Should You Care About Quality Assurance in Historical Archaeology? Yes, Especially in a Forensic Archaeology Context

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Quality Assurance is not typically a discussion firestarter in archaeology. It is intended to provide processes to ensure proper documentation and design for quality and performance. Often found in service/manufacturing industries, it is not typically applied to academic archaeology. But at the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, historical archaeology is applied in a medicolegal context to make positive forensic identifications of U.S. servicemembers missing from past conflicts recovered from aircraft crashes, burials, or battlefields around the world. Quality Assurance at the DPAA-Laboratory, adhered to by Agency forensic archaeologists, is robust and accredited under ISO 17025:2017; American National Standards Institute - National Accreditation Board. Practicing historical archaeology under these accreditation standards maximizes both the credibility of data collected and contextual support for identification. While formal accreditation may not be required for academic management of historical sites, archaeologists who applies expertise in a forensic context should employ a robust Quality Assurance program.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2023 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow