Year of Award

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Name

Anthropology

Department or School/College

Department of Anthropology

Committee Chair

Kelly Dixon

Commitee Members

Kenneth Lockridge, Todd Ahlman

Keywords

class, cultural identity, gender, historical archaeology, homesteads, Idaho, immigrant, Swedish, turn of the century

Abstract

In the summer of 2003, the University of Idaho conducted an archaeological field school at the Nora Creek site under the direction of Dr. Mark Warner at a Swedish homestead just east of Troy, Idaho. The field school unearthed a plethora of historical artifacts including metal, glass, ceramic, and faunal items left behind by the inhabitants of the Johanson homestead in Nora, Idaho. Historical documentation indicates that the Johansons immigrated to America from Sweden in 1882 and they arrived in Nora in 1891. The research goal of this thesis is to determine whether and how a signature of Swedish identity may be manifested in the material culture of the Nora Creek site. The glass and ceramic assemblages, as well as the faunal collection, are integrated with historical research to examine this topic. In order to pursue an archaeology of Swedish identity, it is essential to consider the ways in which class, gender, and cultural identity contributed to a Swedish identity in the Nora Creek assemblage versus general homesteading assemblages contemporary to the time frame of the site.

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© Copyright 2010 Amanda Clare Haught