Looted Delights: An Investigation of Integrity at a Looted Lumber Camp
Author(s): Calvin J Gillett
Year: 2016
Summary
Archaeologists have long bemoaned the effects looting has on archaeological sites, declaring that once a site has been looted it no longer holds the integrity necessary for study. This maybe too hasty of an assumption, under the right conditions, a great deal can be learned from a looted site. Coalwood, a former lumber town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula provides an optimal case study to evaluate the effects of looting. As the victim of heavy looting activity since the 1960’s and with a short occupation, Coalwood is the perfect case study for an evaluation of the impacts of looting. The looting activity at Coalwood is so intense it can be detected on Google Earth satellite images. Demonstration of what looting does to site integrity is accomplished through comparative analysis of two loci containing separate contexts. Patterns of subsistence and activity areas can still be identified, even after 50+ years of looting.
Cite this Record
Looted Delights: An Investigation of Integrity at a Looted Lumber Camp. Calvin J Gillett. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Washington, D.C. 2016 ( tDAR id: 434787)
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Keywords
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 840