Dating Project
(Cathy Willermet)
Assume that an epidemic wipes out the U.S., killing everyone but conveniently leaving all buildings intact. Let’s say this happens two weeks from today. Your assignment is to look at the building you live in and determine what an archaeologist 2000 years from now would say about the date of the building. We’ll make several assumptions, the first of which is that our hypothetical archaeologist is hopelessly backward; she only knows the dating techniques we know today. A second assumption is that all paper will completely deteriorate but that all other material will preserve well. Among the questions you should answer are:
1. What will the archaeologist use to date the building?
2. When will she conclude the building was built?
3. When will she conclude the building was abandoned?
4. What are the sources of error in her conclusions?
The last question requires some elaboration. An archaeologist who taught this course several years ago had this to day about his house:
“The house in which I live has a toilet in the basement. All ceramic toilets that have tanks have the date of manufacture (month and year) stamped into the lid of the tank. (Look at yours if you think I am kidding). The date on the lid of my basement bowl is August, 1938. Does this date fix the date the house was constructed? In this case, no. It dates the toilet, or if the lid has been replaced, the replacement lid. The house was built in 1928. When originally constructed it had a coal-fired furnace in the basement. In 1933 this furnace was replaced by a gas-fired furnace. The old coal bin was turned into a shower stall and toilet. Therefore, the date in the toilet approximates the date of the first major renovations of the house. The materials from which the lid was made are the same as those of the toilet proper, so we can rule out the later replacement of the lid. The furnace conversion and the bathroom addition can be seen and traced through the stratifications of paint on the basement walls and modifications of the concrete floor. The toilet and its associated plumbing can be directly linked to these features. However, what if the toilet had been an heirloom, a measured possession that had been kept in its crate for many years as a cult object before its installation? In this case such a problem can be eliminated as all the fittings and drain pipes are of a pre-World War II vintage.”
The moral of this story should be clear. When a date is derived from an object, the relationship between this date and the archaeological unit to which the date is attached must be established. The archaeological relationship, the context of the dated material and the remaining material and features, are all important.
Have some fun with this assignment. Points are awarded not only for the accuracy of the dates, but for the accuracy and elegance of your logic and for the variety of ways you come up with to establish your construction and abandonment dates.
Remember also that after an atomic blast, techniques such as radiocarbon dating will be of no use to you.
Length: 4-5 pages.w