It’s good to be back in lab after a long summer away. We have been wrapping up things from last year as well as preparing for another archaeological lab methodology class this coming winter. We finished the project progress report for 2002-2003, which is an overview of the current condition of the collections as well as preleminary research results. The report can be downloaded from this site in .pdf form here.

 

This year, two new research assistants join Professor Voss on the project: Stanford archaeology graduate students Liz Clevenger and Bryn Williams. Last month, boxes from 86-36 (a different area of the site from 85-31) were transferred from History San Jose to the lab at Stanford. We are now in the process of sorting the boxes by material type and preparing the collection for analysis during the lab methods class. Earlier this fall, we also returned some 85-31 artifacts to history San Jose for use in a display.

 

Featured Artifact

As was the case last year with 85-31, there are a number of artifacts in the 86-36 collection that have us totally mystified! One of them is pictured at right (86-36/17-161 and 86-36/5-567). We found these pieces of ceramic already bagged together as we were sorting through the new collection, although they come from two different features in the site (feature 5 and feature 17)! Our guesses as to the nature of this artifact ranged from soap dish to food steamer, but as of now we don’t have a positive identification. Stay tuned to find out if we figure out what exactly this artifact is during the coming year.

We are now beginning our final month of work with this collection for this year. Currently, we are concentrating on finishing the catalog of Asian stoneware vessels, commonly referred to as brownwares. These vessels were used in diverse ways, including storing and dispensing sauces and other food items. These utilitarian vessels are rather different to work with from the more decorated tablewares! The tablewares are often decorated in colorful patterns or exhibit a greater range of morphological types. However, these more utilitarian vessels were very important at the site, both in terms of their function and also in terms of quantity.

At this point we are also performing substantive quality control checks on our database, as well as reevaluating our typologies and the nomenclature we have used. This review was greatly aided by the visit of two of us with Mary Maniery of Public Archaeological Research in Sacramento. She kindly shared with us her reference library as well as showed us part of the collection excavated from a Chinatown in Folsom. Already we are able to begin to assess the Market Street Chinatown collection’s similarity and difference with other collections. This is exciting, as it underscores the research value of this collection.

Featured Artifact

Once again, we have encountered artifacts which stumped us! Pictured here is artifact 85-31/27-48, which we were unable to identify. It is hollow, but the cavity is quite shallow. During our visit to PAR in Sacramento, Mary Maniery identified this artifact for us as an apothecary jar, of a type found at nineteenth century sites. It has been very important for us to be able to draw on the knowledge of the California archaeological community in cataloging this collection, and we want to take this opportunity to thank all of the archaeologists who have generously taken time to visit the collection and who have invited us to view collections and resources that they have. This cooperation has been a valuable addition to this project, which has its roots in collaborative work among diverse interested groups. This will be the last regular update of the website for a while. The next posting will include a link to the end of the year report on this project. Please check back to view this link – it should be up sometime this summer! Thanks for stopping by!

The class for which this website was designed has come to a successful close! Following the link in the right hand column of this page, you can access the student papers written in this class. Two of these papers were read at the annual meeting of the Society for California Archaeology in Sacramento, as part of a panel presentation about this project. Members of the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, Stanford University, and Past Forward, Inc. took part, and the panel was very well attended and stimulated considerable discussion afterward. It was great to see how much interest there is in the archaeological community concerning this collection! Now that the class has come to a close, this website will have new postings about once a month, although there may be more frequent postings if necessary. Please take advantage of the discussion tool located at the bottom of this page in order to be able to submit your own thoughts about this project or any of the content of this website! Because we are beginning a new phase of cataloging, this month’s posting is intended to provide some basic information about the work we are doing.

Several of the former students from the class will be cataloging this quarter. This is possible due to the financial support of the San Jose Redevelopment Agency – thank you! The cataloging phase of this project begins with the boxes pictured above right. These boxes contain artifacts sorted for the most part by material type. For now, we are concentrating on finishing the cataloging of all ceramics from this collection. As we identify and catalog the artifacts, they are then checked and entered into the database (see earlier postings for more detailed descriptions of these steps – they are available, organized by week, at the top of the right-hand column). After this, artifacts are individually repackaged and grouped according to the feature they were recovered from. The picture to the left shows the drawers in which these artifacts are stored. This allows us to have an overview of artifacts from the same feature, and the eventual repackaging and long-term curation of these artifacts according to feature will help facilitate interpretive research with this collection. We are looking forward to cataloging as much of this collection as possible, concentrating first upon completing the ceramics, and then moving on to glass artifacts.

Featured Artifact

One of the ceramic artifacts unpacked from the artifact boxes this past week was this teapot, artifact 85-31/18-1. This numbering system indicates that it is from the Market Street Chinatown, Lot 85-31. Specifically, it is from feature 18. The last number is a control number that assists in the inventory of artifacts from the same feature. This teapot is in remarkably good condition, although its spout has been broken off. Inside the teapot is the wire handle by which it would have been picked up. Although teapots such as these are characteristic for overseas Chinese sites, we have not been able to find out whether there is a name for the pattern of its decoration. Decorative patterns are often useful for determining the rough date of manufacture, place of origin, or relative economic value of an artifact. Do you know more about the decorative pattern of this teapot? If so, please let us know in the discussion comments! Please check back at this website. Even though we will be updating monthly, the discussion forum can be used to provide a place for discussion of this collection, project, and overseas Chinese archaeology. The discussion part of this website is yours!