The History of "Laundry Lists" in North American Zooarchaeology

Summary

North American zooarchaeologists believe that prior to 1970, most zooarchaeological reports were laundry lists—lists of taxa identified, perhaps with abundance data. Laundry lists make up 68 percent of titles published between 1900 and 1959; 24 percent of titles published between 1960 and 1979 are laundry lists. Some laundry lists concern samples so small that one should not expect more than a list of identified species; other laundry lists were produced by zoologists who had no knowledge of archaeological research. Ironically, the originator of the term laundry list and its derogatory implications (Stanley J. Olsen) produced only laundry lists.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

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