A Day of Archaeology

Today is a Day of Archaeology. The idea is that archaeologists talk about what they are doing so people get a better idea of what archaeologists actually do.

I'm not out in the field, but instead engaging in a very important part of the broader discipline: I'm preparing for a class I'm teaching over the summer. I will be teaching at St Petersburg State University in Russia for the New York- St Petersburg Institute, leading a seminar called Houses of Culture. Today's work was preparing a core class on how cultural beliefs are embodied in houses. I'll be looking at the houses of four different cultures. First is the classic study by Bourdieu, The Berber House. Second is Japanese houses; third a close examination of the Yin Yu Tang House at the Peabody Essex Museum, in Salem, MA. Fourth is the Iroquois longhouse, centered around the reconstructed longhouse at Ganondagan State Park near Rochester, NY.

Longhouse at Ganondagan