Museums, Collections, and Repatriation (Other Keyword)
126-129 (129 Records)
Destructive analyses of human remains, i.e. analyses dependent on small biological samples from human, archaeologically found, bone or teeth, have yielded important new data and added to knowledge about our past. Yet, more studies generate even more studies, and the demand is clearly rising for more samples made available. This is especially the case for those collections, which are very unique in terms of geography (Greenland) or time period (Danish mesolithic). At the same time, these unique...
What Happens When Objects Become Artifacts? (2021)
This is an abstract from the "The Conceptual and Ethical Limits of Heritage in Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The term “artifactual surface” refers to a particular confluence of law and materiality. Protections that are afforded to objects of tangible cultural heritage assume that these objects should indefinitely retain the same physical form that they possessed at the time that that came under official protection. This assumption...
Wonderful Things: Using Legacy Archaeological Collections for Research (2018)
How does one go about using legacy archaeological collections – or any archaeological collection, for that matter – for research? The prospect can be daunting, especially if you are staring down dozens of dusty boxes on shelves. This paper offers direction for studying even the most untamed collection by understanding it as a type of secondary data – lessons learned while working with legacy collections from the Potomac and Rappahannock river valleys in Maryland and Virginia. Secondary data, a...
Wrestling That 200-Pound Gorilla in the Room: Practical Solutions for the Care and Management of Associated Records (2018)
In spite of the broadly recognized importance of associated records, they are often the last part of a collection to be organized, catalogued, and stabilized. Disorganized, or "lost" associated records are a source of frustration for researchers and collection managers alike. Conversely, well-organized and accessible associated records have many benefits to artifact collections including an increase in research potential, a legal foundation for ownership and control, and greater interpretive...