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Date: | Tue, 6 Oct 2015 08:51:02 +1100 |
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I studied a small Australian village established in the mid 1830s
southwest of Sydney. Three decades later the main railway came
through, but crossed the road about 5 km way and established a
railhead while the next section of line was built. Rapidly
businesses, services and eventually much of the population drifted
north. Very quickly the old village became dominated by
female-headed households. I think many of them would have been
elderly, either widowed or with husbands in itinerant and mobile
trades like shearing.
In this case being elderly was very tightly bound up with economic
marginalisation, which also had a good dollop of gender inequity.
Being elderly would manifest in 'poverty' patterns across assemblages
or at even broader indicators like cross-generational property
succession and what different things happen between long periods of
stasis versus occupant change.
And on an entirely different note, our village was occupied by the
Worlds Oldest Couple [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120724427
[1]].
In fact they weren't [92 and 89 years old, as opposed to the article's
112 and 107]. They lived in the decaying former inn with their son,
the final publican. We excavated a privy clearance deposit
contemporary with the Worlds Oldest Couple but found no marker
artefacts of old age.
Denis Gojak
----- Original Message -----
From: "HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY"
To:
Cc:
Sent:Mon, 5 Oct 2015 15:03:08 +0000
Subject:Archaeology of the Elderly
Hello,
While there appears to be a growing trend to study childhood, I have
not been able to find much work on the archaeology of the elderly. In
connection what do / should we call a study of people in their later
years? {Try searching archaeology and old in the same query!} Can we
really study the elderly though material culture (non
osteoarchaeology) or can we only study the process of aging? Any
thoughts and points in the right direction would be helpful.
Yours,
Melonie Shier
Links:
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[1] http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120724427
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