Experimental archaeology continues to mature methodologically and theoretically. Around the world, practitioners are increasingly using modern materials that would have been unavailable to prehistoric people in archaeological experiments. The use of a modern material substitute can offer several benefits to experimental method, design, control, replicability, feasibility, and cost, but it should be directly compared to its “traditional” analogue to understand similarities and differences. Here, aluminum is introduced as a substitute for chert in prehistoric ballistics research because, critically, aluminum is safe, inexpensive, easy to process, and it and chert possess densities that differ by less than 4%. The aluminum casting process for replicating stone artifacts is presented, and it is shown that the aluminum castings are essentially identical in form, flake-scar patterning, and mass to their stone counterparts. We then present a proof-of-concept ballistics experiment that demonstrates no difference between aluminum and stone points in terms of target penetration.
This ethnography presents observations of visitor behaviors at Christ Church Burial Grounds in Old City Philadelphia. This study shows that visitors to Christ Church Burial Grounds did not always adhere to the social rules that govern actively used cemeteries like remaining on marked paths and appropriately interacting with monuments or markers. Additionally, this study shows that most people visited Christ Church Burial Grounds by chance, rather than by plan, and that the visitors were drawn to Christ Church Burial Grounds because it is the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin. Although Christ Church Burial Grounds is technically classified as a cemetery, its visitors are not governed by the same social rules that apply to actively-used cemeteries, and therefore it cannot be analyzed through the same lens.
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