Cheri Price is determined to put the βhumanβ back into the study of archaeology.
Price (pictured above in middle, with her Mixtec teacher and a fellow graduate student) earned her Masterβs in anthropology at 51ΑΤΖζ in 2016 and is now working toward her PhD. Sheβs taking an interesting approach to her research in ethnoarchaeology β the study of people and cultures through their material artifacts. To understand how ancient indigenous cultures in Mexico crafted their tools, pots, and other implements, she wants to talk to their modern-day descendants to see what traditions have survived through the years.
To do that, Price is determined to learn Mixtec, the language of many of Mexicoβs indigenous people. With support from a Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship granted by 51ΑΤΖζβs Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, sheβs trying to connect the past and the present with a human touch.
She recently sat down to talk about her research.
What drew you to archaeology?
When I was little, my Papa showed me this book by Readerβs Digest β something like, βWorldβs Greatest Mysteries.β On the front of it was the Aztec calendar. I was flipping through and thinking it was so neat, all of these really old things. (Papa) explained some people do this thing called βarchaeologyβ and they are, in a way, a keeper of history and the past, bringing things to the front that people have forgotten about or havenβt seen.
The dirty, quick definition of anthropology is βthe study of manβ or the βstudy of people.β There are so many facets and complexities, and itβs great to pull all of those into my studies.
How did you become interested in ethnoarchaeology?
It was a little out of necessity. It is extremely difficult to get permissions to do excavations in Mexico. Since I am interested in the traditional crafts down in Mexico, ethnoarchaeology is a way for me to still be able to conduct some type of field work by looking at collections perhaps in museums.
Ethnoarchaeology is a way for me to still do the field work and answer some of those archaeological questions by speaking with current artisans who are doing, for example, ceramics, and asking them questions like, why do you do that, where do you get your clay, and what do you have to do to your clay?
Youβve traveled to Mexico several times to talk to artisans, in fact.
As a Masterβs student at 51ΑΤΖζ, my thesis dealt with some ceramics that my professor did have from the Valley of Oaxaca. The big thought, and it hadnβt been 100 percent proven, was that the clay in Oaxaca doesnβt require something called βtemper.β A lot of cultures had to add something like sand or a different type of clay, some kind of binder or temper, that will help you work with it. In Oaxaca, itβs the opposite; you have to take things out to be able to work the clay.
When I had the opportunity to learn the Mixtec language, the family I was staying with in Mexico mentioned that one of their coworkers lived in a town that was known for pottery. One of the womanβs (relatives) was still doing the ceramics by hand. I got to go and just talk to her, and she answered my questions. She said they did have to take stuff out (of the clay). It was my thesis proved!
Youβve tried very hard to include actual people in the course of your research. What draws you to this method?
Thereβs something called archaeological ceramic petrography. When we find a little sherd (of ceramic), there is a way to shave a really thin section and put it under a microscope. I did work with that for my Masterβs thesis, and I was so literally microscopic that I couldnβt even visualize the whole pot. I really like what I did, donβt get me wrong, but after that experience, I took a step back and wanted to zoom out to put the person back into the process.
Thatβs where ethnoarchaeology comes in. I can still get those little hints and tips and thoughts from modern artisans who are creating these (pots) in traditional ways. I can step back and say, hereβs this type of figurine artifact, and here are people today making figurines. Letβs do a comparison and we can see, maybe theyβre using the same techniques or using the same types of tools, and that can answer my questions.
And you learned an entirely new language just to ask those questions!
Indigenous languages are not easy to learn. You have to lose a little bit of the way youβre thinking and see it through a different set of eyes. Sometimes, it takes a while to grasp.
Iβm not fluent by any means. But Iβve found, just by attempting, just by trying, the majority of people were so much more open to just having a chat and talking about things. Sometimes, they couldnβt believe that someone from another place would want to come and learn their language.
Even though I am doing archaeology, it is important to have those connections to understand why communities named places a certain name, for example. You can still find, for example, areas in Oaxaca where the communities still go by their original names.
It sounds like youβve found many ways to connect the past to the present when youβve visited Mexico.
Oaxaca is amazing for that. A lot of people will talk about the Aztec and how theyβre not around anymore, and theyβll talk about the Maya. But Oaxaca has maybe 80 different types of indigenous people who are still alive, still thriving, and still doing their traditions. In the area I was in, the Mixtec are still alive and theyβre still carrying on their culture. Yes, the language is sadly dwindling with the native speakers, but there are still speakers who very much care about preserving that part of their culture and traditions.
Mexico has something like 68 official languages that are indigenous besides Spanish, and you can go to communities where Spanish is not peoplesβ first language.
How did FLAS funding help you on your way?
I have received the FLAS three times, and Iβm so grateful for it. Itβs easily the highlight of my PhD career and post-academia. When you go to another country to learn another language, typically youβre surrounded by that language, and the acquisition of that language becomes a little bit easier. Not so much with Mixtec, and with some of the indigenous languages. You do need to have more than one shot at it. There are so many regional variants to Mixtec that itβs hard to become immersed.
Why Mexico? What drove you to study artifacts south of the border?
Thatβs a personal question in the sense that my grandma was from Mexico. β¦ I did not grow up speaking Spanish. I heard, but my grandmother only spoke it with her sisters. They were the impetus for me to learn Spanish, because I would hear my name and then I would hear them laughing. I was like, I need to figure out whatβs going on here!
Later on, I went to college and learned Spanish in Mexico. I figured the best way to learn it would be to be thrown in and completely immersed. It kicked off my love affair with Mexico and wanting to learn more about and talk to as many people as I can. I am fascinated by pre-Hispanic cultures and the material objects they left behind.
And, this has been an amazing way to learn about my own family and culture.
By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science