Like Deetz' search for ethnicity in Somersville, I too once attempted
to determine the archaeological visibility of three ethnic groups in
an historical urban archaeological context (a turn of the century
garbage dump in Vancouver, British Columbia). Documents indicate the
presence of EuroCanadians, Japanese and Chinese-Canadians during the
1913-1932 dump formation.
The only 'ethnic' artifacts we found were Japanese porcelain tea set
fragments and a single Chinese medicine bottle. I guess this
probably tells us something about acculturation and material culture
in urban contexts.
I have a few copies of this report if anyone is really interested in
this type of thing.
Stan Copp
Anthropology
Langara College
Vancouver, B.C.
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