New York City Typology Archaeology Homework Help
Writing
As we have discussed in class, typologies have been at the center of archaeological enquiry and thought for many years. They are ways in which archaeologists can order, chronologically or otherwise, and talk about the artifacts they find in more concrete terms. When creating these typologies, archaeologists look at characteristics, or attributes, that are common to a subset of artifacts. They then define this subset as a type, and go on and describe it. These typologies are still of critical importance in archaeology and those that were created even hundreds of years ago are still used today. Typologies are not only used with artifacts, but they can be used to refer to societies, burials, or ecofacts.
In this assignment, you will follow the logic many archaeologists have used when creating typologies by creating your own typology of New York City buildings. You will have to pick 15 of the most iconic buildings across the city (if you need some inspiration, check out the following list: https://tinyurl.com/yykfqyoq) and create a typology. You will have to pick 5 attributes, define, and be able to explain why you are using those. You can use things like date of construction, current use, original use, location, height, etc. (Hint: an Excel sheet might come in handy)
The assignment has two main parts:
- The typology itself: a short explanation of the typology including what attributes you will be using and why do you think those attributes are the most important.
- Answer the following questions:
- What does your typology tell you about buildings in New York City?
- Can you make any inferences about the future of buildings in New York City?
- What are the main uses of buildings in NYC?
It should be no more than 2-3 pages. Only TYPED responses saved as either PDF or Word Documents will be graded.
