So what is ethnicity? Blood? Nurture? Maternity? Paternity? Mentoring?
 
Ethnicity just is. And it might float. We currently are analysing material
from a site that was part of a community including acculturated Native
Americans, whites, and mixed-bloods. The house site was occupied during the
late eighteenth century by people who probably were not Methodists. We know
that because there is a Methodist church within a mile of the site, and
they aren't on the roll.
 
Beyond an absence of Methodism, we know that these people made extensive
use of flaked bottle glass tools. So we should assume that the flaking was
directly derived from some site occupant's Native American ancestors? No?
As a matter of fact, it appears that the flaked glass tools were used as
much by the site's white occupants as by the Native Americans. In fact, the
Native American site occupants may not have been the makers of the flaked
glass.
 
The Native occupants belonged to a more sophisticated social level than the
white occupants, and appear to have been more integrated into the
surrounding market-centered society. So the whites were more native than
the natives. Or something like that.
 
So much for ethnic markers.
 
Now, what was someone saying about sifters?
 
 
 
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