An interesting and typical MacNeish story. He was full of them. Take them with a grain of salt...he was very creative.
James G. Gibb
Gibb Archaeological Consulting
2554 Carrollton Road
Annapolis, Maryland USA ?? 21403
443.482.9593 (Land) 410.693.3847 (Cell)
www.gibbarchaeology.net ? www.porttobacco.blogspot.com
On 04/17/12, Linda Derry<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Harding,
Haven't seen this reference on alcohol and creative bull sessions in archaeology, but I will now hunt it down. I do have a related story that was told to me by the famous archaeologist Scotty MacNeish years and years ago when he was writing his memoirs in the basement of Andover Academy. Here's how I remember it:
Apparently, during his early career, he was working a site in the American Bottoms near Metropolis Illinois & Paducah Kentucky, and ran out of funds. So he was forced to return to the University of Chicago to obtain more. When he returned south, the moonshiners had taken over the road he had cut into the site, built a still on the site, and these were gun toting men that were apparently not the least bit interested in his prior claim. So he had to move on and rethink his research design. This twist of fate, tied to alcohol, forced creativity upon him. He thought that it led him to a more significant research, changed his career trajectory, and put him on his way to archaeological fame!
Whether it is true or not, it is an awfully good story.
Linda Derry
Site Director
Old Cahawba
719 Tremont St.
Selma, AL 36701
ph. 334/875-2529
fax. 334/877-4253
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-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Harding Polk
Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2012 9:44 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: RFP: Creativity
You should check out the article "Archaeology and Prohibition" by William B. Bulter, Plains Anthropologist, Vol. 21, No. 71, pp67-72, 1976. The Abstract reads:
The importance of alcohol to the archaeologist is investigated through a study of archaeological productivity before, during and after Prohibition. This contribution to the ethno-science of archaeology reveals that archaeological productivity is positively related to alcohol and its concomitant sin qua non: the bull session.
As you would say Tim,
Cheers,
Harding Polk II
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-----Original Message-----
From: scarlett <[log in to unmask]>
To: HISTARCH <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Fri, Apr 13, 2012 7:19 am
Subject: RFP: Creativity
Hi all,
y my figuring, archaeologists tend to be an extraordinarily creative group of eople. Now we know why!
his post is a teaser and reminder of my RFP about creativity for SHA 2013!
heers,
im
Drinking Alcohol May Significantly Enhance Problem Solving Skills by Christine su.
ttp://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_skills/
"Lead author Professor Jennifer Wiley of the University of Illinois at Chicago iscovered that alcohol may enhance creativity problem solving by reducing the ind???s working memory capacity, which is the ability to concentrate on something n particular."
...people who drank alcohol and had a blood alcohol level of 0.07 or higher ere worse at completing problems that required attentional control but better t creative problem solving tests." "The surprising discovery was that articipants with a BAC of 0.07 or higher solved 40 percent more problems than heir sober counterparts and took 12 seconds to complete the tasks compared to
5.5 seconds by teetotal participants." "Wiley said that the key finding was hat being too focused can blind a person to novel possibilities and a broader, ore flexible state of attention may be helpful for creative solutions to merge."
published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition
egin forwarded message:
> From: scarlett <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Request for Papers: Reconsidering Archaeologies of Creativity
Request for Papers: Reconsidering Archaeologies of Creativity
Call for papers for the 46th Annual Conference on HIstorical and Underwater rchaeology, January 9-12, 2013, Leicester, Great Britain.
Human creativity is fundamental to understanding the transformations brought bout by both globalization and immigration, the dual themes of the 2012 onference. People act and react creatively to these processes, in mundane and rand ways, individually and collectively. Thus, creativity intertwines and ntangles it's processes with all human interactions. The process and contexts f creative action, as well as the concept of creativity itself, can be nderstood from psychological, behavioral, social, humanistic, and philosophical erspectives. Individual persons and groups derive creativity from the cultural mprovisations of social interactions surrounding economic, religious, echnological, recreational, and familial activities; movement through spaces nd among places; rituals; and the shifting practices of daily life. While rchaeologists have produced numerous studies of human's creative responses, we ave given less attention to creativity itself, particularly in those rchaeologi
es of the modern world. Scholars in the sciences and humanities have een able to describe some of the processes and contexts of creative action in he human experience, but those insights have not lead to creativity's ationalization or "corporate domestication."
I welcome archaeological studies that critically explore creativity from ifferent perspectives, including:
- the social construction of creative process
- contexts of creative action, like work and play
- archaeological perspectives on creativity and the brain
- creativity and social change
- creativity and adaptation
- improvisation and creativity
- creativity and behavior
- creativity, capitalism, and entrepreneurial culture
- prehistory vs. history in understanding creativity
- detailed case studies of creative action, as critiques or assessment of reativity
Please contact Timothy Scarlett by May 1st, 2012 to express interest.
Best regards,
Tim
Timothy Scarlett
Industrial Heritage and Archaeology
Department of Social Sciences
Michigan Technological University
1400 Townsed Dr.
Houghton, MI 49931
(906)487-2359
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Additional conference information:
> The Conference Committee has announced their Call for Papers:
ttp://ow.ly/9Vdzg
Conference webpage:
http://www.sha.org/meetings/annual_meetings.cfm
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