American Digger on Spike TV and Diggers on Nat Geo.

Hello Everyone,

logo for National Geographic Channel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

      I have remained silent on the subject of the tv shows, American Digger on Spike TV and Diggers on National Geographic Channel and only wanted to tackle the subject after some careful thought. For the past 15 years of my life I have sworn to protect archaeological sites and remains. I have seen the consequences looting can have on Native American as well as historical sites throughout Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The moonscapes left behind by someone with a shovel digging holes to find arrowheads and pottery. They dig through layers of soil, cultural debris, and sometimes even burials to find objects they consider "precious" or "valuable". In a post I wrote some time ago entitled "What is it Worth?" I talked about the value of archaeological remains.

Spike (TV channel) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

      Value in archaeology is a tricky word. It implies money, market value, trade, dollar and euro signs. Many archaeologists, wanting to avoid an esoteric discussion on worth, will often say an object is invaluable. Sure it is. I'm looking at two prehistoric flakes made by a Native American when he or she was crafting a tool. I can tell the coal company execs that these two flakes are "invaluable" and that their project worth millions needs to get held up for another month. My value and their value are slightly different. In order to understand why American Digger is the most awful show on tv next to Jersey Shore let me explain "value" as an archaeologist.

      Cultural value, the worth placed on an artifact, can fluctuate like a real money market. However, from my experience, the cultural value of an artifact increases over time. Let's use your grandmother's wrist watch as an example. She bought it from the 5 and Dime fifty years ago for pennies. It keeps decent time in it faux gold case and she often leaves it about or wears it washing dishes. To her, the watch is simply a devise to tell time, functional. Eventually, your dear grandma enters the great beyond, and watch falls into your mother's ownership. Your mom paid nothing for the old watch, it holds an intrinsic value as it was her mother's. Her memories as she looks at the watch makes her recall her childhood, seeing it on her mother's wrist. When your mom passes, the watch becomes yours. You value it because of its history, especially because it's tied to your family. You keep it with you because you want that connection with your grandmother. Maybe you didn't know her, but holding that watch in your hands brings you closer to understanding her. Maybe it's the style of watch, you can look it up in a book and tell when it was manufactured, you can envision her at a certain age buying the watch and what close were in style. You can even research the political environment during that time period and understand the landscape your grandmother lived in. All from just examining a simple watch.
     Let's do the right thing here. Write a letter, turn the channel, do something to show your disdain for this uninformed show. It is not productive and values greed over knowledge. Many of the professional organizations here in the States have denounced this show as devaluing our cultural heritage. The Society for American Archaeology (SAA), the American Anthropological Association (AAA), and even the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology have all voiced their opinions of the dangers of this show to cultural resources and artifacts. I will keep all of you posted as we travel though these dark days for American archaeology.  
       

Related articles

• 'Diggers' are to archaeology as pro-wrestling is to sports: fake (ahotcupofjoe.net)
• Archaeologists Protest 'Glamorization' of Looting on TV (ipadarchaeology.wordpress.com)
• Spike's 'American Digger' Draws Concern From Scholars (nytimes.com)

Part 2. A Structure Forgotten: The First Cast Iron Bridge in the United States

http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=1-2-E4E

Hello everyone, 


I decided to follow up and show an expanded detail of the Dunlap's Creek Bridge located in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. This  great structure  has largely been forgotten by the citizens of the United States.


This series of posts has to do with a big announcement I will be making on here in the up coming weeks about a find related to the bridge, that may shed some light on the early history of its construction. 

Coalbrookdale Bridge 1779 Wikipedia

The Dunlap's Creek Bridge is not a celebrated structure in the US as the Coalbrookdale Bridge is in England. For those of you who may not know, the Coalbrookdale Bridge is the first cast iron bridge ever constructed. Located in England, the bridge crosses the River Severn in Shropshire.

 

Henshaw 2011

Our first cast iron bridge is more of an enigma. Nestled on a narrow point on Historic Route 40, the bride is easy to miss. There is no fanfare, signs, or anything that jumps out at the motorist driving over what appears to be a hump in the road. The town of Brownsville, once a thriving industrial center, is now largely empty. It's leadership has failed to grasp the commercial value of the bridge or the symbol that it stands for in American history. What should be the centerpiece of the town is instead a curiosity which no-one seems to know what to do with. There was a mural placed on a building showing the bridge when it was newly constructed. It's nice, but why not just show people the bridge? I invite all of my readers to make a pilgrimage to Brownsville, Pennsylvania this May, 2012 where I promise to give you a personal tour of this great structure.  

HAER Library of Congress

In the mean time, here are some great drawings from the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER for short). These illustrate the construction methods used in building the bridge. Here is the website for further reading: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/PA1412/  

HAER Library of Congress

"The bridge was constructed of 250 castings and spanned 80 feet. There were 5 elliptical tube cast iron arches spaced 5 feet 10 inches apart. Each arch tube was made up of 9 voussoirs that were connected by a flanged collar held together by bolts. Each arch was attached to an iron spring plate that rested on a stone abutment. The sandstone abutments were 42 feet high and 25 feet wide. The arches were held in place by St. Andrew’s crosses for bracing purposes." 

HAER Library of Congress

From the illustration, it is easy to see the elliptical castings of the voussoirs and their flanges. Voussoir is basically a wedged shaped piece of an arch in stone masonry. Each of these voussoirs in the Dunlap's Creek Bridge are held together by a flange. In a stone arch, the voussoirs would be held together by a keystone at its center. Captain Delafield understood that the ability to cast iron into an elliptical tube and connect the pieces together would negate the need for a "keystone" as the weight of the arch is spread out over the tops of the arch by the St. Andrews Crosses. 

Dunlap's Creek Bridge, Spanning Dunlap's Creek, Brownsville, Fayette County, PA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Currently, the bridge is mostly obscured by vegetation overgrowth and the remains of two buildings that flanked it on either side. Access to the structure is limited due to the steep slopes of Dunlap's Creek channel. Perhaps one day Brownsville will capitalize on this unique structure, and look to Coalbrookdale as a model.