Where Do Data Come From? The Legacy and Future of Cultural Resource Management Bioarchaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Future of Bioarchaeology in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper considers the role of CRM-based bioarchaeologists in bioarchaeology as practice and as a realm of research. Doing bioarchaeology in this context invokes professional challenges and responsibilities that transcend the individual project. Bioarchaeologists on the front lines of engagement with descendant communities, corporate clients, multiple government entities, neighbors, and business owners, have the opportunity to speak directly with people whose initial reactions range from respectful curiosity to moral outrage. The bioarchaeologist is responsible for what may be the one-time-only analysis and the collection of comprehensive data from human remains, not just a set of observations of particular interest. When the client-specified work product is a nontechnical report, or skeletal data tables are deemed uninteresting by principal investigators, the bioarchaeologist is the archivist, retaining the unpublished primary data. Much of the data from decades of salvage and CRM projects, especially small projects, are ignored. As archaeology turns to data mining and increasingly conservative approaches to excavation, and as museums repatriate collections, bioarchaeologists must promote and implement the systematic compilation, curation, and sharing of archival data. These are irreplaceable resources for future research that will utilize the continually developing array of new approaches that characterize the flourishing field of bioarchaeology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Future of Bioarchaeology in Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23045