Wrapping Up Dig This 08, Sadly

This is Kenny, Aidan, and myself working together during the first week, I like this picture, because it will always remind me that we worked together and how good of friends they were during Summer Session.

As summer@andover wraps up, I recall what I learned, and my experiences here at Andover. With Dig This coming to a close, and everyone prepares their goodbyes, I remember some of the very excellent topics and skills I learned here at Andover.

My favorite idea that I learned here at Andover, was the Indian Boarding School system and the BIA. How this system start by Richard Henry Pratt was the key tool in starting a genocide on Native American culture and also the major tool in assimilating Native Americans. Another idea I learend at Andover was King Philips War, which is one of the 3 major wars that I found very interesting. How the war was started because Philip (Metacom) was angry at the white settlers, and how his ancestors traded, and were good friends with the settlers. My third idea that I learned at andover was more about the Salem Witch Trials. This topic is very interesting to me and I hope to learn more about it in the near and far future.

I think the most important skill I learned at Andover was the ability to create a Higher Order Question to enchance your ability to write a presentation. Another important skill I learned was how to do a succesful archaeology dig and how to create a Test pit, it tempts me to go home and dig one myself! And finally, the third important skill I learned was how to be even more independent here at Andover. It taught me how to improve my time spent at homework and when I should divide my time to be more organized.

Thank you Mrs. Tully and Mr. Newhall and Ms. Wilson for a GREAT experience at Summer Session. I hope to see you all again in the near future if I am accepted into Philips Acad. Thank you and I will miss all of you, it was a great experience here at Andover and I want to come back for high school, it was a great 5 weeks. Thanks!

~Anthony Namnum of Dig This: Unearthing the American Past

 

Littering in Salem: The Execution Tree

On my final field trip, we took a trip to Salem. Our first stop was to the Exceution Site of the 20 accused witches. The site was littered with glass, plastic, and other pieces of trash that someone could of easily thrown out. Why would someone litter on this hollowed ground? This was one of the most suprising parts of my trip to Salem because of all the trash. It was disgusting to see how people litter on this famous place, shouldn’t people respect this location for what happened here?

When we found that people had descerated these grounds we all chipped in and picked up the trash around us, lots of glass and plastic were found, even some explosives (Cindy Found them). So we all put them in the trash can and left the historic site of the Exceution Tree. But before we did we had a moment of silence to honor the 20 dead witches.

Thank you Ms. Tully and Mr. Newhall for a great trip to Salem! It was very fun and I enjoyed actully being able to walk upon the Execution site. I hope to return to Salem again to explore more of their past history, even before the witches, maybe learn more about their industries such as fishing. Thank you again!

My Third Trip to the Rebecca Nurse Homestead

My Trip to the Rebecca Nurse Homestead (3)

 

                My third trip to the Rebecca Nurse Homestead was great, we learned a lot of history of the homestead and Rebecca, and got to dig for artifacts some more! When we arrived we got a tour of the building used in the movie Three Sovereigns for Sarah, we got to see the cemetery, we also got to see the outside of homestead itself to see some fake information, such as a false piece of information that Rebecca Nurse’s great grandson, Francis Nurse, started the Revolutionary War.

                When we went digging I found many artifacts such as bones from the Nurse Family, also I found a feature with MANY bones that indicate that there was a fire there. We pretty much finished the units that are in front of the home. It was a great trip, I am very sad that this Saturday will be our last trip to the Homestead, it has been great.

                ~Anthony Namnum

Second Trip to the Rebecca Nurse Homestead

           

            My second trip to the Rebecca Nurse Homestead was even better than the first trip, I found so many more artifacts and each one was more exciting than the last! I even found a pan dating back 200 years. I also learned more about why you should set an artifact up to make it look like it is standing on something, because if you do than it can represent an entire story. We also found bottles, broken plates, and bone! It was a great trip and I can not wait to go back on Wednesday!

            -Anthony Namnum

My Trip to Harvard and the Peabody Museum

My Trip to Harvard and the Peabody Museum

My trip to Harvard and the Peabody Museum located on their campus was great! I learned many things about Old Harvard and many new topics about history. We began at the Peabody Museum and started out with an activity about wine bottles and pipe stems fond at an excavation site on Harvard Campus. We learned how to date the pipes and wine bottles with periods of time. For example, one pipe stem could have been a certain period of time based on the diameter of its inside, the wider the inside, the younger it was. Wine bottles changed overtime at Harvard, when we were given our worksheet it had 3 drawings of different wine bottles from 3 different periods of time. We learned a lot about Harvard.

My Trip to the Rebecca Nurse Homestead (1)

A Unit Placed Outside the Home

My trip to Rebecca Nurse Homestead for the first time out of 4 was great, I learned a lot about archaeology and about Rebecca Nurse. My favorite part of the trip was how we dug old pieces of foundation of an old house up. We found nails, brick, coal, and even some ceramic. Danielle, our supervisor was very nice and taught me a lot about all the pieces we found and more about the Rebecca Nurse Homestead. I can not wait to go back there next Saturday for my second dig there. I hope to find some more interesting stuff that indicated Mr. Bishop living there and other evidence that Rebecca Nurse was buried there. Great trip and I would defiantly come back on a vacation if I could!

Trip to the Pequot Museum!

The trip to Pequot Museum was a fun and interesting trip. I learned a lot about the Pequot tribe and their customs and culture. The best parts were the Powwow, the Racial exhibit, the movie, and the recreated village.

Trip to the Pequot Museum!

Anthony Namnum

The trip to Pequot Museum was a fun and interesting trip. I learned a lot about the Pequot tribe and their customs and culture. The best parts were the Powwow, the Racial exhibit, the movie, and the recreated village.

The recreated village defiantly impacted my learning experience about the Pequot. I enjoyed how they described, in detail, what each model of Pequot people were doing. How the dog and the boy played hide and seek, how tobacco represented rituals and status, and how corn, squash, and succotash are very important meals of the Pequot tribe. This was a great learning experience and an excellent part of my Pequot experience.

The Powwow was also exciting, more fun than learning though. The Powwow was a great way to recreate an Indian dance. I enjoyed the part where everyone was allowed to dance along with the descendants of the Pequot. It was a great part of the museum and a memorable part of my Andover experience.

The racial exhibit was a very interesting part, it impacted me the most. I learned much of how the concept of race is merely just an invention by humanity. I enjoyed this part the most and learned the most from this part. The greatest part that I learned, was how I understood that the term ‘race’ is merely an invention created by humanity. I learned this through how much evidence inside the exhibit. I was also touched by how badly treated people were when segregation was popular. I thought how people could do this just because someone looked different. This part was the best of my trip to Pequot Museum.

Finally, the movie, The Witness. This movie moved me almost as much as the racial exhibit did. It was a sad movie of the end of the Pequot freedom, and the beginning of Pequot enslavement. The worst part was the slaughter of the innocent villagers. These people did not deserve what they were given, but got it anyway. I enjoyed this part almost as much as the racial exhibit. This trip was amazing!

~Anthony Namnum