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A summer field school experience is helping to answer questions about what life looked like along color lines in an Indianapolis neighborhood known as Ransom Place. Early residents were white Hoosiers, followed by Irish immigrants and then the neighborhood became home for Indianapolis' African-Americans early in the 20th century. Excavations, oral histories and public interpretation are the tools being used to study African-American culture, business and consumption, and race and racism.

On his first visit to IUPUI, anthropology professor Paul Mullins immediately spotted the archaeological significance the campus and its surrounding neighborhood offered.

"When I interviewed with the Department of Anthropology, they walked me over here to Ransom Place and said, 'We think this would be a great place to do archaeology.' I walked around for 30 minutes and realized they were right," said Mullins, recalling his job interview in 1999 that included a tour of downtown Indianapolis' long-established neighborhood known as Ransom Place.

Now, six years after first coming to campus, Mullins is still amazed at the opportunity to connect the neighborhood with its past, while introducing a new generation to the people that came before. Mullins just finished his sixth archaeological summer field school at IUPUI.

"There's a lot of complex history to know. Most of my students drive on campus everyday, and they have no idea they are in the middle of what once was a huge neighborhood," Mullins said during a mid-morning break at the field school's excavation site just blocks from IUPUI's campus. "It [the neighborhood] was here in the 1960s; now it's E Lot, part of campus. It's all asphalt."

Mullins believes the field school that he directs not only as a way to teach archaeology methods to undergraduates but also as a means for the IUPUI community to build stronger relationships with its neighbors. IUPUI's growth had a direct impact on the neighborhood, he said, adding "we are part of the institution that contributed to the decline...yet, we're also reclaiming that history."

Mullins reclaims history

Mullins helps reclaim history by talking with longtime residents and introducing them to students and the goals of the field school. Ransom Place Archaeology program is a cooperative project among IUPUI, the Ransom Place Neighborhood Association and the Indianapolis Urban League. This summer's field school focused on excavating land that were once backyards of homes situated along California Street. Mainly, the field school focused on locations where outhouses and stables may have stood. Old insurance maps helped Mullins in selecting the locations.

"Archaeology on campus works really well. We can you peel back a parking lot and show 150 years of occupation."

--Paul Mullins, IUPUI Department of Anthropology

"After we settled on the sites, we usually go after sealed features. We want places where artifacts were thrown away and then subsequently remained, unmoved. Ideally, what we would get is a deposit, a little time capsule. It's like me getting your 13-gallon trash bag at the end of the day. I would know about your household," he explained.

Artifacts help Mullins answer questions about what life looked like along color lines. Early residents of Ransom Place were white Hoosiers, followed by Irish immigrants and then the neighborhood became home for Indianapolis' African-Americans early in the 20th century. Excavations, oral histories and public interpretation are the tools Mullins is using to study African-American culture, business and consumption, and race and racism in relationship to the neighborhood of Ransom Place.

Mullins said a misperception in the larger Indianapolis community that still lingers is the notion that the neighborhood was impoverished. "The folks I work with through the neighborhood association remember the neighborhood in a much different way," he said, sharing that some older residents from the neighborhood recall a time when yards and homes were well maintained. "We would like to see if archaeology backs up what the elders are saying."

In addition to finding bottles, a porcelain doll face and what appeared to be a burial location for a family dog, the students unearthed a brick sidewalk laid out in a curved pattern. Uncovering the sidewalk helped support what the elders had shared.

"This backyard was well taken care of," said Mullins, suggesting the sidewalk find fits with the descriptions noted in the oral histories.

Neighbors and IUPUI administrators are supportive

Mullins

Not only are neighbors supportive of the work Mullins is doing, but so are IUPUI administrators. Whenever the campus embarks on a new building project, Mullins is given permission to lead a dig. Most recently, he facilitated an excavation at the Informatics and Communications Technology Complex and will also dig at the site of the new campus center building.

"IUPUI offers a great model on how to build partnerships and do community archaeology," he said. "Archaeology on campus works really well. We can you peel back a parking lot and show 150 years of occupation. We can say 'here are the people who lived here.' We know about these households and their family still lives here today...and here's why they don't live here now. Here's the process by which the neighborhood was transformed."

Editor's note: To learn more about this year's field school and its findings, visit Mullins' Web site at www.iupui.edu/~anthpm/fieldschool2005.html For more information on Ransom Place and its history visit the neighborhood association's Web site at: http://www.ransomplace.org/

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