*Call for papers: “Big Histories at Small Places”, Society for Historical
Archaeology, 2010*



Greetings!



We are organizing a multi-disciplinary session entitled “Big Histories at
Small Places” for the 2010 Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) meetings
on 6-10 January 2010 at Amelia Island Plantation near Jacksonville, Florida,
USA (http://www.sha.org/about/conferences/2010.cfm).  This proposed session
will focus upon relatively recent discoveries (realizations,
identifications) of significant long-term historical trajectories or
short-term historical events occurring at places of very limited spatial
scope.



The session is intended to be explicitly non-academic in tone.  Presenters
are not limited to archaeologists, and we would very much like to have
historians, historical architects, journalists, etc. as participants.
Presentations
must focus on material culture and involve plenty of graphic content
appropriate for a popular (non-academic) audience.  While we anticipate
primarily US locations for paper topics, the location can be anywhere in the
world.  Ideally, the end result will be a popular publication, potentially
suitable for educational curricula.



One example of a big history from a small place is our presentation about
community archaeological work at the Baranov Museum property.  In a very
small archaeological sampling (0.22%) of this small 1 acre parcel during 10
days in June 2008, we uncovered approximately 4000 years of land use:
material from prehistoric Early Kachemak period, late-18th –
mid-19thcentury Russian-American Company (RAC) occupation, mid-19
th century Native Alutiiq culture, early 20th century building and
habitation, early-mid-20th century gardens, post-1964 Good Friday
earthquake/tsunami urban renewal, 1980 park construction, and the 2008
present.  While all these are included in the broadly understood land use
history of the city of Kodiak environs, the revealed human history of this
small parcel of land lent unanticipated clarity and specificity to local
historical knowledge: the first prehistoric site ever found in the city, two
previously undocumented early RAC buildings, a rare woven Alutiiq basket,
domestic household children’s toys, a building collapsed by 1912 volcanic
ash, a *ca*. 1930 stone-lined garden path, tumbled structural material from
urban renewal razings, and the pre-park ground surface.  All this visible,
hands-on Kodiak history came from a very little piece of ground,
demonstrating the omnipresence of history hidden just below the surface.



If this proposed 2010 SHA session interests you, please send us an abstract
by 10 July 2009, or write or call us prior to that date with ideas or
questions.



Thank you!



Mark Cassell

Territory Heritage Resource Consulting (Anchorage, Alaska)

907-360-2668

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Katie Oliver

Baranov Museum (Kodiak, Alaska; www.baranovmuseum.org)

907-486-5920
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