Journal Articles by Kelsey E Hanson
Journal of Field Archaeology, 2024
Archaeologists routinely create backdirt during excavation, but it is rarely acknowledged and rem... more Archaeologists routinely create backdirt during excavation, but it is rarely acknowledged and remains surprisingly undertheorized. In this paper, we treat backdirt as a uniquely archaeological product that is socially constructed and guided by culturally and historically situated motivations. Using Chaco Canyon as a case study, we examine the ways in which project priorities changed over nearly 150 years of excavation and (more recently) re-excavation. We illustrate the importance of understanding backdirt as a social product by comparing the avifaunal assemblages created by two major excavation projects at the great house of Una Vida. Differences in these assemblages demonstrate how changes in research goals structured what was collected, what was left as backdirt, and how this ultimately impacts interpretations about Chaco history. Finally, we offer thoughts about the future role of backdirt in archaeological praxis as a space to welcome feminist and Indigenous perspectives in the construction of archaeological narratives.
KIVA, 2023
Vibrant and colorful plaza-based performances are one of the key hallmarks of the Pueblo ceremoni... more Vibrant and colorful plaza-based performances are one of the key hallmarks of the Pueblo ceremonial calendar, providing goodwill and communicating community histories, traditions, and knowledge. While the archaeological record may be silent on many details of these performances, a focus on the materiality of performance preparations is possible. In this paper, I rely upon the reanalysis of legacy collections from Pueblo Bonito to consider the production of blue-green paint, a symbolically significant color that is ubiquitous on the most emblematic forms of media used in Pueblo performances. I identify several possible paint production locales and ritual storerooms based on the spatial distributions of blue–green pigment, paint production tools, and painted media recovered from Pueblo Bonito. By considering these preparatory spaces in relation to specific construction sequences, I offer spatial histories of performance to suggest that through time, Pueblo Bonito was incrementally modified to sustain increasingly formalized performances.
American Antiquity, 2022
Since the creation of the National Register of Historic Places, determining eligibility for listi... more Since the creation of the National Register of Historic Places, determining eligibility for listing on it has become the fundamental process driving archaeology in the United States. This process affects how archaeological sites are identified, recorded, evaluated, and ultimately how they are protected. Yet less than 6% of properties on the National Register are archaeological sites. Although scholars often lament the rigidity of the National Register and its eligibility criteria, notable revisions in National Park Service guidance pave the way for important changes. One of the National Register's most pervasive and fundamental concepts-the historic context-remains deeply undertheorized when compared to more familiar terms like "significance" and "integrity." In this article, we argue that archaeologists are well positioned to reinvigorate the National Register by using historic contexts as a mechanism for recognizing layered relationships to places. Using an example from the multivocal nomination of the Inscription Rock Archaeological District as a case study, we argue that the oft-neglected concept of the historic context can be used to commemorate multivocality, moving from one national history to the production of multivocal national histories.
The Wisconsin Archeologist, 2019
Water—in all its myriad forms—occupies a central and often primordial place in oral histories and... more Water—in all its myriad forms—occupies a central and often primordial place in oral histories and landscape ontologies. Despite this, its incorporation in existing discourse on cultural landscapes is remarkably absent. This paper examines the construction of histories and memories at different time scales through the concept of the waterscape. This concept provides an interpretive framework for understanding human engagements with water by recognizing the deeply uid, dynamic, and recursive role of water in structuring storied landscapes. Using a case study from the southern shore of Lake Superior in the Upper Great Lakes region of Michigan and based on the combined analyses of postglacial coastal geomorphology, archaeological evidence, and Anishinaabe landscape ontologies, this paper argues that postglacial histories are conceptually and physically anchored in relict shoreline features, particularly relict sea caves. Formed by glacial mechanisms and serving as landmarks amidst thousands of years of dramatic physical landscape change, these features provide important metaphysical intersections between realms of the Algonquin universe. This paper demonstrates the importance of combining multiple disciplinary perspectives to represent the multidimensionality of coastal environments.
Ethnoarchaeology Journal of Archaeological, Ethnographic and Experimental Studies Acorn Processing and Pottery Use in the Upper Great Lakes: An Experimental Comparison of Stone Boiling and Ceramic Technology, 2019
The adoption of pottery in the Upper Great Lakes region occurs quite late compared to the greater... more The adoption of pottery in the Upper Great Lakes region occurs quite late compared to the greater Eastern Woodlands. Recent organic residue analyses suggest that the earliest pottery in the Upper Great Lakes region was likely used to process acorns. Through experimental means using temperature as a proxy, this paper evaluates the efficacy of leaching tannins from acorns by comparing two regionally available cooking technologies: stone boiling versus simmering in a ceramic vessel. Our results indicate that tannins can be more effectively leached at simmering temperatures like those provided by ceramic vessels. At boiling temperatures, tannins are irreversibly bound to the acorn starches, rendering the nutmeat inedible in further processing. While there are a number of reasons to adopt and use pottery, it appears that processing acorns may be another important addition to this growing list.
Symposia Organized by Kelsey E Hanson
As often highly structured events that are dynamically created, negotiated, and contested through... more As often highly structured events that are dynamically created, negotiated, and contested through time, performances have the unique ability to convey crucial information about social processes. Through the differential engagement of multivocal performers and audience members, performances can operate as highly distilled social metaphors that are engaged with through bodily participation. Over the last few decades, scholars have engaged with performance in the archaeological record, particularly through the lens of architectural spaces such as theaters, plazas, and stages. While caves have been recognized as incredibly important venues for ritual activity, with few exceptions the actions employed in these spaces have not been consistently interpreted through the lens of performance and have not been adequately incorporated into the growing corpus of performance theory. However, the study of performance in caves affords the investigation of the intersection between natural and modified space, the spatial and social implications for how performance is conducted and structured, and the social and political implications of cave ritual. Through case studies that are broad in geographical and temporal scope, this session seeks to explore the mechanisms of performance by expanding and refining existing frameworks for interpreting performance as they operate in caves. We seek contributions that address theoretical and/or methodological approaches that consider ways of bridging the gap between the dynamic and evocative process of performance with its material signature. We invite participants to engage with this exiting topic through explorations of various elements of performance as they relate to caves. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: 1. How do caves facilitate and structure the types of performance conducted? (i.e. qualities of spatial configuration including architectural modifications, sensorial qualities, or transformative qualities) 2. How do performance objectives shape and structure the use and/or modification of caves? 3. At what scale(s) does cave performance operate? Who is the audience (human vs. non-human)? Who are the performers? What is considered an appropriate venue? What is being communicated? To whom and by whom? Degree of performer/audience participation? 4. How can cave performances be understood through the lens of political negotiation and action?
Conference Presentations by Kelsey E Hanson
The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2019
Performance theory recognizes that the boundaries between ritual and theatrical performances are ... more Performance theory recognizes that the boundaries between ritual and theatrical performances are often quite blurred, allowing shared methods of analysis between the two. While many have argued for a theater-state among the ancient Maya, few have ventured beyond the large ceremonies conducted in great plazas to consider the more esoteric nature of public, semi-public, and private rites taking place in the natural landscape. Ancient Maya caves were used exclusively as ritual spaces, yet there has been little consideration of the performance characteristics of these sites. The ritual performances conducted in and around caves create a space for thinking about these venues as "theaters" with audiences, performers, backdrops, and lighting. In this paper we analyze architectural modifications to caves found in the Chiquibul Forest Reserve in Western Belize. We argue that architecture structured space and determined the parameters of its use, illustrating how some features channeled movement; some restricted space, while others focused attention. Our study sheds new light not only on the performance characteristics of ritual cave use but on the nature of the participants as well.
Discussions of ritual performance in the U.S. Southwest are often restricted to the analysis of a... more Discussions of ritual performance in the U.S. Southwest are often restricted to the analysis of architecture in residential settings, leaving the potential role of caves largely absent from regional discourse. As settings that are less accessible to the entire community, caves likely represent important venues for ritual performance whose participation is intended only for a select audience. The aims of this paper are twofold. First, by reconsidering the concept of performance in anthropological discourse, I argue that caves serve as potent natural venues for ritual performance, albeit with very important differences compared to their architectural counterparts. Second, based on the reevaluation of ceramic and wooden ritual assemblages from the Point of Pines caves of east-central Arizona, this paper argues that caves facilitated secrecy among Kayenta migrant populations during the late 13th century. By facilitating secrecy, I argue that caves serve as especially important settings for maintaining diverse religious traditions in multi-ethnic communities, allowing for the persistence of otherwise incompatible practices.
The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2019
Performance theory recognizes that the boundaries between ritual and theatrical performances are ... more Performance theory recognizes that the boundaries between ritual and theatrical performances are often quite blurred, allowing shared methods of analysis between the two. While many have argued for a theater-state among the ancient Maya, few have ventured beyond the large ceremonies conducted in great plazas to consider the more esoteric nature of public, semi-public, and private rites taking place in the natural landscape. Ancient Maya caves were used exclusively as ritual spaces, yet there has been little consideration of the performance characteristics of these sites. The ritual performances conducted in and around caves create a space for thinking about these venues as "theaters" with audiences, performers, backdrops, and lighting. In this paper we analyze architectural modifications to caves found in the Chiquibul Forest Reserve in Western Belize. We argue that architecture structured space and determined the parameters of its use, illustrating how some features channeled movement; some restricted space, while others focused attention. Our study sheds new light not only on the performance characteristics of ritual cave use but on the nature of the participants as well.
Master's Thesis by Kelsey E Hanson
Despite the integral role that caves and rockshelters have traditionally played in archaeological... more Despite the integral role that caves and rockshelters have traditionally played in archaeological inquiry throughout North America, they have largely been neglected as a focus of study and recorded examples have been poorly integrated into regional discourse in the Upper Great Lakes region. Most rockshelters in the Upper Great Lakes region formed as sea caves during higher lake level stages and became increasingly terrestrial as lake levels receded, resulting in an abundance of rockshelters and other shoreline features that are now inland from the current shoreline, very few of which have been subjected to archaeological investigation.
To address this disparity, archaeological testing of selected locations on Grand Island was conducted under the direction of the Grand Island Archaeological Program in June and July 2015 in an attempt to assess the research potential of these features. This field work successfully identified two Woodland period rockshelter sites located on Grand Island's southern shore, Moss Cave (FS 09-10-03-1076) and Miner's Pit Cave (FS 09-10-03-1077). These sites are interpreted using a multiscalar approach that articulates site-level patterns with other sources of information to draw comparisons from
contemporaneous sites on Grand Island and similar rockshelter sites in the Upper Great Lakes region. Informed by a theoretical framework that seeks to accommodate the multiplicity and complexity of hunter-gatherer relationships with the landscape, and supported by ethnohistorical accounts, this research seeks to widen the interpretive potential of rockshelters in the Upper Great Lakes by arguing that these rockshelters were likely considered ceremonial spaces that provided a space to communicate with other-than-human entities, or the manitous.
Papers by Kelsey E Hanson
Journal of field archaeology, Feb 8, 2024
Archaeologists routinely create backdirt during excavation, but it is rarely acknowledged and rem... more Archaeologists routinely create backdirt during excavation, but it is rarely acknowledged and remains surprisingly undertheorized. In this paper, we treat backdirt as a uniquely archaeological product that is socially constructed and guided by culturally and historically situated motivations. Using Chaco Canyon as a case study, we examine the ways in which project priorities changed over nearly 150 years of excavation and (more recently) re-excavation. We illustrate the importance of understanding backdirt as a social product by comparing the avifaunal assemblages created by two major excavation projects at the great house of Una Vida. Differences in these assemblages demonstrate how changes in research goals structured what was collected, what was left as backdirt, and how this ultimately impacts interpretations about Chaco history. Finally, we offer thoughts about the future role of backdirt in archaeological praxis as a space to welcome feminist and Indigenous perspectives in the construction of archaeological narratives.
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Journal Articles by Kelsey E Hanson
Symposia Organized by Kelsey E Hanson
Conference Presentations by Kelsey E Hanson
Master's Thesis by Kelsey E Hanson
To address this disparity, archaeological testing of selected locations on Grand Island was conducted under the direction of the Grand Island Archaeological Program in June and July 2015 in an attempt to assess the research potential of these features. This field work successfully identified two Woodland period rockshelter sites located on Grand Island's southern shore, Moss Cave (FS 09-10-03-1076) and Miner's Pit Cave (FS 09-10-03-1077). These sites are interpreted using a multiscalar approach that articulates site-level patterns with other sources of information to draw comparisons from
contemporaneous sites on Grand Island and similar rockshelter sites in the Upper Great Lakes region. Informed by a theoretical framework that seeks to accommodate the multiplicity and complexity of hunter-gatherer relationships with the landscape, and supported by ethnohistorical accounts, this research seeks to widen the interpretive potential of rockshelters in the Upper Great Lakes by arguing that these rockshelters were likely considered ceremonial spaces that provided a space to communicate with other-than-human entities, or the manitous.
Papers by Kelsey E Hanson
To address this disparity, archaeological testing of selected locations on Grand Island was conducted under the direction of the Grand Island Archaeological Program in June and July 2015 in an attempt to assess the research potential of these features. This field work successfully identified two Woodland period rockshelter sites located on Grand Island's southern shore, Moss Cave (FS 09-10-03-1076) and Miner's Pit Cave (FS 09-10-03-1077). These sites are interpreted using a multiscalar approach that articulates site-level patterns with other sources of information to draw comparisons from
contemporaneous sites on Grand Island and similar rockshelter sites in the Upper Great Lakes region. Informed by a theoretical framework that seeks to accommodate the multiplicity and complexity of hunter-gatherer relationships with the landscape, and supported by ethnohistorical accounts, this research seeks to widen the interpretive potential of rockshelters in the Upper Great Lakes by arguing that these rockshelters were likely considered ceremonial spaces that provided a space to communicate with other-than-human entities, or the manitous.