The Market Street Chinatown Archaeology Project is holding another Public Archaeology Event on Sunday, February 26^th! This hands-on event is designed to introduce children from 4 to 12 and their families to archaeology. Children will participate in “mock” excavations and study authentic archaeological artifacts to learn about San Jose’s hidden history. It is a fun and educational event for the entire family! This event is FREE and open to the general public.

Free Public Archaeology Event

Sponsored by the Stanford Archaeology Center and History San José

When:  Sunday, February 26^th, 2012, 11:00PM to 4:00PM

Where:  Peralta Adobe at the San Pedro Square Market

175 West Saint John Street

San Jose, CA 95110

For directions and more information about the Peralta Adobe site, please see History San José’s website (http://www.historysanjose.org/plan-your-visit/peralta-fallon-historic-site/).

The event on February 26^th is the fourth Public Archaeology Event that we have put on with History San José. This is the last event at the Peralta Adobe for 2012, so come, stop by and enjoy an educational and fun afternoon for the whole family!

If you cannot make it on February 26^th, we have two additional Public Archaeology Events scheduled for this spring:

April 29^th, 2012

May 20^th, 2012

Both of these events will be held at History San José’s History Park (http://www.historysanjose.org/plan-your-visit/history-park/directions-to-history-park/).

If you have any questions about the event on February 26^th or our other events in the spring, please contact Megan Kane (mskane@stanford.edu).

We continued our public events with a Public Archaeology Day at History San José’s Peralta Adobe on November 13, 2011. Our revamped Public Archaeology program was a hit among the visiting kids and their families! Our volunteers had a fantastic time as well.

For this event we created a new, more complex Excavation activity. The visiting kids first excavate a “trash pit” with the trash from several different buildings. Then they use the evidence from the items found in the trash pit to identify the types of businesses or residences that threw their trash in the pit. We also added an activity where the kids can learn how to catalog the artifacts that they find.

This was our first event at the historic Peralta Adobe site in downtown San Jose. This Spanish-Colonial period adobe is the last of the original adobe buildings from El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe remaining in the city. The Peralta Adobe is located just a few blocks from the site of the Market Street Chinatown in downtown San Jose.

We have additional Public Archaeology Events planned for the coming months, and we would love to see you and your families at these events!

February 26^th, 2012 – Peralta Adobe, 11:00 PM to 4:00 PM

April 29^th, 2012 – History Park

May 20^th, 2012 – History Park

For information about or directions to either location, please see History San José’s website (http://www.historysanjose.org/).

My name is Kate Rose and I am a sophomore majoring in Archaeology and Religious Studies, and I have been working in Professor Voss’s Historical Archaeology Lab as a student intern since the beginning of April this year.  Although much of my previous experience with archaeology has dealt with prehistory, specifically early farming societies in the ancient Near East, I am very interested in getting involved with historical archaeology research. I am very excited to be a part of this data-rich and opportunity-rich endeavor and to learn more about the nature of society and cultural exchange in a 19^th century Chinatown on the West Coast

The specific project I am currently involved in is identifying, organizing, researching, and cataloguing of Chinese and European ceramics excavated in the late 1980’s from the Market Street site. One of the aspects of ceramic analysis that I find myself increasingly drawn to and fascinated by is the study and identification of “maker’s marks.”  Because our sample of ceramic artifacts is so large and diverse, we have large collections of both Chinese and European manufactured pieces, with maker’s marks ranging from Chinese characters and symbols, to European family crests with gothic Anglicized lions, and even Unicorns! I think the study of maker’s marks is incredibly interesting because they present the opportunity to place an artifact in a specific chronological context which we as archaeologists can use to understand the social, cultural, and commercial climate of a community and settlement. But to me, they also represent an aesthetically appealing connection to an individual persona and to a greater trade network. Maker’s marks personalize ceramic pieces and designs, and embed memory and connectivity within them.

In terms of specific artifacts, I began working with a large collection of Chinese porcelains, with a bluish-teal glaze, characteristic of imitation celadon.  In addition to the simply adorable little teacups, the collection was interesting because many of the pieces displayed a small, and as far our research has indicated, undocumented maker’s mark on the base of the piece. As you can see, the mark is a very simple ovular shape, with what looks like a slash through the middle.  I especially look forward to working more with “mystery” maker’s marks like this one and trying to identify some sort of pattern of production or origin associate