Sunday, September 30, 2012
Watermen's Museum
Wow!!! What a week, for those who did not know I
have taken an internship with the Watermen’s Museum under Michael Steen and
David Niebuhr as an Education Specialist.
This week has been a great experience for me as I help this small museum
that has a big focus on outreach. I
helped in simple tasks like cleaning up around the boatbuilding shop but also
with the direct outreach of school kids, with everything from biodiversity
catches on short cruises of the Schooner Alliance based out of Yorktown,
Virginia as well as playing Jamestown “Survivor Island” with another
group. Teaching is of course the best
way to learn, as you must understand the subject well enough to explain it in a
coherent manner to someone else, and I have learned so much this week! I invite everyone who hasn’t seen the museum
to come down for our next Folk Jam or stop by during the week! I look forward to learning and working more
next week, and hope to see both old and new friends over the coming months J
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Wow, what a day :-)
Wow, what a day, the weather was perfect and I headed
down to the Citie of Henricus Historical Park in Virginia, USA for their day of
reenactments. For those that didn’t
know, when I chose to pursue my diploma in maritime archaeology in Europe the
founding reason was when I took Comparative Colonial Archeology under Marley
Brown III at William and Mary I noticed some fundamental assumptions which
nagged at me and seemed contradictory to the logic of colonial archeology in
Virginia. One of those was the presumed
dominance of the British. During the
founding of the Virginia Company and before the ideas and techniques of a continental
nature influenced the charter members, many of whom had worked in the garrison
towns in the United Netherlands. When
Jamestown was established in 1607 the Dutch had already formed a massive
maritime network based upon cooperation and free trade. It was the free trade with the “New World”
that when questioned by the British Navigation Acts of the 1650’s caused the
Dutch to go to war. Archeologists have
often found continental artifacts in their assemblages. I have a fascination with the Dutch trade with
the New World. I wanted to know how the
German stonewares, Italian glass beads, French gunflints, and whole other
sections of artifacts of continental origin made it into Virginia; questions I thought
best answered by studying at the source.
Were they coming in on boats that called British ports home? or as with
sites in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific were they being brought in by ships
flying the flag of the United Netherlands?
There was trade influenced by the Dutch, Germans, French, and Swedes in
Virginia, but to the average tourist our later ties with the United Kingdom
overwhelm that history. Now that I have
returned to Virginia, I see that while at first we were insignificant to the
global economy as we grew and established new trading partners we ceased to be
a small controllable “company” but something far larger and indistinct from the
rest of our trading partners. It is the
story of America, but our story is one that is linked to the rest of the
world. In 1607 the investment into the
Virginia Company was a gamble. A gamble
that took years to bear fruit. In 1619
the Falling Creek Iron Works opened up, and iron ore was created from limonite
formed by chemical deposition in our boggy coastal waterways processed by the
colonists using the bloomery process.
This ore found its way once processed into ingots to British buyers, but
as tobacco our one cash crop that even Europeans think about when Virginia is
mentioned found its way into other hands.
In 1622 the bulk of tobacco production by the Virginia Company was sold
to merchants in the United Netherlands.
The Virginia Company had to fight for this option with the British
Government over its charter rights. I leave
you below with some pictures for thought from the day at Henricus. I hope you like them as much as I do J
A collection of replica trade goods...traders in the colonies established first relationships with the local aboriginal populations in Virginia by trade of small items such as brass and copper scraps as well as glass beads and other items.
A snaphance musket, by 1619 as much as half of the shoulder arms fielded by the Virignia Company were flintlock by the surviving historical documents.
A group of reenactors at Henricus Historical Park at Dutch Gap Virginia, USA with matchlocks, snaphances, and other small arms.
A collection of replica trade goods...traders in the colonies established first relationships with the local aboriginal populations in Virginia by trade of small items such as brass and copper scraps as well as glass beads and other items.
A snaphance musket, by 1619 as much as half of the shoulder arms fielded by the Virignia Company were flintlock by the surviving historical documents.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Hello All, I have promised to provide a list of volunteer
opportunities in Virginia for the fields of maritime archeology, history, and
ethnology. I have decided to list these
by organization and hope those who are not mentioned will send comments so that
I can update the list in the next post.
For the Mariners’
Museum:
William C. Wooldridge is giving a lecture that sounds
exciting on November 8th, “Where in the World was VA? Mapping a Moving Place,
1587-1865”. http://marinersmuseum.org/calendar/lecture-series/where-world-was-virginia
Also you can enquire about volunteer opportunities directly
by sending an e-mail to… volunteers@MarinersMuseum.org
For the Watermen’s
Museum:
York River Floating Folk Jam… http://www.watermens.org/index.php?option=com_jcalpro&Itemid=89&extmode=view&extid=572
York River Maritime Heritage Festival… http://www.watermens.org/index.php?option=com_jcalpro&Itemid=89&extmode=view&extid=572
For the Fairfield Foundation…
Email info… fairfield@inna.net
For Historic Dumfries
Virginia Inc…
Email info… weemsbotts@msn.com
For Virginia Canals
& Navigations Society…
For Fairfax County
Archeological Authorities…
For the Chesapeake
Bay Maritime Museum…
Website… http://www.cbmm.org/v_calendar.htm
For Matthews County Historical Society...
Archive work.
Website…http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vamchs/contact.html
For Matthews County Historical Society...
Archive work.
Website…http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vamchs/contact.html
As more things come to my attention I will post them up J
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Well I looked at the calendar and it has been a year since
my colleagues at the last interest meeting at the Mariners’ Museum recommended
that I form a chapter within the Archaeological Society of Virginia to address
submerged cultural heritage issues in Virginia.
It has now been about seven months since the formation of that chapter
was recognized. As of yet I have not
been able to come up with the required steady membership to bring that dream to
fruition, but there is a bittersweet reason.
Shortly after the board of the ASV approved the formation of the chapter,
my grandmother was moved from her retirement in Florida to spend her last days
with us in Virginia. This required that
I take a leading role in the family business and leave my passion on the back
burner for a bit. At the insistence of
several colleagues, I have returned to the blog and the dream and a lot has gone
on in Virginia over the last year. At
request of a colleague I am reposting some old projects but also some active ones,
which are potential volunteer opportunities.
Shortly after attending the Middle Atlantic Archaeology
Conference in Virginia Beach, Bernard K. Means and the Virtual Curation Unit
scanned rigging specimens from the Wreck of the Collier Betsy, which was sunk
at Yorktown during the American Revolution.
A link to the full article can be found here….
Also shortly after the Middle Atlantic Archaeology
Conference in Virginia Beach, Dave Hazzard of Virginia Department of Historic
Resources worked with the staff of the Fairfield Foundation of Gloucester County
to record a threatened contact period expanded and extended logboat. A link to the Fairfield foundations facebook
page can be found here…sadly no web publication on this event has been
forthcoming.
Starting in the spring of this year The Watermen’s Museum
under Dr. Dave Niebuhr started construction of a replica of an American
Revolution gunboat called the Henry.
Some additional information can be found below…
After many years of work by members of the Virginia Canals
and Navigation Society has regained membership and had a great year of
publications! Their website can be found
here…
I also gave a presentation to the Howard McCord Chapter of
the Archaeological Society of Virginia at Richmond Department of Historic
Resources on some of my work in Europe.
Truth is there are so many things going on in maritime
archaeology, history, and ethnology in Virginia that it would be impossible to
list them all in on blog…
For just general interest Tim Smith of Yorktown has created
an interesting networking area on facebook….
Now that my grandmother has passed away and I am needed less
by my family I will be more active in the community in Virginia. I look forward to your feedback as the next
blog post will be upcoming fall events!!!!!!!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
A great place for volunteers in archeology in Virginia!
https://www.facebook.com/JasonLunze?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/The-Fairfield-Foundation/117567771744
https://www.facebook.com/JasonLunze?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/The-Fairfield-Foundation/117567771744
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