Object-based learning, where students learn by hands-on interactive experiences with skills and o... more Object-based learning, where students learn by hands-on interactive experiences with skills and objects, provides an active, multi-layered learning experience. Engaging haptic perceptual styles to build meaning and understanding through tactile stimuli, object-based learning can increase student engagement and satisfaction, and improve knowledge retention and higher-level critical thinking. This paper examines three case studies where haptic pedagogical principles were employed to develop learning experiences for key themes, practices and challenges of anthropology. The first, an archaeological laboratory interaction, gave students physical artefacts to touch, manipulate and critically consider, embedded within real-life archaeological case studies. The second, an interactive session using hand-written letters from asylum seekers drawn from an archival collection, connected students with otherwise-inaccessible asylum-seeker voices and multi-sensory modes of critical archival researc...
Professional wood species identification of timber from a lead-lined coffin excavated from the No... more Professional wood species identification of timber from a lead-lined coffin excavated from the North Brisbane Burial Ground, Brisbane, confirmed the wood as Pinus sibirica , a native of northern Asia and Russia. Its presence probably represents the reuse of wood from a packing case originally used to import goods to the colony.
International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 2013
ABSTRACT Textile remains were discovered during a salvage excavation at the site of the North Bri... more ABSTRACT Textile remains were discovered during a salvage excavation at the site of the North Brisbane Burial Ground, a nineteenth-century cemetery in the city of Brisbane, Australia. Ninety-six textile samples were collected at excavation, comprising 39 twill weaves, 17 tabby weaves, one haircord weave, one satin weave, three knitted fabrics, one piece of felt and 34 masses of loose wool packing. Most of the woven textiles recovered were coffin coverings or coffin linings. Similarly, the majority of non-woven textile samples were also associated with coffins and their dressing. Five of the identified textiles were likely to have been fragments of garments worn by the deceased.
From 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted to record and remove 397 burials exposed by a ... more From 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted to record and remove 397 burials exposed by a stadium redevelopment in the centre of the city of Brisbane, Queensland. These burials formed part of the North Brisbane Burial Ground which received interments between 1843 and 1875. During the course of the excavation, 71 buttons were collected, consisting of 40 ceramic buttons, 17 metal buttons, 8 bone buttons, 1 shell button, 2 textile-covered buttons, 2 thread buttons, and 1 ivory button. The buttons were typed and analysed microscopically and compared to those of other sites. The threads used to attach these buttons were preserved in 16 samples, and fragments of a twill woven garment with button holes were preserved on two brass buttons. Given the very poor preservation of burial remains at the site, the complex taphonomic processes are also investigated and of the thirty four burials that contained buttons, six were assigned date ranges of interment based upon button morphology.
In 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted on the site of the old North Brisbane Burial Gro... more In 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted on the site of the old North Brisbane Burial Ground, situated 1.6km from the centre of Brisbane. This cemetery operated between 1843 and 1875 and received some 5000 interments. In keeping with Victorian era funerary tradition, the deceased were interred in wooden coffins covered inside and out with fabric, and fitted with cast iron coffin handles and pressed metal decorations. After the closure of the Burial Ground, it remained neglected for 30 years, after which it was resumed and incorporated into a larger land package subsequently used for sporting facilities. Part of this area was also used as a municipal landfill and effluent disposal site for over 40 years. The latest redevelopment in 2000-2002 disturbed 397 graves from the original Burial Ground, and a salvage excavation was conducted to remove the exposed burials. Human remains, coffin wood, textiles and metal artefacts were found to be in a surprisingly poor state of preserva...
Review(s) of: Handbook of forensic anthropology and archaeology, by Soren Blau and Douglas H. Ube... more Review(s) of: Handbook of forensic anthropology and archaeology, by Soren Blau and Douglas H. Ubelaker (eds), Left Coast Press, California, 2009; 534pp; hardcover, ISBN 9781598740745, AUD 209.00 (inc. GST), Available in Australia through Footprint Books.
Australasian Historical Archaeology Journal of the Australasian Society For Historical Archaeology, 2011
From 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted to record and remove 397 burials exposed by a ... more From 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted to record and remove 397 burials exposed by a stadium redevelopment in the centre of the city of Brisbane, Queensland. These burials formed part of the North Brisbane Burial Ground which received interments between 1843 and 1875. During the course of the excavation, 71 buttons were collected, consisting of 40 ceramic buttons, 17 metal buttons, 8 bone buttons, 1 shell button, 2 textile-covered buttons, 2 thread buttons, and 1 ivory button. The buttons were typed and analysed microscopically and compared to those of other sites. The threads used to attach these buttons were preserved in 16 samples, and fragments of a twill woven garment with button holes were preserved on two brass buttons. Given the very poor preservation of burial remains at the site, the complex taphonomic processes are also investigated and of the thirty four burials that contained buttons, six were assigned date ranges of interment based upon button morphology.
Informit is an online service offering a wide range of database and full content publication prod... more Informit is an online service offering a wide range of database and full content publication products that deliver the vast majority of Australasian scholarly research to the education, research and business sectors. Informit is the brand that encompasses RMIT Publishing's online products ...
The hinterland of the New South Wales South Coast has long been considered a cultural heritage ba... more The hinterland of the New South Wales South Coast has long been considered a cultural heritage backwater in comparison to the adjacent coastal strip. While the coast has been a focus of intensive archaeological research for several decades, the forested hills, mountains and plateaus between the coastline and the Southern Tablelands have only been investigated by a small number of archaeologists. Paradoxically, many coastal researchers developed models of hinterland Aboriginal occupation without conducting any field research there. Before commencement of the research programme described here, only two hinterland sites had been excavated and dated, compared to over 20 on the adjacent coast. The research described in this thesis was developed to provide more balance between coastal and hinterland archaeological knowledge.
Professional wood species identification of timber from a lead lined coffin excavated from the No... more Professional wood species identification of timber from a lead lined coffin excavated from the North Brisbane Burial Ground, Brisbane, confirmed the wood as Pinus sibirica, a native of northern Asia and Russia. Its presence probably represents the reuse of wood from a packing case originally used to import goods to the colony.
Textile remains were discovered during a salvage excavation at the site of the North Brisbane Bur... more Textile remains were discovered during a salvage excavation at the site of the North Brisbane Burial Ground, a nineteenth-century cemetery in the city of Brisbane, Australia. Ninety-six textile samples were collected at excavation, comprising 39 twill weaves, 17 tabby weaves, one haircord weave, one satin weave, three knitted fabrics, one piece of felt and 34 masses of loose wool packing. Most of the woven textiles recovered were coffin coverings or coffin linings. Similarly, the majority of non-woven textile samples were also associated with coffins and their dressing. Five of the identified textiles were likely to have been fragments of garments worn by the deceased.
From 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted to record and remove 397 burials exposed by a ... more From 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted to record and remove 397 burials exposed by a stadium redevelopment in the centre of the city of Brisbane, Queensland. These burials formed part of the North Brisbane Burial Ground which received interments between 1843 and 1875. During the course of the excavation, 71 buttons were collected, consisting of 40 ceramic buttons, 17 metal buttons, 8 bone buttons, 1 shell button, 2 textile-covered buttons, 2 thread buttons, and 1 ivory button. The buttons were typed and analysed microscopically and compared to those of other sites. The threads used to attach these buttons were preserved in 16 samples, and fragments of a twill woven garment with button holes were preserved on two brass buttons. Given the very poor preservation of burial remains at the site, the complex taphonomic processes are also investigated and of the thirty four burials that contained buttons, six were assigned date ranges of interment based upon button morphology.
While damage to the human skeleton due to vertical pressure exerted by overlying soil is a common... more While damage to the human skeleton due to vertical pressure exerted by overlying soil is a common observation at archaeological excavations, comparatively few studies have attempted to quantify the magnitude of this pressure. As part of a suite of taphonomic studies of a nineteenth-century cemetery located in Brisbane, Australia, a soil loading calculation equation usually employed in civil engineering is used to calculate soil vertical pressure at various depths for both child and adult graves. This cemetery was characterised by extreme vertical compression of coffin burials to the extent that human remains were sandwiched between the coffin base and lid to a thickness of just a few centimetres. Calculations determined that, because of their narrower grave shafts, the burials of children experienced between 40% (1.83 m depth) and 27% (0.91 m depth) less vertical soil pressure than those of adults buried at similar depths. Further calculations for different soil types showed that coarser grained soils such as gravel and sand exerted less vertical pressure than a similar volume of saturated clay due to the amount of air trapped between the coarser grains. It is anticipated that the equation utilised in this study could find widespread applications in the fields of archaeology, physical anthropology, forensic archaeology and cultural heritage management.
Object-based learning, where students learn by hands-on interactive experiences with skills and o... more Object-based learning, where students learn by hands-on interactive experiences with skills and objects, provides an active, multi-layered learning experience. Engaging haptic perceptual styles to build meaning and understanding through tactile stimuli, object-based learning can increase student engagement and satisfaction, and improve knowledge retention and higher-level critical thinking. This paper examines three case studies where haptic pedagogical principles were employed to develop learning experiences for key themes, practices and challenges of anthropology. The first, an archaeological laboratory interaction, gave students physical artefacts to touch, manipulate and critically consider, embedded within real-life archaeological case studies. The second, an interactive session using hand-written letters from asylum seekers drawn from an archival collection, connected students with otherwise-inaccessible asylum-seeker voices and multi-sensory modes of critical archival researc...
Professional wood species identification of timber from a lead-lined coffin excavated from the No... more Professional wood species identification of timber from a lead-lined coffin excavated from the North Brisbane Burial Ground, Brisbane, confirmed the wood as Pinus sibirica , a native of northern Asia and Russia. Its presence probably represents the reuse of wood from a packing case originally used to import goods to the colony.
International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 2013
ABSTRACT Textile remains were discovered during a salvage excavation at the site of the North Bri... more ABSTRACT Textile remains were discovered during a salvage excavation at the site of the North Brisbane Burial Ground, a nineteenth-century cemetery in the city of Brisbane, Australia. Ninety-six textile samples were collected at excavation, comprising 39 twill weaves, 17 tabby weaves, one haircord weave, one satin weave, three knitted fabrics, one piece of felt and 34 masses of loose wool packing. Most of the woven textiles recovered were coffin coverings or coffin linings. Similarly, the majority of non-woven textile samples were also associated with coffins and their dressing. Five of the identified textiles were likely to have been fragments of garments worn by the deceased.
From 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted to record and remove 397 burials exposed by a ... more From 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted to record and remove 397 burials exposed by a stadium redevelopment in the centre of the city of Brisbane, Queensland. These burials formed part of the North Brisbane Burial Ground which received interments between 1843 and 1875. During the course of the excavation, 71 buttons were collected, consisting of 40 ceramic buttons, 17 metal buttons, 8 bone buttons, 1 shell button, 2 textile-covered buttons, 2 thread buttons, and 1 ivory button. The buttons were typed and analysed microscopically and compared to those of other sites. The threads used to attach these buttons were preserved in 16 samples, and fragments of a twill woven garment with button holes were preserved on two brass buttons. Given the very poor preservation of burial remains at the site, the complex taphonomic processes are also investigated and of the thirty four burials that contained buttons, six were assigned date ranges of interment based upon button morphology.
In 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted on the site of the old North Brisbane Burial Gro... more In 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted on the site of the old North Brisbane Burial Ground, situated 1.6km from the centre of Brisbane. This cemetery operated between 1843 and 1875 and received some 5000 interments. In keeping with Victorian era funerary tradition, the deceased were interred in wooden coffins covered inside and out with fabric, and fitted with cast iron coffin handles and pressed metal decorations. After the closure of the Burial Ground, it remained neglected for 30 years, after which it was resumed and incorporated into a larger land package subsequently used for sporting facilities. Part of this area was also used as a municipal landfill and effluent disposal site for over 40 years. The latest redevelopment in 2000-2002 disturbed 397 graves from the original Burial Ground, and a salvage excavation was conducted to remove the exposed burials. Human remains, coffin wood, textiles and metal artefacts were found to be in a surprisingly poor state of preserva...
Review(s) of: Handbook of forensic anthropology and archaeology, by Soren Blau and Douglas H. Ube... more Review(s) of: Handbook of forensic anthropology and archaeology, by Soren Blau and Douglas H. Ubelaker (eds), Left Coast Press, California, 2009; 534pp; hardcover, ISBN 9781598740745, AUD 209.00 (inc. GST), Available in Australia through Footprint Books.
Australasian Historical Archaeology Journal of the Australasian Society For Historical Archaeology, 2011
From 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted to record and remove 397 burials exposed by a ... more From 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted to record and remove 397 burials exposed by a stadium redevelopment in the centre of the city of Brisbane, Queensland. These burials formed part of the North Brisbane Burial Ground which received interments between 1843 and 1875. During the course of the excavation, 71 buttons were collected, consisting of 40 ceramic buttons, 17 metal buttons, 8 bone buttons, 1 shell button, 2 textile-covered buttons, 2 thread buttons, and 1 ivory button. The buttons were typed and analysed microscopically and compared to those of other sites. The threads used to attach these buttons were preserved in 16 samples, and fragments of a twill woven garment with button holes were preserved on two brass buttons. Given the very poor preservation of burial remains at the site, the complex taphonomic processes are also investigated and of the thirty four burials that contained buttons, six were assigned date ranges of interment based upon button morphology.
Informit is an online service offering a wide range of database and full content publication prod... more Informit is an online service offering a wide range of database and full content publication products that deliver the vast majority of Australasian scholarly research to the education, research and business sectors. Informit is the brand that encompasses RMIT Publishing's online products ...
The hinterland of the New South Wales South Coast has long been considered a cultural heritage ba... more The hinterland of the New South Wales South Coast has long been considered a cultural heritage backwater in comparison to the adjacent coastal strip. While the coast has been a focus of intensive archaeological research for several decades, the forested hills, mountains and plateaus between the coastline and the Southern Tablelands have only been investigated by a small number of archaeologists. Paradoxically, many coastal researchers developed models of hinterland Aboriginal occupation without conducting any field research there. Before commencement of the research programme described here, only two hinterland sites had been excavated and dated, compared to over 20 on the adjacent coast. The research described in this thesis was developed to provide more balance between coastal and hinterland archaeological knowledge.
Professional wood species identification of timber from a lead lined coffin excavated from the No... more Professional wood species identification of timber from a lead lined coffin excavated from the North Brisbane Burial Ground, Brisbane, confirmed the wood as Pinus sibirica, a native of northern Asia and Russia. Its presence probably represents the reuse of wood from a packing case originally used to import goods to the colony.
Textile remains were discovered during a salvage excavation at the site of the North Brisbane Bur... more Textile remains were discovered during a salvage excavation at the site of the North Brisbane Burial Ground, a nineteenth-century cemetery in the city of Brisbane, Australia. Ninety-six textile samples were collected at excavation, comprising 39 twill weaves, 17 tabby weaves, one haircord weave, one satin weave, three knitted fabrics, one piece of felt and 34 masses of loose wool packing. Most of the woven textiles recovered were coffin coverings or coffin linings. Similarly, the majority of non-woven textile samples were also associated with coffins and their dressing. Five of the identified textiles were likely to have been fragments of garments worn by the deceased.
From 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted to record and remove 397 burials exposed by a ... more From 2000-2002, a salvage excavation was conducted to record and remove 397 burials exposed by a stadium redevelopment in the centre of the city of Brisbane, Queensland. These burials formed part of the North Brisbane Burial Ground which received interments between 1843 and 1875. During the course of the excavation, 71 buttons were collected, consisting of 40 ceramic buttons, 17 metal buttons, 8 bone buttons, 1 shell button, 2 textile-covered buttons, 2 thread buttons, and 1 ivory button. The buttons were typed and analysed microscopically and compared to those of other sites. The threads used to attach these buttons were preserved in 16 samples, and fragments of a twill woven garment with button holes were preserved on two brass buttons. Given the very poor preservation of burial remains at the site, the complex taphonomic processes are also investigated and of the thirty four burials that contained buttons, six were assigned date ranges of interment based upon button morphology.
While damage to the human skeleton due to vertical pressure exerted by overlying soil is a common... more While damage to the human skeleton due to vertical pressure exerted by overlying soil is a common observation at archaeological excavations, comparatively few studies have attempted to quantify the magnitude of this pressure. As part of a suite of taphonomic studies of a nineteenth-century cemetery located in Brisbane, Australia, a soil loading calculation equation usually employed in civil engineering is used to calculate soil vertical pressure at various depths for both child and adult graves. This cemetery was characterised by extreme vertical compression of coffin burials to the extent that human remains were sandwiched between the coffin base and lid to a thickness of just a few centimetres. Calculations determined that, because of their narrower grave shafts, the burials of children experienced between 40% (1.83 m depth) and 27% (0.91 m depth) less vertical soil pressure than those of adults buried at similar depths. Further calculations for different soil types showed that coarser grained soils such as gravel and sand exerted less vertical pressure than a similar volume of saturated clay due to the amount of air trapped between the coarser grains. It is anticipated that the equation utilised in this study could find widespread applications in the fields of archaeology, physical anthropology, forensic archaeology and cultural heritage management.
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Papers by Glenys McGowan