AnthroGroup Meeting
03.31.2011
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Members: Annie is in Seattle, and Zach and Melissa have a scholastic obligation to
attend to - - Nate will be running the show today
T-shirt orders went in this week, so hopefully yours will be available sometime next
week, if not by next meeting
Announcements from anyone else?
o Jason: website is updated fully. Now we will be working on getting it
formatted to our liking, and updating the pictures/content.
 If you have pictures from anything you’ve experienced that is
anthropology related, please submit!
Speaker: Doug Scott - - adjunct professor
o Specialize in battlefield archaeology
o “Shot and Shell Tell the Tale”
 Civil War in the West
 1500 skirmishes/battles in Missouri alone
o Started pretty “basic”, but progressed into more
aggressive battles over political struggles
 The battlefield archaeology inventory
 Methods
o Visual inventory
o Metal detecting
 Find shells, fuses, canisters and small arms
bullets
o Lab work (cleaning, etc)
 Sites of Booneville (Smith’s House, Adams House), Wilson’s
Creek, Centralia
 First Battle of Booneville - - June 17th, 1861
 One of first skirmishes of the war
 Adams House – found several pockets of material from the
skirmish
o Maybe around only 600 men present at the battle
o From archaeological work, can match the material
remains w/ the historical record to help tell the stories
of the battles
 Wilson’s Creek - - August 10th, 1861
 Southern army encamped on Creek; Northern army attacks in
two waves from north and south positions early on in the
morning
 Lots of material evidence
o Can show what was used on both sides (ammunition,
weapons)
o Evidence of casting bullets on the field
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o Peoples were killed carrying buckets of bullets and
unfilled casings ready to be combined
 Confirms historical beliefs of the need to fulfill
the military weapons necessities on the field
 Also evidence of how cannonballs were designed, as well as
the metallurgy behind the composition of the cannonball
arsenal
 Geophysical analysis maps the site
 Centralia - - September 22nd, 1864
 Bloody Bill Anderson leads 400 (including the James’
brothers)
o Looted Centralia, sacking houses and businesses, and
killing 22 unarmed Union soldiers on their way home
from war
 Local attempt at revenge, 150 men set out to take on group
believed to be maybe only 80
o Massacred by Anderson’s men
 Archaeological record found some of the aftermath, as well as
the actual location of the event
 Deemed a War Crime
 What does this all mean?
 History and archaeology are combining to paint a more pristine
picture for the public
 There are stories to be told!
Next Meeting: April 14th - - Same time, same place!!!