Great archaeology resource book

[Johnny Lloyd]

To all:

I have just finished reading a great book called Archaeological Perspectives on the American Civil War by Clarence Geier and Steven Potter. If you get a chance to get a copy, it is a great in-depth, scientifically-based review of findings at battlefield sites such as Chickamauga, Atlanta, and Sharpsburg. Not only does it include findings at battlefield sites, but the book also delves into such unusual areas as Washington DC fortifications, Andersonville, a sutler area dig called Camp Owen in Kentucky (a mini-mall of the period-very telling of findings material culture!), and the Robinson Farm (it belonged to a free family of color) at the 1st Manassas battlesite.

Just by reviewing its pages, it proves its usefulness to impression research with pages upon pages of documented findings at these above locations as wel as in-depth analysis of frequencies of findings of certain kinds of items at these sites along with where they were found. I like the fact the book was written with factual information in-mind and the surveys/studies of certain areas to back up what it says. I get rather tired of books that get too narrative (which can be easy) and lack facts on the period.

The only drawback to the book is that it was published in 2000 and it has a chapter on the "recently raised" CSS Hunley

:(:D

Oh well... you can't have everything, but it is a wonderful resource!

Thanks- Johnny Lloyd

[Dignann]

Re: Great archaeology resource book

Johnny,

I agree that it is a good resource. If you enjoyed it, you might also like these titles:

Clarence R. Geier and Susan Winter, eds. Look to the Earth: Historical Archaeology and the American Civil War (Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 1996).

Clarence R. Geier, David G. Orr, and Matthew B. Reeves, eds. Huts and History: The Historical Archaeology of Military Encampment During the American Civil War (Gainesville, Fla.: University Press of Florida, 2006).

Eric

[Slouch]

Re: Great archaeology resource book

Dr Geier was my archaeology professor at JMU. A great guy who has helped to make battlefield/Civil War archaeology a legitimate field of anthropological study.

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Great archaeology resource book

Yes, Dr. Geier's work I read was very valuable because it made actual factual scientific data available as well as extrapolated this data into interpretations of anthropological findings-useable information for the "historical layman".
I liked the fact in this book that not only battlefields were studied, but sutler areas, farmsteads of Virginia free blacks, and prison camps were included to flesh-out the whole picture of 19th century life. Battlefields get all the attention all the time as I've seen in historical works.

I can see why he's a professor. -Johnny Lloyd