Curles Neck: a collections reassessment.

Summary

The Curles Neck excavation, under the direction of Dan Mouer at Virginia Commonwealth University, produced a wealth of information about a significant mid-seventeenth to mid-nineteenth century site. Unfortunately the collections ended up housed in a non-archaeological repository, separate from the unordered documentation. A 2016 reassessment, undertaken by staff and students at the University of Tennessee, conducted an inventory of the physical collections; converted old digital files; digitized paper records (including code sheets); added metadata; and created and populated a project website.

While the project goals were met, future comparative use of these archaeological data is complicated. What are the minimum standards for a useful archaeological database? What authorities exist for data fields? How do archaeologists provide metadata that tracks the creation of these data from the field, to digital surrogates? This paper discusses the recovery of these data, and the related issues of interoperability, access, and data provenance.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Boxed but not forgotten: The significance of collections-driven research in historical archaeology   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2017

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 270