Overcoming the Ambiguity of a Rock Pile: Their Examination and Interpretation in Cultural Resource Management Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Summary

Rock piles are some of the most ambiguous features encountered in cultural resource management, encompassing diverse origins and functions (e.g. field clearance cairns, byproducts of road construction, and Native American burials or markers).  A single pile can appear to be consistent with multiple interpretations and each interpretation carries implications for how the rock pile is then recorded (or not recorded) and evaluated against the NRHP criteria.  Drawing on recent fieldwork and case studies from the Upper Ohio River Valley, this paper will explore historical sources, archaeological techniques, and tools used to examine rock piles and will call for the adoption of similar best practices and guidelines at federal and state levels.  With a comprehensive, programmatic approach, we can expand our understanding of the ways people augment and interact with landscape through the construction of rock piles and the material affordances of stone.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions) 2016   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 722