Pleistocene Archaeology in the Formerly Glaciated Northeast: Why Bother?

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Three Sides of a Career: Papers in Honor of Robert L. Kelly" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Conducting archaeological research exploring the Pleistocene occupations of formerly glaciated northeastern North America is challenging. Obstacles include an absence of stratified sites, poor preservation of perishable materials and shallow, often disturbed, sites. Perhaps because of his experience confronting these challenges shortly after completing his PhD, Bob was skeptical of our dissertation proposals focused on this theme. To paraphrase, we were confronted with what we remember as something like “If you can do archaeology anywhere why would you want to do it there?” While initially blindsiding us both, in retrospect this simple question has profoundly shaped our research programs for the better. In only a few words Bob challenged us to think creatively about what is unique in the Northeast and how to bring this to bear on anthropological questions of continental or even global significance. Here we review the research that has grown from Bob’s challenge, how these findings relate to broader questions, and where this is propelling our future research programs, all while keeping in mind “if you can do archaeology anywhere why do it there?” We hope we now have a better answer to that question.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Three Sides of a Career: Papers in Honor of Robert L. Kelly   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38535.0