Hi everyone!

This past Sunday, Nov. 4th 2012 the Market Street Chinatown Archaeological Project hosted its second Public Archaeology Event of the Fall at History Park in San Jose! Stanford undergraduate and graduate student volunteers (most veterans of the Oct 13th Public Archaeology event) were joined by volunteers from Notre Dame High School in San Jose.

Playing out against the musical backdrop of a bluegrass band, the Stanford volunteers hosted well over 150 kids and their parents at 4 different stations (excavation, screening, artifact identification, and artifact reconstruction) meant to simulate the archaeological process that has been used to unearth, analyze and curate artifacts from the San Jose Market Street Chinatown collection. A final station was located within the Chinese American Museum at the Ng Shing Gung  and provided the Public Archaeology Event participants an opportunity to gain a broader appreciation of Chinese American experiences in San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley from the mid-19th century to the present and the specific role that archaeology has played in reconstructing the history of the Market Street Chinatown and the experiences of its inhabitants.

Setting up the excavation activity.

While the excavation station is usually the most popular, we had SO many participants this time around that ALL stations were continually busy! Not only did our volunteers more than earn their keep, they all left quite fulfilled thanks to the sheer number of Junior Archaeologist Badges awarded to participants who completed all the stations!

As always, thanks very much to all the participants, volunteers and our hosts at History San Jose for an amazingly successful and fun day at History Park!

Please mark your calendars for our next Public Archaeology Event:

January 27th, 2013 at History San Jose’s Peralta Adobe (more details in the coming weeks!)

Look forward to seeing you there!