Civil War Archaeology

[TucsonReb]

These questions have been on my mind recently: Is there a good college for any civil war archaeology? Are there any major civil war battlefield digs coming up? Thank you all for your time and responses.

 

[UCVRelics]

These questions have been on my mind recently: Is there a good college for any civil war archaeology? Are there any major civil war battlefield digs coming up? Thank you all for your time and responses.

Most universities archaeology dept are within the Dept of Anthropology. There a few that will do CW sites but most are geared toward Native American, early French, English and Spanish settlers. The states that have a lot of CW sites will do digs for transportation and other type delineation projects.

 

[BarryR]

You could check out Aquachigger (https://www.youtube.com/@aquachigger)..no schooling by any means but a very successful metal detectorist of civil war artifacts..Not on battlefields, but off the beaten path...(that's where the education comes in )..

 

[TucsonReb]

You could check out Aquachigger (https://www.youtube.com/@aquachigger)..no schooling by any means but a very successful metal detectorist of civil war artifacts..Not on battlefields, but off the beaten path...(that's where the education comes in )..

Just watched one of his videos....He found a lot of cool things! Thanks for sharing!

 

[TucsonReb]

Just watched one of his videos....He found a lot of cool things! Thanks for sharing!

Is there any form of career that includes battlefield digging?

 

[BarryR]

Making license plates !!!

 

[LoyaltyOfDogs]

These questions have been on my mind recently: Is there a good college for any civil war archaeology? Are there any major civil war battlefield digs coming up? Thank you all for your time and responses.

You might want to check with the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College. While the College has no archaeology department, it's likely that history faculty in the Civil War Institute would know of any schools that have battlefield archaeology programs. Good luck!

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

The thing about archeology is the purpose is to learn something. What will you learn digging on most Civil War battlefields? We know what technology was used and mostly where the fighting took place and when.

Battles only lasted a few days so there aren't many artifacts left behind, compared to sites occupied for decades or centuries. Most archeology occurs on settlement sites, be they prehistoric or colonial, where the details of life, and sometimes the time period of occupation, are unknown.

Battlefield archeology has its uses for the American Civil War (I think there were some interesting discoveries at Shiloh a couple decades ago), but I think it would mostly be used to determine to either recover artifacts from an unprotected area about to be developed or to determine the extent of a battlefield for potential preservation.

Battlefield archeology is much more important when you don't know where the fighting took place. In Florida, it's been instrumental in locating Seminole War battlefields and forts whose location had long been a mystery. The Civil War has few such sites.

 

[Championhilz]

Here's a good example from Raymond Mississippi of how battlefield archaeology can be used to enhance our knowledge of what actually happened during the fighting: https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/raymonds-battlefield-detectives-dig-clues

 

[BarryR]

As in Battlefield Archeology at the Little Big Horn...1984..Not exactly text book tho, in fact seemed a bit amateurish ..

 

[dlofting]

As in Battlefield Archeology at the Little Big Horn...1984..Not exactly text book tho, in fact seemed a bit amateurish ..

Do you mean the video or the archeological work?

 

[TucsonReb]

In Florida, it's been instrumental in locating battlefields and forts whose location had long been a mystery.

What sites are these?

 

[Lampasas Bill]

If you're interested in Civil War archaeology, this book is worth having: Look to the Earth: Historical Archaeology and the American Civil War. Edited by Clarence R. Geier, Jr., and Susan W. Winter, from the University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville. The articles in it detail digs at a number of different types of sites and it has a very useful bibliography.

 

[Library Lady]

I think archeology of Civil War-era sites (not just battlefields) has more to offer than was described above, so I went looking for some fairly recent examples.

Say you're at Manassas clearing a trench for some utility work and you find something unexpected.

Newly Unearthed Civil War Bones Speak Silently to the Grim Aftermath of Battle

What the amputated limbs and full skeletons of a Manassas burial pit tell us about wartime surgical practices

www.smithsonianmag.com

I hope I didn't gross you out too much @Joshism . I spent just over 40 years doing clerical work in the medical field in a past life. I started out by typing autopsies in 1976, so of course I found the above article pretty cool.

For my friends on the naval forum, there is diving on the wreck of a Civil War blockade runner.

Diving into the American Civil War

NAS member Duncan Ross managed to head out into the dark waters of Liverpool Bay and visit a wreck site that had been on his radar for many years. Discover more here...

www.nauticalarchaeologysociety.org

There are still Civil War-era sites that have become of increased interest only recently.

Students, faculty set out to uncover once-thriving Civil War-era African American settlement

All that’s left of Payne’s Crossing, an African American settlement dating back to the 1800s, is remnants of the cemetery? Actually, there’s a lot more to discover about this once-thriving settlement

www.ohio.edu

And even when you know where sites of interest are, new technology and new techniques can tell you more.

Inside the Federal Government’s Mission to Explore a Sunken Civil War Battleship

"Everywhere you look, wonder and awe," the NOAA marine archaeologist leading the exploration said, previewing the first-ever livestream of the area.

www.govexec.com

Because this thread made me go looking for things, I came across this book which I need to add to one of my lists at the library.

From These Honored Dead: Historical Archaeology of the American Civil War: Geier, Clarence R., Scott, Douglas D., Babits, Lawrence E.: 9780813049441: Amazon.com: Books

From These Honored Dead: Historical Archaeology of the American Civil War [Geier, Clarence R., Scott, Douglas D., Babits, Lawrence E.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. From These Honored Dead: Historical Archaeology of the American Civil War

www.amazon.com

You people are such enablers!

 

[BarryR]

Do you mean the video or the archeological work?

Well, not to make light of thier hard work...but flagging the metal detector hits and leaving the site, only to return to see the flagged hits and had already been dug is just one example..Also their conclusion that there was an event that definitely took place there, although not a defined skirmish line..Seemed a bit over the top..My opinion only ..I also think the The Defense Forensic Science Center should have been involved...Again my two cents...

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

What sites are these?

A professional archeological survey of a Jupiter Farms park in the 1990s confirmed the location of the Second Battle of the Loxahatchee (suspected for years by avocational archeologists). It also located the related Seminole village and some smaller precontact sites.

Also, the Tennessee Volunteers encampment associated with Fort Jupiter, and Forts King and Van Swearigen. Probably others.

 

[James Brenner]

In answer to the original question, two sources for information are the Archaeological Institute of America and the Society for Historical Archaeology. Both have an on-line presence and routinely advertise for help on excavations.

Some schools offer basic and advanced degrees in archaeology, but you'll have to do a search for those schools in your state that offer them. Look in the anthropology departments to see what they offer. Some schools, (University of Akron, for example) offer certificates in field archaeology which is essentially equivalent to an associate degree. Coupled with a history degree, something like that may be a viable option if you are considering a career related to historic archaeology.

Before you go too far down this road, though, you have to ask yourself what it is that you want from the discipline. Archaeology is not just the artifacts, it's much more than that. It is also the context in which the artifact is found, the spatial relationship. For example, for the longest time, popular opinion was that the Little Big Horn was a stationary fight - Custer's Last Stand and all that. But the context of the artifacts -the bullets and casings - proved that it was a running fight.

Historical archaeology is unique because it can refute or validate the written record.

I hope this helps a bit,

Jim

 

[BarryR]

For example, for the longest time, popular opinion was that the Little Big Horn was a stationary fight - Custer's Last Stand and all that. But the context of the artifacts -the bullets and casings - proved that it was a running fight.

Historical archaeology is unique because it can refute or validate the written record.

I hope this helps a bit,

Jim

Not sure what the longest time is, but January 13, 1879 with Major Reno's Court of Inquiry put an end to that myth as well as the marked location(s) of the fallen by Captain Benteen's command, mere day(s) after the event. The archelogical dig of 1984 seemed to me like wholesale desecration of the fallen.

Sorry no hijack intended.....

 

[TucsonReb]

what it is that you want from the discipline.

I think what I want most from this is to literally uncover history. I have no experience digging whatsoever, so I was merely curious about professional archaeological careers. Here's another question: Are there any civil war or related shipwrecks still waiting to be found?

 

[BarryR]

I think what I want most from this is to literally uncover history. I have no experience digging whatsoever, so I was merely curious about professional archaeological careers. Here's another question: Are there any civil war or related shipwrecks still waiting to be found?

Just as Mr. Brenner suggested...Find the school that matches your dream and go for it...There are tons of civil war shipwrecks and lesser "famous" battlefields but just as significant to the cause just waiting to be discovered....