Experimental archaeology: engaging a genealogy of place

Experimental Archaeology is a graduate thesis project that seeks to engage in historical tradition through the specificity of place. Using the farm where I grew up in southwest Wisconsin as a point of departure, I explore ways of connecting with and living beyond tradition.

There are three parts to this exploration: the first is an examination of artifacts from the farm, specifically pieces taken out of the farmhouse wall during remodeling. These pieces provide insight into the people who lived in that place before me or my family and offer ground for human connection. The second part is a material exploration, using materials such as wild-grown hemp and nettle, deerhide, wood, etc. sourced from the farm and the surrounding area. These provide a material sense of ongoingness—coming out of their particular place but answering the needs of their time. The third element is a piece of creative writing. The writing incorporates elements of memoir, essays and local history, especially oral history, exploring the richness of understanding where we come from.

The goal of this is to create a vision of historically-placed being that both honors the past engages the present. It is a project of digging into the past—not to become stuck there, but to live richly in the present.