Pot Hunting, Artifact Collection and Site Destruction: A Study of a Multi Generational Pot Hunting Family on the Colorado Plateau

Summary

Both historic and prehistoric archaeologists reply on oral history as a powerful tool for understanding archaeological context. Although traditional archaeological research can provide useful information about the past, gathering information from ethnographic or historical sources can shed light on past uses of material culture. Oral history can also provide useful information about traditions, belief systems and origin stories.

The focus of this project has been to interview people with ties to the archaeology of the Petrified Forest National Park and the surrounding areas. By documenting these oral histories archaeologists and future generations may be able to better understand the interaction between the archaeology in and around Petrified Forest National Park and the local community and how this relationship has changed through time. One family interviewed for this project gave detailed accounts of artifact collection on private land over a period of four generations. The focus of this study is to interpret the collection strategy of one family over generations. By understanding the "who, what, where, when and why" of one family's approach to prehistoric material culture researchers can begin to solve the problem of looting on both public and private land through the process of education and engagement.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Recent Archaeological Research in Petrified Forest National Park   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage