"Where Are Your Field Notes?!": Investigating Interpretation And Collection Creation For The Great Island Tavern Site In Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Hidden In The Hollinger: What We Can Learn From Archeological Legacy Collections In The National Park Service", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Archeology is considered a subject of science. Therefore, as scientists, are we not required to replicate our work, theories, and basic assumptions in order to ensure that our past work and interpretations about the past remain true? While this seems like a basic and logical step to take, we as archeologists rarely do this as we are often in the field creating these collections and interpretations. By rehousing, reorganizing, and reviewing older archeological collections (and their associated documentation), archeologists are able re-excavate a site, test its standing interpretation against updated methodologies and using modern day technology. To illustrate the utility and importance of processing and studying “legacy” collections, I will be examining and “re-excavating” the Great Island Tavern collection originally excavated by James Deetz and Eric Ekholm in 1969/70 on Great Island in Cape Cod Massachusetts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Hidden In The Hollinger: What We Can Learn From Archeological Legacy Collections In The National Park Service

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow