Stathi

Got to admit that you have gone one on me. A 45 ton steam locomotive!  
Wow I'm jealous. I've done a few smelts at this point (including one  
that was my youngest daughters 10th grade science project). Even some  
smithing and forge welding. My middle daughter talked her way into  
the smithy at Sturbridge Village when she was 14 (great pictures of  
her in a yellow sun dress, a bit unusual for an apprentice). I also  
learned how to flint knap. Taught me a lot about all the debitage I  
was finding on prehistoric sites.

Have you ever seen any of the trackliner groups? We have one here in  
Richmond, VA that sings the RR equivalent of sea chanties. Of course  
they have to clean up the lyrics for mixed crowds, or when children  
are present.

James Brothers, RPA
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On Sep 27, 2006, at 21:58, Efstathios I. Pappas wrote:

> In a message dated 9/27/06 6:17:55 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>
>> It is one thing to excavate a
>> bloomery, it is something else entirely to understand how it really
>> works.
>>
> Well said,
>
> I would completely agree with this statement and have done my best to
> implement hands-on experience with my archaeology.   My  
> dissertation project focuses
> on a railroad section camp which housed track maintenance  
> workers.   As I
> developed my research plans and designed this project I volunteered  
> with different
> museum groups to do track maintenance and actually have started  
> building a
> railroad on a friend's ranch.   I can guarantee that this has very  
> much affected
> my theoretical orientation!   Domestic archaeology of an industrial  
> site
> without proper consideration of the nature of labor can be as short  
> sighted as a
> "gear-headed" recordation of rusty machinery with no social  
> context.   Since I
> was awarded my master's in industrial archaeology from Michigan  
> Tech I have
> also amassed enough machine tools and other 19th century technology  
> to restore
> the 45 ton steam locomotive I just acquired.   It is no mistake  
> that this
> forecasts my current and ongoing focus on the railroad industry,  
> and I see the
> potential for many projects in the years to come.   I certainly do  
> not advocate
> that anyone doing industrial archaeology must have hands-on  
> experience.
> However, it often results in a much deeper understanding of  
> personal identities,
> ethoses of labor, gender roles, and class-based politics.   I  
> believe that
> industrial archaeology demands the implementation of  
> interdisciplinary techniques.
> However, archaeological methods serve to center studies of  
> industrialism in
> my work.   Without the philosophies and methods which archaeology  
> provides, I
> feel it would be very difficult to understand the rise of the  
> industrial order
> and its associated social changes.
>
> Regards,
>
> Stathi Pappas
>
> _______________________________________________________________
>
> Efstathios I. Pappas, MS
> Doctoral Candidate
> Department of Anthropology/096
> University of Nevada, Reno
> Reno, NV 89557
> 209-603-7363