ISB 202 Michigan State University Waste Product Archeological Project Essay
I’m stuck on a Writing question and need an explanation.
In Weeks 2-3’s lectures, you have learned the broad spectrum of places and things that
constitute archaeological sites and artifacts. Now it’s time for you to apply these
concepts to your life and the world around you.
You will be asked to choose an archaeological site or set of artifacts to study for this
project. Remember that you need to choose something that is safe given
COVID-19 restrictions.
If you are quarantined and/or confined to your home:
❖ Observe and document your trash. What do you throw away regularly? What do
you think an archaeologist in the future might say about you if they were to
excavate your trash? How do you think your trash has changed since the
COVID-19 pandemic?
If you live in a community where it is safe to be outside (following local public health
department recommendations and CDC guidelines):
1
❖ Observe a local park, walking trail, or your neighborhood. Please choose places
you normally frequent. Observe them at different times of the week (e.g.
weekdays and weekends) and different times of the day (e.g. day and night).
Consider how trash accumulates on these landscapes. What signs (political, for
instance) and/or material culture (e.g. balloons for a birthday party or celebration)
accumulates in your community? What might it say about where you live? How
are those spaces used by human beings throughout the day and week? Do
behaviors change from day to day or even from morning to evening?
500 word summary of what you have chosen to
observe, what you hope to learn from your observations, what kinds of data you will
collect (see Part II below before writing this section), how you will code the data (see
Part II below before writing this section), and what you think you will learn from this
project (what we call a hypothesis). Once you have decided upon a project, please
begin documenting and collecting data as discussed in Part II of this project!
