Conservation and Curation (Other Keyword)

DOCUMENT Citation Only Scott Nicolay.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Museum collections contain many unique objects from the Greater Southwest that lack complete provenience, especially items from caves and other shrines. These sites often served the region’s inhabitants as both offertory locations and the terminal repositories for ceremonial objects, resulting in enormous and well-preserved assemblages, many composed primarily...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Nancy Odegaard.

The scale and diversity of objects held in archaeological repositories is enormous. Collectively, the actions taken to prevent or delay deterioration of these objects and their associated documents and sample collections are referred to as collections care. Preventive conservation identifies the short and long term priorities for collections care. This paper will explore current trends and topics in archaeological collections care including: object stabilization through storage packaging;...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Megan E. O'Neil.

This paper explores the collecting, repositioning, and separating of ancient Maya objects, both in the ancient past and the twentieth century. Archaeological context provides evidence of ancient Maya aggregation of disparate objects in tombs, caches, or sculptural tableaux as well as evidence of repositioning or separating things. These changes are fundamental aspects of objects’ life histories. Yet in the twentieth century, ancient monuments and object sets also have been divided -- and new...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Justin Reamer. Kyle Olson.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the past 60-plus years, the adoption of more rigorous cultural heritage preservation laws in the U.S. and abroad coupled with a rapid expansion of active practicing archaeologists have led to ever-increasing volumes of archaeological collections. These enormous stores of artifacts and documentation have been acknowledged since the early-1980s as...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Victoria Lyall.

Museum collections resemble the tastes and character of the donors and curators that assembled them. This subjectivity lends them an idiosyncratic character. Nevertheless, the early network of dealers and donors connects many museums across the United States. Institutions like the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Denver Art Museum, for example, are linked through such relationships. This paper examines the history of such relationships and the manner in which collection histories may shed further...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Megan Kassabaum. Arielle Pierson. Erin Spicola.

This is an abstract from the "Broader Impacts and Teaching: Engaging with Diverse Audiences" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Native American mound sites and their inhabitants are often misunderstood by local communities and are severely underrepresented in educational curricula despite being a primary research focus for North American archaeologists. These monuments stand as testament to the creativity and skill of their builders and provide...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Lilia Rivero Weber. Nelly Robles García.

This is an abstract from the "Checking the Pulse: Current Research in Oaxaca Part I" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Enclavado en la entrada de la región de la Sierra de Juárez, Oaxaca, San Pedro Nexicho es una comunidad zapoteca asentada sobre los vestigios arqueológicos de un sitio que data de la época Clásica y Posclásica, en cuya época más tardía constituyó el Señorío de Ixtepeji. A partir del año 2015 la fundación Alfredo Harp Helú se interesó...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Rebekah Mills.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Nestled in the hidden heartlands of Roscommon, Ireland is Ballintober Castle. Ballintober Castle and its surrounding deserted village are the site of an archeological field school, Castles in Communities. As the field school progresses into its fifth year, castle conservation becomes more important for continuing archeological work and maintaining the cultural...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Jaye Smith. Jeff Clark.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. As investigations continue into the Ray Robinson Collection by Archaeology Southwest’s dedicated team of volunteer researchers, attention now turns to assemblages collected by Robinson in the northern San Pedro Valley (and vicinity) of southeastern Arizona. During Ray’s consulting work for mining companies in the area, he documented four sites near the...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Caitlin Shaffer.

In early 2008, twenty-eight archaeological iron and copper alloy artifacts belonging to the Andrews Air Force Base collections curated at the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory (MAC Lab) were identified as requiring conservation treatment by MAC Lab Federal Collections Curator, Sara Rivers Cofield. The conservation treatment was carried out by Cultural Preservation and Restoration, Inc. (CPR) between November 2008 and February 2009 under U.S. Air Force contract FA4416-08-P-0096....

DOCUMENT Citation Only Ellen Hoobler.

During the depths of the Great Depression and prior to and after World War II, Mexico’s Museo Nacional de Antropología undertook exchanges, or canjes, of archaeological pieces with a variety of museums, disseminating small portions of its collection across the nation and the world. Actual trades of archaeological works were completed in the early 1930s with museums in Yucatán, Mexico; Lima, Peru; and New York and Chicago in the United States. There were more limited exchanges of casts with...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Siobhan Hart.

This is an abstract from the "Navigating Ethical and Legal Quandaries in Modern Archaeological Curation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper considers archaeological curation in a private, small liberal arts college (SLAC) context. Many SLACs have archaeological collections acquired through donation from alumni or local residents, occasionally through purchase or orphaning, and increasingly through student and faculty research on and off...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Jenna Domeischel.

This is an abstract from the "Touching the Past: Public Archaeology Engagement through Existing Collections" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological curators struggle with the growing number of collections in our repositories, a phenomenon commonly referred to as the ‘curation crisis.’ Yet ‘crisis’ is an acute term, when the problem is instead chronic. The discipline of archaeology marches on, and so must repositories, even as the quantities...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Leah Grant.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Deep Creek Investigation is a small legacy collection of artifacts and documents from the Deep Creek Site (CA-SBR-176), which is located in the Mojave River Forks region in San Bernardino County, CA, within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Los Angeles District. This collection was recently rehabilitated by technicians at the Veterans Curation...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Todd McMahon.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Colorado was for many years the center of a curation crisis. In response, Colorado relied on the establishment of somewhat informal partnership institutions such as (Universities, small local museums and local regional repositories) that have now been strengthened by creating rules and procedures that have allowed turnkey, scalable, politically neutral,...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Elizabeth Johnson.

This is an abstract from the "Navigating Ethical and Legal Quandaries in Modern Archaeological Curation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. When Wetland Studies and Solutions Inc. purchased Thunderbird Archaeology in 2004, they found themselves responsible for some 800 boxes of artifacts from more than four decades of CRM projects. The story isn’t an uncommon one . . . boxes of CRM projects sitting in basements, sheds, storage units, or warehouses in...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Ariel Peasley. Georgia Fox.

Museums and their exhibitions are representations of archaeological research. Archaeological excavations, associated objects, and subsequent interpretations frequently end up in museums and are often the only access the general public has to this knowledge. How objects are acquired, cared for, and presented ultimately affect what people learn about them in a museum setting. It is crucial for museums and museum professionals to maintain standard practices and care for these objects to the best of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Elizabeth Lynch. Mary Lou Larson. Marcel Kornfeld.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 2019, we began a three-year project to digitize the collections from the Hell Gap National Historic Landmark. The site is well-known for its archaeological integrity and preservation of some of the earliest human activities in the Plains and the Rocky Mountains. The goal of the Hell Gap Archaeological Records Digital Archive Project (HGARDA) is to...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Marieka Arksey.

This is an abstract from the "Navigating Ethical and Legal Quandaries in Modern Archaeological Curation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Every year, museums, repositories, archives, and campuses receive requests by private citizens to accept donations of artifacts and archives. Putting aside some of the difficulties that can arise in confirming the provenience and the legality of non-research collections, some donors request that certain conditions...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Miguel Angel Galvan Benitez.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. La recolección y almacenamiento de agua pluvial es una de las prácticas más antiguas en Mesoamérica. La investigación arqueológica en diversos sitios ha permitido la identificación y documentación de sistemas de canales, depósitos subterráneos, galerías filtrantes y almacenamiento en recipientes, el sistema de desagües y el más común que son los depósitos...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Clare Kreuzwieser. Paul Nick Kardulias.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this study, I examine how the Elephanta Caves (500 C.E. - 900 C.E.), off the coast of Mumbai, in the Indian state of Maharashtra, can best be preserved in the future. These man-made caves were a place of Shiva and goddess-worship for local Hindus, up until Portuguese contact and occupation in AD 1534-35. Interest in this topic stems from the caves’ exposure...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Sheila Goff.

Decisions regarding the use of museum collections in exhibits that interpret the history and culture of American Indians have often been made by non-natives, without the input of the people the exhibits are about. History Colorado was recently presented with a situation that allowed the museum to do the opposite. The Ute Indian Museum is one of History Colorado’s community properties and is one, if not the only, state-owned museum dedicated to an American Indian group-the Ute people. In 2013,...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Stacy Drake. Marla MacKinnon. America Guerra.

In 2016, The Field Museum was awarded a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The overall mission of this project is to "research, explore, develop, and implement thoughtful, practical, and forward-thinking practices for the ethical care of human remains." The project is working to bring together stakeholders from collections-holding institutions, scientific research institutions, and Native American and First Nations communities to move beyond...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Joanne Gallagher.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Museum studies and Archaeology have had an interrelationship in pursuits of knowledge and perceptions of visitors. Different interpretations of Indigenous peoples have also evolved in these two fields, and within the last few decades these representations have affected Indigenous Peoples, Museum institutions and visitors. For museum studies, there has been...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Aspen Kemmerlin.

This is an abstract from the "Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Archaeology Classroom" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent trends in archaeological pedagogy include the adoption of active learning models as well as courses that incorporate community and public archaeology frameworks. These shifts have primarily been centered on archaeological field schools and on-campus excavations. In contrast, despite the growing concern over legacy and orphaned...