrail County, the evidence for both the economic opportunities and
social and environmental challenges of natural resource extraction becomes more and more
visible among the communities in this region. These communities had only limited
experience with the potential and pitfalls of dramatic growth in population as well as day-today industrial activity and had generally settled into quiet obscurity. They had generally
experienced steady decline in population from their heights in the 1950s brought about by a
combination of agricultural prosperity and an earlier oil boom which was felt especially
further west in Williams County. A slightly interruption in the region’s population decrease
occurred during a short oil boom in the the 1980s, but this did little to interrupt the overall
pattern for the region. The first places on this itinerary to show evidence for recent
transformation are the small towns of Blaisdell (unincorporated) Palermo (ca. 82 in 2013),
Stanley (pop. 1,458 in 2010), and Ross (ca. 109) in Mountrail County (ca. 9,376 in 2013)
in Mountrail County and Tioga (ca. 1565 in 2013) in Williams County have received the
brunt of the most dramatic changes. The strange contrast between the historical lack of
development, investment, or visible change and the recent boom has drawn travelers,
journalists, tourists, and scholars, to the area. The bustle of the road east from Minot offers
just a preview of the activity of the oil patch, and the traveler might succumb to feeling like
they’re heading up the river into a Heart of Darkness.
The first distinct evidence for the economic challenges of the area comes in the area of
housing which appears before any oil activity. Within 3 miles of county line modular
workforce housing appears. On a low rise to the north of the Route 2 approximately 2.5
miles west of the county line, in a township called Egan (pop. 64), is a group of
approximately 15 “stackable” mobile housing units. The units stand 150 m to the north of
the main road and are called Egan Crest reminiscent of some affluent suburb. Each unit is
based on the dimension of standard “high-cube” shipping containers (40 ft or 12.19 m long
and 8 ft or 2.44 m wide) with 9.6 ft (2.86 m) tall roofs. These mobile, modular apartments
have been stacked two high and feature housing for 2 workers un each 20 ft crate. In the

 

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region, they’re know as “stackables” and are seen as a welcome upgrade from life in RVs or
or larger more formal workforce housing deeper in the patch. The “stackables” do not have
security around them are and apparently are well-insulated and comfortable. Their isolated
and scenic position surrounded by rugged farmland gives them a both serenity and
vulnerability.
Some 2 mile further west and immediately to the south of Route 2 is Blaisdell RV Park. This
park is the first of the informal and scrappy RV parks that make up so much workforce
housing in the Bakken. The leveled area of tan gravel is situated some 100 m south of
Route 2 and entered at its northeastern corner. Passing a somewhat forlorn play area, there
is parking in front of a administrative building with some common area. The park itself is
comprised of nearly 100 small units about half of which are small mobile homes and the
other half are RVs. In 2014, two large residences carved out of semi-trailers stood at the
south end of the rows introducing some of the innovative architectural approaches to life in
the Bakken. The units along the west side of the park are rented like hotel rooms whereas
the eastern side of the park offer lots available for rent. To the south of the park is Blaisdell
Rodeo which convenes each year in early August. The town of Blaisdell is north of Route 2
and is worth a short visit to see the school house and a wood-framed prairie church.
Continuing west along Route 2, past the turn off to Palermo …


 

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Some Quick Notes on Intensive Survey Method in the Argolid
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/02/some-quick-notes-on-intensivesurvey-method-in-the-argolid/
Tue, 02 Sep 2014 13:10:05 +0000
This weekend I finally got around to putting together my various notes from database and
GIS crunching and field observation on the (http://westernargolid.org/) Western Argolid
Regional Project. Since we’re still working to analyze finds from this season, our main body
of data derives from artifact densities. That being said, we have been able to spend a little
time figuring out what variables had the greatest influence on artifact recovery throughout
the survey area.
title="FEET.jpg" src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/feet.jpg"
alt="FEET" width="450" height="150" border="0" />
Visibility. The overall visibility in the survey area was right around 50%. Surface visibility did
not correspond with artifact densities in a linear way, as survey archaeologists have come to
expect. The highest artifact densities peaked first in units with 50% visibility and then in
units with 70%—90% densities before dropping off in units with 100% artifact densities. In
fact, units with 100% visibility produced fewer artifacts per ha then the average for all units.
This serves as a useful reminder that visibility and artifact densities are independent
variables even if the drop in density at 100% visibility hints that something strange must
occur to artifact recovery rates in fields which have been finely plowed and cleared of all
vegetation.
Surface Clast Size. We also recorded surface clast size for each field. Most of our fields
consisted of 19-75 mm coarse gravel and these fields along with those with cobble sized
(75 mm) surface clast produced the highest densities. The average visibility in these fields
falls between 41% and 53% respectively. Cobbles tended to produce more artifacts per ha
than average visibility alone might suggest, but not by a vast margin (1040 artifacts per ha

 

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rather than the 913 artifact per ha that units with 50% visibility tend to produce). Units with
coarse gravel were consistent with visibilities. Interestingly, units with fine gravel or sandy
soil produced fewer artifacts than their average visibilities would suggest. Sandy soils,
although relatively rare, had 41% visibility but produced only 390 artifacts per ha. It’s
tempting to see sandy soils as recently deposited riverine sediments, but they don’t
necessarily pattern that way across the survey area.
Background Disturbance. Recently, survey archaeologists have begun to think about
background disturbance as a major influence on artifact recovery. This term describes the
amount of objects in the soil matrix that distract the eye from the ceramic and man-made
lithic objects we are supposed to be identifying. We recorded background disturbance as
either light, moderate, or heavy (or none). Our data showed that units with moderate and
light background disturbance performed more or less consistently with their visibility. Units
with heavy, background disturbance, however, had much higher than average visibilities
(70%) and much lower than predicted artifact densities than this visibility alone would
predict. This suggests that high background disturbance might influence recovery rates in a
substantial way.
Dominant Vegetation Height. For each unit we recorded the dominant vegetation height.
This correlated strongly with surface visibility - as one might expect - with densely
overgrown units with vegetation head high or higher (!) having average visibility in the teens
(18% and 17% respectively), and waist high vegetation averaged a paltry 33% visibility.
Interestingly, head high or higher vegetation produced lower artifact densities than
suggested by visibility alone, but we’ve long reckoned that our visibility scale runs to
imprecise with very low visibility fields. Units with vegetation at knee height coincided
produced densities that coincided with expected visibility, but units with ankle height
vegetation produced more artifacts than one might expect from visibility alone.
These short studies demonstrate that artifact recovery rates are influenced by a range of
variables present in the landscape. Using visibility and artifact density as a baseline for
understanding artifact recovery allowed us to recognize the influence of a range of variables
that impacted field walker performance. The highest recovery rates appear to come from

 

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units with cobble or coarse gravel, ankle high vegetation, plowed, loose soils, and light or
moderate background disturbance producing visibilities of between 70% and 90%.


 

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Slow Archaeology Draft
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/slow-archaeology-draft/
Wed, 03 Sep 2014 12:07:49 +0000
isPermaLink="false) http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/?p=4427</guid>
The past two or three weeks have been dedicated to working on a draft of my slow
archaeology essay for an issue of
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/a-special-issue-of-north-dakotaquarterly-slow/) North Dakota Quarterly that I am co-editing. The paper isn’t due until
October 1st, but this is my first attempt at “creative non-fiction” writing for publication. I
haven’t added citations yet, and I think I’ll rework the second part of my introduction to lead
the reader a bit more to the third section of the paper, but this is core of what I’d like to
argue.
As readers of this blog know, I’ve been working my way through these ideas for about a
year now, and they certainly relate to the ideas of craft and archaeology that I’m seeing
discussed by many of my colleagues. Hopefully this short essay adds some context to my
perspective on these issues.
As with all of my working drafts, I’d love to get feedback on this from anyone (and
everyone).
If the paper doesn’t show up below this sentence (and I’m having some issues with Scribd,
Wordpress, and Chrome lately), (http://www.scribd.com/doc/238516121/SlowArchaeology) just click here.
[scribd id=238516121 key=key-pzGNjRdkG5K9hwCk6v1q mode=scroll]


 

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Communities of Practice in Late Antique Roman North Africa
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/communities-of-practice-in-lateantique-roman-north-africa/
Thu, 04 Sep 2014 13:52:49 +0000
One the best things about being a sabbatiquol is getting a chance to make a dent in my
backlog of reading. This week, I pushed on through (http://www.worldcat.org/title/peasantand-empire-in-christian-north-africa/oclc/673517997) Leslie Dossey’s Peasant and Empire
in Christian North Africa (Berkeley 2010). I am only 5 years late!
As you might guess, I read the book as I am collecting my thoughts and citation for
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/26/late-roman-economy-andformation-processes/) a short article with David Pettegrew comparing evidence for
connectivity in the Eastern Corinthia (via EKAS data) and the site of Pyla-Koutsopetria on
Cyprus (via PKAP data). David and I will, more or less, follow current trends in discussions
of Late Roman trade, but trying to find the fine line between older arguments that recognize
most ancient economic activity as state sponsored and more recent arguments that see the
economic structure of the ancient world outlined in a series of relationships between
interdependent, but relatively autonomous microregions. Juxtaposing these two
understandings, of course, implies more of a dichotomy than actually exists. As I argued last
week, there is an issue of visibility that complicates matters. Economic activity that took
place at a scale sufficiently large to be visible was likely mediated by the state. In fact, most
of our typologies of ceramics - particularly transport amphora from Late Antiquity - focus on
vessels used for the distribution of agricultural goods on a very large scale. In fact, the scale
alone the massive quantities of highly visible Late Roman amphoras compromises an
romantic (and frankly silly) notion of an economy powered exclusively by small scale
cabboteurs carrying a few amphoras from each port of call.
Dossey’s book sets out one way to understand the relationship between individual
communities and large-scale trade in the Mediterranean by arguing that indigenous

 

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communities (i.e. communities of not fully Romanized “peasants” in imperial North Africa)
acquired growing access the diagnostic Late Roman material over the course of Late
Antiquity. This access reflected both change in the status of peasants and, more
importantly, the change in consumption patterns. The access peasants had to material
associated in earlier periods with Roman or thoroughly Romanized populations of North
Africa reflected decisions on the part of the Roman policy and peasant communities. The
Roman and Romanized populations depended upon, the consumption of red slip pottery, as
a marker of distinction and elite status during the initial centuries of Roman rule in North
Africa. This occurred because the Romans undermined the traditional land tenure, village
settlement structure, and production patterns in the region and drew peasants onto larger
estates where the Romans could exert considerably more control over peasant
consumption patterns through social pressures and the increasingly monetized nature of the
Roman economy that focused on production for urban elites and export.
For Dossey, then, Roman rule led not to depopulation - as some have argued - but the
collapse of an identifiable rural signature for the non-Roman population. The
“reappearance” of the rural population in Late Antiquity occurred not because peasants
began to reoccupy the countryside, as some have argued, but because of the breakdown of
Roman social, economic, and - at least during the 3rd century - political organization. This
breakdown had an economic impact in that it motivated the redevelopment of rural industry
as it sought to fill the gap left by the larger disrupted economic relationships. The
development of rural industry and the breakdown of traditional social and political order also
created space for changes in peasant consumption. Not only did peasants have greater
access to material, but they also took the opportunity to subvert weakening social pressure
by adopting increasingly Roman habits.
While she doesn’t articulate it specifically in this way, Dossey describes Roman and Late
Roman consumption patterns (and attendant archaeological visibility) in North Africa as a
function of communities of practice. I’ve been messing with these ideas over the last year or
so as a way to understand variation in Late Roman ceramic assemblages across the island
of Cyprus. Our site at Pyla-Koutsopetria, for example, showed a far greater variety of
imported fine wares than, say,

 

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(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/analyzing-residual-ceramics-in-afill-deposit/) the site of Polis-Chrysochous on the western side of the island. Both sites
showed signs of 6th century economic prosperity, but it manifest in substantially different
assemblages of pottery.
The idea that assemblages are not exclusively representative of access to materials, but
also represent decisions by communities adds a level of complexity to my own tendency
toward systemic arguments. Both the Eastern Corinthia and Pyla-Koutsopetria are areas
that show significant engagement with the economic power of the Late Roman state. At the
same time, both areas show distinct assemblages of table and fine ware that hint at the
workings of communities there.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/05/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-102/
Fri, 05 Sep 2014 12:19:47 +0000
It’s in the 40s this morning in North Dakotaland, and it seems pretty clear that the “Frog
Days” of summer are behind us and fall has sprung. School has started and everyone
seems a bit more busy this time of year with class prep, grant applications, college football,
the NFL, and baseball all overlapping in a maelstrom of deadlines.
Hopefully, some varia and quick hits will provide a chance to slow down for a few and relax.
• (http://nataliavogeikoff.com/2014/09/01/unbalanced-academics-scribblers-and-an-oddchristmas/) Archaeologists as essayists and evidence that people wrote even when they
didn’t have to write back in the day.
• (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-29028009) I’ve been thinking about
the ancient liturgy as magic for years, and this new papyrus only helps my (unpublished)
arguments.
• (http://amoriumurbarch.blogspot.com/) You can follow along with the excavations at
Amorium.
• (http://greece.greekreporter.com/2014/09/01/amphipolis-new-photos-released/) Some
more photos of the fancy, newly-discovered, tomb in Macedonian.
• (http://www.c-span.org/video/?321162-7/book-discussion-1177-bc) I was just thinking
that Eric Cline’s new book hadn’t received much publicity.

(https://www.academia.edu/3738686/Temples_Baths_Churches_and_Pipes_Water_Mana

 

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gement_in_Post-Classical_Ephesos) Water in Ephesus.
• (http://savageminds.org/2014/09/03/what-archaeologists-do/) Media archaeology by
some very clever archaeologists.
• (http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/philology-by-james-turnerexplains-what-happened-to-a-discipline-that-flourished/2014/08/20/0cf83c66-225a11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html) Philology.
• (http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/deep-frieze-meaning_803982.html?nopager=1)
The Parthenon in the Weekly Standard.
• (http://macrostieartcenter.org/touching-photographs-ryan-stander/) Some very
archaeological photography from Ryan Stander.
• (http://chronicle.com/article/History-Jobs-Dip-for-aSecond/148613/?cid=at&amp;utm_source=at&amp;utm_medium=en) Fewer history jobs
this year than last.
• (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140903-syria-antiquities-lootingculture-heritage-archaeology/) Working to save Syria’s antiquities.
• (https://medium.com/message/lets-talk-about-margins-14646574c385) The importance
of book margins.
• (http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/08/photographer-takes-pictures-of-artistsdesks-clutt.html) Artists’ desks.
• (http://architizer.com/blog/celebrate-louis-sullivans-birthday-with-10-of-his-must-knowbuildings/?utm_content=buffer76ba4&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.
com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer) Louis Sullivan’s 158th Birthday.


 

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• (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igeUz4cjB5w) Kids LOVE Vegemite.
• What I’m reading: M. Johnson, (http://www.amazon.com/Lives-Ruins-ArchaeologistsSeductive-Rubble/dp/0062127187/) Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive
Lure of Human Rubble. 2014.
• (And what I’m also reading: P. Bang, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/roman-bazaar-acomparative-study-of-trade-and-markets-in-a-tributary-empire/oclc/227031720) Roman
Bazaar: A Comparative Study of Trade and Markets in a Tributary Empire. Cambridge 2008.
• What I’m listening to: Portugal. The Man, Evil Friends.
title="IMG_1949.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/img_1949.jpg" alt="IMG
1949" width="450" height="600" border="0" />Milo at Repose


 

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Garage Archaeology
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/08/garage-archaeology/
Mon, 08 Sep 2014 13:35:19 +0000
This weekend, Susie and I cleaned out our little one-bay garage so it can store her sports
car during the winter months. It produced two fun things. One is that it provided a little
study collection of locally available bricks
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/08/13/backyard-archaeology/) for my
excavation of my backyard next fall. It also was a good little architectural study of a very
simple building.
title="P1090003.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p1090003.jpg"
alt="P1090003" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The bricks in the garage were not particularly remarkable. The previous owner of the house
was an avid gardener and landscaper who installed some lovely sunken paths around the
house. She used spoliated bricks from around town to give the paths a rusticated look. She,
also, had access to the local historical society’s storeroom so we’re pretty sure that she
grabbed at least some bricks that originated from important buildings around town.
title="P1080929.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p10809291.jpg"
alt="P1080929" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The harder fired and more modern bricks are on the right side. The brick with the alternating
08080 pattern is clearly marked as made in Canada. They are almost certainly made over
the last 40 years and are very hard fired.


 

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title="P1080932.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p1080932.jpg"
alt="P1080932" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
(http://www.mnbricks.com/michael-j-moran) The softer brick with the clear stamp reading
M.J. Moran is probably late 19th or first decade of the 20th century when Michael Moran
was involved in a range of large construction projects in town. He eventually joined with the
Dinnie Brothers and some other investors in the Red River Brick Corporation of Grand
Forks.
title="P1080930.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p1080930.jpg"
alt="P1080930" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The three bricks on the far left side of the photograph are very soft and range in color from
buff to pink. They probably date to the 1890s or the very early 20th century, and suspect
they were made somewhere on the Red River.
The garage dates, probably to the first half of the 20th century and is currently being
compromised by a large elm tree. A superficial cleaning of the garage revealed two phases.
The first phase consisted of a 16 ft x 12 ft garage with an 8 foot door on its west side. The
garage sat on a slightly elevated concrete soccle. The concrete floor does not join the
soccle. At some point the garage was extended 4 ft to west. The added 4 ft is visible in
both the original soccles in the current garage and in the construction of the roof and
walls.
title="P1090005.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p1090005.jpg"
alt="P1090005" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1090010.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p10900101.jpg"

 

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alt="P1090010" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1090018.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p1090018.jpg"
alt="P1090018" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
We got thinking about why someone would extend their garage 4ft. We concluded that the
addition predated the current siding on the garage which looks to date from the 1950s or
1960s. So the garage extension must date to before then. We wondered whether the
extension could date to the 1950s when the average length of a car began to grow. It is
worth noting that a 16 ft garage would have not been long enough for many full-sized cars
in the early 1960s which often were over 190 inches (almost 16 ft) long. Fords, for example,
throughout much of the 1930s and 1940s had a wheelbase of a mere 112 inches an
overall length of not much more, by the late 1940s and 1950s, the overall length had grown
to close to 200 inches.
Finally, I was taking a few photographs of the area that we hope to excavate with a little
scale. This overwhelmed our new housemate who couldn’t resist taking the scale for a little
romp around the backyard and a spirited game of keep away.
title="Milarchaeology2.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/milarchaeology2.jpg"
alt="Milarchaeology2" width="450" height="475" border="0" />


 

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Writing about Industrial Tourism in the Bakken Oil Patch
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/09/writing-about-industrial-tourism-inthe-bakken-oil-patch/
Tue, 09 Sep 2014 13:04:08 +0000
Last night my colleague Richard Rothaus sent me
(http://www.prairiebizmag.com/event/article/id/20736/) a link to a story about how Tourism
North Dakota is hoping to attract international tourists to the state. Apparently these tours
will give international visitors an opportunity to have a real American experience channeling
equal parts red state rhetoric and Sherwood Anderson. This all sets up nicely my ongoing
effort to write a guide to “industrial tourism” in North Dakota with a focus on the Bakken.
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve used spare moments to work on my tourist guide and
I’m making progress in describing various places in the Bakken. As with most of my
spontaneous writing projects, my plan was half-baked. So now I’m stuck with 5000 words
that provides no clear indication of what I’m trying to do. At the same time, the process of
writing these words has at least given me a few ideas for what I should start to try to do…
So here are those ideas.
1. Themes and Organization. From the start I had this foggy idea that I should write this
tourism guide as a series of routes like the classic Blue Guides. Each route begins with a
town and ends at another town. Detours from the route are designated with a lower case
“a” or “b”. The advantage of routes is that they lead a traveler through the landscape rather
than just identifying landmarks.
The upside to this approach is that it provides me with the opportunity to link together
similar types of sites or juxtapose contrasts. For example, leading a traveler through the
workforce housing to the east of Tioga and the Hess Gas Plant on the horizon provides a
nice contrast to the quaint downtown surrounded by residential neighborhoods and

 

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watched over by the grain elevator and church steeples.
This bit of cleverness aside, I’ve struggled to organize my routes according to themes. Part
of the goal of the tourist guide is to create a more thoughtful visitor to the Bakken and to
challenge the seemingly obvious conclusions about work and life in the oil patch. In some
way, I want to encourage a traveler to understand the
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/the-bakken-as-taskscape/)
Bakken “taskscape” through their own movement. Presenting every aspect of the Bakken
taskcape on every route will be overwhelming (at first) and then redundant. I’m struggling to
organize travel thematically.
2. Characters. One of the great thing that I’ve encountered by
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/work-camps/) working in the Bakken
is the fantastic characters that oil work has drawn to our state. With few exceptions,
newcomers to the Bakken have been willing to share their stories, and even when they
aren’t, they remain colorful characters. The stern-faced banker-type with reflective
sunglasses who threatened to “smash my camera if I tried to take a photo” while his
buddies assured me that “he has reasons” was as interesting as the Louisiana transplant
who chatted with us in front of his decrepit trailer home and gushed about how kind North
Dakotans were.
The issue is, do I include these characters on the routes or do I add them as little side
blocks, set apart from the main text? Or do I leave the characters out completely and let the
landscape itself do most of the talking?
3. Food and Lodging. I’m a creature of habit, particular when it comes to my research. My
colleagues and I tended to stay at the same places in the Bakken every time through and
frequent, as much as possible, the same eateries. So, on the one hand, it will be difficult for
me to speak about every lodging opportunity and cafe in the region. On the other hand, part
of the charm of “dining in the Bakken” is the fluidity of the restaurant market. Food trucks
and short-lived businesses represent one of the most interesting things about the Bakken
foodscape, but it makes a tourist guide difficult. The number of hotels and price of lodging

 

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makes describing all the options an expensive and time consuming prospect. My feeling is
that there are better ways to learn about where to stay online.
4. Style. One the things that I’ve been working on this fall is my “creative non-fiction voice.” I
worked on it a bit with the piece
(http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/why-we-dug-atari/375702/3/) I
co-wrote for The Atlantic’s website. I’m trying to develop it through my little
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/slow-archaeology-draft/) “Slow
Archaeology” essay (and I need to work more on that today), and my hope is that the tourist
guide will be my first “longer than a blog post or article” foray to the edges of academic
writing.)
I’ll be honest, I am not sure what I’m doing. I’m reading some creative non-fiction (for
example, a prepublication draft of (http://www.amazon.com/Lives-Ruins-ArchaeologistsSeductive-Rubble/dp/0062127187/) Marilyn Johnson’s new book on archaeology and
(https://www.worldcat.org/title/do-not-sell-at-any-price-the-wild-obsessive-hunt-for-theworlds-rarest-78-rpm-records/oclc/863695550) Amanda Petrusich’s
(https://www.worldcat.org/title/do-not-sell-at-any-price-the-wild-obsessive-hunt-for-theworlds-rarest-78-rpm-records/oclc/863695550) Do Not Sell at Any Price as well as some
compelling essays by (http://www.amazon.com/Things-That-Are-AmyLeach/dp/1571313516/) Amy Leach in her Things That Are) and I’ve been trying to figure
out how to make my own language and style more accessible without watering down the
ideas. I hope that the dear readers of this blog, as well as some colleagues in my Bakken
endeavors.
5. Irony. One thing that I’ve been battling against is my own outsized love of the ironic. The
very idea of industrial tourism captures the kind of counterintuitive thought play that I enjoy,
but I also recognize that not everyone finds this stuff amusing. I understand, for example,
that many people in the Bakken are working hard (harder and with greater risk than I’ve ever
worked). I also understand that longtime residents of the Bakken counties are genuinely
traumatized and mourn the changes taking place to their once familiar communities. I also
know that environmentalists have a real stake in what’s going on out west, as do worker

 

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safety advocates, Native American communities, small town administrators, and scholars,
journalists, and entrepreneurs.
More than that, as the article on North Dakota Tourism has indicated, many folks in my
adopted home state are deeply committed to a post-ironic position. To give a flippant
example,they wear trucker hats with farm logos on them not to be hipsters, but to take a
hipster meme and infuse it with genuine sentiment that nevertheless remains open to a kind
of productive ambiguous. I don’t want to trivialize their intellectual, political, economic, or
environment commitments for the sake of a wry smile or some smug ironic posturing.
I do, however, think that our current spate of “triumph of the human spirit” voyeurism,
cookie-cutter outrage and, above all else, FEAR of the Bakken has shaped how the world
sees this landscape. My goal is to inject a playful, but critical dose of skepticism into this
conversation by translating our fascination with the Bakken to a genre intrinsically
dependent upon the wondrous gaze.
I hope I figure out how to do this before this guide is too long to fix!


 

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Innovation and Teaching
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/innovating-in-teaching/
Wed, 10 Sep 2014 13:08:26 +0000
I spent some time yesterday reading over (http://arts-sciences.und.edu/strategicplan/index.cfm) a draft version of the College of Arts and Sciences new strategic plan. It’s
riveting as you might imagine and filled with talk about innovative teaching.
Innovative teaching terrifies me. First off, innovation is relative. Something is only new
compared to something that’s old. Secondly, it’s a slippery slope, and as we’ve seen in the
consumer sector, innovation seems to beget more innovation, and fixing something that’s
not broken for the sake of innovation is not useful. Finally, innovation does not mean better
or more effective.
In any event, I am clever enough to read between the lines in things like strategic plan.
Much of its content is not meant for me, but for other administrators. At the same time, I’m
struggling to come up with clever new approaches to a new course that I’m developing.
The course is The Ancient World and it is targeted at the 200 level which is a step up from
the introductory level and designed to prepare students for upper level course work in
Classics and Ancient History.
As of now, the course have 5, 2.5 week modules: Archaic and Classical Greece, Hellenistic
World, The Roman Republic, The Roman Empire, and Late Antiquity. That’s 25 classes over
a 30 class (15 week) semester, and it gives me time to miss a day or two for travel, snow,
midterm, introduction, and review classes.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, I plan to provide most of my lectures via podcast. I’ve
done this in History 101 and found that students are no less likely to listen to a podcast
than read an expensive (and no less boring) textbook. That leaves me 5 class per module to

 

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get things done. After reading about
“(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/teaching-learning-andresistance/) active (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/28/teachingthursday-teaching-naked-and-new-class-design/) learning” or similar approaches to
improving student engagement for the last few years and experimenting with group work in
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/scale-up/) UND’s Scale-Up room, I’m
leaning toward adopting similar methods in this class. Leaving one class each module to
talk about the lecture, to reinforce key content points, and to allow students to ask
questions about the lecture, I have four classes for active learning activities per module.
I understand that backward course design is all the rage these days, but, in the spirit of
innovation, I’ve tended to look beyond it to the next thing. I prefer learning goals to develop
organically over the course of the class and to vary between individuals rather than being
dictated in such a way that reinforces the student-instructor dichotomy. 200 level courses
have the added challenge of attracting a wide range of students at different levels so
traditional goals like improving student writing tend to encompass a wide range of actual
outcomes. Some students are working on rather fine stylistic and rhetorical points while
others struggle with grammar and basic argument.
That being said, I envision the course as a basic introduction to method, sources, and
arguments. Moving with some facility between various media is central to what ancient
historians do. Our source material is so relatively limited and the methods necessary to
understand various sources critically are relatively specialized, it is crucial to become familiar
with these challenges even at the introductory level, but I’d like my students to at least be
familiar with the methodological challenges associated with particular sources and
approaches, including: ancient chronology, archaeology, art history, and the critical reading
of ancient sources (in translation). So for each module there will be not only different
sources, but different kinds of sources.
For the Archaic to Classic periods, traditional history and Homer will provide a familiar start
among texts. Thucydides and Herodotus provide opportunities to talk about chronology in
antiquity. For the Hellenistic world, I will probably introduce archaeological and architectural

 

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sources from the Eastern Mediterranean. For the Roman Republic, we’ll likely return to
textual sources and perhaps dip our toes into prosopography. For the Roman Empire, we’ll
consider the archaeological evidence for Romanization and look at epigraphy as a source.
Late Antiquity, then presents an opportunity to bring together the various sources and
methods that we’ve studied over the course of the semester. Discussion of sources should
represent 2 days of the 5 available for each module.
That leaves two course periods for group work each module. My plan now is to develop 5
group projects that draw upon the sources and methods that they’ve learned and
synthesizes it in some way. These synthetic project will push students to get move toward
higher levels of thinking within (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom's_taxonomy) Bloom’s
taxonomy. They’ll also be fortified with individual work that depends on skills developed in
the group context. The class will have a final, a midterm, and at least one short, synthetic
paper.
This is largely an approach to teaching brought over from my experience in the Scale-up
room and designed as much to improve student engagement as to advance particular
learning goals or skills. (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/a-reviseddraft-teaching-history-in-a-scale-up-classroom/) It draws on ideas that have been floating
about higher education for the last 30 years, if not a century. I wonder whether they’ll qualify
as innovative?


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-103/
Fri, 12 Sep 2014 12:08:05 +0000
It is SHOCKING that today is Friday. When not a sabbatiquol Fridays seemed like mythical
days, infinitely far in the future, and never really arriving (until it was too late and it was
Sunday evening and you realized that you somehow missed both Friday and Saturday). Now
Fridays arrive with alarming regularity.
And it’s winter here officially. I did miss the 72 hours of fall last week sometime, but it’s 36
this morning and the temperatures are falling.
So I’ll do what I’ve done on winter Fridays: I’ll urge you all to curl up by the fire with a lovely
warm beverage and read some Friday Varia and Quick hits.
• (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/new-underwater-technology-explores-byzantinepast.aspx?PageID=238&amp;NID=71441&amp;NewsCatID=375) Byzantine archaeology
underwater.
• (http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/09/08/345561110/archaeologists-chaseprivate-funds-to-preserve-greek-antiquities) Private funds for archaeology and preservation.
• (http://www.bmcreview.org/2014/09/20140911.html) This is quite a book review.
• (https://www.isdistribution.com/BookDetail.aspx?aId=41341) This book looks exciting,
you know, if you’re into Late Roman and Byzantine Cyprus!


 

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• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/06/world/europe/since-nazi-occupation-a-fist-raisedin-resistance.html?_r=0) Manolis Glezos now has a seat in the European Parliament.
• (https://medium.com/@cshirky/why-i-just-asked-my-students-to-put-their-laptops-away7f5f7c50f368) Put your laptops away.
• (http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/walking-helps-us-think) Walking helps us
think.
• (http://www.elizabethspiers.com/here-i-go-again-on-my-own/) I guess people are
blogging again.
• (http://gawker.com/why-professors-love-to-complain-1630567741) This is a nice
summary of every article about being a professor that read this fall.
• (http://chronicle.com/article/Oh-the-Humanities-/148689/) What? The Humanities have
thrived despite the recession?
• (http://www.themillions.com/2014/09/the-magic-building-where-english-majors-workmaking-sense-of-creative-writings-job-problem.html) Talking to your students about their
future employment.
• (https://chroniclevitae.com/news/698-want-work-life-balance-get-a-puppy) For some,
taking care of a dog is part of work/life balance.
• (https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140909103307-36792-5-social-medialessons-from-the-dark-side) This is what happens if you use one of Kyle Cassidy’s photos
without his permission.
• (http://kottke.org/14/09/apocalypse-pooh) Apocalypse Pooh.


 

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• (http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/09/what-if-your-small-town-suddenlygot-huge/379536/) Watford City in the Atlantic. (It’s not all true).
• What I’m reading: Erik Anderson, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/poetics-oftrespass/oclc/647377958) The Poetics of Trespass. 2010. (Another selection from the
Kostis Kourelis book club.)
• What I’m listening to: U2, Songs of Innocence; Brian Eno and Karl Hyde, High Life.
title="IMG_1991.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/img_1991.jpg" alt="IMG
1991" width="450" height="600" border="0" />PAY ATTENTION


 

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Auctioning Atari: Archaeology, Ethics, and Contemporary Practice
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/auctioning-atari-archaeologyethics-and-contemporary-practice/
Mon, 15 Sep 2014 13:37:28 +0000
This week my social media inbox has filled with news on two auctions. The first auction
involves the “Treasure of Harageh” being auctioned at Bonhams for the Archaeological
Institute of America’s St. Louis chapter. Auctioning antiquities is, needless to say, an issue
of concern for both the national body of the Archaeological Institute of America and
archaeologists everywhere. (http://www.archaeological.org/news/advocacy/16847) The
AIA seems to have been caught off guard about this and we can hope, formulating a
response. Many archaeologists are dismayed and disappointed.
At the same time, I’ve been receiving (http://www.themarysue.com/et-atari-cartridgesmuseum/) daily updates on (http://www.avclub.com/article/800-those-exhumed-atarigames-are-sale-online209165?utm_source=Twitter&amp;utm_medium=SocialMarketing&amp;utm_campaign=D
efault:1:Default) the impending auction of (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/09/city-ofalamogordo-votes-to-auction-off-800-ataricartridges/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%
3A+arstechnica%2Findex+%28Ars+Technica+-+All+content%29) Atari games excavated
this past spring from the Alamogordo landfill. As readers of this blog know, I was involved as
an observer and consultant (in the broadest sense of the word) on these excavation which
were funded and seemingly directed as part of a documentary film. The excavated games
are property of the City of Alamogordo and it had been their intention from the start to sell
some of the 1200 games excavated from the landfill to defray the costs associated with
hosting the documentary crew and opening a long-closed landfill. The auction of priceless
Egyptian antiquities has caused more alarm than the auctioning of some Atari games.
Perhaps it is because the city of Alamogordo has pledged 400 games or so to museums.
While we were onsite we set aside an assemblage of important artifacts for the city under

 

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the guidance of video game expert (http://raifordguins.com/) Raiford Guins and marked
them as potential museum worthy artifacts.
title="P1050172.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p1050172.jpg"
alt="P1050172" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
These two events bring to the fore issues of archaeological ethics. I’ve generally considered
ethical debates in archaeology, at their best, a kind of benign parlor game. The big picture
of bad things to do and good things to do is pretty well much familiar to anyone who has
spent any time in the discipline. It is not good for a group associated with the
Archaeological Institute of America to be auctioning off antiquities. That much is clear. The
grey area around the fringes, however, where serious ethical work needs to happen, tends
to realm of bombast and handwringing. For example, it is bad that large parts of Syria’s
archaeological heritage is under threat, but it is far worse that over 50% of the country’s
population is now refugees. Complaining about the former is fine from a professional
standpoint, as long as it never threatens to drown out the latter. Or worse, in our rush to
decry the evils of looting, we somehow blame the victims of this country’s horrible civil war.
It’s fine to criticize Indian Jones as a bad archaeologist because
(http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2014/09/09/why-archeologists-hate-indiana-jones/)
he obviously ran-roughshod over the German excavation permit in Egypt, but we shouldn’t
forget that he did so in order to save the world from evils of Nazi domination. I was not
comfortable with the decision to (http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/back-from-yetanother-globetrotting-adventure-indiana-jones-checks-his-mail-and-discovers-that-his-bidfor-tenure-has-been-denied) deny Dr. Jones tenure, in part, on the basis of his ethical
decision making, and I recognize that pressures to forfeit his finds to
“(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoy4_h7Pb3M) top men” made it very difficult for him
to publish promptly.
Fortunately, the auctioning of Atari games relates neither to the massive displacement of
innocent civilians or global domination by a genocidal fascist regime. It does, however,
dance, albeit more merrily, along the borders of archaeological ethics. Over the last week,

 

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I’ve made a list of things that concern me about the the auctioning of Atari games by the city
of Alamogordo.
1. Archaeology of the Contemporary World. Over the past few years, I’ve become
increasingly interested in archaeology of the contemporary world. This sub-discipline has
focused on applying archaeological methods to contemporary contexts. As a result, we
have expanded the definition of archaeological artifact to the point where it exceeds any
legally recognized status in the world. Atari games buried in the 1980s are now
archaeological artifacts not because of their age, but because of the systematic scrutiny
that defined their contemporary context. If publishing an artifact without proper
archaeological provenience or an object for sale runs the risk of using our disciplinary
knowledge to imparting value in the antiquities market, then the presence of archaeologists
at the Atari dig and our documentation of those finds serves a similar purpose for the
upcoming auction. This is something that I’ve worried about a good bit. Whether we like it
or not, the academic publication of objects and object types affects their value, contributes
to their desirability, and fuels the market. An Atari game is pretty mundane and common, but
they are limited commodities just like Roman lamps, amphoras, and black figure vases. By
participating in the excavation of objects that will go to auction, we have used our
disciplinary knowledge to stimulate and expand the market for a finite resource.
2. Archaeology and Corporate World. Hardly a month goes by without some country
demanding the repatriation on an artifact legally or illegally removed from its territory or the
territory of some predecessor state. In my reading of the ethical issues surrounding these
disputes, archaeologists are generally less interested in the specific legal arguments related
to the rights of a particular nation state, and more interested in the role that objects play in
the preserving evidence for the past at a particular site or in a particular context. In other
words, it is the cultural situation of objects proximate to their place of discovery that fuels
archaeological calls for repatriation. As for the countries calling for repatriation, I get the
sense that the calls remains a post-colonial “weapon of the weak” that seeks to redress
wrongs conducted and perpetuated by colonialist powers. The archaeologist, in many
cases, is a representative of these colonialist powers, and our willingness to sanction the
sometimes arbitrary demands of states calling for repatriation relates as much to guilt over

 

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past asymmetries of power as a genuine belief that objects deserve to be in a particular
place or context.
The excavation and auction of Atari games represents an interesting case study in that the
context for the games - a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico - was mediated by a series of
corporate contexts that include the original production of the games by Atari, their shipment
to New Mexico, and their burial at a private landfill. More than that, the excavation was
funded, at least in large part, by Microsoft, and the most interested parties had histories and
contacts with all these companies. While Atari as a company barely exists, it did make me
wonder whether in the near future, as companies rapidly displace nation states as both
global legal powers and sources of culture and identity, then will they have a genuine claim
as custodians of our collective past?
3. Data and Objects. It is heartening to know that many of the excavated games will find
their way to museum collections. It is a bit odd, however, that no one has asked us for a
formal report on the excavations. In other words, the excavated status of these objects and
their archaeological context is assumed. This got me thinking about the relationship
between finds and data in general. Every summer, when I depart the Mediterranean, I leave
behind a dusty storeroom full of pot sherds with a hard drive full of images, descriptions,
and descriptions of context. We do our best to make sure that the local archaeological
authorities have copies of both our data and any analysis that we conducted. It made me
realize, however, that the objects as objects have very little value to my work once we’ve
squeezed the necessary information from the artifacts and stored them safely away.
The rise of New Archaeology and the shift from an art historical fetishization of the artifact to
data driven analysis has slowly eroded the value of the artifact itself and shifted the
significance to the methods used in analysis. I got to wondering whether this perpetuated
colonial practices where archaeologists arrive in a place, take what they need (in this case
data rather than objects), and leave the desiccated remains behind for the host country to
curate. As the film company and the hardy team of archaeologists left New Mexico with the
footage and data that they wanted, the town of Alamogordo was left with a assemblage of


 

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artifacts.
While it doesn’t make me happy to know that the city will auction these excavated artifacts, I
wonder whether this archaeological grey areas will continue to grow as our definition of the
past and the discipline of archaeology changes.


 

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More Pallets, More Pallets!!
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/more-pallets-more-pallets/
Tue, 16 Sep 2014 13:09:13 +0000
I finally got around to reading (http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/52/hodes.php)
Jacob Hodes’ “Whitewood Under Siege” in the Winter 2013/2014 issue of
(http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/52/hodes.php) Cabinet (primarily because my
distracting reading purveyor Kostis Kourelis sent it to me). The article explores the
contentious and combative world of the global pallet market. In around 4000 words, it
clarified some of my lingering questions about pallets and added another component to my
growing interest in pallets in the landscape.
First, the article clarified some of the early history of pallets in the U.S. According to Hodes
pallets found their current form by 1925, but did not see widespread use until WWII when
the US military ordered millions of pallets to move supplies overseas. That makes
(http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/285528) a photo from
the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Walker Evans Collection particularly interesting.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/trailers-florida-and-spring-break/) I
posted it last winter. The photo dates to 1941 and shows a small “toaster type” RV parked
in a Sarasota, Florida. Clearly visible is a line of pallets serving as a deck and another pallet
leaning against the trailer’s side. The use of pallets in this way continues into the 21st
century, but this 1941 photograph shows that as early as pallets were in use to move bulk
goods around the world, they began to be used for secondary purposes.
title="NewImage.png"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/newimage.png"
alt="NewImage" width="450" height="351" border="0" />API Pallets in Grand Forks, ND
The next important thing that I learned from this article is how the pallet ecosystem works.
As my regular readers know, I’ve been thinking about how the Late Roman economy

 

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functions in light of the massive assemblage of Late Roman amphoras at the site of PylaKoutsopetria. I have tended to assume that large concentrations of similar containers
represents the administrative and economic power of the state, largely because small scale
exchange practices and producers have tended to be dynamic and contingent and to leave
a less less visible signature in the landscape. The repair, manufacture, recycling, and
redistribution of traditional wooden pallets is an open ecosystem with numerous small-scale
participants facilitating the circulation of pallets around the world (with some notable
exceptions like the Australian company (http://www.chep.com/why_chep/pooling/) CHEP
who has demonstrated a willingness to go to war to protect its “closed pool” practices of
pallet circulation). So, if I owned a company in Grand Forks, ND, I’d go to my local pallet
company - API Pallets of Grand Forks - to procure pallets to ship my goods. API also, I
assume, purchases pallets from companies at a fixed price (typically less than $10 per
pallet) or individual recyclers. They then repair or recondition the pallets and sell them back
to the market. Pallets that cannot be repaired are recycled almost entirely (at least by API);
the wood becomes mulch and the nails are recycled. What is fascinating to me is that this
entire system functions in a decentralized way (unlike the CHEP closed pool) with each
community having a depot for pallets that ensure their repair and recirculation.
Of course such a decentralized system can only function if there are significant pressures
present to ensure the maintenance of standards. Pallets have to fit inside trucks, on
airplanes, into rail cars. They have to be close to the same strength so that they can be
stacked with goods and treated in a similar way. (http://www.apipallet.com/pallet-basics101) Even allowing for some significant variation, wood pallets are standardized, despite
being produced on a small scale around the world, through the combined pressures of
regularized shipping practices and (http://www.palletcentral.com/) a trade association (note
for example how many pallet companies have the similar
“(http://www.mockpallet.com/Pallets_101.html) Pallets 101” page on their websites).
This standardization, of course, came about in part because of the needs of the US military
to supply troops deployed globally.
This got me thinking about the manufacturing of standardized amphora shapes, like Late
Roman 1 amphoras. By all accounts, the production of these amphoras occurred at various

 

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sites on Cyprus and Cilicia. Their standard shape and sized functioned to facilitate the
movement of supplies through a particular region. The organization of these producers and
suppliers was decentralized and the only pressure to standardize came through the
practices associated with moving goods. This is not a novel observation, but I suspect that
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/containers-and-connectivity/)
Andrew Bevan would have found this parallel useful in his recent article on containerization.
One last observation, I did some quick web searching and noticed that Williston does not
seem to have a center for the recycling, repair, and redistribution of pallets. There may be
one in Minot and Dickinson, and there certainly is one in Bismarck. As with so many things
in North Dakota, these core services and infrastructure tend to be clustered in the Red River
Valley (for now) and particularly in places like West Fargo which serves as a region
redistribution hub for much of the area.
I think a field trip over to API Pallets is in order soon in support of the
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/pallets/) Pallet Project. Until then,
(http://www.hulu.com/watch/536145) more pallets, more pallets!


 

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The Most Depressing Dog Park
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/17/the-most-depressing-dog-park/
Wed, 17 Sep 2014 14:10:14 +0000
I find dog parks relatively depressing. I felt this way even before I got a dog. I know that
dogs enjoy space to romp free especially those confined by small backyards, apartments, or
dangerous suburban roads. I also like seeing people enjoying time with their dogs.
Domesticated dogs have been humans’ companions for millennia and so it is hardly
surprising that (https://chroniclevitae.com/news/698-want-work-life-balance-get-a-puppy)
we set aside space for them in our daily routines.
At the same time, something about dog parks rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it’s the idea
that dogs have come to deserve specific space within our urban fabric. This is a kind of
respect that not all humans enjoy.
Maybe it’s the opposite. I find depressing the idea that dogs need to be enclosed in a
particular space as an 21st century urban reminder of
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons) the tragedy of the commons.
Because people can’t be trusted to manage their dogs, they have to be set aside in their
own space to protect the whole community from irresponsible dog owners. Being terrified
of dogs - even those on a leash and frequently mine - I realize that this is reasonable policy
to have (and I wish it were extended to squirrels), but it still is depressing.
title="IMG_2038.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/img_2038.jpg" alt="IMG
2038" width="450" height="97" border="0" />


 

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Despite these things, I dutifully take my very excited pooch to the dog park every day. He
rampages about blissfully ignorant of the potential ethical pitfalls surrounding (literally) his
exuberance.
Our dog park in Grand Forks takes depressing to the next level. It is built on the flood plain
of the Red River in an area called Lincoln Park. This park was built on the site of a
neighborhood called
(http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/199804/15_mainstreet_floodremote-m/)
Lincoln Drive which was inundated by the
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Red_River_Flood_in_the_United_States) 1997 Red
River Flood. Now the park and site of the neighborhood are on the river side of the flood
walls that protect the town. They put up a historical marker at the center of the park telling
the history of the community there. It’s very nice.
title="IMG_2044.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/img_2044.jpg" alt="IMG
2044" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
It does little, however, to assuage my guilt over letting my dog run wild over the subtle
undulations that are the streets and alleys of a neighborhood. Lines of mature trees
remember shaded sidewalks and roads. Isolated trees stand in forgotten yards and the
clearly visible depressions settle under the memory of lost homes. It feels like letting my dog
run around a battle field and makes me remember the opening of the first book of the Iliad.
Serious bummer:
ἣ μυρί᾽ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε᾽ ἔθηκε,
πολλὰς δ᾽ ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν
ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν
οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι
title="DogPark1.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/dogpark1.jpg"

 

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alt="DogPark1" width="450" height="351" border="0" />
title="DogPark2.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/dogpark2.jpg"
alt="DogPark2" width="450" height="351" border="0" />
The expansion of Grand Forks to the south and the construction of pre-plighted cookiecutter houses in a ramshackle halo around the traditional urban core (forming upper middle
class (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favela) favela) only makes me feel worse. I recognize, of
course, that it would be problematic to rebuild on a floodplain, and it is responsible and
even noble to use this space as a community park. It really is beautiful in the early fall.
At the same time, it all feels so very sad.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/19/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-104/
Fri, 19 Sep 2014 12:44:59 +0000
We may have one more day of summer today with temperatures set to reach a balmy 86
degrees here in North Dakotaland. Do society a favor and don’t call it an “Indian Summer”
or “Altweibersommer.” I’m just going to call it a warm day in late September. And, don’t
worry, Grand Forks will be back to its sleepy, bucolic fall decline by the end of next week.
In the meantime, when you’re not enjoying the warm days and the gentle patter of a late
summer rain, please do enjoy these quick hits and varia.
• (http://www.lifo.gr/mag/features/4447) Some old photographs from the Athenian Agora.
• (http://incyprus.philenews.com/en-gb/local-news/4422/40828/icon-from-occupiedmonastery-found-in-switzerland) A stolen icon from Cyprus appears in Switzerland.
• (http://harvardpress.typepad.com/hup_publicity/2014/09/digital-loeb-classical-librarylaunch.html) The digital Loeb is go.
• Go and read(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/18/craft-inarchaeology-the-craft-of-pottery-analysis-in-mediterranean-archaeology/) Scott Gallimore’s
and (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/11/is-digital-archaeology-craft/)
Shawn Graham’s great posts on craft in archaeology.
• (http://www.digitales-forum-romanum.de/) Digital Roman Forum.
• (http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/News/newsDetails/back-to-american-school-sale)
Bargain basement prices on Hesperia!


 

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• (http://nataliavogeikoff.com/2014/09/15/the-pride-of-amphipolis/) The original Pride of
Amphipolis and (http://www.avgi.gr/article/4031471/olga-palaggia-to-mnimeio-tisamfipolis-xronologeitai-sti-romaiki-epo-1) I can’t help but be tickled by this.
• (http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/156935) Eric Foner’s Civil War MOOC is free from
Columbia.
• (http://www.wired.com/2014/09/rip-ipod/) A requiem for the iPod Classic.
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/magazine/the-death-of-adulthood-in-americanculture.html?_r=0) The death of adulthood (just before I felt like I was there too!).
• Scot Hull has redesigned (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/) Parttime Audiophile. I’m not
sure that I love it.
• What I’m reading: M. Dixon, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/late-classical-and-earlyhellenistic-corinth/oclc/884594626) Late Classical and Hellenistic Corinth: 338-196 BC.
Blackwell 2014.
• What I’m listening to: Duke Ellington, Ellington at Newport 1956.
title="IMG_1917.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/img_1917.jpg" alt="IMG
1917" width="450" height="600" border="0" />I can groove to Duke.


 

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A Visit to a Pallet Plant
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/a-visit-to-a-pallet-plant/
Mon, 22 Sep 2014 13:08:33 +0000
Ok. I admit that it wasn’t exactly a pallet plant since the company no longer manufactures
pallets there, but pallet plant is alliterative (in the most crass way) so more suitable than “a
visit to a pallet redistribution facility.”
title="P1090062.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p1090062.jpg"
alt="P1090062" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Anyway.
The guys at API Pallets here in Grand Forks were very generous with their time when even
through Bret Weber and I encroached on their lunch break on a rainy Friday afternoon. They
showed us around their facility and explained that pallets come in on trucks from “Canada”
and are rated and then shipped out to clients throughout the region. They get a small
quantity of pallets from local merchants, like the local pasta plant, but most of their inventory
comes from other distribution centers. Their biggest client is a logistics firm in Casselton,
ND situated on an important transportation corridor for rail and truck traffic through the
northern plains.
title="P1090075.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p1090075.jpg"
alt="P1090075" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
As for the pallets themselves, we learned that API rates pallets with three grades. A1 pallets
are clean, have no splinting or splitting, and have evenly spaced deck boards. One of the
most interesting moments involved the guy using his fist to demonstrate the ideal width

 

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between deck boards. I’ll return to this. B1 and B2 pallets have light damage or have
repairs. Irregularly spaced deck boards, the insertion of blocks to support broken stringers,
or obvious splitting and splintering throughout leads to lower ratings. The difference in price
between an A1 and B1/2 pallet is about $3. They do repair pallets to raise them to either
A1 grade or B1/2 grade on site.
title="P1090064.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p1090064.jpg"
alt="P1090064" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
One thing Bret and I began to think about it the way in which the size of a pallet (48 x 40
inches) has impacted life in the Bakken (and elsewhere). For example, modular housing
units like the most common in the Bakken are designed to move by rail or truck. Pallets, of
course, are designed to fit inside containers, semi trailers, and rail cars and move about the
country carrying standardized loads. The existence of this regular unit of measure and the
tendency in the Bakken to use this scale to organize human activities, whether it is life or
work, provides a highly visible means of standardizing the space of human activities.
It was heartening, then, to see the guy at the pallet plant use his fist to measure the distance
between the deck boards. This gesture returned the pallet to the human scale.
title="P1090071.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p1090071.jpg"
alt="P1090071" width="600" height="450" border="0" />
The guys there also commented on the various stamps added to pallets to mark them as
being used at a particular farm or factory. Since the pallet pool is an open pool, meaning
that whoever possessed the pallets had the right to resell them, these stamps were meant
to mark out simply one stage in the pallet’s life and to manipulate the standardized form of
the object without compromising its functionality.


 

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Finally, our reuse of pallets is important because it defies the functional expectations of
these objects and reshapes them to our human existence rather than the opposite.
title="P1060942.JPG"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p1060942.jpg"
alt="P1060942" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Book Blurbs: Pyla-Koutsopetria and Punk Archaeology
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/23/book-blurbs-pyla-koutsopetria-andpunk-archaeology/
Tue, 23 Sep 2014 12:42:31 +0000
As I’ve said elsewhere on this blog, I’m not much of a book writing person. Most of my
ideas can be most profitably explored at about 10,000 words. Every now and then, I figure
out some idea or concept or gimmick that deserves more words, and over the next month or
so, two of those ideas will appear in book forms. Of course, none of this would be even
remotely possible without the collaboration of coauthors, editors, and colleagues.
One of the most fun parts about getting a book together (you know, more fun than page
proofs or sorting out that one last figure that requires attention!) is writing and receiving little
blurbs that are used for marketing new books.
My coauthors and I wrote the little blurb for Pyla-Koutsopetria I: Archaeological Survey of an
Ancient Coastal Town. American Schools of Oriental Research Archaeological Report
Series Number 21:
Pyla-Koutsopetria I presents the results of an intensive pedestrian survey documenting the
diachronic history of a 100 ha microregion along the southern coast of Cyprus. Located
around 10 km from the ancient city of Kition, the ancient coastal settlements of the
Koutsopetria mircoregion featured an Iron Age sanctuary, a Classical settlement, a
Hellenistic fortification, a Late Roman town, and a Venetian-Ottoman coastal battery
situated adjacent to a now infilled, natural harbor on Larnaka Bay. This publication
integrates a comprehensive treatment of methods with a discussion of artifact distribution, a
thorough catalogue of finds, and a diachronic history to shed light on one of the few
undeveloped stretches of the Cypriot coast.


 

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I’m also on the verge of releasing my first book as publisher: Punk Archaeology.
title="Punk_Archaeology_Cover.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/punk_archaeology_cover.jp
g" alt="Punk Archaeology Cover" width="450" height="215" border="0" />
The process has been a bit slower than expected, but I invited some sympathetic voices to
provide some short perspectives on the book.
The first is from (http://twopointommen.wordpress.com/) Brett Ommen, hobo academic:
The Punk of Punk Archeology exists as a cipher, an empty signifier. The value of this volume
lies in its commitment to variously loading punk with meaning based on the epistemic
uncertainties that mark human civilization and its study. This volume traverses the supposed
rules of theory and praxis, of art and science, of conservation and change, of information
and meaning by way of the unruly punk. punk helps these authors locate their work and our
world, not because it functions as a particular concept but instead because it refuses any
particular mode of divination. As such, Punk Archaeology offers all academic fields a lesson
for utilizing the anarchy of the cipher to negotiate the perils of disciplinary rigidity.
The second is from (http://kylecassidy.livejournal.com/) photographer, geek, and author Kyle
Cassidy:
Archaeologists are at home in the dirt. They start the season respectably enough, in khaki’s
and sensible shoes, but after four weeks of living in a tent and sifting rocks for bits of bone
all day they’ve stopped shaving (if they ever did to begin with), possibly eschewed grooming
altogether and no longer resemble anything you’d expect to see in the front of a classroom.
When an archaeologist needs to get a wheelbarrow of backfill across a trench, they build a
bridge out of whatever’s lying around; they do it this way because they’re in the middle of
nowhere and they know the swiftest way between point A and point B is to do it yourself;
because the coyotes aren’t going to do it for you and the board of trustees isn’t going to do
it for you. This DIY attitude is how they manage to transport &amp; house two faculty

 

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members and five grad students in Syria for three months for less than one lab in the med
school’s spent on glassware during the same time period.
Archaeologists rely on themselves because they have to. They are the cassette tapes of
academics; played through one speaker, loudly, and full of passion, blasting a song that so
many people can’t understand the words to, but are moved by experiencing. Punk
Archaeology is filled with this music: In Richard Rothaus’ “Punk Archaeoseismology”,
scientists try to understand the destruction of a town 1,600 years ago by racing to Güllük,
Turkey the day that it sinks into the sea, killing every single inhabitant, during a terrible
earthquake. It is as personal and visceral as any Xeroxed Zine because it is ultimately about
science poured from the crucible of very personal chaos. Colleen Morgan’s account of
continually explaining her tattoos to workers is an explanation for everyone in the sacrifices
we all make to identify our tribe. Kostis Kourelis’ singling out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s
unheralded place in the creation of Punk and New Wave reminds us of Philadelphia, Turkey
and it’s likewise mostly forgotten place in Byzantine history — archaeologists know better
than most anyone else that kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall and the small things that are
meaningful to us now won’t even be footnotes in eighteen hundred years unless someone
tracks them down.
This book is about archaeology, and more than that, it’s about music, but when you peel
back all the power chords, the distorted guitars, the sweat, the frenetic drums, Ramone’s
stickers and the cheap beer, most of all, this book is about trying to fit broken pieces
together to make sense of a world in which you are constantly reminded that everybody dies
in the end, because you’re looking at veritable mountains made up of their triumphs, their
failures, and their very bones.


 

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The Seven Wonders of the Bakken Oil Patch
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/the-seven-wonders-of-the-bakkenoil-patch/
Wed, 24 Sep 2014 13:40:08 +0000
The title of this blog is blatant click bait, but I do want to talk about the Bakken and my
current project. I spent most of the last five days putting fingers to the keyboard and trying
to finish a draft of my Tourist Guide to the Bakken. My primary intent was to create a basic,
descriptive itinerary focused on a series of routes through the oil patch.
Here are the routes:
Route 1: Minot to Ross
Route 1a: White Earth
Route 2: Ross to Tioga
Route 3: Tioga to Williston
Route 3a: Wheelock
Route 3b: Wildrose and Crosby
Route 4: Williston to Watford City
Route 5: Watford City to New Town
I’ve also worked on a basic introduction to the Bakken and to the concept of industrial
tourism. For the former, I provide a brief history of the industrial landscape in Williams and
McKenzie counties arguing that the arrival of the railroad in the first decades of the 20th
century initiated a period of booms and busts that continue to this day. This seeks to put to
bed the idea that western North Dakota was some kind of pristine prairie and replace it with
the idea that industrial practices fundamentally shaped the post-statehood landscape of this
region. I then briefly discuss the impacts of the 1951-1959 and 1978-1985 oil booms on
settlement and population in the region. I also made this nice chart based on state data for


 

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spud dates:
title="Oil_Spuds.jpg"
src="https://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/oil_spuds.jpg" alt="Oil
Spuds" width="450" height="311" border="0" />
The first, and rather rough draft of the introduction also worked through the concept of
industrial tourism. I locate it at the intersection of three trends (1) industrial archaeology, (2)
the reuse and preservation of industrial monuments, and (3) “urban” exploring and
abandonment porn.
The Society for Industrial Archaeology has worked to elevate the standing of industrial
monuments in the eyes of archaeologists and the public. Some of the growing appreciation
for industrial past stems from more and more industrial sites crossing the informal 50 years
barrier to become eligible for official heritage recognition or enrollment in the National
Register of Historic Places. The increased number of industrial sites requiring
archaeological assessment before redevelopment has accelerated development of the
fields of historical archaeology (or archaeology of the contemporary world).
Both the recognition of an industrial past as part of a shared history and the monumental
scale of certain kinds of industrial buildings (train stations, factories, warehouses, et c.) has
led to the redevelopment of these spaces in ways that commemorate historical industries.
Cities now have warehouse districts, science centers in refitted factories, and museums in
neoclassical train stations. At the same time, still function industrial sites like the Hoover
Dam continue to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, and many factories
continue to offer occasional tours to the curious public.
Finally, the interest in abandonment porn, (http://www.urbanexplorers.net/) urban exploring,
and “(http://www.infiltration.org/abandoned.html) infiltration” has a clear industrial focus.
Sites like the Packard Plant in Detroit and the Belle Isle Power Station outside Richmond,
Virginia have become famous with urban explorers who trespass and take risks to
photograph and document the recent industrial past. Many of the photographs seek to

 

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capture the failed grandeur of these buildings as either romantic commentaries or as ironic
gestures.
As the West moves toward a post-industrial future, the industrial past and present become
opportunities for critical reflection on a set of values that simultaneous celebrates the
achievements and even virtues of industry at the same we push it out of sight and mind into
the third or (ironically termed) “developing” world. The concept of the developing world
serves as a useful reminder that historicizing an industrial past implies a path to a present
development that we export as freely as industry itself.
So, my Tourist Guide to the Bakken seeks to focus attention on the diminishing historical
present by approaching it through the eyes of the tourist. It’ll ask the question (always
tacitly) whether our industrial present justifies arguments grounded in an industrial past by
superimposing the two. What kind of future do we see in the rapidly vanishing present?
I hope to have a draft of the tourist guide ready by October 4th and to ground truth it over a
few days then.
Oh, and I guess I do owe everyone baited to clicking on this link a list of the seven wonders
of the Bakken Oil Patch. Williston might be a bit overrepresented, but this list is provisional
and I more than open to any suggestions!
1. Hess Gas Plant - Tioga.
2. Indoor RV park at Watford City.
3. The Bakken Buffet
4. Target Logistics Williston Compound (Williston North Lodge, Bearpaw Lodge, Williston
Cabins)
5. Whispers Gentleman’s Club - Williston
6. Williston Foxrun RV park
7. Williston Walmart


 

537

Sabbatical Notes
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/25/sabbatical-notes/
Thu, 25 Sep 2014 12:58:38 +0000
My first month of sabbatical is behind me, and I have a few notes to share about how I’m
adapting to it. To be clear, I feel very fortunate to have this time away from teaching and
service responsibilities, and I am not suggesting that my workflow or practices reflect a
universal experience with sabbatical. And I certainly hope that my comments don’t sound
unappreciative of the opportunity to take time to focus on research and out of classroom
activities for a year. On this blog, however, I’ve long maintained a thread related to my
personal workflow, and the comments below relate to that rather than represent some
universal critique of the sabbatical practice.
Last spring, (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/my-plan-to-notwaste-my-sabbatical/) I blogged about how I planned not to waste my sabbatical. Here are
my notes so far:
1. Space and Place for Work. This year my office on campus is being used by my
replacement so I don’t have access to my usual workspace. Fortunately, my lovely home has
an office space that serves just fine for my purposes. I have windows, plenty of desk space,
a decent stereo, and a table for piling books and paper in no particular order. What my
home office lacks is opportunities to interact with my colleagues and students.
While I understand that it is popular to see these interactions as “distractions” and
“interruptions,” my time on sabbatical so far has convinced me otherwise. In fact, I have to
say that I am understanding far better recent office design trends that emphasize common
space at the expense of the isolated office. One of my greatest challenges so far this year is
the lack of opportunities to interact on a daily basis with my colleagues and students.


 

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2. Priorities. I am not someone who works better under pressure. If I don’t have a paper
completed at least a week before I deliver it, I slip into unproductive panic mode. As a result,
I schedule my productive time very deliberately. During the academic year, I know that I have
35 hours of productive research and writing time each week usually distributed over three,
ten-hour days during the week and usually about five hours over the weekends. The other
30 hours per week are dedicated to teaching and service responsibilities.
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/what-do-i-do-all-day/) I’ve
tracked that using the clever Reporter app for iPhone.
What I didn’t realize is that those 30 hours of teaching, grading, and meeting are the key to
my week. By limiting the hours I turn over to research and writing, they force me to prioritize
my days. Right now, I am struggling to structure my days in a rational way because I have no
pressures requiring me to evaluate and organize my research responsibilities. More time to
work has not made me less productive, I’m writing and reading more than ever, but it has
made my work less clearly directed toward a goal.
3. Taking Breaks. Without the regular interruptions provided by students and colleagues
(not to mention that my wife worked in the same building!), I have to force myself to take
breaks or risk running out of energy and concentration before the middle of the week.
Fortunately, we have a dog that becomes quite insistent on going for walks about 11 am
every day. A walk through the neighborhood and a trip to our fantastically depressing dog
park usually clears my mind enough to promote a productive afternoon.
4. Shiny Objects. One thing that I’m struggling to figure out is whether I should allow myself
the freedom to chase what one colleague has called “shiny objects.” I’ve spend a little over
a week on the Tourist Guide to the Bakken, which is a fun project, but it was clearly not part
of my pre-sabbatical agenda. In fact, it originated while I was taking a little break on
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oilpatch/) a Wednesday afternoon and
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/the-seven-wonders-of-thebakken-oil-patch/) since then it has become a 12,000 word manuscript. It’s been a fun
project that has allowed me to bring together lots of odds and ends from my time in the

 

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Bakken, but at some point it will impinge on my existing projects. Without the pressure of
classes, the schedule of the semester, and the regular drain of meetings, I hope I can make
the right decision and manage balance the appeal of new projects against the time and
energy I’ve invested into existing projects.


 

540

Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/26/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-105/
Fri, 26 Sep 2014 12:24:47 +0000
It is supposed to be 85 degrees here in Grand Forks today, so the early fall warm spell
continues to linger over the region. In fact, it’ll be so warm today that I’ll likely abandon my
house-top office and decent to the lower floors in search of cool air.
This morning, though, my office has captured just enough of the overnight chill to be
comfortable. So, before the sun comes up and chases me below, I’ll get to a little list of
quick hits and varia.

(https://plus.google.com/photos/112910819123336138519/albums/603727167967049
2849) Some Google Glass videos of the South Stoa Mosaic Restoration in Corinth.
• (http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Italian-art-show-to-make-US-debut-inDelaware-277068411.html) Stolen and recovered Italian antiquities on show in Delaware.
• (http://www.alexandriaarchive.org/blog/?p=120) Digital challenges facing the Hellenic
Ministry of Culture.
• (http://archaeogaming.wordpress.com/2014/09/23/phd-dissertation-proposal-receptionand-application-of-archaeology-in-video-games/) Andrew Reinhard’s Ph.D. proposal for the
University of York focusing on the intersection of video games and archaeology.
• More about Alexis Zoumbas from (http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/09/22/talkabout-beauties/) The Paris Review (by Chris King) and from the
(http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/09/28/magazine/hunting-for-the-source-of-the-worldsmost-beguiling-folk-music.html?ref=magazine&amp;_r=2&amp;referrer) New York Times

 

541

Magazine by (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/collecting-andlistening/) Amanda Petrusich. Who drew the short straw?
• (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/22/mosulphotos_n_5862248.html?utm_hp_ref=world&amp;ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000030) Some
photos of Iraq then and now.
• (http://theconversation.com/medieval-makes-a-comeback-in-modern-politics-whatsgoing-on-31780) Medieval is the new black.
• (http://extension765.com/sdr/18-raiders) Raiders of the Lost Ark in black and white and
without sound.
• (http://jezebel.com/elderly-columnist-reviews-her-local-applebees-and-it-is1639093720?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&amp;utm_source=jezebel_fac
ebook&amp;utm_medium=socialflow) Marilyn Hagerty reviews Applebee’s.
• (http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/gallery/2014/sep/23/plant-hunters/) Robin Lane Fox,
noted ancient historian, on plant hunters.
• (http://moreintelligentlife.com/blog/charlotte-mccann/saving-big-ben-skateboarding) The
Big Ben of skateboarding.
• (http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2014/09/23/dont-ban-laptops-in-theclassroom/?cid=at&amp;utm_source=at&amp;utm_medium=en) Maybe we shouldn’t ban
laptops from the classroom.
• What I’m reading: Federal Writers’ Project, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/north-dakota-aguide-to-the-northern-prairie-state-illustrated-with-a-map/oclc/504264245) North Dakota:
A Guide to Northern Prairie State. 1938.


 

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• What I’m listening to: Aphex Twin, Syro; The Velvet Underground and Nico; Nick Drake,
Pink Moon.
title="IMG_2056.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/img_2056.jpg" alt="IMG
2056" width="450" height="600" border="0" />Contemplation


 

543

The First North Dakota Oil Boom
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/the-first-north-dakota-oil-boom/
Mon, 29 Sep 2014 13:35:13 +0000
The first North Dakota oil boom occurred at a difficult time in the history of the state. The
boom raged from 1951 to 1960 so it appeared only briefly in the last few chapters of the
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/history-of-north-dakota/oclc/190890) Robinson’s History of
North Dakota published in 1966. Of course, he had no way of knowing the subsequent
impact of the discovery of oil on the history state, and, indeed, an honest historian today
would be challenged to understand how and whether the most recent Bakken Boom will
have a lasting impact on the state’s history. Moreover, the oil boom did not make an
appearance in his wide ranging memoirs about his time at the University of North Dakota
suggesting perhaps that boom did not dominate the headlines in the eastern part of the
state during the 1950s.
At the same time, Prof. Robinson did supervise an M.A. thesis in 1962 by Dominic Schaff
titled “(http://www.worldcat.org/title/history-of-the-north-dakota-oilindustry/oclc/48656885) The History of the North Dakota Oil Industry.” I had the pleasure
of reading his thesis this weekend and recommend it to anyone interested in the first
decade of oil production in the state.
Here are some quick thoughts:
1. Schaff was a student of Robinson. Among the most telling aspects of Schaff’s work was
his commitment to Robinson’s basic historiographic perspective on North Dakota
summarized in Robinson’s famous
“(http://webapp.und.edu/dept/library/Collections/robinson/themes.php) Themes of North
Dakota History.” Schaff, for example, embraced the remoteness of the North Dakota and
discussed at length how the logistics of shipping oil to market limited the opportunities for
even the most well-funded companies involved in extractive industries. The construction of

 

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the Mandan refinery and the crude pipeline from Tioga to Mandan (and the refined oil
pipeline from Mandan to Moorhead, MN) improved this situation to some extent, but the
limited capacity of the Mandan refinery and the limited reach of the pipeline into the rapidly
expanding oil field ensured that a substantial investment to move North Dakota crude and
high prices on the global market.
Schaff makes brief mention of the workforce housing challenges associated with boom
noting that, in Tioga, men were living in chicken coops and grain silos. He noted that
Watford City schools, social services, roads, and housing stock also felt the crunch. These
social challenges, however, formed an afterthought to Schaff’s predominantly technical and
corporate discussion of the boom.
2. Geography and Topography. As I work away on my Tourist Guide to the Bakken, I’ve
begun to think a bit how to describe a productive landscape that is largely underground.
Schaff’s thesis, as well as the work of other scholars, have helped me to understand the
geography and geology of the Bakken counties better. I now think that any guide to Bakken
would be incomplete without a discussion of such key geological features as the Nesson
Anticline which runs in a north-south line south of Tioga, across the Missouri, and into
McKenzie county. This formation attracted the attention of the first major investors in the
North Dakota oil fields in the late 1920s and 1930s and saw several deep, exploratory
wells. The first productive wells in the Bakken, like the No. 1 Clarence Iverson Well drilled
by Amerada (which became Hess) near Tioga was into this formation.
On our trip out to the Bakken next week, I hope to be able to identify some of these
formations visually so that a knowledgable traveler can at least see the surface
manifestations of the productive landscapes below the ground.
3. Historical Markers and the Bakken Boom. As the first Bakken Boom of the 1950s is over
50 years old, historians naturally turn to thinking how to commemorate and mark this history
in the landscape. The first wells and pumps that drew oil from thousands of feet below the
surface are long gone, but (http://aoghs.org/editors-picks/north-dakota-williston-basin/) it is
nevertheless marked by a granite historical marker. The gently rolling hills dotted with more

 

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recent wells and crops are hardly characteristic of tourist areas. At the same time, there is a
global recognition of the challenges facing the communities, environment, and workforce in
the Bakken. History and historical awareness provides one approach to mediating between
global and local communities. Finding a way to mark the Bakken landscape with the
evidence for the past oil booms embeds contemporary experience in a historic place. In
particular, it recognizes that the landscape of western North Dakota has long been a place
of booms and busts and its seeming isolation belies deep connections with global markets.
The oil boom - as much as periods of agricultural prosperity - located the places and
communities of Williams and McKenzie counties within a global context.
Would it be possible to prepare a North Dakota oil field for inclusion in the National
Register of Historic Places?
For some information on the early days of oil exploration in the state, check out
(http://media.proquest.com/media/pq/classic/doc/3159843601/fmt/ai/rep/NPDF?_s=Vh0t
OjmZxIWCkqA7F7y9dN4G8yM%3D) Clarence Herz recent North Dakota State University
M.A. thesis and
(https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/documents/Publication_List/pdf/MiscSeries/MS-89.pdf)
John Bluemle’s The 50th Anniversary of the Discovery of Oil in North Dakota (NDGS 2001).


 

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Punk Archaeology: The Book
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/30/punk-archaeology-the-book/
Tue, 30 Sep 2014 12:33:46 +0000
isPermaLink="false) http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/?p=4510</guid>
I’m impatient. So, I decided to push the button and publish Punk Archaeology today. This is
the first book published by The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota. We’re so
punk that we don’t really have a webpage.
That being said, we’re also so punk that we will release a book here for free.
Download it
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16994195/Punk_Archaeology_2014.pdf) here or
(http://www.scribd.com/doc/241441729/Punk-Archaeology) here.
I have one favor to ask. If this book is something that you think sounds cool, spread the
word. Facebook it. Tweet it. (https://ello.co/) Ello it. Tell everyone you know about it. Since
this press has no budget, no staff, no offices (and you might suspect no editors…), I need
my readers to serve as our marketing wing. Blow up the internet, please.
title="PunkA_cover_1.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/punka_cover_1.jpg"
alt="PunkA cover 1" width="450" height="450" border="0" />
Description:
Punk Archaeology is a irreverent and relevant movement in archaeology, and these papers
provide a comprehensive anti-manifesto.
Acknowledgements:


 

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This volume was made possible by a whole community of folks ranging from the relentless
(archaeogaming.wordpress.com) Andrew Reinhard who proofed this over and over and over
again to (http://theedgeofthevillage.com/) Aaron Barth who put together the conference
which produced these papers. The authors were great to work with except
(http://www.whitewashedtomb.com/) Richard Rothaus who insisted that we include his
handwritten paper. (I kid, I kid). Support for the whole deal came from the Cyprus Research
Fund, the(http://heritagerenewal.org/) Center for Heritage Renewal at North Dakota State
University, the (http://www.ndhumanities.org/) North Dakota Humanities Council, and
(http://laughingsunbrewing.com/) the delicious beer makers at Laughing Sun Brewing in
Bismarck. Administrators at the University of North Dakota are to be commended for raising
their eyebrows politely and ignoring what I was doing.
This book would not have been possible without the efforts of (http://joeljonientz.com/) Joel
Jonientz who did the cover design and layout.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/joel-jonientz/) I wish he was
around to see the results. The book is dedicated to him.
title="NewImage.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/newimage1.png"
alt="NewImage" width="398" height="317" border="0" />
Other Details:
The print copy should be ready to go by the end of the week and available at Amazon. I’ll
post a link to that. It should cost around $30.00, but look like a million bucks. Make sure to
order copies for friends and families as well as university libraries and private collections.
Here are links to the papers being read at the conference on Soundcloud thanks to Tim
Pasch, Chad Bushy, and Caleb Hulthusen for recording the event:


 

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(https://soundcloud.com/punk-archaeology-speaks) https://soundcloud.com/punkarchaeology-speaks
(https://soundcloud.com/tags/punk%20archaeology)
https://soundcloud.com/tags/punk%20archaeology
And listen to Andrew Reinhard’s soundtrack here:
(http://www.soundcloud.com/charinos/sets/punk-archaeology)
http://www.soundcloud.com/charinos/sets/punk-archaeology
Here’s the book, folks:
[scribd id=241441729 key=key-UQukO9kZuhjsD4W88raG mode=scroll]


 

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Hellenistic Corinth
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/hellenistic-corinth/
Wed, 01 Oct 2014 13:24:19 +0000
Over the last few weeks I’ve bee reading Mike Dixon’s new book:
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/late-classical-and-early-hellenistic-corinth/oclc/884594626)
Late Classical and Early Hellenistic Corinth, 338-196 BC for a book review. As with so
many of my plans, I had hoped to have a draft of the book review done by the end of
September. It doesn’t look like that will happen, so instead, I’ll write a blog post that can
serve as a rough draft of the review and to capture my impressions on the book before they
get washed out by a million other little projects.
Dixon’s work on the Hellenistic Corinth was eagerly anticipated.
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/disputed-territories-interstate-arbitrations-in-the-northeastpeloponnese-ca-250-150-bc/oclc/45703753&amp;referer=brief_results) His 2000
dissertation on interstate arbitration in the northeastern Peloponnesus became a convenient
guide to the unpublished antiquities and general topography of the southeastern Corinthia.
It was among the finest of a group of (http://www.worldcat.org/title/well-built-kleonai-ahistory-of-the-peloponnesian-city-based-on-a-survey-of-the-visible-remains-and-a-studyof-the-literary-and-epigraphic-sources/oclc/124083356) topographic
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/studies-in-the-topography-of-the-southerncorinthia/oclc/34369379) dissertations (http://www.worldcat.org/title/studies-in-thetopography-of-sikyonia/oclc/42616289) focusing on the northeastern Peloponnesus in
Greek antiquity. In this work he demonstrated that he was a conscientious reader of
archaeological landscapes, and he brought this same care to his reading of the political
landscape of the Hellenistic Corinthia.
There is much to like in this book.


 

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First, it appears at a time when the Hellenistic world is enjoying a renaissance and the
archaeology of Hellenistic Corinthia will get its share. The
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/hellenistic-pottery-from-the-panayia-field-corinth-studies-inchronology-and-context/oclc/761310480) publication of Sarah James’ dissertation, the
imminent publication of the Rachi settlement above the sanctuary at Isthmia, and David
Pettegrew’s soon to be published monograph on the historical periods on the Isthmus, and
even my own modest contributions
(http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/publications/hesperia/article/75/3/327-356) to the
fortification and
(http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/publications/hesperia/article/79/3/385-415)
topography of the Late Classical and Hellenistic Corinthia demonstrate the extent of
scholarly interest in this period and this place. It would not be an exaggeration to say that
the Hellenistic period is the new Late Antiquity.
Dixon’s book provides a single destination for the literary sources central to the basic
narrative of the Hellenistic period at Corinth. This alone makes the book valuable to scholars
of the Corinthia. Dixon’s argument that the Corinthian polis negotiated its relationship with
its Macedonian rulers through the strategic deployment of eunoia, or reciprocal goodwill, is
likely to attract critique, but it is consistent with how scholars like
(http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/publications/hesperia/article/79/3/385-415) John Ma
have understood the relationship between cities and Hellenistic rulers.
Dixon’s book is explicitly and almost exclusively political in scope, and he creatively weaves
together the admittedly limited sources for the city’s political life throughout this period. At
times, Dixon’s work feels a bit speculative. For example, his efforts to understand why
Corinth did not return the actor Thessalos who had fled to Corinth after angering Phillip II
for attempting to arrange a marriage alliance on Alexander’s behalf. Dixon offers several
possible scenarios to explain why Corinth defied Phillip’s request despite having a
Macedonian garrison there. Dixon proposes (albeit gently) that Thessalos could be a
Corinthian and this accounted for his confidence in fleeing to the city. The reason for
Corinth’s failure to comply and endangering eunoia with the Macedonian dynasty remains
unclear, and Dixon’s speculation adds little substantive to his arguments. In fact, if more

 

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evidence existed for Corinth during this period, it would be tempting to reject the historicity
of the Thessalos affair and the letter of Phillip as many scholars have and move on. In
Dixon’s defense, he marks his treatment of this affair as speculative, and I tend to appreciate
his willingness to explore the limited sources fully, but to others these red herrings may
detract from his overall arguments.
More problematic in Dixon’s work is his tendency to read the behavior of the city as
monolithic in its motivation. For example, I struggled to discern the strategy of eunoia from
the goals of the Corinthian state. Even when a Macedonian garrison watched over the city
of Acrocorinth, there must have existed factions within the Corinthian demos who sought
not only different ends but also different means to these end. For example, in the complex
political wrangling that involved Corinth’s relationship with the Achaean League and the
political influence of Aratos of Sikyon, some of Corinth’s vacillating might reveal political
factions within the city who had varied interests rather than the pivot of the entire city based
on proximate military or diplomatic threats.
While we lack the sources to confirm the existence of these factions, Dixon’s reading of the
Corinthian politics assumes certain strategic understandings of power relations in the
Hellenistic world. In recent years, the study of Hellenistic diplomacy and practical political
theory has enjoyed renewed attention. My entrance into these debates came through
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/between-rome-and-carthage-southern-italy-during-thesecond-punic-war/oclc/667105366) Michael Fronda’s book on the diplomatic moves of
Hannibal and the Greek cities of south Italy during the Second Punic War. Dixon’s book
and arguments would have been stronger had he engaged some of this recent scholarship
more fully to frame his work in a larger historiographic and theoretical context. Whether this
would have revealed more nuanced readings of Corinth’s diplomatic history is difficult to
know, but it certainly would have linked the history of this important city more clearly to
ongoing discussions on interstate relations in the ancient world.
I would have also enjoyed a more thorough treatment of archaeological work outside of the
immediate environs of the city. Dixon’s dissertation and experience excavating at Corinth
demonstrated his archaeological chops, and he dedicates a chapter to the archaeology of

 

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the Hellenistic period on the Isthmus. Most this chapter focused on major monuments and
sanctuaries, and most of his critical engagement with recent archaeological work in the
region appears only in his footnotes. For example, it would have been useful to understand
how Dixon understood David Pettegrew’s recent skepticism toward the economic
significance of the diolkos. I have also valued Dixon’s take on the various remains
fortifications from the Late Classical and Hellenistic period throughout the Corinthia.
Understanding the strategies employed by various Macedonian monarchs (and invading
armies) to fortify or garrison the city’s chora might provide insights into how recognized
Corinth’s military value in a regional context as well as their approach to protecting the
city’s economic foundation in the countryside.
In general, my desire for greater attention to archaeological detail and efforts to connect
Corinthian diplomatic practices to ongoing discussions within the field reflect more my
interest and the book that I’d like to see, than any shortcoming on Dixon’s part.
Finally, (and I say this with the trepidation of someone
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/30/punk-archaeology-the-book/) who
just published a book) I wish these Routledge books were better copy edited. While copy
editing problems never obscured the meaning of the text, they were frequent enough to be
distracting. Things like this, however, do not detract from the book’s over all value. It’ll be
the first book on a new shelf in my library ready to receive the fruits of the impending
Hellenistic revival.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-106/
Fri, 03 Oct 2014 13:35:36 +0000
It’s getting less warm here in North Dakotaland under clear fall skies. So far most of our
trees have their leaves so we have a couple of more weeks before the brief window opens
for fall colors. I’ll provide a report from out west next Friday.
This week has been fun at the (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/) Archaeology of
the Mediterranean World headquarters. I formally made the leap from blogger to publisher
with (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/30/punk-archaeology-the-book/)
the release of Punk Archaeology. (It actually involved me leaping less than other people
throwing me forward through the process of preparing a manuscript!).
It is FREE.
So far, we’ve had 585 downloads from my blog alone and another 380 from Scribd. There
have also been a bunch of downloads from people posting links to the file from Twitter and
Facebook. The massive national humanities councils network also Tweeted links and the
North Dakota Humanities Council sent out the link to the download page in their monthly
presser. I’m giving them credit for another 400 downloads, based on nothing other than my
overwhelming desire to say we’ve been downloaded 1000 times.
(https://www.facebook.com/PunkArchaeology) Our Punk Archaeology Facebook page has
had about 65 more likes over this same time thanks to Aaron Barth.
(http://www.amazon.com/Punk-Archaeology-Kostis-Kourelis/dp/0692281029/) The book
is now available in paper from Amazon. Be the first to buy a paper copy. If you want a copy
of the book in epub format, drop me a line in comments. I’m Kindlizing the manuscript even
as we speak. If you like the book, go and write a nice review on the comments section. If
you think this project is worst kind of self-aggrandizing poppycock, you should say that too.

 

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Finally, if you want a paper copy but don’t want to pay $28.50,
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnR03_10ai4) I can fax it to you.
Enough of that, here are some quick hits and varia:
• (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igM98u_rvrA) This is an amazing video produced by
one of the students on the Western Argolid Regional Project this summer.
• (http://www.neakriti.gr/?page=newsdetail&amp;DocID=1173175) Byzantine reservoir
under the streets of Heraklion, Crete. The second Byzantine Period in Crete is really quite
remarkable.
• (http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/09/29/350658131/whos-buried-in-themagnificent-tomb-from-ancient-greece) I just can’t get enough of the Amphipolis tomb!
• (http://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/) For all you Collingwood fans (or as we call him
R.G.C.), Roman Inscriptions of Britain.
• (https://chroniclevitae.com/news/730-how-i-got-this-job-donna-yates?cid=megamenu)
This is an exotic job for an archaeologist!
• (http://frankenplace.com/) This Frankenplace app is amazing. I don’t know what I can do
with it yet, but I will soon.
• (http://www.ndsu.edu/news/view/detail/14276/) People should do to Fargo to hear
Witold Rybczynski.
• (http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/09/28/dark-side-of-the-boom/) More
national media attention on the oil boom. For the national press, the Bakken Boom must be
the gift that keeps on giving.


 

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• (https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/documents/Publication_List/pdf/RISeries/RI-22.pdf) There
is almost no reason not to read a report on the Nesson Anticline (pdf).
• (http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/784519.html) I just don’t post
enough links about the demise of Kenyan cricket.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwCZdyHKhI8) You definitely need to watch Aasif
Karim’s spell against Australia in 2003.
• (http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/sloppy-hi-fi-john-vanderslice) Sloppy HiFi. Sounds like my office!
• (http://demnpl.com/2014/09/30/representatives-oversen-boschee-odney-advertisingviolation-corrupt-practices-act/) Well, this sounds fun.
• (http://ismyshiftkeyonornot.com/) Is my iPhone shift key on or not?
• What I’m reading: Lisa Peters, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/fractured-land-the-price-ofinheriting-oil/oclc/880966135) Fractured Land: The Price of Inheriting Oil. MSHS 2014.
• What I’m listening to: Thee Mike B, (https://soundcloud.com/theemikeb/thee-notorious-bi-g) Notorious B.I.G. Remix; Willie Nelson, Stardust.
title="IMG_2107.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/img_2107.jpg" alt="IMG
2107" width="450" height="337" border="0" />Heroic in Black and White


 

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Back to the Bakken Again
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/06/back-the-bakken-again/
Mon, 06 Oct 2014 12:07:15 +0000
One of the great things about sabbatical is that I’m a bit more free to do research that
involves travel. This weekend, Bret Weber and I have returned to the Bakken with
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/01/a-guide-to-industrial-tourism-inthe-bakken/) our guide for the industrial tourist. We expected to spend most of our time
simply ground truthing our guide, but we managed to do a bit more than that.
We decided to travel from outside of Berthold, ND in Ward County to Stanley in Mountrail
County on old US Route 2. This is a very different road from modern US Route 2 which
carries four lanes of traffic through the heart of the oil patch. Old Route 2 is paved west of
Stanley and goes through some nice countryside as it ascends the Missouri anticline. We
documented a couple RV parks along the route of the road, and spent a bit of time in the
town of Palermo which has seen significant infilling with mobile homes and RVs throughout.
Palermo has generally seen better days. The attractive 1936 school with some fine art deco
touches testifies to the prosperity of the town in first decades of the 20th century.
<img title="P1090118.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090118.jpg"
alt="P1090118" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
We continued west along old Route 2 through Stanley, ND, the county seat of Mountrail
county and a town which has seen a significant increase in both permanent and temporary
housing in the last half-decade. We stopped briefly in Ross, ND where we visited two RV
parks documented by the (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/workcamps/) North Dakota Man Camp Project. One of these RV parks had a nice mudroom
available for our inspection: a fine example of vernacular architecture typical of the Bakken.
<img title="P1090131.JPG"

 

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src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090131.jpg"
alt="P1090131" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
<img title="P1090132.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090132.jpg"
alt="P1090132" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
We then continued along old Route 2 into Manitou township. If you are an industrial tourist
and have time to visit one place in North Dakota, I might honestly suggest visiting Manitou.
The former town has completely vanished except for the consolidated school which stands
abandoned with a small, neglected mobile home, RV park nearby. Note the Dutch Colonial
touches:
<img title="P1090143.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090143.jpg"
alt="P1090143" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Around the area stands a brand new salt water disposal site designed to handle some of
the byproducts of fracking. Further north is a massive raid yard where North Dakota crude is
collected for shipment to refineries around the U.S.
<img title="P1090148.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090148.jpg"
alt="P1090148" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Heading further west along old Route 2 provides ample opportunities to contrast oil
production and the western North Dakota landscape. Even a mediocre photographer like
me can manage some dramatic shots.
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alt="P1090149" width="450" height="337" border="0" />

 

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Old Route 2 descends into the White Earth Valley east of the town of White Earth. The
most impressive landmark along this route is Panchos. Panchos was originally a dance hall,
cafe, and bar that opened in 1955, during the peak of the first oil boom.
title="P1090157.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090157.jpg"
alt="P1090157" width="450" height="268" border="0" />
The dance hall and cafe are long gone, but the bar is still open. We talked to the bartender
there and it took very little effort to imagine the clubs earlier days when bands played on a
stage to patrons from the towns of White Earth and Manitou who had money to spend from
their hard work in the oil patch or as local ranchers and farmers. The bartender told us that,
in its prime, there were 20 tables in the dance hall that could be moved aside for roller
skating. There was a little cafe serving t-bone steaks and french fries for $2.50 and icy cold
beers for $.50. The bar preserved hints of the building’s more august past and some dusty
old memorabilia on the walls. Pancho died in 1985 and his kids, now in their 80s, still own
the place. It’s worth a stop.
After checking in on some of our study sites around Ray and Tioga, we decided to enter
Williston by heading south through Wheelock toward the Route 1804 (the Lewis and Clark
Trail) that runs along the north side of Lake Sakakawea. The countryside here saw
exploratory efforts in the 1920s and 1930s include an exploratory well of over 10,000 feet
drilled by a subsidiary of Standard Oil of California. At the time, this well was among the
deepest in the western U.S. The drill bit broke before they hit oil.
Today, there is plenty of evidence for oil exploitation that we caught in the evening light.
title="P1090186.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090186.jpg"
alt="P1090186" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Celebrating Joel Jonientz's Mural
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/07/celebrating-joel-jonientzs-mural/
Tue, 07 Oct 2014 12:06:04 +0000
This weekend the city of Grand Forks will hang a mural painted by
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/joel-jonientz/) Joel Jonientz and
residents of the Near Southside Neighborhood and some of Joel’s colleagues in the
department of Art and Design.
You can check out (http://joeljonientz.com/) Joel’s progress on the mural here.
I was involved in putting Joel in contact with my buddy Bret Weber who is on city council. I
feel pretty confident in saying that the project was a pain in the ass for both Joel and Bret,
but it will be nice to have the mural hung to commemorate Joel’s time as part of our
community.
The event starts at 11:30 and is at the corner of Walnut and South 5th St.
title="joelnssND125_web_new.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/joelnssnd125_web_new.jpg"
alt="JoelnssND125 web new" width="463" height="600" border="0" />
Here’s the official press release.
The City of Grand Forks, along with the Near Southside Neighborhood, will commemorate
the 125th anniversary of North Dakota statehood with the unveiling of a mural. A
celebration will start at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 11, at Centennial Park in
downtown Grand Forks. Located at the intersection of South 5th Street, Walnut Street,
and Kittson Avenue, Centennial Park – anchored by a clock tower -- was developed 25
years ago to mark the State centennial. The event will then move across 5th Street to

 

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unveil a mural sponsored by the Near Southside Neighborhood. Part of the Mayor’s Urban
Neighborhood Initiative (MUNI), the mural project was a multi-year neighborhood effort
involving brainstorming, fundraising, and hands-on community participation. This event will
also celebrate the life of local artist Joel Jonientz, creator of the mural, who passed away
unexpectedly last year. Jonientz was an art professor at UND, and his UND
colleagues helped complete the mural in his honor. The event will wrap up at the 2nd floor
of Rhombus Guys. All are invited to attend this community event


 

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Abandonment in the Bakken
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/abandonment-in-the-bakken/
Wed, 08 Oct 2014 12:46:38 +0000
I think I’ve blogged on this before, but my most recent trip to the Bakken presented a
landscape inscribed with abandonment. The abandoned towns of western North Dakota are
(http://www.ghostsofnorthdakota.com/) well-known and celebrated. They speak to the
tradition of temporary settlement in the North Dakota landscape.
One my favorite sites this trip was the Madson Grade. This was a massive fill grade created
by the Great Northern Railway in 1913 to descend the Madson Flats just west of Watford
City, North Dakota. The fill covered a massive, 60 ft high tressel
(http://digitalhorizonsonline.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/uw&amp;CISOPTR
=4469&amp;CISOBOX=1&amp;REC=1) which is visible in this post card. Today, the
Madson Grade extends for about mile and is clearly visible to the north of US Route 85 on
its way east into Watford City. I’m not entirely clear whether this massive grade fill ever was
used to carry rail traffic into Watford City. Any additional information on the history and
function of this would be much appreciated!
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src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090222.jpg"
alt="P1090222" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
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src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090238.jpg"
alt="P1090238" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
There remains a bit of evidence for the history of the fill:


 

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title="P1090234.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090234.jpg"
alt="P1090234" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1090227.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090227.jpg"
alt="P1090227" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1090258.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090258.jpg"
alt="P1090258" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
I’ve posted this photo before, but I was really struck by our visit to Ponchos in White Earth,
ND, and the bartender’s description of the place’s glory days in the 1950s. The bar was
once made prosperous because US Route 2 (now nothing more than a dirt road) passed
outside its door. When new Route 2 was built about mile to the south, it bypassed both the
town of White Earth and contributed to Ponchos’ and the town’s decline.
title="P1090157.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p10901572.jpg"
alt="P1090157" width="450" height="349" border="0" />
This made me think of the town of Alexander which we visited on Monday. The town saw
over 12,000 vehicles per day (or about a car every 8 seconds) pass through town since the
start of the oil boom. When the bypass opened last week,
(http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/content/eerily-quiet-85-dirt-road-only-way-and-outalexander-until-truck-bypass-done) the traffic stopped passing through downtown,
apparently, quite abruptly. It’s hard to imagine Alexander suffering the same fate as White
Earth, but settlement in western North Dakota and the movement of traffic through the oil
patch is a fickle mistress.


 

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title="P1090214.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090214.jpg"
alt="P1090214" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The Bakken boom, has introduced more examples of abandonment. I’ve been particularly
interested in seeing evidence for abandonment at RV parks that house the temporary
workforce in the region. As residents moves from one hot spot to the next, pulls up stakes
for the winter, or finds permanent housing, they leave behind all sorts of things that are too
difficult to move or relatively valueless.
Mudrooms
title="P1090135.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090135.jpg"
alt="P1090135" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1090158.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090158.jpg"
alt="P1090158" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Air conditioners:
title="P1090165.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090165.jpg"
alt="P1090165" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
Pots, pans, and trash: (As an aside, I sampled this assemblage, by collecting the trash can
filled with pots and pans and putting it in the back of my pick-‘em-up truck. I not only loved
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/pallets-and-scavenging/) the
feeling of scavenging (and had to resist picking up other things throughout the rest of my
trip west), and also have been thinking about the ethical and “scientific” aspects of
sampling discard from the near workforce housing in the patch. More on this next week after

 

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I document my grab sample more carefully.)
title="P1090172.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090172.jpg"
alt="P1090172" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
They also abandon the infrastructure that tied their temporary homes to the grid:
title="P1090179.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090179.jpg"
alt="P1090179" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1090171.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p10901711.jpg"
alt="P1090171" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The shifts in the character, focus, and nature of workforce housing presents an opportunity
to document the Bakken boom as a dynamic phenomenon rather than as a static
assemblage.
I also took some glamor shots of the boom. After so many trips to the oil patch, I’ve become
more and more attuned to the beauty of this part of North Dakota. (And before you think it, I
know these shots are cliche!)
title="P1090211.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090211.jpg"
alt="P1090211" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="P1090212.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090212.jpg"
alt="P1090212" width="450" height="600" border="0" />


 

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title="P1090194.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090194.jpg"
alt="P1090194" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1090149.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p10901491.jpg"
alt="P1090149" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-107/
Fri, 10 Oct 2014 12:31:05 +0000
It’s 25 degrees (F) this morning, but I’m under a blanket watching
(http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan-v-australia-2014/engine/match/727921.html) the
cricket being played in (http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan-v-australia2014/content/ground/392627.html) balmy Dubai. After a hectic
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/work-camps/) week in the Bakken, it’s
good to be home.
Before we move on to the quick hits and varia, a reminder
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/07/celebrating-joel-jonientzs-mural/)
to come down to the corner of Walnut St. and S 5th in Grand Forks tomorrow morning
around 11:30 to see the hanging of (http://joeljonientz.com/?p=1702) the mural designed
by Joel Jonientz.
One more advertisement, as of yesterday, (http://www.amazon.com/Punk-ArchaeologyKostis-Kourelis/dp/0692281029/) Punk Archaeology is available at printing cost from
Amazon. That’s Punk Archaeology, on paper, for $17.17. At least click through to give the
Amazon page a view.
• (http://www.archaeological.org/news/advocacy/17257) I think this is called a day late and
a dollar short.
• (http://www.iefimerida.gr/news/173414/%CE%B5%CF%84%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%AE%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%BD-%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%B5%CF%85%CE%BA%CF%8C%CF%82%CF%80%CF%8D%CF%81%CE%B3%CE%BF%CF%82%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B9%CF%82
 

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%CE%B1%CF%81%CF%87%CE%AD%CF%82-%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%8520%CE%BF%CF%85-%CE%B1%CE%B9%CF%8E%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%BC%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE-3d%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B1%CF%80%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%AC%CF%83%CF%8
4%CE%B1%CF%83%CE%B7-%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82%CE%B6%CF%89%CE%AE%CF%82-%CE%B3%CF%8D) Thessaloniki’s White Tower
in 3D.
• (http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.home&amp;id=2067) R.I.P. Loukanikos.
• (http://dougsarchaeology.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/crowdfunding-archaeology-somedata-finally/) Crowdfunding archaeology.
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/crowd-funded-research-inarchaeology/) I blogged on this a while back.
• (http://www.equinoxpub.com/home/morgan-book-review/) This is a better review of
Ifantidis, Archæographies: Excavating Neolithic
Dispilio(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/3373/) than mine.
• (http://www.nestani.com/) The village of Nestani is important for fracking in North Dakota.
• (https://twitter.com/sebhth/status/519945287021133824) This is a nice tweet.
• (http://digipubarch.org/2013/11/15/what-would-a-punk-public-archaeology-look-like/)
What would punk public archaeology look like?
• (http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781472409980) Graffiti and street art.
• (http://thepunkeffect.com/?p=18690) A review of the rough cut of
(http://thepunkeffect.com/?p=18690) Atari: Game Over.


 

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• (https://flinders.academia.edu/AliceGorman) Space archaeology.
• (http://www.paulmworley.com/english/faculty-solidarity-and-the-value-of-literature-part-3/)
Worley on the value of literature in the academy.
• (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/10/09/research-library-conferencespeakers-pushadvocacy?utm_content=buffere4fa5&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.c
om&amp;utm_campaign=buffer) Preventing the digital landfill.
• (http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2014/oct/03/how-to-make-teascience-milk-first) How to make tea properly. NOTICE MILK FIRST.
• (http://www.intersectionjournal.com/) The Intersection Journal. Some nice photos.
• (http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/10/06/once-everything-was-much-bettereven-thefuture/?utm_content=bufferfbdf2&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com
&amp;utm_campaign=buffer) Once everything was much better in the future.
• (http://www.inforum.com/content/overnighters-shows-dark-side-north-dakota-oil-boom0?utm_content=buffera0d09&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&am
p;utm_campaign=buffer) There’s a dark side to the oil boom?
• (http://www.theawl.com/2014/10/cash-and-anxiety-on-the-weird-new-internet) This is
interesting.
• (http://vinnierossi.com/) I like the idea of Vinnie Rossi’s LIO. This is high end stereo stuff
made relatively affordable. A while back when I was looking for a new integrated amp for my
system, I emailed Red Wine Audio which is Vinnie Rossi’s company. Rossi himself
responded to my email personally and answered my questions. That’s cool.


 

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• What I’m reading: A. Prud’homme,
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/hydrofracking/oclc/854285755) Hydrofracking: What
Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford 2014.
• What I’m listening to: Underworld, Dubnobasswithmyheadman; The Vaselines, V for
Vaselines.
title="IMG_2137.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/img_2137.jpg" alt="IMG
2137" width="450" height="600" border="0" />Milo, reflecting on his life of privilege,
after hearing about (http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.home&amp;id=2067)
Loukanikos death.
title="IMG_2105.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/img_2105.jpg" alt="IMG
2105" width="450" height="429" border="0"
/>(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilroy_was_here) MILO WAS HERE


 

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Public Art, Grand Forks, and Joel Jonientz
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/12/public-art-grand-forks-and-joeljonientz/
Sun, 12 Oct 2014 15:29:33 +0000
We had a beautiful day yesterday celebrating the state of North Dakota’s 125thaversary
and the art (and life) of Joel Jonientz. We hung his mural on a bizarre storage unit at the
intersection of Walnut St. and S. 5th Avenue in Grand Forks. It looks great there.
(http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/late-und-art-professors-mural-showcaseddowntown-grand-forks) It got a nice story in the Grand Forks Herald. About 40 people
came out to the event.
The program started at Centennial Part where we all admired City Councilor Bret Weber’s
public orator and the fine broken clock that celebrates the timeless traditions of the
Northern Plains.
title="P1090262.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090262.jpg"
alt="P1090262" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
We then crossed the street and admired Joel’s mural. Bret told the story of how Joel and he
got together on the mural project. He left out a few parts and for the historical record, I’ll
clarify here.
First, when Bret began talking about public art in Grand Forks, I mentioned that Joel had
painted murals with Americorp in Seattle and was (cough, cough) never all THAT busy. So
Bret and Joel and met at J.L. Beers - a local beer and burger place - to hash out details. I
drank beer and Joel and Bret hashed.


 

571

The result of that was a proposed mural by Joel. It appears to have involved sheep. I never
saw this draft of the mural, but (http://vimeo.com/88013974) I hope they were as awesome
as these sheep.
Bret was not impressed with Joel’s sheep, and told me so.
I told Joel - probably after a beer or two - that Bret wasn’t feeling his mural. Joel laughed
about it in that way that artists sometimes laugh leaving you unsure whether he was hurt or
had just added Bret to his list of people who would never get it.
Bret, of course, had not communicated this to Joel, but the next time the two were in the
same place, the first thing Joel said to Bret was “I hear you didn’t like my mural.” He then
told Bret to go and look at his stuff. Bret later admitted that this was usually something you
did before commissioning a piece of public art, but it didn’t matter because Joel was able to
repurpose some of his (http://joeljonientz.com/?s=Arbuckle&amp;submit=Search) Fatty
Arbuckle work into the perfect mural to hang across from a police station and next to a rail
line.
In a less public venue, it will be fun to recount the adventures involved in moving the
prepared, but unpainted panels into Joel’s van late one evening...
Here are the murals, which were finished by students and colleagues in the Department of
Art and Design at UND.
title="P1090265.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090265.jpg"
alt="P1090265" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1090264.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090264.jpg"
alt="P1090264" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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title="P1090267.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090267.jpg"
alt="P1090267" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
It was cool to see the community embrace public art and got me thinking about what more I
could do to make Grand Forks a more interesting place.


 

573

Fracking Made Personal
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/13/fracking-made-personal/
Mon, 13 Oct 2014 12:41:19 +0000
Over the last few weeks I've been reading popular treatments on fracking. While in the
Bakken I read Lisa Peters' (https://www.worldcat.org/title/fractured-land-the-price-ofinheriting-oil/oclc/880966135) Fractured Land in anticipation of her visit to UND at the end
of the month (more on that soon!). I then, while ambling about Amazon.com admiring
(http://www.amazon.com/Punk-Archaeology-Kostis-Kourelis/dp/0692281029/) Punk
Archaeology, I bought (https://www.worldcat.org/title/hydrofracking/oclc/854285755) Alex
Prud'homme's Hydrofracking in Oxford University Press's What Everyone Needs to Know
series and picked up Russell Gold's, (https://www.worldcat.org/title/the-boom-howfracking-ignited-the-american-energy-revolution-and-changed-the-world/oclc/852226364)
The Boom as well for fun. (Ok, I also indulged my hobby of Late Antiquity and bought
Jonathan Conant's (https://www.worldcat.org/title/staying-roman-conquest-and-identity-inafrica-and-the-mediterranean-439-700/oclc/758397417) Staying Roman: Conquest and
Identity in Africa and the Mediterranean, 439-700, but I won't talk about that book in this
post.)
title="P1090194.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p10901941.jpg"
alt="P1090194" width="450" height="233" border="0" />
I really want to write about Peters' book, because in some way it's the most interesting in
presentation and the most relevant to any stray North Dakotans who might stumble on my
blog, but Prud'homme, Gold, and Peters all do something similarly in their work. They begin
with first person anecdotes about the boom. Gold talks about his liberal, aging-hippy
parents being offered $400,000 by Chesapeake Energy to lease the rights for the gas
under their rustic retreat in central Pennsylvania. Prud'homme finds himself at a public
debate over fracking in New York City. Peters is on her way to be by her oil-loving father's

 

574

side at his death bed. For some reason, popular books on the oil boom and fracking
demands a kind of first person intimacy.
I got to thinking about why these authors used this particular device to introduce their
treatment of fracking. It's not like fracking has been dehumanized in the mass media. The
oil-smeared faces oil workers have already offered a human face of the industry, but these
books seem to substitute a different face. They have replaced the dirty hands of the laborer
with the soft hands of the journalist. Appealing to middle class ambivalence about fracking,
the writer takes on the confusion of information confronting someone who might have oil
stocks in their portfolio and appreciate their performance, but also have a twinge of guilt
that perhaps profiting from petrochemical industry is not compatible with genteel
environmentalism.
One of the key aspects of this bourgeois environmentalism are the attitudes of Gold and
Peters toward private property. Peters, in particular, demonstrates a delicate ambivalence.
On the one hand, she recognized the homesteading claims of her grandfather who tried to
make a living from the difficult North Dakota soils. She admired her grandfather’s
prescience in retaining mineral rights to his land and making leases to oil companies. Her
childhood and environmentalism developed, ironically, from the conversion of these oil rights
to property on the scenic St. Croix river and a lovely cabin. On the other hand, Peters
knowingly trespasses on the St. Croix property after it was sold to reminisce about her
childhood. Elsewhere in the book she was traumatized when she encountered an
overzealous security guard at a fracking sand quarry. The final encounter in the book, which
involved spreading her father’s ashes at a well site, was made more sweet when an oil field
technicians at the well gave an impromptu tour rather than chasing the family away from the
site. Despite his generosity, Peters made clear that the risk was there and the reader could
only think of the earlier encounter at the quarry. In fact, a key tension throughout the book is
the complexities of ownership whether of oil, property, or mineral rights, and the benefits
and (ethical and emotional) risks associated with ownership.
In a sense, then, the story of the oil boom revolves around a complicated American dream
which recognizes property ownership - whether the Jeffersonian farm, the modern suburban

 

575

retreat, or the urban condominium - as part of a package of rights derived from a particular
reading of John Locke. Environmentalism, in contrast, appears to ask the individual property
owner to resist the fullest expression of those rights for the common good. In some cases,
the state intervenes as mediator between the rights of the individual and the community, but
Peters’ book problematizes this relationship between the individual and property.
The first chapters of Prud’hommes and Gold’s book likewise articulates the oil dilemma
facing Americans as they locate themselves between the arguing factions, competing
narratives, and the conflicting myths of private property, energy independence, and
progress. I’m no environmentalist, but I do worry that the emphasis on the individual story
undermines the genuine power of collective action. By making the hard work to keep the oil
industry safe and as environmentally and culturally sensitive as possible a distinctly middle
class operation guided by a set of middle class expectations, we run the risk of minimizing
the responsibilities of the state (as in the federal, state, county, and local governments) and
the community (loosely construed as people who share space, resources, and social ties) to
negotiate the complex interests of its stakeholders.
title="P1090186.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p10901861.jpg"
alt="P1090186" width="450" height="92" border="0" />


 

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Reflections on the Bakken Tourist Itinerary
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/bakken-tourist-itinerary/
Tue, 14 Oct 2014 13:43:46 +0000
isPermaLink="false) http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/?p=4581</guid>
I’ve been thinking at least as much about the Bakken as Cyprus or Greece over the last
couple of months. About half of my energy involved putting the finishing touches on an
academic paper submitted in September, the rest of my energy has gone into my quirky
tourist guide. Bret Weber and I traveled to
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oilpatch/) the Bakken with a draft of the tourist guide in hand last week. We added a good bit
of meaningful detail and tried to finish off a few legs of the itinerary. Most importantly, we
agreed that the guide would take a visitor from Minot to Tioga to Williston to Watford City
to New Town with detours throughout.
Here is the current table of contents:
Route 1: Minot to Ross
Route 1a: Ross to Manitou and White Earth
Route 2: Ross to Tioga
Route 3: Tioga to Williston
Route 3a: Wheelock
Route 3b: Wildrose and Crosby
Route 4: Williston to Watford City
Route 4a: Williston to Sidney, MT
Route 5: Watford City to New Town
One of the most interesting things that developed over this trip to the Bakken is a growing
appreciation of the invisible infrastructure that makes the Bakken work. Pipelines, rail unit
yards, and electrical substations all represent the other routes through the Bakken that
makes resource extraction possible. In many cases, they are tucked out of the view, buried

 

577

under ground, or coursing overhead at the periphery of our vision. On our recent drive east
from Watford City, through the rolling hills and valleys inscribed by creeks draining south
into the North Dakota Badlands, took us past the landmark called Johnson’s Corner near
the small, unincorporated town of Keene. Like most of the North Dakota countryside in this
area, there are drill rigs, pumps, gravel pits, salt water disposal sites around, and some
tanks surrounded by fences. These sights are only the tip of the iceberg, however.
Underground Johnson’s Corner is a hub of multiple pipelines that carry North Dakota crude
to refineries, rail yards, and markets.
I am sure that I’m attracted to these “invisible” infrastructures as a response to all the
intimately human narratives that I’ve encountered lately. From
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/13/fracking-made-personal/) guiltwracked, middle-class oil lease holders to (http://www.thenation.com/article/182077/howsmall-town-north-dakota-became-one-americas-truly-elite-oil-fields#) Ivy League-trained
journalists hanging out in Williston bars, the increasingly cliche stories of triumph and
tragedy in the Bakken have begun to lose their emotional impact. The stereotyped narratives
of violence, greed, and loss have been increasingly set against a generic backdrop of rural
idyl. What’s missing to my eye, is an appreciation for the interlaced networks of movement,
objects, and economic and social relationships that extend throughout the Bakken (and the
world) that shape the life of individuals in Williston, Watford City, Wheelock, and Tioga.
The routes of pipelines, the ebb and flow of traffic, the daily movements of the service
industry, and the rhythm drilling, fracking, and pumping, all make
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/the-bakken-as-taskscape/) the
Bakken a compelling taskscape. These things happen at a scale that offers explanations for
the individual experience in ways that microcosmic studies of oil-streaked laborers cannot.
As I think more and more about the tourist guide, one of the key aspects of its design is to
located these individuals in the historical and industrial context of the boom. I hope to drag
individuals out of their guilt-wracked reveries, out of the strip clubs and bars, our from
behind the wheels of trucks, or the controls of heavy equipment and to locate them within
an economically productive landscape. Perhaps by presenting the scale and complexity of
the Bakken we can go beyond the attempts to invoke empathy for the human experience

 

578

and move toward understanding the relationships and systems that have created the
Bakken condition.


 

579

The Final Figure for Pyla-Koutsopetria Survey Volume
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/15/the-final-figure-for-pylakoutsopetria-survey-volume/
Wed, 15 Oct 2014 12:38:54 +0000
Lately I’ve been talking with friends and colleagues about the feeling that I’m wasting
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/25/sabbatical-notes/) my sabbatical.
Despite all sorts of reassurances, I feel the (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb9BylODgk) days slipping away. Recently, I’ve spent entire days writing grants, editing page
proofs, making travel plans, having meetings, filling out Doodle polls to schedule meetings,
organizing speakers, writing emails, deciding whether to italicize words in a title, conjuring
press releases, and, most recently, finishing up figures for the
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/pyla-koutsopetria-archaeologicalproject-volume-1/) Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project 1 manuscript.
These are not creative tasks.
In fact, these small tasks can completely suck the energy out of a work day, a work week, or,
if I’m not careful, an entire sabbatical.
That being said, I did finish the final figure for the PKAP manuscript
((http://www.amazon.com/Pyla-koutsopetria-Archaeological-Ancient-CoastalReports/dp/0897570693/) now that it’s up in Amazon and all). This is important stuff. I
need always to color between the lines.
Before:
title="Figure5_2.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/figure5_2.png" alt="Figure5


 

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2" width="450" height="377" border="0" />
After:
title="Figure5_2FIXED.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/figure5_2fixed.png"
alt="Figure5 2FIXED" width="450" height="321" border="0" />
The more I try (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPo9OBrIOi4) to roll on shabbos, the
more I realize that (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKd06s1LNik) gravity always wins.


 

581

Memory and Place in Grand Forks
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/memory-and-place-in-grand-forks/
Thu, 16 Oct 2014 11:38:41 +0000
I was out for my evening “run” last night (which is actually more of a trot or a shuffle) and I
had a remarkable experience.
As I was heading out Belmont Road in Grand Forks and complaining to myself about the
persistent headwind, I passed an old man and said “Hi” as I usually do. He was walking with
a cane, and presumably out enjoying the same lovely fall day that I was ruining for myself by
running.
He said, as I ran past, “It’s been a long time since I could do that."
I responded, “I’m just trying to hang on for as long as I can,” thinking about the fall weather.
He didn’t hear me so I doubled back to tell him what I said. When I got back to him he told
me a story completely unprompted.
He said that when he was in about second or third grade, the concrete sidewalk where we
were standing had buckled a bit and had fallen apart. He and his two friends where riding
their bikes down this little hill and Johnny Erikson’s front wheel grabbed on the crumbling
concrete sending him over the handlebars and skinning his knees badly. He then told me
that they sat there a while while he bawled because they weren’t doctors and didn’t really
know what to do. When Johnny stopped crying they went on their way.
He then pointed to the massive elm tree by the side of the road and said, “This tree was
there then and it was large, just as it is now…. and that must have been, well, at least 50
years ago.”


 

582

title="P1090272.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1090272.jpg"
alt="P1090272" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/17/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-108/
Fri, 17 Oct 2014 11:58:28 +0000
isPermaLink="false) http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/?p=4593</guid>
This week really felt like fall. Not the typical North Dakota fall, where its in the 60s for three
days, the 50s for 3 days, and then is just plain cold, but the kind of fall where making piles
of leaves is fun and you can talk for hours whether to put in the storm windows. This had to
be one of the nicest weeks since I’ve moved to North Dakotaland.
I wish it inspired a more productive week, but I was at least able to bring together a little list
of quick hits are varia.
• (http://archaeological.org/sites/default/files/files/2015AM%20%20AIA%20Preliminary%20Program.pdf) Here’s the preliminary program of the
Archaeological Institute of America Meeting in New Orleans next January.
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/travel/things-to-do-in-36-hours-in-athens.html) 36
Hours in Athens by a former resident of Williston, ND.
• (http://www.communaute-helleniquegeneve.ch/index2.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=476&amp;pop=1&a
mp;page=0&amp;Itemid=46) Cyprus in Switzerland.
• (http://www.maneyonline.com/doi/ref/10.1179/2051618514Y.0000000004) This looks
cool.
• (http://campusarch.msu.edu/?p=3288) First review of Punk Archaeology.

(http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2014/10/16/history_of_the_ottoman_empire_ottoma

 

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n_map_of_the_united_states_in_1803.html) Ottoman maps of the United States.
• (http://elitedaily.com/money/entrepreneurship/psychology-behind-messy-rooms-messyroom-may-necessarily-bad-thing/708046/) More reasons to keep a messy room.
• (https://jawbone.com/blog/circadian-rhythm/) Cities that sleep more or less.
• (http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2014/10/16/reclaiming-history-for-the-future/)
Thoughts on the Future of History and check out
(http://historymanifesto.cambridge.org/files/6114/1227/7857/historymanifesto.pdf) the
open access Manifesto(pdf)!
• (https://medium.com/message/friend-or-foe-74a818773084) R2D2 vs. C3PO by a
former resident of Grand Forks, ND.
• (http://dclibrary.org/punk) The D.C. Punk Library.
• Some oil patch notes
• (http://insideenergy.org/2014/10/13/inside-the-boom-biking-the-oil-patch/) Biking the oil
patch.
• (http://www.thenation.com/article/182077/how-small-town-north-dakota-became-oneamericas-truly-elite-oil-fields) Working at Whispers.
• (http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/always-season-measure-%E2%80%94meadowlarks-and-habitat) Some thoughts on ND Measure 5 from a former resident of
Stanley, ND.
• (http://firstdraftsofhistory.tumblr.com/) First drafts of history: the earliest extant versions of
Wikipedia articles.


 

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• "Internet courage is like a Cover 2 corner. When you got safety over the top, you feel
better about yourself.” Torrey Smith
• What I’m reading: R. Gold, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/the-boom-how-fracking-ignitedthe-american-energy-revolution-and-changed-the-world/oclc/852226364) The Boom: How
Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World. 2014.
• What I’m listening to: Ex Hex, Rips; Jawbreaker, 24 Hour Revenge Therapy.
title="IMG_2165.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/img_2165.jpg" alt="IMG
2165" width="450" height="337" border="0" />It’s a dog’s life.


 

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Fractured Land Author to Speak at the University of North Dakota
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/fractured-land-author-to-speak-atthe-university-of-north-dakota/
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 12:29:12 +0000
On Thursday, October 30th, Lisa Peters the author of Fractured Lands will speak in the
East Asia Room of the Mighty Chester Fritz Library. The book has received
(http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/277953841.html) a positive review from
the Minneapolis Star Tribune and I’ve offered
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/13/fracking-made-personal/) my
thoughts on it here.
title="NewImage.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/newimage.png"
alt="NewImage" width="388" height="600" border="0" />
While making a poster for the book, I took a few minutes to think about the font used on the
cover. I think it’s a version of Cochin, but it’s clearly a transitional serif font. I suspect the use
of this font for book covers is designed to evoke the cover of
(http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Cover_art) Larry Potter books which used a version of
Cochin to evoke the fantastic and anachronistic world of the young wizard (or whatever he
is). As someone who wrote a fairly long dissertation and endless articles under the
oppressive gaze of Times New Roman, I’m sort of over transitional serif fonts. I can vaguely
grasp the point of it on the cover. I suppose it is designed to evoke tensions between her
father’s fascination with North Dakota oil and her own desire to move forward into a
greener, more environmentally friendly world.
Ironically, the book is set in a modern serif font, Escrow, made famous by the Wall Street
Journal. I thought that was a nice touch, considering the topic of the book! I might have
dumped the Larry Potteresque title and run an old style serif font

 

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(http://www.missourireview.com/tmr-blog/2013/02/font-and-you-the-style-memoir/) like
Garamond throughout. I like the intimacy of the Classical/Old Style fonts and I think they’d
be fitting for a memoire.
Font situation aside, her talk should be good fun. I’m donating some of my time from
(http://www.ndhumanities.org/) North Dakota Humanities Council affairs to organizing this
talk, so it’s sponsored by the NDHC.
(https://conted.breeze.und.nodak.edu/r1m4tzz9oea/) Here’s the link to the live stream on
the day of the talk.
title="FracturedLandFlyer.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/fracturedlandflyer.jpg"
alt="FracturedLandFlyer" width="475" height="600" border="0" />


 

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Method, the Discipline, and The History Manifesto
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/method-the-discipline-and-thehistory-manifesto/
Tue, 21 Oct 2014 13:31:39 +0000
Like many in my field, I read with interest Jo Guldi’s and David Armitage’s
(http://historymanifesto.cambridge.org/) The History Manifesto over the weekend. Guldi and
Armitage argue that historians should embrace the recent return to interest in long-term,
large-scale historical inquiry which holds forth the potential to shed meaningful light on the
most pressing issues of our day. Issues like global warming, growing economic inequality,
technological change, and the pervasive spirit of crisis in higher education, all depend upon
critical engagement with data from the past. At present, economists, environmentalists,
scientists, and journalists all have exerted a substantial influence in how we understand the
roots of global problems today, but none of these disciplines have the tradition of critical
scrutiny at the core of historical analysis.
Guldi and Armitage argue that over the last 40 or 50 years, historians has gradually backed
away from considering questions of the longue durée in the interest of increasingly focused
and small-scale studies sometimes associated with micro-history. The reasons for this are
bound up in changes in the profession over this stretch of time. The pressure to focus on
smaller periods of time and more focused problems appears to stem from the growing
influence of “short-termism” which emphasizes the action of individual human agents, the
impact of specific events, and absolute command over a small body of historical
documents. Professionally, they hint, this short-termism reflects the pressures to publish
efficiently to get a job, earn tenure, get grants, and establish a position within the discipline.
The influence of these short-term goals and short-term approaches has saturated how we
teach historical methods to undergraduates, who we are constantly urging to narrow their
topics, to graduate student research seminars with too little time to go beyond a single
body of sources or text subjected to close reading.


 

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title="Google_Ngram_Viewer.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/google_ngram_viewer2.png"
alt="Google Ngram Viewer" width="450" height="233" border="0" />
Anyone who took one to Tim Gregory’s seminars in the 1990s or reads even superficially in
the discipline of Mediterranean history knows that interest in the longue durée has only
gained strength over the last three decades. From
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/containers-and-connectivity/)
article length studies on containerization to massive monographs on
(https://www.worldcat.org/title/corrupting-sea-a-study-of-mediterraneanhistory/oclc/42692026) historical connectivity and the
(https://www.worldcat.org/title/making-of-the-middle-sea-a-history-of-the-mediterraneanfrom-the-beginning-to-the-emergence-of-the-classical-world/oclc/844789745)
protohistoric Mediterranean, scholars have continued to explore longterm trends in the
history of the Mediterranean. In fact, regional studies of Mediterranean landscape, whether
focusing on (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/fragile-landscapesand-persistent-communities-on-antikythera/) a single island or
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/landscape-and-history-in-themaeander-valley/) a particular valley, tend to engage in diachronic approaches drawing on
archaeological and textual evidence in equal measure. It is genuinely heartening to read a
work like the History Manifesto that pushed the discipline to absorb more lessons from the
study of the premodern Mediterranean world.
At the same time, I left this book with a nagging feeling that the authors dodged a key issue
driving historical work toward more focused studies. For the last century, historians have
looked toward their methods to define their discipline. Our tendency to encourage students
to focus on small bodies of material and limited questions has not been exclusively the
product of short-termism or foreshortened professional horizons, but the need to pass on
the basic skills of historical work. Critical reading of a text, for example, requires us to focus
on single text, if only for the duration of a class or an assignment. Writing a thesis and
making arguments grounded in critically engaged evidence remains the hallmark of
historical work and practicing these methods requires attention to detail whether at the

 

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scope of a region, an epoch, or a single battle. If historical work depends on a particular set
of methods which give historians a command of detail, nuance, and causality central to
presenting a compelling argument about the past, telling the discipline to shift their focus
toward understanding long-term trends in a critical, historical, way is not enough.
title="Google_Ngram_Viewer.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/google_ngram_viewer.png"
alt="Google Ngram Viewer" width="450" height="232" border="0" />
Of course, Guldi and Armitage recognized this and argued that digital tools from the simple
effectiveness of Google Ngrams to more complex designs that allow historians to perform
“distant readings” from a well-defined and substantial bodies of evidence will accelerate
historian’s ability to understand longer spans of time and more complex issues. At the same
time, these forms of “distant reading” ask historians to suspend a certain amount of critical
attention to individual texts and push historians to developed greater expertise in computer
algorithms, quantitative methods, and arguments made from large datasets. While these
things are possible, I can’t help but thinking that they represent substantial changes to the
discipline and its methods. More importantly, these changes suggest that Guldi and
Armitage see the strength of the discipline less in its current methodological tool kit (with its
strengths, weaknesses, and discursive character) and more in the discipline's authority in
speaking about the past. In other words, they are asking historians to shift their disciplinary
authority away from a body of methods, techniques, and skills refined over centuries, to new
approaches under the same disciplinary and professional banner. While they couch this
shift as a return to perspectives more common before the middle of the 20th century or still
thriving in odd corners of the discipline like Mediterranean studies, they are asking
historians to step into a very different river with fundamentally different disciplinary and
critical character.
The interest in microhistory, agency, and close reading of texts arose, in part, to address the
weaknesses of big picture thinking and to maintain a view of the humanities that is
conscious of the individual. These practices coincided with the core qualities of the
historical method: its philological roots, the character of history as craft, and the passionate

 

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faith in our working within a human-centered discipline (e.g.
(http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/collingwood/#HisStuMin) Collingwood’s rethinking
historical thoughts). As someone how has spent a good bit of his professional career
working with diachronic historical datasets, I continue to be skeptical about their ability to
unlock something fundamental human condition, and I share Collingwood’s view that this is
the discipline’s highest calling. After reading The History Manifesto, I’m wonder how much
of our authority as a discipline is grounded in the humanistic and humane methods at the
core of our practice and how much we’d lose when we step back from the individual to
understand the past.
title="Google_Ngram_Viewer.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/google_ngram_viewer1.png"
alt="Google Ngram Viewer" width="450" height="228" border="0" />
(http://historymanifesto.cambridge.org/) Check out the book, it’s free!


 

592

Ethnicity and Archaeology in Modern Methana
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/22/ethnicity-and-archaeology-inmodern-methana/
Wed, 22 Oct 2014 13:42:57 +0000
Hamish Forbes has had a productive retirement. It seems like hardly a month goes by
without some significant article from the tip of his pen. I finally got around to reading his
article, (http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/JMA/article/view/21563)
“Archaeology and the Making of Improper Citizens in Modern Greece,” in the Journal of
Mediterranean Archaeology 27.1 (2014).
Forbes argues that many Methanites, who are Arvanitika speakers, do not relate to the
national archaeological narrative constructed by the Greek state which have tended to
celebrate the ties between modern Greece and Classical Antiquity and the monuments of
Athens. Arvanitika speakers who settled in Greece at some point between the late Medieval
period (say 13th century?) and the Ottoman period have stood outside of the national
narrative in Greece that has been slow to recognize the existence of “ethnic minorities”
typically defined by language. In fact, Forbes makes the point that there is no official
capacity to recognize ethnic minorities in Greece, and this might be partially the result of
conflating issues of ethnicity with desires for alternate national identities (ethnoi), partially
the result of periods of hyper-nationalist political rhetoric, and partially the desire of the
Greek state to distinguish itself in the European Union.
Forbes notes that Arvanitika speaking communities are common in Boeotia, Attica, and
across the Northeastern Peloponnesus, but have generally found ways to hide their
identities from outsiders and the unsympathetic gaze of the state. On the Methana
peninsula, this has manifest itself in the community’s lack of interest in the ancient ruins on
the peninsula, and attention to a fort dated to the Greek War of Independence. The fort was
apparently constructed by the French philhellene Charles Fabvier to train Greek troops.
Today, the fortification, visible on the narrow isthmus that separates Methana from the

 

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northern coast of Troezene, bears a large Greek flag painted on its flanks and this explicitly
connects the site to a national identity. At the same time, the national identity manifest in
this 19th century ruin, however, is nevertheless outside the main archaeological narrative
promoted by the Greek state. In other words, the 19th century ruin provides an opportunity
to locate the Arvanitika-speaking community within a positive narrative of the Greek state.
Forbes discusses the way in which local communities articulate their archaeological
landscape and how it often differs from the interest of national or foreign archaeologists. He
cites Susan Sutton’s description of the communities around the archaeological site of
Nemea who associated more closely with a cave in a nearby hill that they relate to the den
of the Nemean lion. Methanites likewise recognize the antiquity of a cave set high on the
slopes of the volcanic peninsula, and Forbes notes that these natural features often provide
points of reference in the landscape that allow local communities to establish regionally
meaningful archaeological identities.
This article caught my attention for two reasons. First, on the (http://westernargolid.org/)
Western Argolid Regional Project this summer we documented a fortification associated
with the Greek War of Independence. Without getting into too much detail, graffiti
festooned a number of parts of this rather visible fortification allowing individuals to locate
their names within the archaeological landscape. This linked the nearby community of
Lyrkeia very closely to a historical place. It is interesting to note that the nearby ancient ruins
did not attract similar attention. The fort on Methana will also be a useful point of
architectural comparison for our fortification in the Argolid although our fortress has far less
august a historical pedigree.
I was also interested in reading that Forbes did not mention the inventio story associated
with the church of St. Barbara. According to (http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/76820937)
Forbes’ monograph on Methana, a local resident had a dream which led the villagers to
excavate and discover the bones of St. Barbara and St. Juliana who helped protect the
island from the influenza epidemic in the early 20th century.
(http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/more-dream-arch/) I’ve
blogged about it here. What’s interesting about this story is that it presents indigenous

 

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archaeology as more than simply the recognition of ruins or sites by a community, but the
actual excavation of sites of particular significance. As Arvanitika speakers and Greek
speakers in Greece share the Orthodox faith, it is significant that both communities have
used these same methods to create locally meaningful archaeological landscapes (if not in
the strictly scientific sense) that resonate with national narratives emphasizing the Orthodox
(and Byzantine) roots of the Greek nation. This narrative is distinct from the national
narrative that privileges Classical antiquity, and perhaps provides another alternate space
for the forging of historically significant national identities.


 

595

Connectivity in Cyprus and Corinth
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/connectivity-in-cyprus-and-corinth/
Thu, 23 Oct 2014 11:57:03 +0000
Over the last few weeks, David Pettegrew and I have been working on an article that
compares finds data from the Corinthia and from our site of Pyla-Koutsopetria on Cyprus.
We were particularly interested in understanding how the types of ceramics that we can
identify in survey assemblages shapes the types of economic relationships we can
recognize in the Eastern Mediterranean. As one might expect, our focus has been on the
Late Roman world, and we have been particularly interested in the difference between the
kind of economic relationships manifest in assemblages comprised of highly visible
amphoras and those manifest in highly diagnostic Late Roman red slip wares. The entire
project is framed by (http://www.worldcat.org/title/corrupting-sea-a-study-ofmediterranean-history/oclc/42692026) Horden and Purcell’s notion of connectivity and
that’s the unifying theme of the volume to which this paper will contribute.
The paper is exciting because it represents a step beyond the work that David has been
doing on (http://corinthianmatters.com/) his book on the Isthmus of Corinth. I’ve read a draft
of the book and it’ll be exciting. It also represents the next step for our work with the PylaKoutsopetria data. It is significant that all of (http://opencontext.org/projects/3F6DCD13A476-488E-ED10-47D25513FCB2) our survey data upon which this paper is based, is
available on Open Context.) Our book should be available in time for the holidays.
The draft below is 95% of the way there with only a few niggling citations to clean up. Enjoy
and, as always, any comments or critiques would be much appreciated!
[scribd id=244092615 key=key-LTy6m3fCqEYWZOi2BFMo mode=scroll]


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/24/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-109/
Fri, 24 Oct 2014 11:54:58 +0000
The lovely fall weather seems to be inclined to linger here in North Dakotaland, and we’ll
take every day more that we can get. Right now, however, the weather doesn’t matter
because my eyes are glued to our so-called “internet television” watching Australia’s first
test match of summer: Australia v. Pakistan in Dubai. At the time of this writing, Pakistan
seems to have Australia on the ropes.
I think I’ll watch the extra length second session (extended because of time off for Friday
prayers), and contemplate my quick hits and varia. Don’t worry, though, they’ll be ready for
your weekend reading.
• (http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2014/10/ancient-greek-well-yields-rarewooden.html#.VEouS5PF-Xd) The Greeks found a wooden statue in Piraeus this week and,
according to the article, they seem to want to date it based on ceramics.
• (http://asorblog.org/cause-view/the-archaeology-of-archaeology/) The archaeology of
archaeology (sort of).
• (http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/largest-pottery-workshop-of-greekantiquity-found-141015.htm) A big pottery workshop.
• (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/dominicselwood/100289580/the-clooneys-shouldback-off-lord-elgin-was-a-hero-who-saved-the-marbles-for-the-world/) What if we cut all of
the Parthenon marbles in half so that part can be in England and part in Greece?


 

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• (http://observers.france24.com/content/20141017-priests-race-save-manuscriptsthreatened-rampaging-jihadists-iraq) Saving manuscripts in Iraq.
• (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04lpxj4) On the BBC, Peter Carey hosts David
Armitage for a conversation on (http://historymanifesto.cambridge.org/) The History
Manifesto. You should probably read this and it’s free.
• (http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/10/22/356937347/the-slide-rule-a-computingdevice-that-put-a-man-on-the-moon) The slide rule.
• (http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/inman-park/2014/10/23/krog-street-tunnelgraffiti-erased-n-protest-of-masquerade/17760145/) Vandals paint over graffiti in the Krog
tunnel in Atlanta.
• (https://chroniclevitae.com/news/770-the-best-teaching-resources-on-the-web) A little
list of teaching resources on the web.
• (http://www.metropolismag.com/Point-of-View/October-2014/Modernism-in-Ruins-ArtistVandalizes-A-Le-Corbusier-Masterpiece/) I love that people in comments did not
necessarily figure out that this was photoshopped.
• If you only click on one link today, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du9_Kn2y2VA)
check out this video.
• (http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29754628) The Queen sends her first tweet.
• (http://www.endpolio.org/worldpolioday) It’s World Polio Day today.
• (http://time.com/3531269/taylor-swift-track-3-review/) A nice review of the new Taylor
Swift track.


 

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• (http://pitchfork.com/news/57174-jack-white-to-speak-at-yale/) Jack White is speaking at
Yale. Why isn’t Amanda Petrusich on this panel?
• (http://sploid.gizmodo.com/indiana-jones-and-the-last-crusade-summed-up-in-a-ridic1648710055) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 60 seconds.
• What I’m reading: David Balzar, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/curationism-how-curatingtook-over-the-art-world-and-everything-else/oclc/884243356) Curationism. (2014) (A
Kostis Kourelis book club entry!)
• What I’m listening to: Melody Gardot, The Absence; Thurston Moore, The Best Day.
title="IMG_2178.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/img_2178.jpg" alt="IMG
2178" width="450" height="337" border="0" />Watching the Cup Race.


 

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What is Punk Archaeology?
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/27/what-is-punk-archaeology/
Mon, 27 Oct 2014 13:52:57 +0000
Over the last few weeks, Punk Archaeology, both
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/30/punk-archaeology-the-book/) the
book and the movement, have received some good press. This weekend, in fact, it was
included in (http://www.huffingtonpost.es/2014/10/25/punkciencia_n_5926042.html?utm_hp_ref=spain) a feature length article on the Spanish
Huffington Post which grouped the punk archaeology a group of punk scientists like
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Graffin#Academia) Greg Gaffin from the band Bad
Religion who earned a Ph.D. in biology at Cornell. This was flattering.
title="El_Huffington_Post__última_hora__noticias_y_opinión_en_español.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/el_huffington_post__c3balti
ma_hora__noticias_y_opinic3b3n_en_espac3b1ol.png" alt="El Huffington Post última hora
noticias y opinión en español" width="450" height="372" border="0" />
Later this morning, I’m chatting with a local reporter from the Grand Forks Herald and while
I’ll stress that we’re (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl6u2NASUzU) really big in
Spain (that video makes me very uncomfortable) right now, I still feel like I’ll need to define
punk archaeology somehow. In my previous engagements with the media, this has been a
bit of stumbling block for me. Typically, I tell the story of how Kostis Kourelis and I had some
conversations in 2007 or 2008 about how quite a few Mediterranean archaeologists have
punk rock associations. Kostis, I think, then compiled a list of punk archaeologists and
maybe posted it on his blog (although I can’t find it) or maybe he posted it on Facebook. At
some point after the famous list appeared, we created the Punk Archaeology blog and
began writing short essays that explored the intersection between punk rock and
archaeology. Most of my essays looked at archaeological methods and how punk and
archaeology shared a do-it-yourself ethic, a kind of irreverence toward received tradition,

 

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and an interest in abandoned spaces. Kostis’s contributions tend to focus on the
archaeology of music or the biographical and intellectual links between archaeologists and
avant garde. After a few years of blogging, Aaron Barth and Andrew Reinhard took on the
mantel of punk archaeology and the former organized a conference in Fargo and the latter
shepherded a book focused on the blog posts and conference through the publication
process. This is a great way to describe the origins of a band, but not a very effective way to
describe what punk archaeology actually is.
So, I’m sitting here in my decidedly unpunk kitchen this morning, drinking coffee, and trying
to figure out how to respond to the reporter who will invariably ask “what is punk
archaeology?”
I am sorely tempted to say that it is an effort to disrupt the traditional structures, institutions,
and practices of archaeology, but the word
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_innovation) “disrupt” has been appropriated by
capitalism, and I’m not sure that we’ve been very disruptive. In fact, I am skeptical whether
punk rock music was disruptive. The bands sometimes were, of course, with their stage
antics, rowdy lyrics, and mercurial fame, but the music itself was pretty conservative. Most
of it derived from pop music and, with a few exceptions, had a verse-chorus-verse structure.
In fact, punk pioneers like Lou Reed made money writing endearing pop ditties before
embarking on the more ambitious project of the Velvet Underground. The tendency of punk
rockers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M53TruVezUs) to cover pop standards, albeit
in unconventional ways, and to gravitate toward folks and blues music (e.g.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Knitters) the Knitters, (http://www.thirdmanrecords.com/)
Jack White) reinforces the strongly conservative strains in punk rock. Maybe that punk
archaeology originated in Mediterranean archaeology, which has long been a rather
traditional branch of the discipline of archaeology, accounts for the conservative character
of punk archaeology (at least in form). But even if I accepted this take on the punk
archaeology, I’m not convinced that it is ideal for journalistic consumption.
Maybe it’s better to rely on the simple explanation that the punk archaeology movement
uses punk rock music as a tool to think about archaeology in different, more playful ways.

 

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For example, both punk rock and archaeology offer unconventional, yet familiar, ways of
providing social criticism of the present. As I have been thinking a good bit about my almost
completed tourist guide to the Bakken and how has parallels to a punk rock approach to the
North Dakota landscape. It takes a familiar genre of work - the tourist guide - and applies it
to an unconventional place and set of circumstances - the modern oil patch. The message
of the guide will be ambiguous and situated between
a (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Hagerty) post-ironic earnestness and a space for the
critical distancing conducive to both contemplation and escape.
I’ve also thought about the (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/atariexcavation/) Atari excavations in New Mexico and wondered whether encountering and
presenting the buried games as archaeological artifacts likewise had the effect of providing
some distance from the familiar and opening these objects up to new forms of critique.
So maybe I need to emphasize how punk archaeology is a tool that encourages us to
approach the familiar in unconventional ways. It complements conventional archaeology
which likewise provides a distance for critically understanding objects from the past, but in
most cases these objects are already unfamiliar to the modern viewer. Maybe I need to
emphasize how punk archaeology makes the familiar and everyday unfamiliar.


 

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Curationism and Academia
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/28/curationism-and-academia/
Tue, 28 Oct 2014 13:19:42 +0000
isPermaLink="false) http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/?p=4622</guid>
This week, I read (http://www.worldcat.org/title/curationism-how-curating-took-over-theart-world-and-everything-else/oclc/884243356) David Balzar’s Curationism which was an
entry in Kostis Kourelis’s expertly curated reading list. I’ve been vaguely interested in the
concept of curation since (http://und.edu/arts-and-culture/) UND’s 2013 Arts and Cultural
conference titled Cultures of Curation. Anyone who reads the interwebs in even a
superficial way comes across the language of curation applied to almost anything.
As Balzar explains, curation in the art world is a comparatively new idea, and it relates
clearly to the idea that by combining art from various artists, the curator adds value to the
works. This, of course, remains a controversial issue among artists who typically feel that
their art has intrinsic value. As a result, curators have worked increasingly hard to
demonstrate the unique value of their skills to the art world, while, at the same time, the
concept of curation has become appropriated by any individual or corporations who
assemble art (or any object). As (http://www.details.com/culture-trends/criticaleye/201103/curator-power-move-trend) celebrity curators, appropriate the term to attract
attention to their collections, the value of the term slips from the hands of professionals in
the art world. The popularization of curation has made opportunities in the art world for
aspiring curators both less lucrative and increasingly few, and called into question the value
of the entire profession.
Balzar associates, then, (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/writingsotl-assessment-and-embodied-knowledge/) the deskilling of curation as a product of both
its proliferation (which stems, in part, from lack of consensus as to what curation actually is
and how it works to create value), and from the growing power of social media tools which
allow any individual or group to curate content.


 

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The deskilling of the curators craft has obvious parallels with concerns among academics particularly in disciplines like history which have come to celebrate their skills in organizing
disparate bodies of data into a cohesive argument. The popularity and quality of sites like
Wikipedia which is community curated and lacks the authority of single, known,
credentialed artists, reflects the awesome potential of crowd sourcing knowledge and the
potential to undermining the authority of the historian’s voice.
The response to this, at least among some celebrity curators, is to emphasize industry and
volume of production. The most famous of these curators is HUO,
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Ulrich_Obrist) Han Ulrich Obrist, whose frenetic lifestyle
involves (http://nymag.com/arts/art/rules/hans-ulrich-obrist-2012-4/) almost continuous
travel and work. While this clearly reflects the character of the individual as much as
anything, Balzar makes clear that it represents an argument against the deskilling of the
curator’s craft. The industry, professionalism, professional stature, and dedication of Obrist
alone demonstrates the value of and demand for a skilled curator in a world filled with
impostures.
The increased pace of the curators life and the need to appear (if not to be) busy at all
times to fit into a 21st century model of professionalism has certainly spilled into the
humanities. The pace of life and work of a historian has come to represent value in the eyes
of many both within the discipline and outside it. The constant refrains of “I’m so busy”
marks out the professional academic as having particular value. (And perhaps serves a
contrast to the dilettantish amateur can lavish attention on an obscure project of only
personal importance.) At the same time, academic programs dedicated to curation have
developed to prepare curators for the challenges of a career in the art world. This step
toward professionalization occurred in the humanities during the late 19th centuries and
helped to fortify a clear division between amateurs and professionals in an effort to ensure
professional historians particular value in the emerging, modern university. Obrist, despite
his celebrity, emerged from a preprofessional world of curation and learned his craft through
apprenticeships at leading galleries and museums.


 

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The relationship between professionalization, pace, and value in the world of curation, then,
has obvious parallels with the development of academic disciplines in the humanities.
History faces the same struggles that the world of curating does with amateurs or crowd
sourced alternatives taking more and more attention away from academic practitioners. It
remains to be seen how and whether historians can regain their exclusive, professional
authority or whether the discipline will succumb to the relentless pressure of popular
perception.


 

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On Books and Blogs
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/on-books-and-blogs/
Wed, 29 Oct 2014 12:38:55 +0000
This is the 1000th post on the New Archaeology of the Mediterranean World. About 950
of them, I’ve authored and the other 50 or so were penned by my remarkable colleagues
and contributors.
My average post length is about 300 words, which puts the entire endeavor at around
280,000 words or so. That’s a lot of words. These words have had about 145,000 page
views and average around 1000 views per week. I think this is a sustainable clip for me as
the author, and, I hope, for you as readers.
I’ve posted a number of times on how blogging fits into my daily workflow and its benefit to
me as a writer and scholar. It ensures that I write every day and smooths the transition from
the jumbled nest of ideas in my head to (what I try to pass off as) linear arguments. As
readers of this blog know, my posts tend to be messy and unedited and filled with
inconsistencies, but I trust my readers to filter out what makes sense and what doesn’t and
to cull the good from the posts here and discard the crazy. I hope, on the measure, that my
posts produced more wheat than chaff.
If the threshing process is too time consuming, you can, of course, go right to the main
coarse of bread. Yesterday afternoon we got the cover image for
(https://www.worldcat.org/title/pyla-koutsopetria-i-archaeological-survey-of-an-ancientcoastal-town/oclc/892462417) the book that I wrote with David Pettegrew, Scott Moore
and a few other remarkable colleagues.
title="ARS21Cover.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/ars21cover.jpg"


 

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alt="ARS21Cover" width="458" height="600" border="0" />
I love the cover image because it humanizes our work as archaeologist and stands in
contrast to recent covers in the series which (https://www.worldcat.org/title/khirbatiskandar-final-report-on-the-early-bronze-iv-area-c-gateway-andcemeteries/oclc/461631446) tend to (https://www.worldcat.org/title/roman-marblesculptures-from-the-sanctuary-of-pan-at-caesarea-philippipanias-israel/oclc/805048822)
focus on (https://www.worldcat.org/title/humayma-excavation-project/oclc/668403595)
objects or (https://www.worldcat.org/title/cyprus-and-the-balance-of-empires-art-andarchaeology-from-justinian-i-to-the-coeur-de-lion/oclc/878050906) buildings. It fits our
volume because we spend many pages talking about the interaction between the human
work of archaeology and analysis that this work produces. The invisibility of antiquity on the
cover reminds the reader that archaeological knowledge is not out there waiting to be
discovered, but is generated through the relationship between humans and the landscape.
The presence of modern artifacts - electrical wires, metal signs and other features highlights the diachronic nature of our survey work on Cyprus. All this is to say that the
cover of our book shows that knowledge production is a messy process and this has fine
parallels with the blobs of words that my dedicated readers frequently encounter here. I
think this cover really makes our work stand out!
We’re optimistic that (http://www.amazon.com/Pyla-koutsopetria-Archaeological-AncientCoastal-Reports/dp/0897570693/) the book will available for Christmastime
shopping (and everyone’s life is better with a bit of Koutsopetria!), and if it’s not available
yet, you can always make it a (http://www.amazon.com/Punk-Archaeology-KostisKourelis/dp/0692281029/) Very Punk Archaeology Christmas!
I have a few experiments in mind for my online word-making projects in the next couple of
weeks, so please stay tuned. And, while it goes without saying, thanks for reading!


 

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A Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oilpatch-2/
Thu, 30 Oct 2014 13:25:57 +0000
This morning I posted a draft of the introduction and conclusion to my
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/?s=Tourist+Guide) Tourist Guide to the
Bakken Oil Patch to (https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oilpatch-86a52bd3779f) the online publishing site Medium. I’m just a bit excited about the
experiment and will almost certainly publish drafts of the rest of the Guide to Medium over
the next few days
I used (https://medium.com/) Medium, rather than my trusty Wordpress blog for a number
of reasons. First, it seems more suited to long form reading and while none of the individual
sections of my guide are long by Archaeology of the Mediterranean World standards, they
are just on the edge of tl;dr status on a typical blog. So I wondered whether the clean
interface on the Medium would make it easier to read.
More importantly than that, Medium allows readers to comment on specific paragraphs
rather than just comment at the level of the blog post. This is a very helpful way of collating
comments on a longer manuscript and allows readers to post their immediate gut reactions
to a particular section.
My plan is to use the comments assembled at the Medium to revise my manuscript prior to
submitting it for peer-review and publication. As readers of this blog know, this project
places me a wee bit outside of my traditional, academic comfort zone, so I’m particularly
eager to get some feedback on how I do as a historian of North Dakota, as a commenter on
our modern, industrial condition, and as an author of something more popular than scholarly
(although this work has clearly academic goals).


 

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I intend to serialize my tourist guide over the next couple of weeks, but for this first group of
posts, I have focused on my introduction and a fairly rough draft of my concluding
comments. More of the tourist guide proper will follow, so please stay tuned!
A Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch
Table of Contents
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-86a52bd3779f)
I. Introduction
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-893e900d4fc4)
I.1. A Brief Industrial History of the Bakken Counties
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-393d56b45ea9)
I.2. Practical Notes on Travel, Roads, and Weather in the Bakken
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-c616bb14ba58) I.3.
Technical Notes and Key Terms about the Bakken
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-608a499ac546)
I.4. Controversies and Concerns
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-4fe90333d708)
I.5. The North Dakota Man Camp Project
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-a936805104f2)
I.6. Further Reading
II. Route 1: Minot to Ross
II1. Route 1a: Ross to White Earth
III. Route 2: Ross to Tioga
IV: Route 3: Tioga to Williston
IV.1. Route 3a: Wheelock, Nession Flats, East Williston


 

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IV.1. Route 3b: Wildrose
V: Route 4: Williston to Watford City
VI: Route 5: Williston to Sidney, MT
VII: Route 6: Watford City to New Town
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-b69182c6e409)
VIII. Conclusions: Industrial Tourism and Some Theoretical Reflections


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/31/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-110/
Fri, 31 Oct 2014 12:06:44 +0000
Our mild and sunny fall has given way to grey and cold to remind us that winter is on the
way here in North Dakotaland.
To compensate for the failing sun, I woke up early this morning to get some sunshine and
vitamin D by watching (http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan-v-australia2014/engine/match/727929.html) Pakistan v. Australia in Abu Dhabi. Unfortunately,
Australia can’t get anyone out so my sunny morning involves watching Younus Kahn’s
double century and Misbah-ul-Haq score a century. Oh well, the great thing about test
match cricket is when a match is well and truly over, you still have three days more to savor
the agony.
One more thing, if you haven’t checked out the first installment of my
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-86a52bd3779f)
Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch, please click over to Medium to give it a read.
On to the varia and quick hits:
• (http://news.ubc.ca/2014/10/24/street-view-for-the-bronze-age/) Bronze Age street view
at the site of Kalavasos-Ay. Dhimitrios on Cyprus.
• (http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/october/democracy-meaning-ober-102314.html)
Democracy might be hard to understand.
• (http://www.livescience.com/48466-gladiators-drank-ashy-drink.html) Gladiators drank
ancient sports drinks.


 

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• (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/archaeology-today/phaistos-disk-deciphered/) I
am dismayed that scholars are rejecting the decipherment of Phaistos disk presented at
TED on Crete. If we can’t believe a local TED talk, I am completely without a compass.
• (http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/june-2013/article/archaeological-society-in-stlouis-places-ancient-artifacts-on-the-auction-block) This is super annoying, but fortunately,
the (http://www.archaeological.org/news/aianews/17833) AIA is dismayed. It’s funny, I
discovered that in May, (http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/letter-und-isnt-all-itsome) a letter I wrote to the local paper caused dismay. I can honestly say that I’ve never
felt dismay. I’ve been disappointed, startled, and even bummed out, but never dismayed.
Maybe this is a weakness on my part.
• (http://io9.com/1-000-years-of-scientific-texts-from-the-islamic-world-1651688013) A
massive collection of scientific texts from the Islamic world at the (http://www.qdl.qa/en)
Qatar Digital Library.
• (https://asunews.asu.edu/20141027-university-librarian-appointment#.VEot1LeG54.facebook) James O’Donnell, Late Antiquitist, is the new director of libraries at
Arizona State.
• (http://www.vigamus.com/en/exhibition/current/item/128-e-t-the-fall-atari-s-buriedtreasures) Atari ET games from Alamogordo are on display in Italy.
• (http://twopointommen.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/passion-and-the-job-market/) Brett
Ommen’s struggle with and without academia (a brutally honest read, but important).
• (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/24/mi5-spied-historians-eric-hobsbawmchristopher-hill-secret-files) It must have been a boring assignment, but apparently MI5
spied on Eric Hobsbawm and Christopher Hill.
• (http://apps.texastribune.org/shale-life/life-in-a-man-camp/) Man camps in Texas.


 

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(http://www.underconsideration.com/quipsologies/archives/october_2014/arminvit_86.php
) A nice example of adaptive reuse of old Mac Pros.
• (http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2014/oct/29/turkeys-new-presidential-palaceunveiled-in-pictures) The new presidential palace in Turkey is looks pretty fancy.
• (http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/10/the-five-stages-of-grieving-the-artof-jeff-koons) Milliner on Koons.
• (http://www.wired.com/2014/10/super-friends-hall-of-justice/) Cincinnati’s Union
Terminal is endangered.
• (http://bloomingatdoaks.com/) What’s blooming at Dumbarton Oaks.
• What I’m reading: Dean MacCannell, (http://www.worldcat.org/title/tourist-a-new-theoryof-the-leisure-class/oclc/1818124) The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class. (2013
edition). I really am reading it, but I’ll also admit (against the advice of several colleagues),
that I’m going to read William Gibson’s (http://www.worldcat.org/title/tourist-a-new-theoryof-the-leisure-class/oclc/1818124) The Peripheral.
• What I’m listening to: The Twilight Sad, Nobody Wants to be Here and Nobody Wants to
Leave; Duke Ellington and Coleman Hawkins, Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins. I’m
listening to both on (https://tidalhifi.com/us) TIDAL, which is CD quality streaming. If you
love music, it’s worth the 7 day trial.
title="IMG_2246.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/img_2246.jpg" alt="IMG
2246" width="450" height="337" border="0" />Milo sez: The rug really tied the room
together


 

613

Excavated Atari Cartridges from the Alamogordo on Ebay Today
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/03/excavated-atari-cartridges-fromthe-alamogordo-on-ebay-today/
Mon, 03 Nov 2014 14:48:36 +0000
This past week, folks from the city of Alamogordo announced that they were going
(http://www.alamogordonews.com/alamogordo-news/ci_26847858/e-t-atari-games-foundalamogordo-up-sale) to sell about 100 Atari cartridges from the excavations conducted last
spring in a local landfill. If this was a typical excavation, my professional standing as an
archaeologist would require me to be outraged that a community would so quickly profit by
selling their irreplaceable cultural heritage.
Making matters more complex was
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/atari-excavation/) my participation in
the excavation, albeit as an observer. It is interesting that our notes, reports, or standing as
archaeologists in no way contributed to the value of these objects. We’ve never been
consulted nor have we ever provided any information that established the context for these
objects, although we have no reason to think that the context is another less than secure.
Nevertheless, in the strange world of archaeology of the contemporary past, ethical
positions become more difficult and confusing. After all, the Atari games are not, by any
traditional standard, officially recognized historical artifact. They are neither 50 years old, nor
were they excavated under rigorous scientific conditions. They are not associated with a
particular historical person and they events that led to their deposition have, at best, a
symbolic relationship with the decline of the gaming industry. The discard of hundreds of
thousands of Atari games in the New Mexico desert was almost routine in the company’s
history as it liquidated returned stock and unsold inventory, but the urban legend that
developed around these games is what gave this assemblage particular value. As with so
many urban legends, the conspiracies and complications that lurk below the surface
provided the leaven for the legend’s rise, and the desert town of Alamogordo provided a

 

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semi-exotic and appropriately mysterious location for the story. The media frenzy surround
the excavation was largely manufactured by (http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/11/03/etlandfill-excavation-documentary-premiers-this-month) the documentary film crew who paid
for and arranged the excavation. This isn’t to say that the excitement over the excavation
wasn’t real or that these Atari games don’t have historical significance within the context of
an urban legend and the historical practices of American consumer culture and the video
game industry. They obviously do and we’ll see how this interest will correlate to value over
the course of the Ebay auction today. (I’ll post an update to this later today when the Ebay
auction for “Atari Dig Cartridges” starts.)
As an archaeologist, we’ve become hyper sensitized to the buying and selling of antiquities
and recognize how such practices works to encourage looting and destruction of
archaeological sites as well as the commercialization of our shared cultural heritage. For
objects associated with more recent history, archaeologists have been a bit less vocal in
their concern. For example, we have not railed against the selling of stadium seats or bricks
from demolished ball parks or the world wide market for rare, valuable, and significant
baseball cards. In fact, the experience of buying, selling, and trading sports memorabilia is
as much of the part of this industry as owning and displaying it (although the same might be
said about the sale of art and antiquities in some people’s minds). In other words, the value
of the objects comes purely from the commercial practices associated with its acquisition.
Baseball cards, for example, were trading cards meant to be swapped, collected, and
exchanged.
Perhaps equating the Atari games with sports memorabilia sales in not a useful way to think
about these objects. On the other hand, most institutions, whether cities like Alamogordo or
universities, have processes where they liquidate unneeded assets or surplus.
Archaeologists are unlikely to protest the sale of 1964 Selectric typewriters from a
university or municipal warehouse even though these objects are 50 years old and, even if
they constitute an assemblage. In this way, the city of Alamogordo is simply selling off
surplus inventory which they do not have the space to store or any interest in conserving.


 

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That the games dug out of the ground and the project was at least partially documented by
archaeologists lends them the patina of antiquity without having to be old. The appearance
of some of the games (http://www.vigamus.com/en/exhibition/current/item/128-e-t-the-fallatari-s-buried-treasures) in an Italian museum of video games provides them with some
cultural validation, but the Ebay auction today will give us an idea about how much these
objects will fetch on the open market. If the market for artifacts, to some extent, dictates
their significance and the value of artifacts on the market dictates their appeal to looters and
the potential risk to archaeological sites, then today’s auction will give us an idea about
whether the public sees these objects as just more cast offs from our consumer society.


 

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More on the A Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/more-on-the-a-tourist-guide-tothe-bakken-oil-patch/
Tue, 04 Nov 2014 12:49:01 +0000
Last week, I published the first installment of my Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch. It
was mostly introductory matter and rough conclusion. This week, I’ll begin to roll out the
actual itinerary with the various routes.
Taking some advice from my readers, I’ve included a return to introduction and table of
contents button to make navigating the guide easier. I also appreciate everyone who took
some time to notice that use too many adverbs. This is my top, stylistic editing priority as I
get this cleaned up for submission. I know that I need maps and hope to have those done
by the end of the month. I’d also welcome any comments regarding the content of my
guide! I know at least a few of my readers have spent more time in western North Dakota
than I have.
The only mechanical issues I’ve experienced using Medium to serialize this is that for some
readers (and some browsers?) the paragraph level commenting does not seem to work. I’d
love some feedback on that.
Here’s the full table of contents. The titles in bold and new additions to the Guide this week.
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-86a52bd3779f)
I. Introduction
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-893e900d4fc4)
I.1. A Brief Industrial History of the Bakken Counties
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-393d56b45ea9)
I.2. Practical Notes on Travel, Roads, and Weather in the Bakken

 

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(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-c616bb14ba58) I.3.
Technical Notes and Key Terms about the Bakken
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-608a499ac546)
I.4. Controversies and Concerns
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-4fe90333d708)
I.5. The North Dakota Man Camp Project
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-a936805104f2)
I.6. Further Reading
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-b93b0c9ec118)
II. Route 1: Minot to Ross
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch59e1916d0780) II1. Route 1a: Ross to White Earth
III. Route 2: Ross to Tioga
IV: Route 3: Tioga to Williston
IV.1. Route 3a: Wheelock, Nession Flats, East Williston
IV.1. Route 3b: Wildrose
V: Route 4: Williston to Watford City
VI: Route 5: Williston to Sidney, MT
VII: Route 6: Watford City to New Town
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-b69182c6e409)
VIII. Conclusions: Industrial Tourism and Some Theoretical Reflections


 

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Florida from the Air and a Survey of Vacant Lots
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/05/florida-from-the-air-and-a-surveyof-vacant-lots/
Wed, 05 Nov 2014 12:47:24 +0000
I’ve been in Ft. Myers Florida the last few days and to orient myself I’ve looked a bit at
Google Earth. I was immediately fascinated by the aerial view of Cape Coral which lies just
to the west of Ft. Myers.
title="Cape Coral.jpg" src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/capecoral.jpg" alt="Cape Coral" width="450" height="350" border="0" />
The pattern of roads would make a lovely carpet.
To the east of Ft. Myers lies a community called
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehigh_Acres,_Florida) Lehigh Acres. Like many of the
developments around Ft. Myers, this one was hard hit by the 2008 housing bust leaving its
well organized grid conspicuously devoid of houses.
title="Lehigh Acres.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/lehigh-acres.jpg" alt="Lehigh
Acres" width="450" height="350" border="0" />
The develop has had a uneven history and had been declared blighted as early as 1992,
over the course of 2000s developers worked hard to build houses and build a tax base, but
this all came to a halt in 2008 with the housing boom leaving numerous vacant lots. (Cf.
(http://www.jstor.org/stable/279551) Wilk and Schiffer’s seminal paper in American
Antiquity 44 (1979) on this topic.)


 

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title="Lehigh Acres 31000.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/lehigh-acres-31000.jpg"
alt="Lehigh Acres 31000" width="450" height="350" border="0" />
I wonder whether a survey of the vacant lots in Lehigh Acres would be profitable to see how
empty lots in a struggling development are used.
title="Lehigh Acres Vacant.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/lehigh-acres-vacant.jpg"
alt="Lehigh Acres Vacant" width="450" height="350" border="0" />
Vegetation will be a problem in many of the lots, of course, and we’d need to figure out how
to get permission, but I bet the results would give insights into the use of marginal land in
the U.S. (So far, I’ve not been able to convince my parents to take me out to Lehigh Acres
for a drive through survey…)
For some comparison, I’ve included aerial views of Grand Forks at 14 miles and 31000
square feet.
title="Grand Forks.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/grand-forks.jpg" alt="Grand
Forks" width="450" height="350" border="0" />
title="Grand Forks 31000.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/grand-forks-31000.jpg"
alt="Grand Forks 31000" width="450" height="350" border="0" />


 

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Atari Auction Update
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/06/atari-auction-update/
Thu, 06 Nov 2014 12:29:57 +0000
A few days ago, I promised an update to the ongoing Ebay auction of Atari games
excavated from the Alamogordo landfill last spring.
Check out (http://archaeogaming.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/the-capitalism-of-latearchaeology-alamogordos-atari-games-on-ebay/) Andrew Reinhard's and
(http://raifordguins.com/2014/11/05/atari-dig-cartridges-object-life-history-via-ebay/)
Raiford Guin’s very recent blog posts on this event to get a better sense of what’s going on.
You can read mine too, I mean,
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/03/excavated-atari-cartridges-fromthe-alamogordo-on-ebay-today/) if you haven’t already.
So far, the highest bigs are on ET games in their original boxes which top out at close to
$650. (http://www.ebay.com/usr/tbhs575?_trksid=p2055359.m1431.l2754) You can
check out the auction here. One thing my fellow Atari archaeologists have been pondering
is whether there’s a good way to scrape bid history from Ebay into a spreadsheet. Can
anyone help with this?
Please don’t bid against me!
I’ve also been amazed to witness the conflation of
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/30/punk-archaeology-the-book/) punk
archaeology and our participation in the landfill excavation in Alamogordo. The highlight of
this has to be the appearance of our lovely visages at Vigamus video game museum in
Rome.


 

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title="NewImage.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/newimage.png"
alt="NewImage" width="450" height="299" border="0" />
Stay tuned for more on this!


 

622

A Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch Update
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/06/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oilpatch-update/
Thu, 06 Nov 2014 13:57:07 +0000
I posted an update to my Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch over at Medium this
morning.
I’ve appreciated the critiques that I have received so far and after some travel over the next
couple of weeks, I plan to sit down and prepare a revised edition of the entire guide. Rather
than posting this to Medium, which has provided a nice platform for longer form writing, I’ll
like present it as a pdf and post it over at (https://www.scribd.com/billcaraher) my Scribd
account. Since I’ve written the entire document in Scrivener, it is easier for the time to push
things out chapter at a time rather than all at once.
My biggest worry about the <span>Guide as it now stands is the lack of conceptual unity.
The fine strands that run through a guide that let the reader know that they are not just
witnessing a random arrangement of objects, places, and sites, but a network of
experiences that work together. I think a stronger introduction will help that, and for more
academic readers, a stronger epilogue that takes into account how the genre of the tourist
guide shapes the tourist’s gaze.
Here’s the full table of contents. The titles in bold and new additions to the Guide today. I
think I’ll post on Tuesday and Thursdays to ensure that the entire Guide is available without
much delay. My desire to serialize is mostly just my flair for the dramatic.
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-86a52bd3779f)
I. Introduction


 

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(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-893e900d4fc4)
I.1. A Brief Industrial History of the Bakken Counties
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-393d56b45ea9)
I.2. Practical Notes on Travel, Roads, and Weather in the Bakken
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-c616bb14ba58) I.3.
Technical Notes and Key Terms about the Bakken
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-608a499ac546)
I.4. Controversies and Concerns
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-4fe90333d708)
I.5. The North Dakota Man Camp Project
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-a936805104f2)
I.6. Further Reading
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-b93b0c9ec118)
II. Route 1: Minot to Ross
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch59e1916d0780) II1. Route 1a: Ross to White Earth
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-1af30cc01a78)
III. Route 2: Ross to Tioga
IV: Route 3: Tioga to Williston
IV.1. Route 3a: Wheelock, Nession Flats, East Williston
IV.1. Route 3b: Wildrose
V: Route 4: Williston to Watford City
VI: Route 5: Williston to Sidney, MT
VII: Route 6: Watford City to New Town


 

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(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-b69182c6e409)
VIII. Conclusions: Industrial Tourism and Some Theoretical Reflections


 

625

Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/07/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-111/
Fri, 07 Nov 2014 13:27:20 +0000
Fall is struggling to let go of North Dakatoland this year, but apparently when I was away
winter finally offered a few flurries and more appear to be on the way this weekend. The
onset of winter weather is always good for the blog, the book, and that stack of articles
begging to be read.
A few pre-varia updates: The(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-thebakken-oil-patch-86a52bd3779f) Tourist Guide to the Bakken will continue to appear over
the next few weeks(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oilpatch-86a52bd3779f) over at Medium. If you haven’t checked it out, you should. You
might also want to check out the interesting coverage of the ongoing Atari auction both
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/06/atari-auction-update/) on the blog
and(http://www.ebay.com/usr/tbhs575?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2754) at Ebay.
So, on to the quick hits:
• (http://archaeology.org/news/2687-141106-submerged-port-corinth) The supercool
Lechaion harbor project is in Archaeology Magazine.
• After the dismay abated, (http://www.archaeological.org/news/aianews/17866) another
statement by the AIA on the St. Louis Society’s sketchy dealings.
• Congratulations to James Osbourne on the appearance of
(http://www.amazon.com/Approaching-Monumentality-Archaeology-InstituteMediterranean/dp/1438453256/) Approaching Monumentality in Archaeology. IEMA
Proceedings 3. SUNY Press 2014.


 

626

• (http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/june-2013/article/magnificent-ancient-romantreasure-revealed) A Roman period silver treasure revealed.
• (http://thechronicleherald.ca/metro/1248486-halifax-archaeologist-unravelling-themystery-of-buried-clothes) Magic clothes buried in an attic in Nova Scotia.
• (https://www.academia.edu/8913094/Cyberarchaeology_a_Post-Virtual_Perspective)
Cyber-Archaeology: A Post Virtual Perspective.
• (http://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/space-eirini-andreas-vourloumis) A
photographer channels the Thirties Generation.
• (http://kottke.org/14/11/kowloon-walled-city) Section drawings of the Kowloon Walled
City.
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/03/arts/nortons-latest-anthology-explores-worldreligion.html) World religion.
• (http://googlescholar.blogspot.com/2014/11/on-shoulders-of-giants-growingimpact.html) Older articles are becoming more important. This is good for me since I
stopped reading new scholarship in graduate school.
• (https://www.academia.edu/8913094/Cyberarchaeology_a_Post-Virtual_Perspective)
Kinesthetic Learning.
• (http://www.amazon.com/The-Peripheral-William-Gibson/dp/0399158448) Read the first
page of William Gibson’s new novel The Peripheral. The first scene is in a 1977 Airstream
camper covered in insulation foam. The Bakken is the future.
• (http://youtu.be/IBHADseIs-w) The Dawn of Def Jam.


 

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• (http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2014/11/global-feedback-putting-a-100-audiophilesystem-on-show/) Lots of interesting conversations about the $100 stereo system.
• (http://www.marco.org/2014/11/01/short-form-blogging) Maybe I’m blogging wrong.
• What I’m reading: R. Bringhurst, (https://www.worldcat.org/title/elements-of-typographicstyle/oclc/55633787) The Elements of Typographic Style. Version 3.1. Vancouver 2005.
• What I’m listening to: Arca, Xen; Mekons, Curse of the Mekons.
title="IMG_3674.jpeg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/img_3674.jpeg" alt="IMG
3674" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="IMG_0625.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/img_0625.jpg" alt="IMG
0625" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="IMG_1649.jpeg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/img_1649.jpeg" alt="IMG
1649" width="450" height="337" border="0" />It’s a dog’s life.
(Susie took over Milo photography duty this week!)


 

628

First Snow...
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/08/first-snow/
Sun, 09 Nov 2014 00:01:27 +0000
I usually post an image of the first “real” snow of the year:
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/10/20/first-snow-2013/) 2013 (Oct. 20),
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/first-snow-2012/) 2012 (Oct.
4), (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-23/)
2011 (Nov. 10), (http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2010/11/21/first-snowwinter-2010/) 2010 (Nov. 21),
(http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/the-first-snow/) 2008 (Oct.
28), and in (http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2007/09/11/westernmacedon/) 2007 (Sept. 11).
Here it is for 2014.
title="IMG_2276.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/img_2276.jpg" alt="IMG
2276" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
Enjoy!


 

629

The Two Academic Economies
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/the-two-academic-economies/
Mon, 10 Nov 2014 13:58:23 +0000
A couple of my colleagues have been discussing one of the most challenging topics facing
(http://www.paulmworley.com/) academic (http://jlangstraat.com/) scholars,
(https://nplusonemag.com/issue-20/the-intellectual-situation/the-free-and-the-antifree/)
writers, and (http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/11/06/is-streaming-good-formusicians/if-streaming-is-the-future-you-can-kiss-jazz-and-other-genres-goodbye)
musicians today: how do we make a living doing what we think is important even as
immediate economic realities of our profession change. Among academics, endless articles
have detailed the rise of adjuncts, the reduction in full time, much less tenure-track or
tenured, jobs, and the general decline in working conditions particularly among scholars in
the humanities. Musicians, writers, and creative professionals have likewise spoken out
about the challenges they have faced in the face of new economic realities presented by the
wide reach of the internet, growing expectations of “free culture”, and pervasive corporate
influence in how creative works are produced, distributed, and consumed.
If you're expecting some brilliant resolution to these problems, it's probably best to stop
reading now. All I want to do is to frame the problem is what might be a useful way.
I've decided that one way to think about the issues facing academics and creative
professionals is by thinking about our lives in terms of two economies: a fiscal economy and
a social economy. Most problems arise when these two economies, and the institutions and
structures designed to maintain and promote them, come into contact.
Fiscal Economy. The fiscal economy, in my little model, describes the amount academics
and scholars get paid, our basic work conditions, job security, and anything that involves
our ability to feel financially secure in our day-to-day lives. The issues related to this
economy have received the most attention in the national media as stories abound of faculty

 

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members are prestigious schools who are struggling to make ends meet and the remarkably
difficult road that many scholars and creative professionals traverse to get to a position of
job security.
I've been pretty fortunate to have a good place in the fiscal economy of my profession. I
make enough money to be happy, have tenure, have a nice office, good students, fantastic
colleagues, and an relatively decent relationship with the university administration.
That being said, I have found the last two months of sabbatic rather stressful. My work
hours have crept longer, my anxiety level has slowly ratcheted up, and I never feel like I'm
doing enough. What is this about?
Social Economy. My muddled mind has attributed this to the other major force in the lives of
creative professionals, the social economy. This describes (https://nplusonemag.com/issue20/the-intellectual-situation/the-free-and-the-antifree/) the other benefits most of us seek
for doing our jobs. We hope that our work and its influence will in some way transform the
world for the better. To achieve this, we need people to read our work, to invite us to join
into conversations, to agree to collaborate, and to generally respect our intellectual and
personal integrity. This social economy cuts across our work as scholars, its products, and
our various academic obligation and rewards us through professional advancement which
will, with any luck, advance our academic or creative agenda.
The social economy offers very little in terms of direct financial reward and whatever it does
offer tend to be much delayed. That being said, the academic social economy does offer
loads of fringe benefits that range from better odds at winning grants, cool travel
opportunities, rewarding collaborative projects, and, of course, opportunities to publish
work in high profiles places (which add value and increase the exposure). In most cases,
capital in the social economy develops through productive engagement with institutions
other than our primary places of employment (although not always). Academic associations,
research centers, scholarly publications, conferences and meetings, and various institutes
award capital and status in the social economy by both leveraging the work of scholars to
fill their pages, panels, and libraries, and providing platforms to amplify the impact of

 

631

scholarly production.
To be clear, I also regard most publishing to be a social act. The most successful scholars
best understand the conversation among their peers and find ways to contribute to shared
concerns. Understanding this conversation is rarely simply a matter of reading all the books
and articles on a subject and is typically the result of personal familiarity with individuals, the
community, and the language used to consider and resolve problems within a discipline.
I understand that the social economy is not “fair” in a traditional sense. There are myriad
unspoken rules, relatively little institutional oversight, and an over reliance on personal
relationships and connections. Among those most committed to the accumulation of social
capital the vagaries of this economy are incredibly stressful, but the benefit of accumulating
status within the social economy is, typically, real social or political change.
For academics, the greatest challenges arise when the social economy intersects with the
financial economy. For example, I have colleagues who refuse to work in the summer
months when they are not on contract or take weekends off. These are reasonable actions
considering our expectations of the fiscal economy, but they don't always maximize our
potential within the social economy (putting aside arguments that we need time off to be
creative and things like that). I’m aware of the (https://nplusonemag.com/issue-20/theintellectual-situation/the-free-and-the-antifree/) anti-free movement and the policies that it
advocates, but this movement seems - right now - to privilege the immediate benefits of the
fiscal economy over those of the social economy. I can’t quite stomach the idea that fewer,
less free works of scholarship, art, and music is better for our world.
Academics are also susceptible to bullying as the expectations within the social economy
(publishing, presenting, researching, collaborating, peer-reviewing) often trump
opportunities provided within the fiscal economy, yet lack the direct and immediate financial
rewards. Service throughout the academy and within our disciplines often develops vital
social capital, but when reciprocity breaks down (typically under pressures from the fiscal
economy), service become exploitative.


 

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Nowhere is more fought than the hiring, tenure, and promotion process where genuine
fiscal rewards (however modest) are directly tied to the successful deployment of social
capital, reciprocal relationships (whether through personal familiarity or shared academic
pursuits), and good will. It is hardly surprising then that moments where the social and fiscal
economies directly interact become times where expectations a disappointed and anger at
the unclear boundaries is the most pronounced.
I don't know how to ameliorate the tension between the two economies. Typical of someone
who is secure in one (the fiscal) over the other (the social), I feel far more powerfully the
pressures of the social economy in my field, and this is leading to a rather stressful
sabbatical year.
Some of this stress, undoubtedly comes from recognizing how privileged I am to survive in
the fiscal economy of my discipline while others struggle but continue to be active, engaged
scholars or creative professionals.


 

633

The Anatomy of the Atari Auction
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/the-anatomy-of-the-atari-auction/
Mon, 10 Nov 2014 19:40:57 +0000
The last week has been pretty exciting for people who have followed the excavation of an
assemblage of E.T. Games from the Alamogordo landfill last spring. I participated in the
project as one of the archaeological observers and was charmed by the participants and
the community.
This past week saw the start of the auction of
(http://www.ebay.com/usr/tbhs575?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2754) 100 of the
excavated Atari games. (https://archaeogaming.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/thecapitalism-of-late-archaeology-alamogordos-atari-games-on-ebay/) My colleagues
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/03/excavated-atari-cartridges-fromthe-alamogordo-on-ebay-today/) and I have expressed some reservations about selling
excavated materials. In general, I think it’s a bad idea, but I’ll concede that it is not a cutand-dry as these objects may well have cultural value only through their association with
media-feuled “(https://twitter.com/Samanthosaurus/status/530424397287264256) fake
archaeology.”
Last Friday, things got exciting when bit-by-bit the auction of games began to disappear
from Ebay. My colleagues and I watched the number of games slowly decrease from 100 to
only 19 over an hour. We speculated wildly about the cause. Perhaps Ebay had thought
better about selling objects that had been in a municipal landfill for three decades. Perhaps
there was dissent among the sellers of the games which would benefit the city of
Alamogordo and the local historical society. There had been an election after all! Perhaps
the rapidly increasing prices at the auction seemed suspicious with E.T. game in box
topping out at over $700.


 

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It ended up being just a procedural issue on the part of Ebay as the seller had updated the
images associated with a few of the games, but our fascination and almost giddy panic
encapsulated something fundamental about the entire undertaking. The “mystery”
surrounding the games themselves a combination of corporate efforts to obfuscate the fate
of returned or damaged games, the lack problematic state of Atari corporate records, and
the good fiscal decision to bury the games in an economical way. In other words, the
mystery surrounding these games and their fate was not a traditional archaeological
mystery, but a “fake mystery” fueled by internet debates and lack of access or interest in
tracking down documentary records or first-hand accounts which could have set the record
straight.
So cynics can celebrate how a fake archaeological project solved a fake
mystery.
title="My_eBay Watch_list.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/my_ebay-watch_list.png"
alt="My eBay Watch list" width="450" height="346" border="0" />
The media coverage of the auction itself has been bizarre as well. As the games continue to
increase in value, with a boxed E.T. game up to $850 at present, Joe Lewandowski, the
name behind the historical society’s auction continues
(http://www.techtimes.com/articles/19590/20141108/flop-atari-2600-et-cartridges-nowfetching-price-of-gold-at-ebay-auction-why.htm) to equivocate over the games’ value. He
reminds the press that another 750 games will go up for auction after this lot is sold, and
that the hundreds of thousands of games still in the landfill would be cost-prohibitive to
excavate.
The math is baffling: the current auction has already raised close to $15,000 from 100
games (approximately $150 per game), and the prices will almost certain increase quickly
as the auction nears its closing date. If the 750 additional games perform similarly, the
auction should raise over $100,000. Even if the next auction does not receive the same
bidding and excitement, the reserves on the first round of games were at least $50, so the
auction should raise over $40,000 if all the games sell. So, it’s unclear what the city’s
strategy is: are they telling bidders to hold on until the 750 new games appear in

 

635

subsequent auctions? Are they cautioning bidders that the several hundred thousand (and
perhaps million games) left underground will sit there to insure the value of their
investment? The message is, at best, mixed, and, at worst, disconcerting.
Archaeology of the modern period is tricky because the processes that serve to occlude
archaeological objects (whether fake or otherwise) from our site continued to function. The
complexities of value, the market, and - to be exceedingly simplistic - modern waste
disposal obfuscate the forces that shape artifact histories even as archaeologists work to
scrutinize both the objects and processes themselves. Depending on your position, this
works to undermine the viability of archaeology in the contemporary world because it makes
true critical distancing from the objects under study impossible. Or, it provides a good
reason for us to continue to attempt to use archaeology to unpack the workings of objects
in our world.
In the meantime, the auction will go on and people will bid on games. I have. My current
plan is to put together a nice little collection of games and gift them to the
(http://www.archaeological.org/news/advocacy/17257) St. Louis chapter of the
Archaeological Institute of America on the condition that they never sell them. Maybe I’m
kidding.


 

636

Another Installment of the Tourist Guide to the Bakken
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/11/another-installment-of-the-touristguide-to-the-bakken/
Tue, 11 Nov 2014 13:31:33 +0000
I’m running out of blog titles for my serialized Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil
Patch,<strong style="font-style:italic;) but here is the next installment
((https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-5c5acf468665)
IV. Route 3: Tioga to Williston).
With any luck, I’ll be taking a visitor out to the Bakken next week and doing the Minot to
Williston run. This will be another chance to ground truth the Tourist Guide. I’ve also been
working to understand some small part of the literature on the tourist’s gaze and the
relationship between tourism and other forms of mobility in contemporary culture. I’m not
sure that any of this will impact the nuts and bolts of the guide, but it will certainly help me
articulate how tourism and tourist guides create a space for the critique of contemporary
culture.
As per usual, I’m posting this because I think it will entertain people, but I have an ulterior
motive; I also want some feedback before this manuscript gets its final revision and is sent
off to the press for review.
I have a couple specific issues that I’m messing with. First, I’m trying to figure out whether to
include small character sketches of some of the people we’ve met out in the patch. We
have these great interviews with folks and the people we’ve met add to the character of the
patch, but character sketches are not strictly part of the tourist guide genre. Next, I have this
overwhelming desire to include a series of hand-drawn maps of the Bakken. And I suspect
that I can convince (http://kourelis.blogspot.com/) Kostis Kourelis,
(http://www.whitewashedtomb.com/) Richard Rothaus, and Bret Weber to do it, but I’d like
to get two more people involved so each route comes with its own map. Anyone interested

 

637

in preparing a hand-drawn map for my book? The only criteria is that you’ve spent some
time in the Bakken.
I also continue to be interested in the readerly experience with (https://medium.com)
Medium. I like the aesthetics of the site and I find it very readable, but I wonder whether
everyone sees it the same way? I also have been thinking about it as a venue for some
aspect of the Digital Press.
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-86a52bd3779f)
I. Introduction
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-893e900d4fc4)
I.1. A Brief Industrial History of the Bakken Counties
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-393d56b45ea9)
I.2. Practical Notes on Travel, Roads, and Weather in the Bakken
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-c616bb14ba58) I.3.
Technical Notes and Key Terms about the Bakken
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-608a499ac546)
I.4. Controversies and Concerns
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-4fe90333d708)
I.5. The North Dakota Man Camp Project
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-a936805104f2)
I.6. Further Reading
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-b93b0c9ec118)
II. Route 1: Minot to Ross
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch59e1916d0780) II1. Route 1a: Ross to White Earth
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-1af30cc01a78)
III. Route 2: Ross to Tioga


 

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(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-5c5acf468665)
IV: Route 3: Tioga to Williston
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch142498a91299) IV.1. Route 3a: Wheelock, Nession Flats, East Williston
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch9992c0b55574) IV.2. Route 3b: Wildrose
V: Route 4: Williston to Watford City
VI: Route 5: Williston to Sidney, MT
VII: Route 6: Watford City to New Town
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-b69182c6e409)
VIII. Conclusions: Industrial Tourism and Some Theoretical Reflections


 

639

Architecture and Assemblage at the Site of Polis-Chysochous on
Cyprus
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/12/architecture-and-assemblage-atthe-site-of-polis-chysochous-on-cyprus/
Wed, 12 Nov 2014 14:49:36 +0000
I’m in snowtastic Boulder to give a talk about Cyprus today. If you’re in the area, you
should come and here it.
Even the snow is better in Colorado (here’s
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/08/first-snow/) Grand Forks, for
reference; compare the grills):
title="IMG_2287.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/img_2287.jpg" alt="IMG
2287" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
Here’s the info:
title="Caraher flyer.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/caraher-flyer.jpg"
alt="Caraher flyer" width="463" height="600" border="0" />
And, if you’re not able to make it to Boulder tonight, here’s the talk:
[scribd id=246360519 key=key-Dx156LCjYjbOhM6yyWtZ mode=scroll]


 

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Another Route from the Tourist Guide to the Bakken
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/13/another-route-from-the-touristguide-to-the-bakken/
Thu, 13 Nov 2014 14:03:43 +0000
One of my favorite drives in the Bakken is from Williston, ND to Watford City, ND. The
route takes you south over the Missouri River and through the the Little Badlands before
turning east south of Alexander, ND with its mighty bypass. The intersection of US Route 85
and ND Route 23 has become a settlement in its own right with workforce housing
accommodating over 1000 people around the iconic Bakken Buffet.
Then you follow US 85/ND Route 23 east, past Arnegard before descending onto the
Madson Flat just west of Watford City. On the south side of the road is
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/abandonment-in-the-bakken/) the
imposing Madson grade which was meant to bring the train onto the flat toward Watford
City. For my time and energy, the drive from Williston to Watford For more on this, go and
check (https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patchadea0c51360a) Route 4 in my Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch.
title="P1090238.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/p1090238.jpg"
alt="P1090238" width="450" height="191" border="0" />
For people into this kind of thing, Google Earth now has Landsat images from late
September 2014 available.
Here is the current table of contents for


 

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(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-86a52bd3779f)
I. Introduction
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-893e900d4fc4)
I.1. A Brief Industrial History of the Bakken Counties
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-393d56b45ea9)
I.2. Practical Notes on Travel, Roads, and Weather in the Bakken
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-c616bb14ba58) I.3.
Technical Notes and Key Terms about the Bakken
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-608a499ac546)
I.4. Controversies and Concerns
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-4fe90333d708)
I.5. The North Dakota Man Camp Project
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-a936805104f2)
I.6. Further Reading
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-b93b0c9ec118)
II. Route 1: Minot to Ross
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch59e1916d0780) II1. Route 1a: Ross to White Earth
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-1af30cc01a78)
III. Route 2: Ross to Tioga
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-5c5acf468665)
IV: Route 3: Tioga to Williston
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch142498a91299) IV.1. Route 3a: Wheelock, Nession Flats, East Williston
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch9992c0b55574) IV.2. Route 3b: Wildrose


 

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(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-adea0c51360a)
V: Route 4: Williston to Watford City
VI: Route 5: Williston to Sidney, MT
VII: Route 6: Watford City to New Town
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-b69182c6e409)
VIII. Conclusions: Industrial Tourism and Some Theoretical Reflections


 

643

Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/14/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-112/
Fri, 14 Nov 2014 14:58:34 +0000
I’m still in snowy Boulder enjoying warm hospitality despite the low temperatures. I am
always impressed by mountains, even if people tell me that they’re just really nice hills.
title="IMG_2300.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/img_2300.jpg" alt="IMG
2300" width="450" height="146" border="0" />
My hectic week has impinged a bit on quantity of varia at my disposal, but I still mustered a
nice little list, I think, to keep my loyal readers entertained over the weekend:

(https://mapsengine.google.com/map/u/0/viewer?mid=zWAsWPxMUcKE.kNrkA2JaFBZU)
Student-sourced project on Roman amphitheaters.
• (http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780884024019) Anthony Kaldelis on
Laonikos Chalkokondyles.
• (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/amet.12105/abstract) Time and objects after
conflict on Cyprus.
• (http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2014/nov/11/contemporary-graffiti-art-on-thewalls-of-athens-in-pictures?CMP=fb_gu) Another nice collection of Athenian street art.

(http://www.ebay.com/itm/291285755689?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&amp;ssPag
eName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT) This is a lot of money for a 30 year old Atari game

 

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found in a landfill in New Mexico.
• (https://archaeogaming.wordpress.com/2014/11/08/you-play-an-archaeologist/) You play
an archaeologist...
• (http://www.paulmworley.com/english/failure-to-accumulate-bullying-and-academiassymbolic-economy/) A thoughtful response to
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/the-two-academic-economies/) my
post on the academic economies.
• (https://medium.com/message/against-productivity-b19f56b67da6) Against productivity.

(http://archive.archaeology.org/1209/features/ned_kelly_bones_australia_old_melbourne_g
aol.html) The end of the line for Ned Kelly.
• (http://chronicle.com/article/What-Book-Changed-Your-Mind/149839/?cid=cr&amp;utm_source=cr&amp;utm_medium=en) Books that changed you
mind.
• (https://soundcloud.com/dischordpress/sets/fugazi-first-demo) Fugazi’s first demo.
• How are articles like this still being written? (http://chronicle.com/article/ProfessorsPlace-in-the/149975/?cid=at&amp;utm_source=at&amp;utm_medium=en) Really lecture
is dead.
• (https://medium.com/message/surfing-drowning-diving-122612314fa8) Sorgatz writes
the history of inventing new media.
• (http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-sri-lanka-2014-15/content/story/798949.html) 264
is a lot of runs.


 

645

• What I’m reading: J. Urry and J. Larson, (https://www.worldcat.org/title/tourist-gaze30/oclc/777184927) The Tourist Gaze 3.0. Los Angeles 2011.
• What I’m listening to: The Who, The Who Sells Out.
title="IMG_2298.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/img_2298.jpg" alt="IMG
2298" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
title="IMG_4622.jpeg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/img_4622.jpeg" alt="IMG
4622" width="450" height="600" border="0" />Blanket and Elephant


 

646

Objects, History, Conflict: Cyprus, Atari, The Bakken
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/objects-history-conflict-cyprusatari-the-bakken/
Mon, 17 Nov 2014 12:20:11 +0000
This has been a hectic week, but I did have the chance to get a little bit of reading done. I
particularly enjoyed Rebecca Bryant’s recent article in American Ethnologist 41 (2014),
681-697 titled (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/amet.12105/abstract) “History’s
Remainders: On Time and Objects After Conflict on Cyprus.”
The article looks at objects looted, left behind, and sometimes returned after the conflict
between Turkish and Greek Cypriots in the 1960s and 1970s. The displacement of families
from their homes on both sides and the occupation of new homes whose residents were
displaced created a series of object biographies that traced the outlines of the conflict itself.
Necessity often compelled Cypriots to loot commodities from the homes of their displaced
neighbors during lulls and in the aftermath of the conflict. These objects represented the
spoils of the conflict and rarely had lasting emotional value. These Bryant refers to as
“remainders” whose everyday - mundane - existence communicated an uncanny quality for
both the current and past residents of Cypriot homes. Their familiar, yet ambiguous and
displaced existence, evoked a disturbed sense of home and belonging (from the
belongings).
Bryant called “remains” objects that had clear and intimate connections to the home’s
previous owner, and these objects tended to have less ambiguity and be treated with
greater respect. Bryant describes photographs, dowry chests, and wedding gowns that
evoked the shared humanity of both the resident and displaced “other”. In some cases,
these objects were destroyed by the new residents who made efforts to suppress the
humanity of their displaced adversaries. In other cases, these objects were preserved or
even returned their displaced owners as a gesture of shared humanities.


 

647

Both remains and remainders carry with them the burden of history and objects often
represent conflict both in a tremendously immediate way and through their complex
associations with past events. This emphasizes the temporal character of these objects and
their potential both to create a sense of belonging in history and to generate anxiety about
an uncertain future.
At the same time that I was digesting this complex and compelling article, I was following
(http://archaeogaming.wordpress.com/2014/11/16/thoughts-from-a-winning-bidder-of-ane-t-game-excavated-from-alamogordo/) the auction of the games from
t(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/atari-excavation/) he Atari landfill in
Alamogordo, New Mexico. Without trivializing the history of objects and experiences of
people on Cyprus, these games also emerged through a moment of conflict and continue to
carry the ambiguous potential of an uncertain future. For some, these games represent the
folly of our hyperactive media cycle which can impart value almost instantly and withdraw it
almost as quickly. They also invoke the tumultuous history of the gaming industry in the early
1980s. The history of these games, then, rests at the intersection contemporary media
culture and the fragile economy of the early 1980s.
Today, I’m heading out to the Bakken oil patch one more time with an updated draft of my
(http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/13/another-route-from-the-touristguide-to-the-bakken/) Tourist Guide in hand. I’ve been thinking a good bit with
(https://www.worldcat.org/title/tourist-a-new-theory-of-the-leisure-class/oclc/1818124)
Dean MacCannell’s The Tourist (1976). He argues that one of the goals of tourism is to
unify the fragmented world of modernity and the subvert the alienation so characteristic of
the modern world. This is particularly the case of tourism focused on industrial sites,
factories, and the like. The position of the tourist, above and outside of the fragmented
experience of industrial labor, allows them to understand the universe of work and the
production of objects as all part of the same experience. Rebecca Bryant regarded objects
as uncanny owing their ambiguous relationship with time. Tourism must produce a similarly
uncanny encounter with the world as the tourist stands outside of the fragmented temporal
rhythms of everyday industrial life, but nevertheless still in contact with this experience and


 

648

its products.
The temporal displacement encountered through tourism and through objects associated
with conflicts, the fickle whims of the media, and booms (like the Bakken) makes for a good
topic for reflection recently as I spent time in various timezones and observe the world from
and increasingly distant and detached perspective. Strolling
(http://mediterraneanworldarchive.wordpress.com/2007/12/19/travel-notes/) through
airports, truck stops, or streaming by outside a car window has given me pause to consider
whether the “unified” world view has any more relationship to our lived experiences than
some cheaply made “souvenir” from an airport gift shop.


 

649

Myth of Origins in the Bakken
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/18/myth-of-origins-in-the-bakken/
Tue, 18 Nov 2014 13:05:11 +0000
I am once again in the Bakken, but this time on business with my wife rather than on my
own research adventures. That being said, I did have a chance to visit a few sites that had
eluded me including the monument marking the
(https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/Circulars/Williams/circ204.pdf) Clarence Iverson No. 1 well
which initiated the Bakken boom in 1951 and the rather more obscure site of Temple where
sweet North Dakota crude was first transported by rail to markets back east.
title="P1090293.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/p1090293.jpg"
alt="P1090293" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1090304.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/p1090304.jpg"
alt="P1090304" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
This got me thinking about the myths of origins in the Bakken. The name of the play derives
from the (https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/circulars/Williams/circular16.pdf) Henry O. Bakken
#1 spudded in July 1951 and completed less than a year later in April of 1952. The Iverson
#1 was, of course, earlier, but Mr. Bakken’s name graces the famous North Dakota oil play.
Some trace the origins of the most recent, fracking inspired oil boom to work in the Elm
Coulie oil field in eastern Montana where horizontal drilling and fracking demonstrated the
potential of these techniques as early as 2000, almost a decade before the current boom
was touched off by a horizontal fractured well west of Williston.


 

650

I talk a good bit about the various origin stories in my (https://medium.com/@billcaraher/atourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-86a52bd3779f) Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil
Patch and this morning published Route 5: Williston, ND to Sidney, MT which looks west
for the origins of the most recent boom.
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-86a52bd3779f)
I. Introduction
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-893e900d4fc4)
I.1. A Brief Industrial History of the Bakken Counties
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-393d56b45ea9)
I.2. Practical Notes on Travel, Roads, and Weather in the Bakken
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-c616bb14ba58) I.3.
Technical Notes and Key Terms about the Bakken
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-608a499ac546)
I.4. Controversies and Concerns
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-4fe90333d708)
I.5. The North Dakota Man Camp Project
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-a936805104f2)
I.6. Further Reading
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-b93b0c9ec118)
II. Route 1: Minot to Ross
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch59e1916d0780) II1. Route 1a: Ross to White Earth
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-1af30cc01a78)
III. Route 2: Ross to Tioga
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-5c5acf468665)
IV: Route 3: Tioga to Williston
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch
 

651

142498a91299) IV.1. Route 3a: Wheelock, Nession Flats, East Williston
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch9992c0b55574) IV.2. Route 3b: Wildrose
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-adea0c51360a)
V: Route 4: Williston to Watford City
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-b1f659d8bc87)
VI: Route 5: Williston to Sidney, MT
VII: Route 6: Watford City to New Town
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-b69182c6e409)
VIII. Conclusions: Industrial Tourism and Some Theoretical Reflections
title="P1090294.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/p1090294.jpg"
alt="P1090294" width="450" height="178" border="0" />As the kids would say #nofilter


 

652

Three New Novels
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/19/three-new-novels/
Wed, 19 Nov 2014 14:05:50 +0000
The State Board of Higher Education, emboldened by the failure of North Dakota Ballot
Measure 3, issued a proclamation that no faculty members outside of the English, language
or literature programs can read novels, and people in those programs can only read novels
directed toward (1) research, (2) classroom activities, or (3) other professional
development. Ostensibly, this policy stems from the “pernicious advance of modernism in
our universities, communities, and state” but many faculty think it is simply designed to
focus our attention on academic pursuits.
Needless to say, this new policy will crimp my summer reading list which I sometimes
pepper with so-called “fiction.” It will also make long intercontinental and cross-country
flights less pleasant. Since it does not come into effect until January 1 and I had a few
flights over the last month or so, I decided to take advantage of my last remaining months of
free reading.
Here are three novels:
1. William Gibson, (http://www.amazon.com/Peripheral-William-Gibsonebook/dp/B00INIXKV2/) The Peripheral (2014). The novel is set in the both the near future
(say 20 years from now) and the slightly more distant future (say 100 years from now) and
starts with a description of an 1970s Airstream RV winterized with some kind of spray foam.
The setting for much of the action in the more distant future is a tricked out Mercedes RV
designed for long range trekking across the Gobi desert. The plot is fast-paced, baffling,
and interesting enough, but the real power of Gibson’s books comes from his sensitivity
toward future trends ranging from the rise of the internet to virtual reality. Anyone who does
not see a future where (http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/work-camps/)


 

653

we live in mobile housing has not been reading my blog very carefully.
2. Jeff VanderMeer’s (http://www.amazon.com/Annihilation-Novel-Southern-ReachTrilogy/dp/0374104093/) Southern Reach Trilogy (2014). VenderMeer’s novels present a
darker, even more distopian vision of the near future. The trilogy of Annihilation, Authority,
and Acceptance focus on a group of bureaucrats, scientists, and intelligence officials who
the vaguely articulated “Central” has tasked with studying a mysterious Area X which
suddenly appeared along a stretch of the Forgotten Coast. When the phenomenon that
created Area X occurred, the sparse population of this stretch of coastline vanished and a
barrier arose between the area and its surroundings. Southern Reach is the government
agency investigating Area X, and while the descriptions of the mysterious area tend toward
the etherial, they are unmistakably archaeological in character. The desolate beauty of
abandonment permeates the novel and provides VenderMeer with an appropriate backdrop
to explore the alienating effects of modern society.
3 Julia Schumacher, (http://www.amazon.com/Dear-Committee-Members-JulieSchumacher/dp/0385538138/) Dear Committee Members (2014). This lovely, short
novel explores a year in the life of Prof. Jason Fitger through his letters of recommendation.
It chronicles his relationships with his ex-wife and ex-girl friend, his desperate efforts on
behalf of a once promising friend and a student whose funding is cut by an increasingly
rapacious administration, and his various letters to support students looking for work. The
letter themselves range from the pathetic, to the charming, hilarious, and all-to-real, but they
all embody the tension between Fitger as the devoted egoist and as the dedicated mentor,
colleague, and friend. His letters become opportunities to reflect on his own situation in life
as well as those of the students and colleagues who he recommends. The situations will be
depressingly familiar to anyone who has spent time in academia: the grass is always
greener (in another department), the plight of the overlooked genius, the anxiety surrounding
creative and scholarly production, and the alternation between naivety and suspicion.
One more set of flights starting this afternoon and then I’ll be home for the holidays. I don’t
have any more novels to read, so I’ll have to do work. Hopefully spending some time with
creative folks like Gibson, VanderMeer, and Schumacher rubs off and makes me work

 

654

better. Isn’t that the promise of modernity?


 

655

An Unsatisfying Final Chapter to the Tourist Guide of the Bakken
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/20/an-unsatisfying-final-chapter-tothe-tourist-guide-of-the-bakken/
Thu, 20 Nov 2014 14:29:01 +0000
As I pushed publish on the final chapter to the (https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-touristguide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-86a52bd3779f) Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch, I
fretted over two things. First, I lying in bed at the San Diego Westin Hotel on the first fill day
of the (http://www.asor.org/am/) Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental
Research. I should really be blogging about something Cypriot or at least something nonNorth America. So, I’m promising myself after I post this, I’ll get into the proper mood and
go forth to enjoy the conference.
Next, I’m profoundly unsatisfied with how this chapter turned out. After a quick trip through
the Bakken last week, I noticed that this chapter does not fairly represent the distances
between sites (for example Keene and Johnson’s Corner). It does not take into account the
newly opened (and spectacular) Watford City bypass. And it overlooks truly massive gravel
pits along ND Route 23.
title="P1090295.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/p1090295.jpg"
alt="P1090295" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
So why did I hit publish? Well, part of it is because I wanted to make sure that I followed
through a presented the entire draft. I’m going to revise this anyway, so an unsatisfactory
version of the manuscript online is tolerable to me. More importantly, however, I enjoyed
thinking about how the invisible infrastructure of the Bakken works. The drive east on ND
Route 23 from Watford City does not necessarily reveal the complex networks of pipelines
that will gradually add to the industrial activity in this area. The occluded nature of certain
aspects of the oil boom ranging from pipelines and gravel pits to crime, danger, and social

 

656

disruption and trace a dark shadow across the Bakken. For the tourist, signs of these
systems and problems will be always be obscure, but the routes on the tourist guide
hopefully make a few of them more visible.
title="P1090290.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/p1090290.jpg"
alt="P1090290" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
The next step is to prepare a thorough revision of the guide for proper publication. At the
same time, we will work on the revision of a paper for the journal Historical Archaeology
which will represent the first scholarly publication of our work.
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-86a52bd3779f)
I. Introduction
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-893e900d4fc4)
I.1. A Brief Industrial History of the Bakken Counties
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-393d56b45ea9)
I.2. Practical Notes on Travel, Roads, and Weather in the Bakken
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-c616bb14ba58) I.3.
Technical Notes and Key Terms about the Bakken
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-608a499ac546)
I.4. Controversies and Concerns
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-4fe90333d708)
I.5. The North Dakota Man Camp Project
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-a936805104f2)
I.6. Further Reading
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-b93b0c9ec118)
II. Route 1: Minot to Ross
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-


 

657

59e1916d0780) II1. Route 1a: Ross to White Earth
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-1af30cc01a78)
III. Route 2: Ross to Tioga
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-5c5acf468665)
IV: Route 3: Tioga to Williston
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch142498a91299) IV.1. Route 3a: Wheelock, Nession Flats, East Williston
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch9992c0b55574) IV.2. Route 3b: Wildrose
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-adea0c51360a)
V: Route 4: Williston to Watford City
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-b1f659d8bc87)
VI: Route 5: Williston to Sidney, MT
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-24b97a449deb)
VII: Route 6: Watford City to New Town
(https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch-b69182c6e409)
VIII. Conclusions: Industrial Tourism and Some Theoretical Reflections


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/21/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-113/
Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:54:25 +0000
I’m still hanging out at the (http://www.asor.org/am/2014/schedule.html) American School
of Oriental Research annual meeting in sunny and warm San Diego. Unlike some years, I’ve
been able to enjoy a full slate of panels. Yesterday the panel on Maritime Archaeology and
Object Biography were particularly thought provoking, and today it looks like I could spend
about 6 or 7 hours in panels devoted to the archaeology of Cyprus.
So with the travel and conferencing by quick hits and varia will look a bit thin, but I figure I
do owe my readers something!
• (http://www.efsyn.gr/arthro/stin-pyla-oi-pinakides-eihan-rahi-san-ta-simerina-vivlia) CyproMinoan tablets from Pyla-Kokkinokremos.
• (http://www.efsyn.gr/arthro/stin-pyla-oi-pinakides-eihan-rahi-san-ta-simerina-vivlia)
Assyrian reliefs and 3D imaging.
• (http://laughingsquid.com/archaeologists-unearth-three-ancient-greek-mosaics-in-theongoing-excavation-in-zeugma-turkey/) Fancy Roman mosaic in Zeugma, Turkey.
• (http://kourelis.blogspot.com/2014/11/deserted-greek-villages-hackman.html) Deserted
Greek villages from Kostis Kourelis.
• (http://www.thepressproject.net/article/69301/Thessaloniki-mayor-poses-nude-todefend-gay-rights-and-raise-HIV-AIDS-awareness) The quirky and progressive mayor of
Thessaloniki.


 

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• (http://www.whitewashedtomb.com/) Richard Rothaus says go see
(http://drafthousefilms.com/film/the-overnighters) the Overnighters, a documentary film on
Williston, ND and the oil boom.
• (https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guide-to-the-bakken-oil-patch86a52bd3779f) You can now read a complete draft of my Tourist Guide online.
• (https://archaeogaming.wordpress.com/) Andrew Reinhard says go and check out
(http://video.xbox.com/movie/atari-game-over/4b8575c6-bd05-48e8-92c9c61ba57e8025) Atari: Game Over, a documentary film on digging up Atari games in the
Alamogordo desert.
• (http://kourelis.blogspot.com/2014/11/deserted-greek-villages-hackman.html) Forever
professors and (http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2014/11/18/ageism-inacademe/?cid=pm&amp;utm_source=pm&amp;utm_medium=en) ageism in academia.
• (http://www.wired.com/2014/10/content-moderation/) Think about this next time you use
Facebook. For my part, (https://ello.co/billcaraher) I’ve switched to Ello.
• (http://gawker.com/choose-your-own-adventure-creator-r-a-montgomery-dea1658988227) Creator of Choose Your Own Adventure dies.
• (http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/sonic-youth-guitarist-thurston-moore-teaches-apoetry-workshop-at-naropa-university.html) Thurston Moore’s poetry class at Naropa.
• (http://www.limahuli.net/anythingbutmp3/?p=1754) A long review of Neil Young’s Pono.
• What I’m reading: Zack Furness, (https://www.worldcat.org/title/punkademics-thebasement-show-in-the-ivory-tower/oclc/757148525) Punkademics: The Basement Show
in the Ivory Tower. (2012).


 

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• What I’m listening to: Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street.
title="IMG_2345.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/img_2345.jpg" alt="IMG
2345" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Three Thoughts on the ASOR Annual Meeting
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/24/three-thoughts-on-the-asor-annualmeeting/
Mon, 24 Nov 2014 14:28:04 +0000
I spent two, busy days at the (http://www.asor.org/am/) American Schools of Oriental
Research annual meeting last week. It was great to catch up with old friends and spend
some time surveying both recent trends in our field and the state of academic conference.
1. Ban Archaeological Site Reports as Conference Papers. I enjoyed most of the papers
that I heard last week and invariably learned something from even the most tedious. This is a
good thing. At the same time, I got antsy and irritated during archaeological site reports that
detailed the results of every trench at a site over the previous one or two field seasons. The
level of detail offered in many of these papers made the work difficult to visualize. The
absence of clear general research questions (e.g. what are the influences on the
development of Cypriot cult in the late Iron Age?) and the preponderance of hyper-specific
research questions (e.g. does the north wall continue west?). These questions are
interesting, perhaps, from an archaeological perspective, but this rarely translates to an
interesting paper.
I recognize, of course, that there is a tradition of these kinds of site reports in archaeology,
so I’m not blaming the authors. I also realize that these reports can provide useful updates
to the scholarly community, former volunteers and collaborators, and specialists interested
in these sites. Moreover, I get that with funding to attend conferences become more
competitive, many scholars feel pushed to give papers of dubious academic value just to
get funding to attend.
At the same time, I am pretty sure ASOR could publish academic site reports online,
perhaps behind a firewall if project’s are concerned about the safety of their sites, and
eliminate what is far and away the least intellectually rewarding part of the conference while

 

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still providing a venue for the dissemination of detailed information. This would allow
conference organizers to present a more focused conference with more substantial papers
over a shorter period of time. It does not, of course, resolve the issue of scholars who
present less than remarkable papers simply to get funding to attend.
2. The Digital Divides. I am becoming more and more alarmed by the divide in archaeology
between the digital haves and have nots. As research funding contracts and expenses of
fieldwork continue to increase, the presentations documenting significant digital innovation
came almost entirely from large, well-funded projects with the backing of large research
universities. I recognize that innovation requires funding and that many aspects of this work
will “trickle down” into digital tools and technologies available to smaller, more financially
ordinary projects, but there was little discussion of how this process will take place or what
smaller, less generously funded projects can do to participate in the process of digital
innovation (or little discussion that I saw at the panels that I attended).
The digital divide bothered me because so many of the coolest digital projects seemed far
from being sufficiently scalable to have a widespread impact on the field. Moreover, some of
the data driven digital initiative seem to require the widespread adoption of their complex
platforms to assemble the kind of data required to allow for archaeological “big data”
initiatives. The truth behind big data in archaeology, however, is that it derives not from
technological innovation alone, but through the combination of technology and social
networks (of the human kind) to generate the kind of collaboration necessary to produce
significant change in the discipline.
The digital divide, then, marks not just the digital “haves” and digital “have nots,” but an
approach to digital archaeology that continues to privilege innovation over application. As
an archaeologist open to digital tools and techniques, I am far more interested in
understanding how innovators can provide access to digital tools and support the
meaningful adoption of technology to produce significant bodies of data. In other words, I
was impressed by the highest of high tech (e.g. virtual archaeology in immersive 3D
environments, dynamic bespoke platforms supporting large-scale collaboration between
interrelated projects, and sharks with laser beams who could destroy even the most

 

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aggressive archaeocyberpirates), I was much hungrier for digital initiative that had
significant adoption rates or that produced meaningful results across multiple projects of
different scales and resources. It seems to me that the future of digital archaeology is in
collaboration and adoption more than innovation.
3. Conferences as (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/man-campsas-non-places/) Non-Places. Upon returning home, I was shocked to discover that the
conference had been in San Diego. The Westin Hotel was fine. The weather was nice from
what I could gather from outside the hotel and taxi cab windows (I did notice the absence of
blowing snow and sub-zero temperatures).
I recognize that part of this was my fault. I could have planned more time for excursions or at
least took a cab to a good local restaurant rather than settling for rather ordinary fare
available near the conference hotel. At the same time, I felt significant pressure to use my
time wisely, attend as many sessions as possible, and be punctual and engaged at various
meetings. By my early morning departure, I realized that the location of the conference was
almost completely irrelevant.
The commercial carpeting, Starbucks' coffee, institutional pastries, familiar hotel rooms, and
polite staff all made the experience of attending this conference nearly indistinguishable
from any other, and made me all the happier to get home.


 

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An Introduction to Slow
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/25/an-introduction-to-slow/
Tue, 25 Nov 2014 13:47:55 +0000
I have a few days this week to get work done before the holidays and decided to start work
on my part of the introduction (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/aspecial-issue-of-north-dakota-quarterly-slow/) to our volume of North Dakota Quarterly
dedicated to the Slow Movement. While we’re still putting the final touches on the
contributions, the volume obviously requires a few words introducing the topic.
In particular, I was struck by how most of our contributors fell short of considering the global
context for the Slow Movement, and its role in the peculiar narrative of Western progress. A
call for society to slow down and resist the pressures of fast capitalism and late modernity
works best for communities who have the political, economic, and social power and
freedom to question the dominant narrative. As my introduction suggests, communities who
remain enmeshed in the colonial rhetoric of development, progress, and efficiency.
So, here’s the first draft:
Slow: An Introduction
The Slow Movement began in Italy in 1986 led by Carlo Petrini’s efforts to block the
opening of a McDonalds in near the famed Spanish Steps in Rome. He argued that
McDonalds' global brand of fast food was inferior both in terms of taste, but also owing to
the social and economic relationships necessary to bring this inferior product to market. In
place of fast food, Petrini began a movement that celebrated the intentional pace of a
traditional Mediterranean meal as the antithesis to the transnational hurry embodied by
processed meals. Simultaneously evoking the twin evils of globalization and the accelerated
pace of capitalism, the Slow Food movement that developed around Petrini's writing
championed local cuisine, local ingredients, and the ethical obligations to enjoy the

 

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conscientious preparation and consumption of food. Since that time, Slow Foods movement
has become a global phenomena and embraced a range of causes centered on local foods,
seasonal delicacies, deliberate preparation, and the understanding of meals as places for
social interaction.
The impact of the Slow Foods movement spread far beyond its Italian origins and focus on
food. Looking back over its first two decades, Carl Honoré summarized the diverse takes on
the idea of "slow" and the benefits of this deliberate approach to life by writing in Praise of
Slowness (2004). Honoré saw technology, our increasing fixation on efficiency, and even
the rapid pace of our modern "culture" as eroding our ability to savor life and be happy. He
urged his readers to slow down, disconnect, and declutter their lives in an effort to regain
control over their own experiences.
The Slow Movement intersects with academic critiques of late-20th century capitalism. For
example, Ben Agger's critique of "fast capitalism" (Agger 1989; 2004) and David Harvey's
"time-space compression" both locate the increased pace of daily life in the dynamics of
late capitalism with its endless drive toward efficiency in the movement and production of
global capital (Harvey 1989). Contemporary capitalism privileges the ability to adapt, grow,
and produce quickly, and this has contributed to a fascination with speed in our society
today. In this context, uniformity becomes the norm and locates human experience against a
banal reality of non-places (Augé 1995).
This celebration of slowness, of course, has not provided an escape from capitalism, but
has been incorporated into that totalizing system. Today, calls to embrace the slow lifestyle
are as likely to come from a luxury car maker as a global coffee company, restaurant chain,
or footwear manufacture. By coopting the rhetoric of slow, companies have recognized the
appeal of a superficial and popular approach to "slow consumption." In this context, slow
often becomes little more than deliberately driving a Subaru to a Whole Foods store in a
suburban strip mall or cruising the Pacific Coast Highway in a Mercedes SUV. The lavishly
prepared meal prepared with local foods and filled with animated conversation reflects a
distant social reality from the working class who feast on fast food between shifts or survive
on the meager, prepackaged offerings at urban, discount grocery stores. It is hardly

 

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necessary to observe that subsistence farmers in the global south have different attitudes
toward "local" food and the pressures of constant connection has a different meaning to
poor and isolated communities that are using mobile devices to access the world of microfinance, to participate in local and national politics, and to engage with the wider world. In
short, the Slow Movement represents an opportunity for affluent Westerners to escape a
trap of their own making while still enjoying the fruits of a world that cannot afford to slow
down.


 

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Some Thoughts on Punkademia
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/some-thoughts-on-punkademia/
Wed, 26 Nov 2014 14:32:18 +0000
Over the last few weeks I’ve been slowly making my way through
(http://zackfurness.com/wordpress/) Zack Furness’s edited volume
(https://www.worldcat.org/title/punkademics-the-basement-show-in-the-ivorytower/oclc/757148525) Punkademics (2012), which brings together a wide range of
academic voices on the influences of punk rock on the “ivory tower.” As a colleague of mine
quipped, I like that this book exists. In fact, I wish I had known about while putting together
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/09/30/punk-archaeology-the-book/)
Punk Archaeology; Furness would have been a great contribution to our work.
The book consists of a wide range of essays that, generally, interweave the history of punk
with the personal stories from professional and academic life. The contributions are
generally readable and a pair of interviews with Alan O’Connor, who studied the punk scene
in Toronto, and Milo Aukerman, a research biologist with DuPont who is a member of the
Descendents, added to the immediacy of the volume.
I won’t do a full review, but I do have a few quick, day-before-Thanksgiving, observations:
1. Politics over Aesthetics. One of the key points of this volume is that the punk movement
was more than just aesthetic posturing by bored, image-conscious youth (as postulated by,
say, Dick Hebdige’s 1979 classic, <a style="font-style:italic;"
href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/subculture-the-meaning-of-style/oclc/489717635)
Subculture: The Meaning of Style), but a legitimate form of political expression. Furness and
company paid particular attention to the late 1970s punk scene in the U.K. where bands like
Crass brought together left-wing, anarchist sensibilities in their lyrics and approach to
performance and the music industry. The devoted less attention to, say, the American
version of punk rock which developed in close connection with the New York art scene of

 

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the late 1960s and had close ties to, say, Andy Warhol’s Factory. American punk
particularly as it developed in New York City had a much greater focus on aesthetic
challenges to the increasingly banal world of American consumer culture. This was a
critique of consumer culture, suburbia, or even the absurdity of everyday life, but it was less
overtly political.
2. Gender, Race, Orientation, and Community. Furness’s contributors considered the
tensions that existed between the attitudes within the punk scene toward women,
minorities, and gay and queer participants. These attitudes vacillated between the open and
accommodating to the overtly hostile. Even a casual listener to the punk rock music can
appreciate the misogynistic sentiments expressed in punk lyrics and the use of insensitive
(at best) and intolerant language in the sometimes tense relations between groups and
bands. While in some ways, the anarchic and left-leaning politics of punk created a safe
place for minorities of all kinds, the aggressive tone of the music and adversarial posturing
could sometimes create a hostile environment as extreme political and social rhetoric
masked puerile oppositional showboating.
I was particularly struck by the critique of gender in punk, and it made me very aware that
the first, published iteration Punk Archaeology was very much a boys' club (with the
exception of (http://middlesavagery.wordpress.com/) Colleen Morgan, the Patti Smith of the
Punk Archaeology movement, Kris Groberg, and Heather Gruber). This was all the more
troubling because Mediterranean Archaeology has tended to be an (old) boys’ club in many
ways and remains almost exclusively the domain of white folks.
3. Punk Pedagogy. Several authors dealt explicitly with the influence of punk on their
classrooms, and it was fun to see some of my approaches to teaching considered to be
punk pedagogy. Two particular things stand out. First, I share with punk pedagogy a
willingness to cede power to my students, within limits, and to attempt to create a space for
radical creativity in my classroom. I think that some of Furness’s authors would see the punk
in my experiments in the Scale-Up classroom which drew heavily on the thinking of Paulo
Freire’s (https://www.worldcat.org/title/pedagogy-of-the-oppressed/oclc/43929806)
Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Moreover, I was happy to see that punk teachers shared my

 

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deep skepticism of the industrialized academy, but none appeared interested in exploring
what a return of a craft approach to higher education might look like (at least in those
terms).
4. DIY. The essays advocate do-it-yourself practices that sought to intentionally undermine
our dependence on mass produced consumer goods and practices. Of course, this has
become increasingly difficult in an academic setting as the creeping spread of regulations,
standards, assessment practices, and corporatized expectations has encroached upon our
ability to operate outside of institutionally controlled practices. It was interesting to me that
few of the articles spoke to any resistance to DIY practices from institutional concerns. For
example, there was considerable outcry surrounding the development of a
(http://www.diybookscanner.org/) DIY book scanner, and the increasingly stringent
copyright laws which we’re told protect our “intellectual property” often make it more
difficult (http://chronicle.com/article/Tangled-Up-in-Bob/150131/) to produce meaningful
scholarship or to circulate our works. DIY practices offer a way to subvert, endrun, and defy
these policies and practices, but also carry increasing risk as our intellectual and creative
autonomy is seen as a threat to those who want to monetize it.
(Some day, I will write about my efforts to start a press at the University of North Dakota.)
5. Punk as Failure. One of the most redeeming things about this book is author’s openness
regarding the successes and failures of their efforts to … (continued below)
Interruption:
Ok. I really want to continue this post, but when we woke up this morning our dog looked
like this:
title="IMG_2374.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/img_2374.jpg" alt="IMG
2374" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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His eyes usually look like this:
title="IMG_2367.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/img_2367.jpg" alt="IMG
2367" width="450" height="450" border="0" />
So now I’m going to take him to the vet. I’ll finish this post when I get back.
Continuation:
… integrate a punk ethos into their academic lives. The stories of failed efforts to create a
punk infused classroom or to integrate their intellectual and political commitments to the
shrill rhetoric of punk performance. The willingness to the contributors to admit and
scrutinize the failures of punk to accommodate the academic life and professional world
was heartening to me as I look back on my own struggles to bring my most ambitious and
personal projects to satisfactory completion. The process of punk is perhaps more
important than the product. Or, as my colleague quipped: I’m like that this book exists.
Have a very punk rock Thanksgiving.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/28/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-114/
Fri, 28 Nov 2014 13:54:06 +0000
After a wonderful turkey dinner on Thanksgiving (also known as “Black Thursday”), we
watched the Eagles win (or more importantly, the Cowboys lose), enjoyed a second
helping, ate some pie, and rested the day away as a light snow tidied up the neighborhood.
But now, it’s back to business as usual at Archaeology of the Mediterranean World
Headquarters, and my dedicated readers, especially those who do not celebrate
Thanksgiving (like The Atheists and Canadians) await their regular dose of links.
• (http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/story/803649.html) RIP Phil Hughes.
• (http://paulmullins.wordpress.com/2014/11/11/beautiful-absence-the-aesthetics-of-darkheritage/) The Aesthetics of Dark Heritage.
• (Wow, this is a depressing way to start the list!)
• (http://hyperallergic.com/163825/25-years-of-photographing-nasas-abandoned-launchsites/) NASA’s abandoned launch sites.
• (http://munsell.com/color-blog/cooked-turkey-skin-color/) Munsell your turkey.
• (http://hyperallergic.com/163825/25-years-of-photographing-nasas-abandoned-launchsites/) These are the radio stations available as the International Space Station orbits the
earth.


 

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• (http://nowviskie.org/2014/all-at-once/) Bethany Nowviskie on the events at the University
of Virginia.
• (http://blogs.fandm.edu/phillipsmuseum/2014/11/10/inside-building-memoryarchitecture-and-the-great-war/) Kostis Kourelis on his newest exhibition “Building Memory:
Architecture and the Great War.”
• As you probably know, (https://ello.co/billcaraher) I’m really into Ello, and
(http://thomashawk.com/2014/11/10-tips-for-getting-the-most-out-of-ello.html) here’s a
very uninteresting article on how to get the most out of it.
• (http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/11/its-not-a-race-to-thetop/383000/) Slow Schools (in a good way).
• (http://www.caseyliss.com/2014/11/22/how-i-make-podcasts) How to make a podcast.
• Here is the two part story on North Dakota from the New York Times:
(http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/11/23/us/north-dakota-oil-boom-downside.html)
Part 1 and (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/11/24/us/north-dakota-oil-boompolitics.html) Part 2, and this is
(http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/11/24/upshot/nd-oil-well-illustration.html) a cool
info graphic.
• (http://www.vox.com/2014/11/21/7259207/scientific-paper-scam) This is important
scholarship.
• (http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/primate-diaries/2014/08/13/fire-over-ahwahneejohn-muir-and-the-decline-of-yosemit/) John Muir and Yosemite. This is why I avoid National
Parks.
• What I’m reading: Tom Davis, Charles Stewart, and Anne Maire Weyl Carr, eds.
(https://www.worldcat.org/title/cyprus-and-the-balance-of-empires-art-and-archaeology
 

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from-justinian-i-to-the-coeur-de-lion/oclc/878050906) Cyprus and the Balance of Empires:
Art and Archaeology from Justinian I to Coeur de Lion. 2014.
• What I’m listening too: Velvet Underground, Velvet Underground 45th Anniversary Edition.
<div style="text-align:center;) title="IMG_2358.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/img_2358.jpg" alt="IMG
2358" width="450" height="438" border="0" />It’s cold so I’m wearing a coat.</div>


 

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Cyprus and the Balance of Empires
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/cyprus-and-the-balance-ofempires/
Mon, 01 Dec 2014 14:07:51 +0000
I was pretty excited to pick up at the ASOR annual meeting the volume titled
(https://www.worldcat.org/title/cyprus-and-the-balance-of-empires-art-and-archaeologyfrom-justinian-i-to-the-coeur-de-lion/oclc/878050906) Cyprus and the Balance of Empires
edited by Tom Davis, Charles Stewart, and Annemarie Weyl Carr. The volumes consists of
a series of papers focused on the period from Justinian I to the Coeur de Lion originally
presented at Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute in a 2011
conference. This work should be read alongside the recently published volume from
the Cahier du Centre d’Etudes Chypriotes on the "Archaeology of Late Antique and
Byzantine Cyprus (4th-12th centuries AD)” to provide a sweeping overview of recent
research on Late Antique and Byzantine Cyprus.
As per usual, I will not provide a full review of this volume, but make some quick
observations. I’ll mainly focus on the first eight chapters which focus on the Late Antique
and Early Byzantine period on the island.
1. Churches. Like Cypriot archaeology, this volume is very interested in churches. It
contains summary publications by D. Michaelides on his newly excavated church at Ayioi
Pente in Yeriskipou, E. Procopiou from her martyrium at Katalymata ton Plakton on the
Akrotiri peninsula, and a massive synthetic article by Charles Stewart on the development of
Byzantine architecture on Cyprus.
The most famous of these churches is the massive martyrdom at Katalymata with its
western facing apse. Procopiou interpretation of this building as a 7th century martyrdom
with clear architecture ties to both Egypt and the Levant is almost certain correct, and
reinforces the position of Cyprus as a major center of pilgrimage in the 6th and 7th

 

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centuries with important churches at Amathous, Salamis-Constantia, Limassol (Neapolis),
and now on the Akrotiri peninsula.
D. Michaelidis publication of the salvage excavations at Ay. Pente expands the corpus of
Early Christian churches on the island and provides particularly useful parallels for the
basilica at Polis-Chrysochous which I’ve been working to publish. Both the Ay. Pente
church and the South Basilica at Polis are surrounded by graves and the stone lined
ossuaries at Ay. Pente are similar to those a basilica EG0 at Polis. The relationship between
contemporary burials and cult activities across the island in the 7th century is quite clear
and consistent. I was similarly intrigued by what appears to be a south porch on the basilica
at Ay. Pente which is another feature shared with the South basilica at Polis. Unfortunately
the plan of the church at Ay. Pente is pretty disturbed so it is difficult to understand whether
this south porch was associated with a southern atrium like at the South Basilica. I’m
beginning to wonder whether these south porches provided sheltered access for rituals
attached to important burials on the island.
2. Architectural Development of Churches on Cyprus. Charles Stewart’s sweeping review
of church architecture on Cyprus deserves its own number in my non-review. His survey
was, as one would expect, thought provoking. Stewart began his work by critiquing the
dichotomies that have structured past studies of church architecture on the island. Starting
with Megaw who asked whether Cypriot architecture was “metropolitan or provincial” and
continuing through Curcic who asked whether Cypriot architecture was provincial or
“regional” in character. Of course, Dikigoropoulos 1961 dissertation located Cyprus
“betwixt Greek and Saracen” and numerous subsequent scholars have found both
productive and reductionist parallels between the islands current divided political situation
and its historical place a crossroads in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Stewart, then, was right to critique the overdetermination of these binary readings of Cypriot
architectural history. In its place, Stewart argued that throughout the Early Byzantine period
Cyprus’ place in the Mediterranean shifted according to local political, economic, and
religious influences. There was no single core for which the island stood as the periphery,


 

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but multiple cores and peripheries that shaped the island as an architectural space.
Without getting into the detail of Stewart’s article, I do wonder whether he replaced on set
of dichotomies with another. He seemed inclined divide architecture influences between
those from the island and those from outside the island creating a Cyprus: Not Cyprus
dichotomy. While historically this makes sense, as the corpus of basilicas on Cyprus have
generally been seen as unique, I do wonder whether we should look at the communities on
Cyprus as independent actors rather than simply individual representations of some island
wide tendencies. (https://www.scribd.com/doc/246360519/Artifact-and-Assemblage-atPolis-Chrysochous-on-Cyprus) I suspect that some communities on the island looked at
their neighbors for inspiration while others looked far beyond the island’s shores.
3. Survey and Early Byzantine Cyprus. Marcus Rautman’s article provides a nice overview of
the work done by regional surveys to illuminate the Late Roman and Early Byzantine periods
on the island, and the rural landscape in particular. A key point in this article is that the late
7th century and 8th century landscapes may be much more elusive from an archaeological
perspective. Rautman argues that the disruption of region trade, particularly sponsored by
the imperial government, created a landscape dominated by short-term settlements rather
than substantial and stable investments on the countryside characteristic of 6th and early
7th centuries. These short-term settlements and more contingent practices are less visible
to the archaeologist and sometimes misinterpreted as population decline or abandonment.
4. Chronology and Ceramics. It was pretty remarkable that a collection of articles dedicated
to the Late Romana and Early Byzantine period on Cyprus did not include a single article
focusing exclusively on ceramics. David Metcalf’s article on seals and coins and Maria
Parani’s all-too-short contribution on everyday life reminded us that small finds can play a
key role in understanding the island’s economic, social, and administrative context. The lack
of an article dealing specifically with locally made cook pots, the long-lived Late Roman 1
amphoras, or the regionally produced Cypriot Red Slip table wares, speaks to
archaeological traditions on the island that despite well-known contributions by no less a
scholar than Hector Catling or David Soren, continues to be dominated by students of
architecture, icons, styles, and top-down history of church patrons, imperial officials, and

 

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bishops. Davis's and Stewart's overview of the study of Byzantine archaeological work on
Cyprus emphasized the long-standing nature of existing research agendas despite the
continued inroads of scholars like Marcus Rautman, Michael Given, and … err… me, Scott
Moore, and David Pettegrew.
The book has much to offer the student of Late Roman and Byzantine Cyprus and
contributes to the impressive and growing body of knowledge about the island during these
periods. Now, we just need to get scholars from outside the island of Cyprus to read and
consider the work done on Cyprus, and for archaeologists who work on Cyprus to continue
to work to place the island within a wider context.


 

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Narrative and Argument: Slow Archaeology Version 2
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/narrative-and-argument-slowarchaeology-version-2/
Tue, 02 Dec 2014 13:17:48 +0000
I have this romantic notion that after years of blogging I’ll suddenly turn into an
accomplished wordsmith who can weave together arguments and stories. That obviously
has not happened. If anything, my blog has reinforced many of the worst aspects of my
writing style and done little to make my ideas or arguments more accessible.
A few months ago, I decided to write a “popular” article on
(https://www.scribd.com/doc/238516121/Slow-Archaeology) “slow archaeology” for an
issue of North Dakota Quarterly. I was pretty pleased with the results, but my editors were
less than enthused. The editor noted that I fell pretty quickly into the plodding prose of
academic writing after an honest effort to engage the reader with a vivid narrative at the
start. In fact, she noted that the most interesting parts of my article were those enlivened by
narrative whether of my harrowing ride from Hartford airport to Northampton after a heavy
spring snow, in a car driven by an Australian expat or my colleague’s return to an intensive
survey landscape in order to look up from his clipboard.
My editor also suggested that my contribution was too long.
So, I took my lovely article and began to shear away the buttoned down academic prose
and leave the little narrative vignettes, and see if they can support the weight of my
arguments.
Here is a draft:


 

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[scribd id=248911562 key=key-FgzabwZXSsnfM9zcQC1c mode=scroll]


 

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Ello, Quietude, and the Social Media
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/ello-quietude-and-the-socialmedia/
Wed, 03 Dec 2014 14:41:33 +0000
Over the past few months, my social media presence has begun to overwhelm me. Maybe
it was the election that pushed me over the edge. Maybe it’s because I’m on sabbatical this
year and have more time to casually read my Facebook and Twitter feeds. Maybe it’s my
growing attention to slowing down and the slow movement.
I don’t really know, but my social media life has started to bug me. I’ve found myself less and
less patient hearing sound-bite sized political commentaries from well-meaning and
thoughtful friends. I have struggled increasingly to distinguish between earnest political
commentary, humorous political satire, and absurdist memes, and I worry that people who
share these things have begun to lose track too. I also don’t like the sponsored content that
is just intriguing enough to tempt me to clicking, but not substantive enough to hold my
interest. Finally, I have begun to question the relationship between social media personas
and real world personalities. I always figured that social media was a bit like a crowded bar
where everyone is feeling good and playing their parts, but I’ve recently offended some
people and have slowly come to realize that social media personas might be real people.
The earnestness I see in Facebook or Twitter posting might not just be the kind of fauxearnest posturing that we’ve all used to enliven a conversation, tempt a colleague into
conceding a flawed argument, or as a form of mocking approbation. I mean, it’s pretty hard
not to laugh when someone I barely know tells me to “check my <span style="textdecoration:underline;) [insert privileged expectation here]” or recommends that I read some
“post colonial scholars” or “consider the lilies of the field.”
title="Ello___A_Simple__beautiful___ad-free_social_network.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/ello___a_simple__beautiful__
_ad-free_social_network1.png" alt="Ello A Simple beautiful ad free social network"

 

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width="450" height="54" border="0" />
Anyway, over the past few months it has really bugged me. Not quite enough to ditch
Facebook and The Twitters, but enough to consider alternatives. It just so happened that
last week (https://ello.co/billcaraher) I got an invitation to join Ello. Positioning itself as an
alternative to Facebook, Ello is a new social network that is not (now) supported by
advertisement, it does not share your personal data, and, from what I can tell, is sparsely
inhabited. The layout is spartan and black-and-white. The interface is simple. The features
are almost non-existent. I can post things and maybe make comments on other peoples’
posts. I think I can maybe even share things, but I haven’t really figured that out. There are
also two levels of relationships on Ello: friends and noise. The friend feed is more or less
like Facebook, but less busy; people designated as noise have their posts relegated to a
three column grid which somehow makes it easier to ignore.
The biggest advantage of Ello that I can tell is the clean interface complements an almost
complete lack of activity. I can check it a few times a day and find nothing going on. No
flame wars, no misunderstood posts, no pious statements of owning one’s private property
that folks insist on posting in a public forum. In fact, Ello presents nothing at all.
I got to think about how much of our life is lived online and how our online personas serve
as extensions of private lives, and I began to wonder whether it is time for a site like Ello that
allows us a moment of peace, quiet, and reflection. The absence of advertisements, clutter,
and, even, posts slows my day down just a bit and gives me a place for my online persona
to catch his breath, refocus, and take stock. The first parallel that came to my mind for a site
like Ello is Byzantine urban monasticism which presented islands of tranquil reflecting
amidst the bustle of Byzantine urban life. The inhabitants of these monastic islands were
engaged in the social, political, and religious conflicts in their day, but their homes in
monasteries provided space of quiet reflection and safety from the chaotic outside world. I
find, for example, that after a few posting on Ello (usually involving photographs of my dog)
and a quick read of my virtually unchanging “noise” feed, I’m ready to return to the
overwrought chaos of Facebook and reenter the fray.


 

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title="IMG_2407.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/img_2407.jpg" alt="IMG
2407" width="450" height="282" border="0" />
So, for those of you who are getting overwhelmed by the ambiguity and clutter of Facebook
or Twitter, I highly recommend Ello as a peaceful alternative. If you need an invitation, drop
me a line. The only thing I ask is that you not disturb my quietude.


 

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Update on The Digital Press: Booming Bakken and 3D Archaeology
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/12/04/update-on-the-digital-pressbooming-bakken-and-3d-archaeology/
Thu, 04 Dec 2014 14:00:29 +0000
The post-Punk Archaeology months have been relentlessly busy here at The Digital Press
at the University of North Dakota, but now things have advanced enough to communicate
an unofficial update on various projects.
We now have a full group of contributors to the Bakken Goes Boom book project and have
prepared the book to send out for peer review. The line-up might change a bit here and
there, but this what the table of contents looks like right now.
title="P1090200.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/p1090200.jpg"
alt="P1090200" width="450" height="138" border="0" />
Prologue
SWEET/CRUDE
Heidi Czerwiec
Introduction
Booms, Busts, and the Bakken
K. Conway and W. Caraher
Booms


 

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The Paradox of Plenty: Blessings and Curses in the Oil Patch
Karin L. Becker
Revisited Frontiers: The Bakken, the Plains, Potential Futures, and Real Pasts
Sebastian Braun
Unpackaging Boomtown Tropes: Insider/Outsider Dynamics in North Dakota’s Oil Patch
Ann Reed
Booms and Busts: Haunting Memories in the North Dakota Oil Boom
Joshua E. Young
Health
Public Discourse on the Rise and Regulation of the Illicit Sex Trade During North Dakota’s
Economic Booms
Nikki Berg Burin
Oil Booms and Babies! Birth and Women’s Health Professionals Explain the Challenges of
Western North Dakota’s Oil Boom
Heather Jackson
Doctors Wanted: How the Bakken Changed North Dakota Health Care Delivery
Jessica Sobolik
Nowhere to Run: How the Bakken Oil Boom Further Endangers Domestic Violence
Survivors
Laura Tally
Media


 

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Covering the Boomtown: How Mediated Communication Has Shaped Life in the Bakken
Oil Region
Angela Cary
The Media Goes Boom
Amy Dalrymple
Cowboy Logic, For the Drill
Ryan Taylor
BAKKEN BOOM! Artists Respond to the North Dakota Oil Rush
Rebecca A. Dunham
Photographing the Bakken
Kyle Cassidy
Habitats
Notes from the Global Hinterlands: What It Feels Like to Be Global In North Dakota
Kyle Conway
Extractive Industries and Temporary Housing Policies: Man Camps in North Dakota’s Oil
Patch
Bret Weber
Carenlee Barkdull
100 Miles of Wild: North Dakota Badlands Transect
Richard Rothaus, North Dakota University System
Simon Donato, Adventure Science
Melissa Rae Stewart, Adventure Science


 

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The Archaeology of Man-Camps: Contingency, Periphery, and Late Capitalism
William Caraher
Epilogue
~~~
I am also putting the final touches on the layout of the 3D Thursday book which we’re
calling Visions of Substance. This was delayed as the press reorganized its staffing, but the
book will appear and soon. What’s prompted this is tips from quite a few colleagues letting
me know that articles from the blog are appearing in bibliographies. In the interest in
creating a more archival and persistent citation for our contributors. So, progress is slow
but steady and hopefully by the holidays, we’ll have a completed manuscript.
We’ve started looking at some cover designs as well. These are both just concepts, but I
like the second option much more.
title="COVER OPTION 1.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/cover-option-1.png"
alt="COVER OPTION 1" width="450" height="240" border="0" />

title="COVER OPTION 2.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/cover-option-2.png"
alt="COVER OPTION 2" width="450" height="240" border="0" />


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/12/05/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-115/
Fri, 05 Dec 2014 14:15:15 +0000
It’s been a busy, cold, and curious week at Archaeology of the Mediterranean World
headquarters, and I’d by lying if I said that I wasn’t happy to see it come to a close.
In the meantime, I’ll focus on the weekend by providing you with a carefully curated gaggle
of varia and quick hits.
• (http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2014/11/larnaka-sewerage-worksexpose.html) Excavation for the Larnaka sewage lines is revealing all sorts of ancient stuff.
• (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/archaeology-today/biblical-archaeologytopics/the-archaeological-quest-for-the-earliest-christians/) The Archaeology of the Earliest
Christians by Douglas Boin (Part 1). Someone needs to do an Oxford Handbook of Early
Christian Archaeology…
• (http://digitalarchaeology.msu.edu/schedule/) The Institute on Digital Archaeology:
Method and Practice.
• (http://www.dh.uni-leipzig.de/wo/workshop-december-2014/greek-and-latin-in-an-ageof-open-data-schedule/) Greek and Latin in an age of open data conference.
• (http://io9.com/archaeologists-discover-the-worlds-largest-ancient-ston-1664281050) A
very large ancient cut block.
• (http://www.degruyter.com/viewbooktoc/product/455233) Ramsay MacMullen, Why Do
We Do What We Do? (Always an important question to ask at the end of a long week.)


 

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• (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/30/athens-1944-britains-dirty-secret)
Britain in Athens in 1944.
• (http://thepointmag.com/2014/criticism/slow-film) Slow film. You know, someone needs
to do (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/category/slow/) an edited volume on the
Slow Movement.
• (http://typesetinthefuture.com/alien/) Fonts from Alien.
• (http://blog.preservationnation.org/2014/12/03/menokin-foundation-restored-structuralglass/) Restoring an important 18th century home with glass (h/t to Cindy Prescott). I want
to say something about glass houses here…
• (http://www.paulmworley.com/english/job-market-2015-things-i-think-i-thought-i-knew/)
Worley on approaching the academic job market.
• (http://twopointommen.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/a-different-kind-of-liberty-demandsa-different-liberal-art/) Two Point Ommen on liberty and the liberal arts. This is good.
• One of the great examples of squatting, abandonment, and adaptive reuse will soon be no
more. (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/23/caracas-tower-of-david-squattersrelocation) They are relocating the urban squatters from Caracas’s Tower of David.
• (http://animagraffs.com/loudspeaker/) How speakers work.
• (http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11979120/chip-kelly-philadelphia-eagles-jokes-prooffense-work-ncaa) “I don’t think our pro offense will work at the college level.”
• (http://www.npr.org/2014/11/26/366813240/naive-yet-revolutionary-ray-davies-on-50years-of-the-kinks) 50 years of the Kinks.


 

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• (http://www.openculture.com/2014/12/watch-solaris-1972-andrei-tarkovskys-hauntingvision-of-the-future.html) You can watch the original version of Solaris for free (h/t to
Richard Rathaus).
• (http://insideenergy.org/2014/11/17/women-in-the-oil-patch-unsafe-or-justuncomfortable/) Women and violence in the oil patch.
• (https://medium.com/@chrismessina/thoughts-on-google-8883844a9ca4) Some
thoughts on Google+ (yeah, it still exists).
• What I’m reading: A. Carusi, A. S. Hoel, T. Webmoor, and S. Woolgar eds.
(https://www.academia.edu/4314979/Visualization_in_the_Age_of_Computerization)
Visualization in the Age of Computerization. Routledge 2014.
• What I’m listening to: Yo La Tengo, Extra Painful; Afghan Whigs, Gentlemen.
title="IMG_2447.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/img_2447.jpg" alt="IMG
2447" width="450" height="337" border="0" />It’s been a long week


 

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A Corinthian Cemetery Conflict
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/a-corinthian-cemetery-conflict/
Mon, 08 Dec 2014 14:00:31 +0000
One of the great things about working in and around Corinth is the intensity of the
archaeological rivalries. Scholars in the Corinthia and endlessly “getting up in each other’s
business.” Over the years this has produced some tremendously exciting, public disputes
including the famous "(http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2002/2002-10-31.html) Scotton on
Rothaus on Scotton on Rothaus” debate of 2002. So, when an article has a title “A debate
with K. W. Slane” and turns Slane’s 2012 article into a question, it is impossible as not to
get excited (M.E.H. Walbank, “Remaining Roman in Death at Corinth: A Debate with
Kathleen Slane,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 27 (2014), 403-417; K.W. Slane,
“Remaining Roman in Death at an Eastern Colony,” JRA 25 (2012), 442-455) . This is like a
classic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Big_5) Philadelphia Big 5 basketball game
from the 1980s. The stakes are low, but the intensity is high.
title="NewImage.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/newimage.png"
alt="NewImage" width="450" height="301" border="0" />
I was attracted to the article no only because of the opportunity to get front row seats to a
Corinthian showdown, but also because I’ve been thinking about how communities on
Cyprus construct identities. To do this, I’ve been looking at Late Roman church architecture
and ceramics, particularly table wares.
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/12/architecture-and-assemblage-atthe-site-of-polis-chysochous-on-cyprus/) You can read a draft of my thoughts here and
publish a response to it on your own blog.
Archaeologists have worked at Corinth and the Corinthia more broadly for over 100 years.
As a result, the archaeological assemblage from this region is massive and complex. Roman

 

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period graves and tombs, for example, must number in the hundreds, and present an
appealing body of evidence for how Corinthian denizens wanted to represent themselves at
an important, and final, stage of their lives. In particular, tombs have become an important
for unraveling the complex ethnic identity of Roman Corinthians. After the city’s destruction
in 146 BC and later refoundation as a Roman colony, scholars have debated the
relationship of Corinthian elites to the city’s Roman and pre-Roman past. Did the new
Corinthian elites want to emphasize their Roman-ness and ties to Italy, or did they want to
appropriate the heroic past of the Greek city?
Slane argues in her 2012 article that Corinthian elites showed a clear affinity for Roman
forms suggesting that Early Roman Corinthians continued to look to Italy as they
constructed their new Corinthian identities. Walbank suggests, in contrast, that Slane has
misread or misunderstood the evidence and, instead, has found much more interleaving of
Italian and broadly Greek features in these tombs. In many cases, the debate comes down
to different interpretations of features like benches, motifs in wall painting, and funerary
practices. The evidence is often ambiguous and fragmentary.
Funerary customs as well as urban architecture, ceramics, and religion all seem to point to a
complex and, at times, pragmatic interleaving of Roman and Greek aspects in Corinthian
culture. On the one hand, some features of the Greek city persisted prominently in the
Roman landscape (for example, the ancient water sources around the city center) and could
not be easily overwritten. Building practices, natural resources, and regional economic
connections likewise shaped the kinds of decisions that the new arrivals and elites could
make as to how they presented themselves to their peers and their communities. On the
other hand, the authority of the newly arrived political elites in the city depended heavily on
their ties to power in Italy and at Rome. In this context, it would make sense for
archaeologists to identify ways in which this group demonstrated their positions of authority
and the larger mechanisms of power.
Of course, looking for the Greek and Roman at Corinth runs the risk of breaking Corinthian
culture into a fairly simple binary, but I suppose this is a start. Issues of dating tombs and
their reuse adds practical complexity to any debate concerning what the builders or owners

 

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sought to express in the tomb's features and decorations. Finally, I wondered a bit about the
reception of the tombs and their intended audience. Ultimately, reception is as much the
context for ethnic representation as any essentialized definition of “Greek” or “Roman”
features. After all, Walbank notes that many features in Corinthian tombs appear throughout
the Eastern Mediterranean in the loosely defined “Hellenistic world.” I’d have liked to
understood how the tombs around Corinth compare to those, say, around Argos or Athens
which were much more likely to be points of reference for travelers in the region than tombs
in Asia Minor, the Levant, or even south Italy.
title="NewImage.png"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/newimage1.png"
alt="NewImage" width="450" height="301" border="0" />
In any event, ultimately deciding whether the Corinthian elites thought of themselves as
“Roman/Italian” or “Greek” or “Corinthian” based on burial customs is probably a difficult, if
not impossible task. What is more interesting is understanding how Corinthian elites
distinguished themselves from other local elites, competing groups, and other, less elite,
residents of the region, and the diversity of media, motifs, and practices at their disposal.
Walbank gets to some of this in her article. The best part, however, remains the competitive
spirit of Corinthian scholarship. Even if you don’t care at all about funerary practices in the
Roman colony (and it’s fine if you don’t, I promise), the article provides a front row seat the
kind of scholarly debate that makes Corinth such an exciting place to work and follow!


 

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Slow Archaeology: An Addendum
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/12/09/slow-archaeology-an-addendum/
Tue, 09 Dec 2014 14:07:44 +0000
This past week, I’ve been doing more exploring and skimming than authentic reading. I did
take some time to slow down and read Matt Edgeworth’s “From Spade-Work to ScreenWork: New Forms of Archaeological Discovery in Digital Space” in A. Carusi, A. S. Hoel, T.
Webmoor, and S. Woolgar eds.
(https://www.academia.edu/4314979/Visualization_in_the_Age_of_Computerization)
Visualization in the Age of Computerization. Routledge 2014.
Edgeworth was a familiar name to me. He wrote an important
(https://www.academia.edu/237675/Acts_of_discovery_an_ethnography_of_an_archaeolo
gical_excavation) ethnographic dissertation on archaeological fieldwork in the early 1990s
that represents perhaps the last and best word on the practice of pre-digital fieldwork. In his
short contribution to Carusi et al. volume, he updates this work to include some
ethnographic observations on archaeology in the digital age.
He documents the work of an archaeologist using common digital tools like Google Earth to
look for features in the landscape. He notes the speed with which the archaeologist moves
from one screen to the next comparing aerial photographs and zooms in and out at different
scales, and compares it to her deftness with the trowel (p. 48). Later he describes the
speed with which an archaeologist can query satellite images or aerial photographs which
just a decade ago would have required special permissions and a perhaps even a trip to an
government office (p. 49). Computers have allowed archaeologists to accelerate their ability
to discover features in the landscape that would have probably taken many years to
recognize on the ground (p. 55). For Edgeworth, archaeologists have adapted their manual
dexterity with the trowel to the computer, and the computer has transformed the deft ability
to uncover small details in the trench to the sweeping power to recognize features across
an entire landscape. For the computer, speed comes, in part, from the ability to operate at

 

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scale and to move quickly and seamlessly from the minutely detailed to the global.
Edgeworth’s contribution should be read alongside Timothy Webmoor’s “Algorithmic
Alchemy, or Work of Code in the Age of Computer Visualization,” in the same volume.
Webmoor conducts ethnographic research in a computer visualization lab in London which
specialized in scrapping data from the internet and projecting it spatially. One of the most
interesting things about the article is that Webmoor blurs the line between coders as
creative contributors to the research process and the more traditional practice of identifying
data sources and proposing lines of analysis. Code (and to some extent coders) has tended
to be occluded from public eye and treated as proprietary of the coder whereas the data
and the output of data and code were publicly available (at least at this lab).
I got to thinking about how our cult of speed relies so heavily on occluded and proprietary
code work. The craft of the archaeologist, which in the field was relatively immediate in their
work at the edge of the trowel, has becomes increasingly mediated by technologies that the
archaeologist can only rarely control or understand. (At a recent conference, a group of us
were fretting about how which Agisoft Photoscan, software the produces structure-frommotion 3D models, worked. We finally concluded that it worked by “Russian Magic,” which
was more amusing than intellectually satisfying.) This is not to suggest that field
archaeology is completely transparent. There are ceramicists and excavators who can see
and recognize things that are impossible to communicate without decades of experience,
discipline, and training. We depend upon these people to help us understand
archaeological realities, but we also expect them to be transparent in their methods and
processes, even if they are not easily transferable. We would not be satisfied with a
ceramicist who declares a sherd “locally made cooking ware, 4th c. AD” on the basis of
“ceramicist magic.”
Part of the cult of speed in archaeology involve outsourcing skill from the trowels edge to
the black-box of coded Russian magic. This fragmentation of the archaeological process
has allowed us to do things at a speed and scale almost unimaginable just a decade ago. In
exchange for speed, we’ve lost complete control of the archaeological workflow and have to
rely upon ecologies outside of the traditional academic process. A a price to pay for speed.

 

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Audiophiles, Women, and Domestic Space
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/12/10/audiophiles-women-and-domesticspace/
Wed, 10 Dec 2014 14:13:22 +0000
Over the last couple weeks there has been
(http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2014/12/05/how-not-to-get-women-interested-in-audio/)
an interesting (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2014/12/06/no-girls-allowed-why-i-hate-wifeacceptance-factor/) gaggle (http://www.tonepublications.com/blog/more-thoughts-on-thewife-acceptance-factor/) of columns (http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2014/12/09/girlsaloud-gender-issues-in-the-hi-fi-world/) and (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2014/12/08/ofwaf-and-wimps/) blog posts on the lack of women in the audiophile hobby. For those of you
more comfortable with terms like
“(http://www.nma.gov.au/history/research/research_centre/our_people/mike_smith/the_lost
_art_of_stratigraphy_videos/stratigraphy_p6_-_post_depositional_processes) postdepositional processes,” audiophiles are folks who are really into their stereo gear and
producing good sound. Generally, this has been a male dominated hobby, and as the
traditional customers for this gear gets older, the industry and industry media has become
concerned about the hobby’s future.
The industry and audiophile media have been quiet self congratulatory when it comes to
attracting young people to the hobby through “head-fi” (that is audiophile quality
headphones and related gear). With the youth market more or less covered, audiophiles
have turned their attention toward the lack of women in the hobby. So far, the reasons put
forward range tend to focus on the broadly cultural (women are raised differently).
A number of posts have focused on the rather unfortunate phrase
“(http://www.highfidelityreview.com/managing-the-wife-acceptance-factor.html) wife
(http://audiophilereview.com/audiophile/lady-hi-fi-crazies.html) acceptance
(http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2014/12/06/no-girls-allowed-why-i-hate-wife-acceptance
 

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factor/) factor.” When I read (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2014/12/06/no-girls-allowedwhy-i-hate-wife-acceptance-factor/) this post by Kirsten Brodbeck-Kenny, I was up to my
chest in reading about masculinity and suburbia (starting with (http://forigin.hypotheses.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/21/files/2008/12/marsch-19881.pdf) John
Higham’s classic article) as I work to revise an article on domestic space in the Bakken oil
patch. So I posted a rather lengthy response exploring the relationship between audiophile
gear, gender roles, and domesticity from a historical perspective. My blog today is an
expanded version of that comment.
According to The Wikipedias, the term
“(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wife_acceptance_factor) wife acceptance factor” first
appeared in Stereophile magazine in 1983 but its origins appear to date to the 1950s. This
makes the idea of the "wife acceptance factor" is so old school to almost be vintage. This
notion has clear roots in the idea that women are in charge of the house and play a key role
in establishing domesticity in the American home.
Domesticity represents the opposite of male encoded space of work, and this division first
developed in the context of the industrial revolution when the workplace shifted from the
home to the factory. With the rise of the middle class, people constructed homes that did
not serve as workplaces and, more importantly for us here, conformed to different standards
of presentation and decor than factories or offices. In fact, guys like Henry Ford went to
great pains to distinguish the life of work from domestic life and created model towns to
house their workers and families. These “Fordvilles” provided a space for the playing out
middle class values and “civilizing” men who carried out the “brutish” work of industrial
labor. For Ford and other early 20th century industrialists, the domestic represented the
civilizing the domain of women, and stood as a civilizing counter point to the industrial.
So "wife acceptance factor" evokes the traditional domain of women: the home. The home,
and the traditional middle and upper class house in particular was the place where the
civilizing influence of women and family overwrite the dirty and competitive world of work
(and perversely, make that work more efficient by maintaining the moral order and health of
the men responsible). Most middle class homes went to great lengths to disguise the

 

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working parts of domestic life. The walls hid electrical cables, heating and cooling ducts,
and water and sewage pipes, as well as the structural components to the house. More than
that, the organization of the house hid the places where the real work of domestic life took
place. In traditional homes from the first part of the 20th century, garages, carriage houses,
boiler rooms, storage, butlers' pantries, and above all the kitchen were located out of sight
from the main living spaces. Upper class homes developed parallel service areas that
allowed maids, butlers, and other domestic personnel to move unseen between living
spaces. By hiding the working parts of a home, the serene and effortless nature of domestic
life was insulated from “working,” industrial life. This had the additional effect of occluding
the role of women and their role in maintaining domesticity from the public view, and this
allowed men to claim control over the economic productivity and public life. The home was
not a place for wires, cables, ugly black boxes, protruding tubes, knobs, industrially inspired
speakers and the like.
title="IMG_2485.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/img_2485.jpg" alt="IMG
2485" width="450" height="313" border="0" />
Today, of course, we can roll our eyes at these traditional ways of organizing house and
home. My wife and I have generally lived in 19th century or turn-of-the-century homes
variously modified in various way to accommodate “modern life.” For example, our first
house had the wall between the kitchen and what had been the formal dining room removed
and the wall between the dining room and the front parlor removed to create a more open
plan. We added to this by removing an unsightly fake wall to expose a forced-air heating
duct. We joked about adding some industrial chic to our home. Industrial lofts in major cities
now fetch top dollar. Kitchens have become areas for display and socializing. Many new
homes have even adopted the "two car garage with attached home" appearance that is the
bane of so many suburban subdivisions. Many homes now have “home offices” designed to
allow the laboring classes to bring work back to their previously serene domestic bliss.
What's interesting to me is that while our ideas of domesticity are changing (as our notions
of work and life are changing) why have views founded in traditional notions of domesticity

 

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continued to persist in audiophile circles? Well, some of it must have to do with
demographics; audiophiles tend to be older and (let’s say) more thoroughly invested and
steeped (nostalgic for)?in traditional gender roles. Audiophiles also tend to me upper
middle and upper class which tend to be more conservative groups within Western society.
title="IMG_2484.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/img_2484.jpg" alt="IMG
2484" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
I wonder, though, whether there’s more than that playing out here. First, I'd argue that
notions like the "wife acceptance factor" are cut of the same cloth as the
“(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_cave) man cave.” Audiophile gear is part of the changing
discourse of domesticity: the notion that stereo cables, crudely functionalist industrial
design (like my (http://www.audioresearch.com/en-us/products/integrated-amplifiers/vsi60)
Audio Research VSi60 integrated amp), are the violation of certain norms of proportion and
effortless propriety have located the audiophile home stereo to the realm of the industrial
and, by extension, the masculine. Women, in our historical and stereotypical treatment,
become the guardians of an effortless domesticity that carefully guards the working interior
of the home from outside eyes. Men, with their industrial, non-domesticated tendencies
(born, I'm sure, by their longs hours in the factory), are relegated to specific places: the
garage, the “den”, or the “man cave” where they watch sports, behave in uncivilized ways,
and ignore aesthetic traditions of the home.
The curious irony is this: we know that the idea that “man stuff” is relegated to the “man
cave” is bunk in a modern domestic context. Since the 1960s, modern homes have
celebrated industrial design elements, kitchens are no longer hidden, but prominent social
spaces, and traditional differentiation of spaces has given way to a proudly functional
aesthetic. In other words, the tradition of relegating men to (or the need for men to claim)
some kind of designated space is rhetorically and architecturally outmoded as hiding the
kitchen behind a swinging door. Stereo equipment has likewise enjoyed this shift toward the
functional in their design with elegantly constructed, furniture grade cabinets giving way to
exposed tubes, (http://www.zuaudio.com/loudspeakers/) grill-less speakers, and cables too

 

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bulky (and expensive) to hide from view. So rather than stereo equipment lagging behind
modern domestic expectations and requiring an adjustment to gain “wife acceptance
factor,” most high end gear (and big box gear as well) has long adopted the industrial
design standards appropriate for the modern, functionalist home.
We continue to use this language, however, because entire structure of work and life
among the American middle class has become unsettled. This nostalgia for a long ago
abandoned architectural and design vocabulary represents a persistent unease with
changing gender norms, dual incomes, domestic partnerships, and increasingly blurred lines
between work life and home life. As the life of the American middle class is eroded by
shrinking incomes, volatile labor markets, new expectations, and work cultures, we stick to
these traditional stereotypes (see my pun there) and revel in our man caves, wife
acceptance factors, as we beat back the work life from the tempting expanse of the formal
dining room table.
Our concern with women in the audiophile hobby is not just the late arrival of the audiophile
media and industry to modern conceptions of domestic space, but
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Making_of_the_English_Working_Class) the flailing of a
culture that finds its basic structures and expectations increasingly out of sync with
economic and social realities. That we’re having this debate at all reveals its ultimate
irrelevance. Women and men will enter the hobby and industry (or not) based on their
resources, aesthetics, and interest rather than some kind of gendered notion of the home or
overdetermined nostalgia. All this is to say, that we should invest more time in being
inclusive rather than attempting to justify the exclusivity of our hobby. Treat women who are
interested in sound and music just as you’d treat men interested in sound and music.
More on (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2014/12/10/marketing-audiophiles-and-theopposite-sex/) this conversation here.


 

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The Bakken Calls Once Again
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/12/11/the-bakken-calls-once-again/
Thu, 11 Dec 2014 12:51:45 +0000
With the price of cratering and the North Dakota cold settling on the Northern Plains (we
can ignore the forecast for 55 degree temperatures in the Williston area tomorrow), the
industrial beauty of the Bakken once again beckons.
This trip will enlivened by the magnificent Richard Rothaus once again joining the North
Dakota Man Camp Project Field Team as well as an embedded radio journalist and a
photographer.
title="P1090207.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/p1090207.jpg"
alt="P1090207" width="450" height="147" border="0" />
The goal of the trip is to once again to check some material in two ongoing publication
projects. The first, you should know well: (https://medium.com/@billcaraher/a-tourist-guideto-the-bakken-oil-patch-86a52bd3779f) A Tourist Guide to the Bakken. This is to say: go
make comments on it over at The Medium.
The other is an article under revision for re-submission to Historical Archaeology. Over the
last few days, I’ve deconstructed this article extracted the pieces that our generous peer
reviewers thought most valuable, and now need to fill gaps, to smooth transitions, and to
reassemble the core content (probably best next week). But for now, I need to check on a
few things and fill some gaps.
The article was this strange beast that included almost everything that we wanted to say
about the Bakken in one ramshackle construction. It was not pretty, but it might be useful to
someone thinking about their own research in the Bakken and since it will not be published

 

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in anything like its current form, I include it here:
[scribd id=249808686 key=key-PglBmpT6IlQrfSU6jgR8 mode=scroll]
We’ll also visit some of our long term study sites with some additional manpower making it
easier to document them more thoroughly. Hopefully on Saturday, we’ll look at some of the
mobile home camps that have appeared around Watford City and consider these from an
archaeological perspective.
Updates will appear next week!


 

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Agency, Formality, and Keeping Warm in Bakken Workforce Housing
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/agency-formality-and-keepingwarm-in-bakken-workforce-housing/
Mon, 15 Dec 2014 14:55:47 +0000
After three lovely days in the Bakken, my mind is awash in ideas for research and I feel like I
can start revising our submission to Historical Archaeology right away. We were once again
overwhelmed by the generosity of both new and old North Dakotans. People’s patience with
our sometimes intrusive requests to take photos and have conversation, their willingness to
sign IRB paperwork, and their general good will makes doing research in workforce housing
in the Bakken truly remarkable.
title="P1090439.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/p1090439.jpg"
alt="P1090439" width="450" height="600" border="0" />
Our goals for this trip were to focus on architectural innovation in the Bakken as a way to
get at issues of agency in the context of workforce housing. The reviewers of our article
suggested that our famous typology
((https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/a-typology-of-north-dakotawork-camps-1/) Type 1, (https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/atypology-of-north-dakota-work-camps-2/) Type 2,
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/a-typology-of-north-dakota-workcamps-3/) Type 3) was more confusing than elucidating and, to be honest, we had spent
more time talking about whether a camp was Type 1 or Type 2 (or whatever) was necessary
over the past few visits. So, from the start of this trip we accepted that our typology was a
heuristic that was useful when we started describing workforce housing, but has become
less helpful as we have come to understand it better.


 

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In the place of our typology, we discussed how camps seem to function on a continuum
from the less formal to the more formal. Less formal camps tend to have less institutional
control over behavior of residents, less regular appearances, and the greater fluidity of rules
and policies and their enforcement than more formal camps. The most formal camps, for
example, would by those set-up and run by large companies that cater to large companies
in the oil patch by strictly enforcing rules of behavior and the appearance of the camp. The
least formal camps are occupied by squatters with no institutional oversight and the only
limits on the structure of the camp relate to their existence outside legally sanctioned
settlement.
This continuum then, from formal to informal, allowed us to describe both greater variation
within the workforce housing sites in the Bakken and to understand the mechanisms that
have led to this variation.
In the specific context of revising our article, shifting our focus to the “formality” of camps
links our descriptions of workforce housing sites much more tightly to issues of individual
agency in the physical structure of the units in the camps. Less formal camps, have greater
scope for individual agency and greater variation, but nevertheless still have certain limits
that dictate their organization and practices. For example, the arrangement of water,
sewage, and electrical hook-ups limits the arrangement of units in the camp. Moreover, the
location of the camp and its visibility to local authorities also influenced how much freedom
camp residents have to innovate architecturally.
For example, we focused some of our conversations with camp residents on the practice of
insulating their RVs for winter. We learned that residents of RV parks tend to learn how to
insulate their RVs from their neighbors with folks who had more experience weathering the
long, cold North Dakota winters, providing informal advice to those from more mild southern
climes. The photograph below shows stacks of extruded polystyrene insulation prepared to
be mounted around the base of a new Sandpiper RV. The unit to the right has both
polystyrene and plywood insulation affixed to the base of the unit and its mudroom.


 

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title="P1090528.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/p1090528.jpg"
alt="P1090528" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
In some cases, camp managers would inspect the insulation particularly around sewage
and water attachments. Some camp managers explained that if one or two units let their
water or sewage freeze, they pipes throughout the camp might be compromised. As a
result, they inspect sewage and water pipes regularly.
title="P1090476.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/p1090476.jpg"
alt="P1090476" width="450" height="273" border="0" />
title="P1090358.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/p1090358.jpg"
alt="P1090358" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1090352.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/p1090352.jpg"
alt="P1090352" width="450" height="435" border="0" />
The construction of mudrooms or other forms of enclosure attached to the RV is another
indication of the formality of a workforce housing site. Our favorite camp in the Bakken is
Williston Foxrun which has worked hard to manage the range of architectural innovation
present at the site. In its earliest days, the camp showed a remarkable variation in mudroom
styles including some that exceed the size of the RV or enclosed it completely. Recently,
they have worked to limit the size of mudrooms to 8 x 10, but grandfather older mudrooms
built in more permissive days provided that they’re not a fire hazard or encroach on their
neighbors lot. The first two photos below show relatively large mudrooms probably
grandfathered through at Williston Foxrun. Both rooms have air conditioning units
suggesting that they’re used for more than just taking off dirty clothes and storage. The
room in the top photo also has a propane tank with lines running into the unit for either a

 

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heater or a cooktop. The last of the following three photos shows a recently built mudroom
which is a good bit smaller than the 8 x 10 size limit and lacks any amenities.
title="P1090502.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/p1090502.jpg"
alt="P1090502" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1090516.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/p1090516.jpg"
alt="P1090516" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1090527.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/p1090527.jpg"
alt="P1090527" width="450" height="385" border="0" />
Finally, we had a chance to look more carefully at discard practices at workforce housing in
the Bakken. As the activity in the Bakken has shifted south and has slowed down because
of the dip in oil prices, there are more and more signs
of(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/abandonment-in-the-bakken/)
RV parks being abandoned or filled with empty lots. While some of the lots were tidy after
the departure of a resident - as one of our informants noted: if he left stuff behind someone
else would use it, so he might as well take it with him - other lots show signs of hasty
departure or no particular concern about recycling insulation or scrap wood.
title="P1090529.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/p1090529.jpg"
alt="P1090529" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
title="P1090408.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/p1090408.jpg"
alt="P1090408" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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title="P1090339.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/p1090339.jpg"
alt="P1090339" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
In conversation with site managers, we learned the folks left cars, personal items,
mudrooms, and other scraps behind when they pulled out. Abandonment sometimes
followed a period of neglect when the RV would break down, its sewage system would fail,
or the occupant had come into hard times and no longer maintained his or her living space.
In some cases, the resident would leave abruptly or be evicted leaving behind a mess for
the camp manager but a rich assemblage for archaeological investigation. The unit pictured
below showed evidence for an infant living there at least for a short period of time (a single
diaper, infant sunscreen, baby lotion), but the camp manager thought the lot was just
occupied by a “couple of North Dakota boys."
title="P1090399.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/p1090399.jpg"
alt="P1090399" width="450" height="337" border="0" />
So, it was a productive trip out west thanks, especially to my colleagues Bret Weber and
Richard Rathaus who helped me see differently.
title="P1090565.JPG"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/p1090565.jpg"
alt="P1090565" width="450" height="337" border="0" />


 

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Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future: A Digital Archaeology
Workshop
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/mobilizing-the-past-for-a-digitalfuture-a-digital-archaeology-workshop/
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 13:53:30 +0000
I’m pretty excited to head back to the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts this winter to
participate in another exciting workshop focusing on digital archaeology.
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/digital-archaeology-practiceworkshop-a-review/) The last workshop hosted by Eric Poehler at the University of
Massachusetts - Amherts was great. (http://uwm.edu/mobilizing-the-past/) This years
worshop is hosted by Erin Walcek Averett (Creighton University), Derek Counts (University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Jody Gordon (Wentworth Institute of Technology), and Michael
K. Toumazou (Davidson College).
This group all hails from the (http://sites.davidson.edu/aap/) Athienou Archaeological
Project (AAP) on Cyprus. They work about 10 miles inland from my site at PylaKoutsopetria and helped us tremendously with advice and support as our project got
started. Now, the AAP folks are moving into the digital realm in a deliberate and serious
way. This conference is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Creighton
University, the Wentworth Institute of Technology, Davidson College, and the University of
Wisconsin - Milwaukee.
title="DigiArchNEH_finalposter.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/digiarchneh_finalposter.jpg"
alt="DigiArchNEH finalposter" width="450" height="695" border="0" />
(http://uwm.edu/mobilizing-the-past/program/) Here’s the program.


 

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The list of contributors is like a who’s who in digital field archaeology in the Mediterranean
world these days so the conversation should be lively and productive. I think that these
annual meetings which bring together the same core group of digital archaeology
practitioners has the advantage of allowing ideas and conversations to develop, but runs
the risk of creating an echo chambers. Right now, we’re not an echo chamber, which is
good, and this workshop will bring in some new voices to the conversation which will almost
certainly leaven the results.
The Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project is represented by (http://uwm.edu/mobilizingthe-past/program/if-i-knew-then-what-i-know-now-reflections-on-custom-mobile-appdevelopment/) Sam Fee and (http://uwm.edu/mobilizing-the-past/program/toward-a-slowarchaeology/) my paper. For my paper, I’m continuing to develop the idea of Slow
Archaeology as a complement and counter-weight to current trends in digital archaeology
that privilege efficiency and speed in the field.
(https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/narrative-and-argument-slowarchaeology-version-2/) My first publication developing some of these ideas will appear
early next year in a special edition of a literary journal (GASP), North Dakota Quarterly. I’ll
keep folks in the loop as I develop my paper.
(http://uwm.edu/mobilizing-the-past/) Click through the workshop’s website and, if you’re in
the area, register and come and join the fun! We’ll have a twitter hashtag - maybe
#MobileArc - to open the conversation up to a global audience.


 

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Rural Roman Landscapes of Greece
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/12/17/rural-roman-landscapes-of-greece/
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 14:29:05 +0000
Now that I’m back working in Greece, I’ll have to start paying closer attention to the
annually published Archaeological Reports, and a number of my colleagues helped me out
by tipping me off to some of the nice contributions to this year’s edition. Generally speaking,
Archaeological Reports summarize recent research in particular chronological period, and
mostly they have focused on newly discovered and published sites.
I was especially glad to
read(http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&amp;aid=945
5507&amp;fulltextType=RA&amp;fileId=S0570608414000131) Daniel Stewart’s
summary treatment of rural Greece during the Roman period. He does a nice job surveying
(pun, pun) the work of intensive pedestrian survey projects in Greece, and this is no easy
task as many of these projects have not published traditional archaeological volumes, but in
scattered articles in edited volumes and journals. Better still, he goes a step further and
considers the general direction of intensive survey in Greece with special reference to the
challenges of the Roman period. This attention transforms what could have been a parochial
survey of newly discovered Roman rural sites into a must read for anyone interested in
intensive pedestrian survey.
Stewart identifies four major areas of development in intensive survey: challenges to
ceramic typologies, refined collections strategies, studies across landscape zones, and
interdisciplinarity. He does a nice job communicating the problems associated with ceramic
chronologies for the Roman period and the vexing, but somehow inescapable dependence
on the Early, Middle, and Late Roman chronological division. (I blame prehistorians for
passing this chronological structure onto us.) David Pettegrew’s landmark Hesperia article
on the “busy countryside” of Late Roman Greece was cited with approval


 

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((http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/pdf/uploads/hesperia/25068042.pdf) pdf here).
At the same time, I think any close observer of survey archaeology would agree with these
developments broadly speaking, although one could also say that these recent development
have characterized the general trajectory of intensive survey since the 1980s. For example,
survey archaeologists have always been working to refine their collection strategies to
sample more effectively the material on the surface, and Stewart’s attention to re-survey is
less a product of recent methodological refinement and more of a particular opportunistic,
expression of longstanding interest in how best to sample and document kaleidoscopic
surface assemblages. Stewart is right in recognizing that site classification remains a
challenge for intensive survey projects and this is tied directly to the intensity of sampling.
More rigorous sampling techniques produce a greater range of sites both in terms of size
and, in many cases, in terms of functional assemblage. In some conditions, as few as a
handful of fine ware sherds can represent activity in the landscape, but they intensity, type,
and duration of activities at that particular place must remain undefined.
The same could be said for recent attention to interdisciplinarity. The earliest efforts at
intensive survey in Greece incorporated ethnographic and scientific components to their
work embracing the twin influences of processual archaeology and the unstructured
perambulations of early modern travelers. By the late 20th century, it was unthinkable to
conduct a survey without geologists, a plan for sectioning pottery, biologists to help
understanding flora and fauna, and ethnographers to interpret local knowledge. It was odd
that Stewart did not mention the influence of geologists as being particularly important to
recent trends in intensive survey.
Finally, efforts to survey different landscape zones has been part of the survey
archaeologist’s tool kit from at least the dawn of the Second Wave of survey projects. This
is hardly a new trend or one deserving particular mention. In fact, one could argue that
recent (21st century) permit limits that impose a 30 sq km maximum study area for intensive
survey project have led to a shift from more extensive approaches to the Greek landscape
to a more intensive focus on collection and sampling strategies. Intensive survey is


 

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committed to saying more with less.
I also think that Stewart’s emphasis on the fragility of the surface assemblage in light of
more intensive agriculture and development in Greece is misplaced or, at least, poorly
defined. It seems hard to image even the most intensive collection regimes putting much of
a dent in the abundant material present in a surface assemblage. In fact, our work on
Cyprus in conditions in every way compatible with those in Greece suggested that typical
sampling methods for intensive survey (20% of the surface) collect less than 10% of the
material visible and that assemblage of material is only a tiny fraction of the material present.
While deep ploughing/plowing does present a risk to archaeological remains (not to
mention soil health), from the perspective of intensive survey, the danger is more closely
related to movement of artifacts in the landscape than to any significant destruction of the
archaeological record.
I would have liked Stewart to focus more (any?) attention on the reluctance of the
significant second wave survey projects (i.e. (http://classics.uc.edu/PRAP/) Pylos Regional
Archaeology Project (update: I included PRAP accidentally in this list!), Nemea Valley
Archaeological Project, Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey, Kythera Island Project, et
c.) to make their raw digital data freely accessible. This has had a substantial impact on our
ability to comparing and synthesizing the landscapes produced by these projects.
I might have also liked to see some critique of the tendency toward parochialism in Greek
archaeology of the Roman period. Of course, this is a generalization that some might see as
unfair, but it nevertheless would have been useful to understand how our understanding of
rural Greece in the Roman period contributes or responds to similar interest elsewhere in
the Mediterranean. For example, scholars invested in intensive survey methods have
focused on rural Roman landscape across the Mediterranean basin. The work of these
scholars have produced significant data both in terms of material and methodology for any
understanding of Roman Greece.
Despite my critiques (which are mostly saying that I’d write a different article!), Stewart’s
article provides a nice summary of recent work and a great point of departure for anyone

 

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interested in staying abreast of recent research in the rural world of Roman Greece.
Check out (http://corinthianmatters.com/2014/12/18/daniel-stewart-on-rural-sites-inroman-greece/) David Pettegrew’s review of this article here.


 

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Some thoughts on Marilyn Johnson's Lives in Ruins
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/12/18/some-thoughts-on-a-life-in-ruins/
Thu, 18 Dec 2014 14:28:54 +0000
Over the last month there has been steadily more buzz on (http://www.amazon.com/LivesRuins-Archaeologists-Seductive-Rubble/dp/0062127187/) Marilyn Johnson’s Lives in
Ruins. I was lucky enough to get and enjoy an advance copy and had planned to write a
traditional review as soon as book came out. Then I remembered that I don’t usually write
formal reviews here on The Blog, so I shelved the project and time passed and other things
came up.
This past week a few friends have been bantering about the book and it received
(http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/graves-garbage-hard-life-archeologist)
some good press over at The New Yorker. So now, amid the social and old media buzz, I
figure I should write down a few of my thoughts on the book.
In the interest of full disclosure (which is rarely very interesting), I met with Johnson after an
AIA talk in New York City last year and chatted a bit about my work. We then corresponded
about contemporary and punk archaeology over email. She was curious and gracious and
even apologized for not including material from our conversations in her book.
Not only did I like her, but I also liked her book. I bought a copy for my mother for Christmas!
I thought that she was very effective in drawing characters as lively as any I’ve met in the
archaeological profession. She also balanced the struggles of professional archaeologists
against their triumphs and the haves, personified by none other than Joan Connelly, against
the have nots like Kathy Abbas who scrubbed floors to fund her quixotic campaign to
document an 18th century fleet in Newport Harbor. Her survey of the field ranged from
historical archaeologists of the Caribbean to Connelly’s work on Cyprus to contract
archaeologists in New York state, forensic archaeologists in New Jersey, and government

 

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archaeologists for the US Military. Her book, then, provided a sweeping view of the
profession and lingered well outside the insulating walls of academia. I suspect that the
picture of the field and the discipline will sit well with many of my professional colleagues.
Despite this, I still felt something was a bit off in the book. Something did not quite coincide
with my experience in the discipline. Some of this feeling was almost certainly a product of
the medium - popular non-fiction. The stories included in the book tended to follow a certain
formula that created a satisfying rhythm to the narrative: first I did or said THIS, and no one
believed me, peopled didn’t recognized my work, or people thought I was crazy, but then
THIS, and everyone realized that I was right all alone. I think Hayden White would call this
comedic mode of emplotment, not because it’s funny, but because her narratives tend
toward the conservative and the socially integrating. In the end, Grant Gillmore, our
struggling Caribbeanist hero, gets a job; Bill Sandy is able to forestall (for now, good
reader!) the destruction of an important 18th century cemetery; Laurie Rush was able to
promote to meaningful changes to the US Military’s policies toward cultural heritage. This is
not to suggest that Johnson’s book is naive or unrealistic. She recognized the ongoing
struggles of Sandy and Abbas in funding their projects, but there is this optimism
throughout that, ultimately, the intrinsically compelling nature of our discipline and its
practitioners will win out. This, of course, makes for compelling reading especially to a
generation raised on the satisfying glow of situation comedies where confusion, antics, and
pratfalls resolve themselves and life goes on the way that it should. Archaeology and truth
win out.
This is not to suggest that there wasn’t some hints at personal heroism (that is, suggestive
of the Romantic or even the Tragic modes of emplotment) reinforced by the moral good of
the individuals and their pursuits, but generally speaking the integrity of the discipline and
methods, practices, and truth carry us forward.
So maybe it was the focus on individual and their place within the discipline that left me a
bit unsatisfied. I think that I wanted to read something less conventional and less resolved.
Archaeology for all its romance and appeal is not something that is achieved as much as
something that is constantly produced through interactions between archaeologists in the

 

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field, in publications, and both within and outside of disciplinary media. The challenge of
constructing a discipline with practice, methods, policies, ethics, and expectation constantly
run ahead of modernist ideologies that see our fixation on the past as a hinderance to
constructing a more enlightened, rational, and perfect future (perhaps, but not necessarily
driven by market forces?). For example, notice
(http://news.sciencemag.org/policy/2014/10/battle-between-nsf-and-house-sciencecommittee-escalates-how-did-it-get-bad) the consistent critique of NSF funding
archaeological projects.
Archaeology, then, like the discipline of history, is in a constant state of remaking itself and
pushing back against the very Enlightenment values that defined its place within the modern
academy. This tension does not lend itself to the comedic mode of emplotment, but is, to
my mind, far more suitable for satire where the actors struggle to find a resolution within the
world of their own making. The poetic structure of irony, then, that most 20th-century way of
seeing the world is the most suitable for understanding the nature of archaeology as a
discipline. Our discipline’s efforts to evince a conservative, scientific character run counter
to our goals of understanding the past. This tension not only produces an atmosphere of
dynamic questioning in the discipline, but also ensures that typical forms of resolution employment, solved problems, contributions to a fixed body of knowledge, professional
recognition - can hardly represent the culmination of lives in ruins.


 

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Friday Varia and Quick Hits
http://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2014/12/19/friday-varia-and-quick-hits-116/
Fri, 19 Dec 2014 13:24:01 +0000
After a week off to work in the Bakken, I’m back with a pre-holiday quick hits and varia for
your enjoyment.
I’ll be too honest and say that my daily productivity has begun to decline as the holidays
approach. We have a tree, are heavy into menu planning, and are looking forward to a day
or two when work gives way to family good cheer and, of course, as many hours of test
cricket as possible.
That being said, I will prepare my usual year end blog review and my year end “what I’m
listening to” for the next week. So, stay tuned!
• (https://isaw.nyu.edu/news/awol-aia-award) Congratulations to Chuck Jones for being
recognized by the Archaeological Institute of America for his outstanding work in digital
archaeology.

(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141215185026.htm?utm_source=feedb
urner) Some scientifical notes on Roman concrete.
• (http://greece.greekreporter.com/2014/12/14/amphipolis-tomb-animated-in-newbreathtaking-3d-video/) Breathtaking 3D video, computer animation of the Amphipolis
tomb. (This is only breathtaking for people who have not played video games since Yar’s
Revenge.)


 

717

• (http://www.tovima.gr/culture/article/?aid=660380) This Greek Ministry of Culture
Directive opens a brave new world.
• Meanwhile,
(http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/185890/Court_decision_due_on_Armenian_gospe
l_manuscript_stolen_from_Cyprus) stolen manuscripts and art from Cyprus continue to
wend their way through the court system.
• (http://www.avclub.com/article/shitty-video-game-put-museum-213044) An E.T. Game
from Alamogordo has made it to the Smithsonian.
• (http://www.doaks.org/research/byzantine/events/managing-emotion-passion-emotionsaffects-and-imaginings-in-byzantium) Managing Emotions in Byzantium.
• (http://www.plumb-bob.info/engl.html) Plumb bobs. (Or plumb-bob square-pants.)
• (http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-conventional-wisdom-on-oil-is-always-wrong/)
Conventional wisdom on oil production.
• (http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/5-things-we-know-about-college-students-in2014/55313) Conventional wisdom on college students and technology.
• Two lists of the year’s best book covers:
(http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/08/books/review/best-book-covers2014.html?_r=0) here and (http://www.casualoptimist.com/blog/2014/12/07/50-coversfor-2014/) here.
• (http://www.vulture.com/2014/12/slideshow-people-next-to-their-televisions.html) People
next to their televisions.


 

718

• (http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2014/12/14/the-guttenberg-challenge-affordableloudspeakers-from-dayton-micca-and-pioneer/) Sub-$500 stereos.
• (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gMjJNGg9Z8) Claridryl (for Susie).
• (http://hyperallergic.com/169429/the-most-searched-artists-in-the-us-according-toebay/) This is an argument for banning all art in North and South Dakota, and
(http://punchamonet.gallery/) here you can punch a Monet.
• (http://www.wired.com/2014/12/voluntary-ghettos-radical-idea-reclaiming-urban-space/)
Voluntary ghettos and urban space.
• What I’m reading: Peter M. Ward, (https://www.worldcat.org/title/colonias-and-publicpolicy-in-texas-and-mexico-urbanization-by-stealth/oclc/231778135) Colonias and Public
Policy in Texas and Mexico: Urbanization by Steath. Austin 1999.
• What I’m listening to: Harry Smith’s
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthology_of_American_Folk_Music) Anthology of American
Folk Music; Steven Gunn, Way Out Weather; Matthew Ryan, Boxers.
title="FullSizeRender.jpg"
src="http://mediterraneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/fullsizerender.jpg"
alt="FullSizeRender" width="450" height="870" border="0" />


 

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