ARCHY 320

Autumn 2004

News Article Reviews

Select a news article and complete a 1 to 2 page typed analysis where you discuss the answers to the following questions.

Hand in copy of the article along with your analysis.

NEWS ARTICLE IS DEFINED AS ANY NEWSPAPER STORY THAT DEALS WITH ANY ASPECT OF ARCHAEOLOGY. (not an obituary or personal)

Remember websites:

Newspaper search engines are found on the library site of:

http://www.lib.washington.edu/mcnews/articles.html

Some especially good search engine for newspaper articles about archaeology can be found at

Lexis-Nexis (use Guided News Search and select stories that are 5 or 10 years, or even older)

Pacific Northwest Regional Newspapers & Periodicals Index (Papers that cover all the WA)

National Newspapers (NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, etc.)

1. What archaeological event is being described?

2. Who is the archaeologist(s) described in the article? Can you tell the race, gender, and socioeconomic standing of the archaeologists? What label is used to describe the job of the individual? Do they give the place of employment?

3. Are the people whose past is being excavated described? Are there quotes from living descendents, and if so what is the quality of their comments? Is their employment or other socioeconomic information given?

4. How are interpretations about the past made? Are they stated as fact, and are methods of acquiring the data given?

5. Has more than one opinion been given for the event? Is there a debate? Or are other people commenting on the significance of the event?

6. How did the author convince you of the spectacular nature of this archaeological find or discovery? Did the reporter use words like “the earliest, oldest, first, or best”?