Leaving aside personal feelings about The Big Easy (I think it was Kris Hirst who said, early in this event, that New Orleans is a city unafraid to reveal itself) . . . were it not for abandonment, we archaeologists would have pretty much nothing to do.  Imagine how fascinating for our great-great-grandchildren-in-the-field to examine the historical records and the historical archaeology (and the notoriety) of New Orleans.  Imagine the archival and material information on population movement and absorption/assimilation.  Please understand: not a death wish for the city or its residents -- I would really like to sit in the Quarter and eat barbecued shrimp and beignets (sp?).  Just a thought . . .
 
Jeffrey L. Boyer, RPA
Office of Archaeological Studies
P.O. Box 2087
Santa Fe, New Mexico  87504
tel: 505.827.6343
fax: 505.827.3904
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
 

________________________________

From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY on behalf of David Babson
Sent: Sun 9/4/2005 10:17 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Hurricane damage



I have seen several newspaper op-eds, and heard opinions from a few
associates (not archaeologists) that New Orleans SHOULD be abandoned,
because it is "not a sustainable city," being too low, and that taxpayer
dollars should not be wasted perpetuating a mistake begun by the French
(one of the usual suspects, of course) 300 years ago.  They do want to
keep the port and the French Quarter (under a dome, and suitably
Disneified, I presume), since the economy and its wealthiest
beneficiaries MUST be served.  After all, they were able to skedaddle
before the looting, and presumably will continue to be able to do so,
even when gas reaches $15.00/gallon.  Leaving aside the fact that much
of this is the usual garbage from bigots and bluenoses who have never
liked new Orleans (too Black, too gay, too drunk, and, probably, having
too much fun), would a failure to rebuild New Orleans be a sign of
social recession, of the sort that accompanies a declining society?
This is one of the classic problems in archaeology, studying past
social, economic and cultural collapses--classical Mediterranean
civilizations in the early-to middle part of the first millennium CE,
the classic Maya, Norse Greenland, etc., and, of course, one of the
archaeological markers of these processes is abandoned cities.  This
comes a bit too close to using archaeology in prediction, something we
pay lip service too, but generally avoid, as it is so uncertain.  But,
if we come to seriously consider abandonment of the 30th-largest city
(this is a city-limits population rank from 2000 census data from
Google--I think the entire metropolitan area must be larger), then where
are we, as a nation?

D. Babson.


-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Robert L. Schuyler
Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 4:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Hurricane damage

I want to second the "thanks" to Shannon Dawdy for an excellent precis
on
what has happened in New Orleans and the region.
I also think that some discussion of the disaster beyond archaeology per
se
is not completely out of line in HISTARCH but
Anita does have to rein us all back in now and then ...

Back to Archaeology:

         (1) How many times since its founding has New Orleans been hit
by
major hurricanes?

         (2) Do these events leave a recognizable trace in the
archaeological record?  I assume it would be mass
                 dumping of buildings etc. in pits after clean-up and
rebuilding. A destruction layer?

         (3) Did major hurricanes cause real shifts in the culture of
New
Orleans; that is, did the population as a
                 result swing way up or down and did the ethnic
composition
of the city change as a result?
                 [If I went through one of these "events" I think I
would,
like General Butler, be headed back
                 north.]

                                                         Bob Schuyler

At 01:26 AM 9/2/2005, you wrote:
> >From New Orleans North:
>
>The human tragedy is immense, and of course we must
>immediately do what we can to stave it.  It will take weeks
>before we know what flooding has done, and the news reports
>are spotty and hard to trust as to the extent and geography of
>the water damage.
>
>However, the oldest notarial records are actually in a vault
>on the fifth floor of a large office building and are probably
>safe. Across the street in the basement were the late
>19th-century through 20th century notarial acts, which may be
>decimated, as would be the mortgage and conveyance books
>dating from the 1820s that include a wealth of information on
>slavery.  Still, staff members did know the value of these old
>dusty books and it is possible they had a couple hours to move
>them to higher floors before they evacuated.
>
>Collections at Tulane, UNO, the Public Library and the
>Louisiana State Museum are all elevated at least one tall
>floor.  The Historic New Orleans Collection was in the process
>of building a new archive storage facility to protect their
>collections, so I am a little worried about those.  The State
>Museum, which was badly funded to begin with, will be
>hard-pressed to conserve their 10,000 irreplaceable 18th
>century documents from the French period if there is water
>exposure through window breaks or leaks.  The best that could
>be done in that case is to put political pressure on the state
>to transfer custodial care.  Same I would say with the Public
>Library's wonderful collection (the building is modernist with
>glass walls, so I am a bit worried).
>
>My understanding is that there was some ground-floor flooding
>in the French Quarter and certainly some looting of contents,
>but that most of the structures there stood up fairly well --
>after all, they've been through quite a few of these. Same is
>true of the Garden District. I am still waiting to hear
>specifics, though, on sites such as Madame John's Legacy, the
>Ursuline Convent, or Pitot House, which some of you have asked
>me about.
>
>But little do people realize that the historic value of the
>hard-hit lower 9th ward and the neighborhood of Holy Cross was
>tremendous as an extensive community of small, lower income
>shotgun houses from the 19th century largely spared the 'urban
>renewal' of the 20th century.  Still, I'd lose all those
>houses again in exchange for one of the lives lost within them.
>
>Unfortunately, the political geography of the past will
>probably dictate historic preservation in the future.  Since
>its founding, the wealthy in New Orleans have crowded their
>estates and townhouses along the high ground of the natural
>levees, leaving the swampy swales to the poor.  So all those
>mansions and fancy townhouses valued by tour guides and
>blue-haired architectural boards are probably in relatively
>decent shape, but they will also receive the lion's share of
>reconstruction assistance.
>
>Many of the quaint cottages of the largely black 'back of
>town'neighborhoods may be wiped out, either because they were
>heavily damaged if next to the levee breaks, or because even
>with minor damage they will be last on the list of priorities
>for repair or preservation.  But will anyone care?  These are
>not neighborhoods where tourists are funneled. And the human
>loss there may make it difficult to focus on preserving a now
>painful past.
>
>Archaeologically, floods caused by levee breaks actually help
>protect urban sites unless they are actively being excavated,
>so I can't really be concerned about those. Rebuilding efforts
>will likely do greater damage than the hurricane itself. Great
>loss, however, has probably occured in the Barataria, Lake
>Borgne and barrier island areas due to the storm surge.
>
>All this talk of abandoning New Orleans, the "loss of New
>Orleans" or its cultural heritage that I am reading in the
>media is causing a second kind of heartbreak.  We need hope,
>ambition, and a hell of a lot of help, not pessimism and
>abandonment.  New Orleans, I think it is safe to say, is a
>world heritage site and needs the world's assistance.
>
>Back in the early 18th century, the French talked of
>abandoning New Orleans within 10 years of its founding due to
>hurricanes and political-economic disasters (Katrina also
>being a combination).  And for all practical purposes, the
>French government DID abandon New Orleans after 1735.  But
>people stayed, rebuilt, and prospered in their own way.
>
>Disasters and their aftermath are also a part of New Orleans'
>heritage.  It wouldn't be what it is without them.  For most,
>it has never been easy to live in the Big Easy.  Their
>creativity and improvisation in survival, as well as their
>joie de vivre, is the city's real 'cultural heritage.'  People
>who have only visited Bourbon Street have no idea what has
>been lost, nor have they ever really met the city that will
>survive.
>
>-- Shannon Dawdy
>
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Shannon Lee Dawdy
>Assistant Professor
>Department of Anthropology
>University of Chicago
>1126 East 59th St.
>Chicago, IL 60637
>773-834-0829
>
>
>Forgive me if my messages seem crude and brief -- please assume I am
short
>on time, not short of temper.

Robert L. Schuyler
University of Pennsylvania Museum
3260 South Street
Philadelphia, PA l9l04-6324

Tel: (215) 898-6965
Fax: (215) 898-0657
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