Market Street Chinatown Archaeology Project at Society for California Archaeology Meeting!

The Market Street Chinatown Archaeology Project Symposium Presenters! Photo by Yucaipa Kwock.

Hi everyone,

This past weekend (March 8-10) the Society for California Archaeology (SCA) held their annual conference in Berkeley, CA.

As part of the conference, project director Dr. Barbara Voss and collection manager Megan S. Kane organized a symposium entitled:  Market Street Chinatown Archaeology Project:  Ten Years of Community-Based Research on an Overseas Chinese Collection

This symposium served as a space for various project participation to reflect on the progress made in its last 10 years, the directions currently being explored and as an opportunity to solicit feedback and input from the California archaeological community and the public. The SCA’s were an especially appropriate venue for this reflection, as it was at their annual meetings in 2004 that the first Market Street Chinatown Archaeology Project symposium was held as part of the initial project launch!

From 8:45am to 12pm, a variety of project participants presented 12 minute papers on various facets of the Market Street Chinatown Archaeology Project. Presenters ranged from those most recently brought on to the project, to those involved from the start, archaeologists and non-archaeologists, undergraduate and graduate students, professionals, professors and more! The papers presented were well received and the symposium was very well attended, with the audience spilling out into the hallway for almost the entire time.

In addition, later that evening our project partner, Chinese Historical and Cultural Project (CHCP) received the Helen C. Smith Avocational Society Award from the Society for California Archaeology! This award is given annually “to a California avocational archaeology society, club, group or individual belonging to such an entity who has shown outstanding leadership in the field of cultural resources management.” Lillian Gong-Guy, Anita Wong Kwock and Yucaipa Kwock were there to receive the award on behalf of CHCP. Congratulations to CHCP on receiving this award!

Anita Wong Kwock and Lillian Gong-Guy are presented the Helen C. Smith Avocational Society Award from SCA by Barb Voss. Photo by Yucaipa Kwock.

To give everyone a taste, listed below is the description of and program for the symposium. Scroll to the bottom of this post for a photo gallery of the symposium, the banquet dinner and CHCP receving their award. All photos courtesy of Yucaipa Kwock.

Thank you to the symposium organizers, project participants, and to all the presenters for making this Market Street event such a big hit, and congratulations to CHCP!

 

Symposium 5 Program

Title:Market Street Chinatown Archaeology Project: Ten Years of Community Based Research on an Overseas Chinese Collection

Organizers: Barbara L. Voss and Megan S. Kane

Symposium Description

In 1985-1988, San Jose’s first Chinatown was rapidly excavated during urban redevelopment. Despite being described as the most significant assemblage of Overseas Chinese artifacts in North America, the collection was only minimally studied before being stored in a municipal warehouse. In Fall 2002, Stanford University, Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, History San Jose, and Environmental Science Associates formed the Market Street Chinatown Archaeology Project to catalog, analyze, and publish this remarkable collection. This 10th anniversary symposium presents current research and public outreach programs, and explores new directions for the next stages of the project.

Presentations:

8:45 Introduction: Reflections on Ten Years of Collaborative Research, Education, and Public Archaeology Programs on the Market Street Chinatown Archaeology Project
Barbara L. Voss

9:00 The Chinese Community in Santa Clara Valley – Chinese Historical & Cultural Project (CHCP) of Santa Clara County, Inc. (1987)
Anita Wong Kwock and Lillian Gong-Guy

9:15 The Public Archaeology Events of the Market Street Chinatown Archaeology Project
Guido Pezzarossi

9:30 City Beneath the City: Market Street Chinatown San Jose Art Installation – Giving Public Voice and Visibility to A Buried History
Rene Yung

9:45 Art/facts: Challenging Archaeological Presentation in the “City Beneath the City”
Kyle Lee-Crossett

10:00 Exhibits and Events: Ethnographic Observations of the Market Street Chinatown Archaeology Project
Meghan E. Gewerth

10:30 Reconstructing the Context of an Orphaned Collection: a Case Study of the Market Street Chinatown Archaeology Project
Megan S. Kane

10:45 Worth a Thousand Words: Transfer Prints from the Market Street Chinatown Collection
Stephanie K. Chan

11:00 Fan and Tsai: Food, Identity, and Global Connections in the Market Street Chinatown
Ryan Kennedy

11:15 Starch and Residues on Market Street Chinatown Artifacts
Sheahan Bestel and Fanya Becks

11:30 Food, Diet, and Health in Market Street Chinatown, San Jose: Microscopic and Macroscopic Evidence 
Linda Scott Cummings, Kathryn Puseman, Chad Yost, and Peter Kováčik

Discussant:
Rebecca Allen

Photo Gallery (All photos by Yucaipa Kwock).

Feb. 24 Public Archaeology Event Recap

Hi everyone!

Just a quick update: The last Public Event of the Winter quarter was held a couple of weeks ago on Feb. 24 at the Peralta Adobe in San Jose.

As usual, fun was had by all as approximately 50 kids (plus their families, guardians, and other accompanying adults) participated in mock excavations, analyzed artifacts, and reconstructed broken dishes, bowls, and cups, all in order to gain official certification as Junior Archaeologists on the Market Street Chinatown Archaeology Project.

Thanks to Stanford Anthropology 112: Public Archaeology course student James Huynh for once again providing photos of the event!

Our next public event will take place Saturday, April 20th 11am-3pm  at History Park in San Jose (click here for more info) and will coincide with the Earth Day celebration hosted by History San Jose. Hope to see you there!