In Article 18 "Yes, wonderful things!" Rathje and Murphy describe how garbage is a "physical fact" that reflects human behavior and how because archaeologists study garbage, they can often "set the record straight" and correct biases in historical accounts and common perceptions of people’s lives.

Write an essay (3-4 pp, typed, double-spaced) that describes how archaeological evidence has added to historical accounts to improve our understanding of the life of "common people," servants and / or slaves in America. In your essay, compare information from at least two of the following sources. You can also include info from the lectures (video on Middleburg Plantation, etc).

• Article 28: "The Earth is their Witness" by Larry McKee
  
  
• Monticello
  Articles in Archaeology Magazine

  http://www.archaeology.org/online/news/monticello.html and
  

  http://www.archaeology.org/9911/newsbriefs/jefferson.html
  

  Monticello web site:
  

  http://www.monticello.org/Day/plantation/design.html
  

  http://www.monticello.org/Day/plantation/dig.html
  
  

• Martin’s Hundred (no quick answers: you'll have to dig around this website a bit)

  http://www.history.org/cwf/argy/Martin%27s_Hundred/index.html

• other sites at Colonial Williamsburg

  http://www.history.org/cwf/argy/argycexc.htm
  
  

We expect you to practice good scholarship! Be sure to cite the sources of the ideas in your paper, using a standard citation style (Rathje and Murphy 1992), put everything in your own words, and include a list of references at the end of your paper.

View our grading criteria.