Black Rock Mortuary Cairn: A Case Study of Archaeologist–Collector Collaboration

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

An unusual and highly significant Late Prehistoric mortuary feature in eastern Trans-Pecos Texas was discovered in 1992 by a group of relic collectors who carried out an uncontrolled excavation. The feature, which contained 7-9 human interments and over 500 associated objects, consisted of a circular, 6.0 m diameter stacked rock cairn on the summit of a sandstone ridgeline in the Pecos River drainage system. Cognizant of its scientific importance, the collectors eventually contacted the Texas Office of the State Archeologist concerning their discovery, thus initiating what would prove a complicated archaeologist-collector interaction with the ultimate goal of salvaging as much data as possible from the destroyed cairn. Findings from the study are summarized, and the pros and cons of such collaborative efforts within the context of recent SAA deliberations are addressed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25025