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Archaeology and Family History
When I introduce myself as an archaeologist I generally find that people make assumptions about what that actually means. For a start I get asked about what I’ve been digging up lately and have to explain that not all archaeologists dig. I have (or should I say had?) a desk job. On top of that there is the problem of what period do archaeologists actually cover? We don’t cover dinosaurs, not in the slightest. Archaeology is all about the study of man and as yet no one has found any evidence to show that early man and dinosaurs were contemporary. What we do cover is everything from early man to the Cold War. This surprises many as people generally think we go as far as the Romans or maybe the Medieval period. Certainly that is how we are perceived in the UK.
As I mentioned previously I held a desk job in archaeology. I worked primarily with a resource known as a Historic Environment Record (or HER). This is a database of all known historic sites/finds in a specified area from a roman brooch found in a field to a standing 19th century church. Originally these databases were known as Sites and Monuments Records (or SMRs). HERs can be found in most local authorities in England and they are often an untapped wealth of information. A few years ago the main users of these databases (which are meant to be for public use) were archaeologists undertaking research ahead of sites being developed. In recent years however the databases are being used by a wider audience from school teachers to local historians and even the occasional genealogist. With more and more of these databases being put online they are becoming more accessible to the general researcher.
Sometimes you want to know more about your family that just births, marriages and deaths. I recently helped a friend who was researching one of her lines that suddenly moved from Essex to Kent. Where previously they had been farm labourers they had suddenly become workers at a paper mill. Fortunately for us the Kent HER is available online and within minutes I had pulled up the record for a paper mill in the village they were living at in the 1901 census. Not only did it give a potted history for the paper mill but there were also further references to articles and books that could build upon this brief history.
Now you won’t always be lucky enough to find exactly what you want and of your ancestors are anything like mine and could work at any coal mine within a 10 mile radius of where they lived then perhaps it’s not necessarily going to flesh out your family history. However, even if you’re unlikely to find specific sites related to your ancestors many of these online HERs include old maps. There is nothing like looking at a 19th century map of the town/village where your family came from to give you an idea of what their lives might have been like. I have always had an interest in old maps and can spend hours looking at all the different buildings and important places marked on them.
So if you haven’t thought about using archaeological resources to help you find out more about your family history, give it a go! Even if the area you are interested in does not have their database online, you can always contact the staff at the HER to do a lookup for you. Here are some useful links to get you started:-
For a list of all the HER databases in England and links to those that are online visit the Heritage Gateway list at http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/gateway/chr/default.aspx .
For records in Wales try the Royal Commission of Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales’ online database known as Coflein at http://www.coflein.gov.uk/.
For records in Scotland try the Royal Commission of Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS for short) and their online database known as Canmore at http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/.
For a wealth of historic maps of Scotland from the 16th century onwards visit the National Library of Scotland page at http://www.nls.uk/maps/
As I mentioned previously I held a desk job in archaeology. I worked primarily with a resource known as a Historic Environment Record (or HER). This is a database of all known historic sites/finds in a specified area from a roman brooch found in a field to a standing 19th century church. Originally these databases were known as Sites and Monuments Records (or SMRs). HERs can be found in most local authorities in England and they are often an untapped wealth of information. A few years ago the main users of these databases (which are meant to be for public use) were archaeologists undertaking research ahead of sites being developed. In recent years however the databases are being used by a wider audience from school teachers to local historians and even the occasional genealogist. With more and more of these databases being put online they are becoming more accessible to the general researcher.
Sometimes you want to know more about your family that just births, marriages and deaths. I recently helped a friend who was researching one of her lines that suddenly moved from Essex to Kent. Where previously they had been farm labourers they had suddenly become workers at a paper mill. Fortunately for us the Kent HER is available online and within minutes I had pulled up the record for a paper mill in the village they were living at in the 1901 census. Not only did it give a potted history for the paper mill but there were also further references to articles and books that could build upon this brief history.
Now you won’t always be lucky enough to find exactly what you want and of your ancestors are anything like mine and could work at any coal mine within a 10 mile radius of where they lived then perhaps it’s not necessarily going to flesh out your family history. However, even if you’re unlikely to find specific sites related to your ancestors many of these online HERs include old maps. There is nothing like looking at a 19th century map of the town/village where your family came from to give you an idea of what their lives might have been like. I have always had an interest in old maps and can spend hours looking at all the different buildings and important places marked on them.
So if you haven’t thought about using archaeological resources to help you find out more about your family history, give it a go! Even if the area you are interested in does not have their database online, you can always contact the staff at the HER to do a lookup for you. Here are some useful links to get you started:-
For a list of all the HER databases in England and links to those that are online visit the Heritage Gateway list at http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/gateway/chr/default.aspx .
For records in Wales try the Royal Commission of Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales’ online database known as Coflein at http://www.coflein.gov.uk/.
For records in Scotland try the Royal Commission of Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS for short) and their online database known as Canmore at http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/.
For a wealth of historic maps of Scotland from the 16th century onwards visit the National Library of Scotland page at http://www.nls.uk/maps/
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Comment
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Comment by Sarah MacLean on August 16, 2009 at 6:19am
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No worries John, so I am I! Sadly I'm in the UK so am not for hire in the US :( Have you tried the local university? Certainly here in the UK we always have students looking for projects to do and they can be very enthusiastic. They should have the skills and as they would be getting something out of it too more likely to do it without incurring much (if any) cost. Try and get hold of a lecturer because then they can pass it around their students. You never know you might hit lucky.
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Comment by John N Shankland on August 16, 2009 at 6:12am
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Sorry, new to this. This island was supposedly dredged away during the making of a canal but I have reason to believe only the southern portion was. I thought an experienced person might be able to find the location of the stone house, warf, and road to the lighthouse as shown in this survey. This site is located in Lewes Delaware.
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Thanks for the interesting information. Are archaeologist for hire? I have several early family locations that I would like to have investigated for signs of inhabitation.
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Hi William,
I think the way I've often tried to get it across is that genealogy is all the names and dates and trying to get back as far as you can. Family History is when you flesh it out and want to get to know your ancestors.
I'm glad you enjoyed the post! I have helped genealogy/family history researchers in the past with the archaeological records side of things but this is generally when I've been approached through work with people who have already stumbled across HERs and SMRs. I thought that it would be good to let more people know this resource exists. I realise it really only helps those with ancestors in the UK, but I would love to know how archaeological records are kept and accessed in the US and other countries. Are they as helpful or do they not cover the wider 'historic environment' and just concentrate on excavations of prehistoric settlement sites?
Sherry - I have to admit to have not heard a thing about this fossil before! I did search around the internet though and failed to find any academic writings as such either for or against, and pretty much nothing from UK sites. I did find a very very lengthy article at http://paleo.cc/paluxy/delk.htm by a Glen Kuban who suggests that the scanning technique used was not the industrial ones used by academics and that there are still a lot of questions about the print.
As with any archaeological research one raisin does not make a raisin loaf and I suspect until another fossil or other evidence comes to light suggesting humans and dinosaurs are contemporary this fossil is going to be thought of as an anomaly and at worst a fake.
What surprised me was that no one has so far mentioned getting the rock analysed to see how old it is. There are techniques to do this but one could argue that there are accuracy problems with each. It would still be interesting for this to take place. However I suspect it never will.
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Comment by Sherry Hightower on August 15, 2009 at 3:19pm
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Hi Sarah
Your sentence: "Archaeology is all about the study of man and as yet no one has found any evidence to show that early man and dinosaurs were contemporary." caused me to stop and post my comment.
I think you will iinterested in this:
“Alvis Delk Cretaceous Footprint”
Abstract:
The Creation Evidence Museum is in possession of a set of Cretaceous footprints discovered by amateur archaeologist Alvis Delk[1] of Stephenville, Texas. This fossil of dense Glen Rose limestone consists of Dinosaur footprint (Acrocanthosaurus) and an eleven-inch human footprint intruded by the dinosaur print.
Introduction:
In early July, 2000 Alvis Delk, assisted by James Bishop (both of Stephenville, Texas), was working in the Cretaceous limestone on the McFall property at the Paluxy River near Glen Rose, Texas and discovered a pristine human footprint intruded by a dinosaur footprint. ...
Scientific Verification of Footprint Authenticity:
The fossil was transported to a professional laboratory where 800 X-rays were performed in a CT Scan procedure. Laboratory technicians verified compression and distribution features clearly seen in both prints, human and dinosaur. This removes any possibility that the prints were carved or altered. ..
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Comment by William S Dean on August 15, 2009 at 9:45am
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Hello, Sarah
What a wonderful blog entry. It just goes to show what an extra-disciplinary activity genealogy can be. I'm often amazed at genealogists who are simply "numerologists" (wrong term, I know, but I'm re-defining it here) - recording dates or statistics and thinking they have compiled a family history. The more we learn about the "living" of our ancestors the better we can understand their places in history. Thanks for your post.
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