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The Ohio Hopewell Craft Production Project, Seip Mound, Ohio |
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Midwest Archaeological Conference Feature Archive |
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Arizona State University Academic Program. For the summer of 2005 the ASU Summer Archaeological Field School, directed by Professor Katherine Spielmann, will be located in the archaeologically rich region of southern Ohio, home to the Ohio Hopewell. Graduate and undergraduate students receive intensive training in archaeological field methods while participating in ongoing research concerning craft specialization and ritual performance at Ohio Hopewell ritual precincts. On the field school, students gain experience in archaeological excavation, artifact recording, and analysis. Along with essential technical skills, the program emphasizes the construction of research strategies that are effective in addressing anthropological questions. Field training is integrated with lectures on archaeological method and theory and the prehistory of the Hopewell. Field trips to other Hopewell mound sites provide a regional context for the research. Evening lectures by visiting scholars further enhance the academic program. The field school enrolls undergraduate and graduate students with diverse backgrounds, but a majority of the participants generally contemplate a professional orientation. Graduate students must and undergraduates may conduct a small original research project using project data.
Research Focus. Much of the known archaeological record for the Ohio Hopewell is a product of communal ritual preparation and performance. Ohio Hopewell peoples were not unique in their elaboration of the ritual sphere, but the durability of the spaces and objects that were involved in Hopewell communal ritual makes this component of their material record particularly prominent. The 2005 research focuses on one aspect of ritual preparation, the production of ornaments at earthwork sites. The Ohio Hopewell Craft Production Project seeks to understand the organization of the production of ritual paraphernalia at Hopewell earthwork sites, and the relationship between crafting and the ritual actions that took place in and near the earthworks. In the 1970s Raymond Baby tested seven substantial rectangular structures within the large circular earthwork at the site of Seip, in the Paint Creek valley west of Chillicothe. Data from these structures indicate that craft production and feast preparation may have taken place in them. The 2005 field work will excavate an eighth structure encountered by Baby to collect more precise information concerning the distribution of artifacts and features, so that we may evaluate the possibility that these structures were workshops. Workshop-scale production is particularly interesting in the Ohio Hopewell context because such production is generally typical of more complex economic systems. Director & Staff. Katherine Spielmann, Professor of Anthropology at Arizona State University directs the field school. Professor Spielmann has focused a long-term research effort on economic specialization among small-scale societies in the Southwest, southern Plains, and Midwest. Field Headquarters. The field headquarters are located in Bainbridge, Ohio, a few miles west of the site. A cook will prepare meals. Field equipment will be provided, except for a sleeping bag and personal items. Southern Ohio weather is usually warm to hot in June, with occasionally heavy rains.
Application and Enrollment. The field school lasts five weeks, from May 29 through July 2, 2005. Enrollment is open to undergraduate and graduate students from any university or college. We expect to enroll 15 students. Students should have had at least one course in either anthropology or archaeology and be in good physical condition. Students must register for 6 semester hours of credit, for which the tuition is $1253 for AZ resident undergraduates, $1595 for non-resident undergraduates, $1877 for AZ resident graduate students, and $2387 for non-resident graduate students. An additional fee of $800 for the five week session covers room, board, supplies, and transportation in the field as well as round trip transportation from Columbus to the field headquarters. Both charges are payable before May 1, 2005. Application forms can be downloaded from http://www.asu.edu/clas/anthropology/ohfs/ or can be requested by phone or email. The deadline for receipt of all application materials, including the application, transcript, and recommendation is March 11, 2005. Decisions on acceptance, based on a competitive evaluation of the applications, will be made by April 1. To the extent possible, communications will be via email so applicants should ensure that we continue to have a current email address. Address Queries to: Email: kate.spielmann@asu.edu
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