Hoard There Are Several Types Essay
- Length: 4 pages
- Sources: 4
- Subject: Sociology
- Type: Essay
- Paper: #65464970
- Related Topic: Ikea, Analogy, Hybrid Cars
Excerpt from Essay :
We suspect that these Chuck-E-Cheese temples were used for worship of the rodent god and we suspect also child sacrifice at these sites. Finding this coin at this site is perhaps an indication that the owner of this dwelling either was a member of the Chuck-E-Cheese cult or had escaped from one of the temples and later survived into adulthood.The fifth specimen is a five cent piece from the United States of America. This piece is in abundance in the area, and this specimen is unexceptional. It was found in the main sleeping area of the dwelling. The sixth specimen was found near to the fifth. This specimen appears to be a one-cent piece, but is flat and nearly featureless. This type of damage is unusual, in that it is so severe it could not have been made by a human. It is possible that the damage was caused by the coin being run over by something very heavy moving at a high rate of speed. There are transportation hubs nearby, including a railway station and an airport. Perhaps this coin was inadvertently left on the runway and an airplane landed on it?
The seventh specimen is a twenty-five cent piece. These pieces were quite common. It was found in the sleeping room of the dwelling. These common pieces appear to have been manufactured in mass quantities. We know that American society had significant wealth in order to develop means of mass production of money. That a specimen of this type is so common we pay it little attention in our studies tells us something about this society's great wealthy, that is could produce money on this scale.
The eighth specimen is a one-dollar piece. This piece is the highest-known value of a coin in ancient America. Such pieces are far more unusual than smaller denominations. We surmise that individuals in possession of these high value coins were probably among the wealthiest Americans, since dollar coins are so uncommon. This person must have been one of significant wealth, perhaps a successful local merchant or tradesperson.
The ninth and tenth specimens were found near broken glass, indicating that perhaps they and others were housed in a small jar. As the evidence thus far suggests this was a person of wealth, finding a rich store of wealth such as this is not surprising. The use of glass jars was common, despite their relative ineffectiveness at disguising or protecting the contents of the jar. So have such wealth on open display is indicative of several things about American society. The first is that the wealthy class of this society had tremendous vanity, as such displays of wealth like coin jars was commonplace. The lack of security protections afforded this tremendous collection of coins also indicates that this society had very little crime. Normally, wealth should be protected, but clearly the need to protect one's wealth was not necessary in American society. American culture must have emphasized this safety, because even the presence of one of America's many freeloaders did not deter this person from openly displaying his or her wealth.
This site, when taken as a whole, is probably from a person of wealth, prestige and possibly nobility. We understand that this person kept a freeloader, perhaps as a form of charity, or if you subscribe to Ansell's Theory of American Slavery, then perhaps this 'freeloader' was actually a slave. I personally will leave the slavery debate to others. There is also the possibility that the freeloader was being bred for sacrifice at the Chuck-e-Cheese temple. Most of the evidence, however, supports that this person was not unusual in American culture otherwise. The person who owned this dwelling had several common American traits, such as the open display of wealth, the strong feeling of security, and indications of world travel. The flattened coin and the cult coin are two of the more interesting findings at this site. I believe that this site will ultimately make a contribution to our understanding of the rodent cult, though the flattened coin remains mysterious.
Works Cited:
Beck, C. & Jones, G. (1989). Bias and archaeological classification. American Antiquity. Vol. 54 (2) 244-262.
Eerkens, J. & Lipo, C. (2005). Cultural transmission, copying errors, and the generation of variation in material culture and the archaeological record. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. Vol. 24 (2005) 316-334.
Wylie, a. (1988). Simply analogy and the role of…
