The Unbearable Weight of Massive Samples: Re-Evaluating the Curation of Legacy Environmental Material

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.

Throughout the years the methodology and technology associated with curating archeological environmental samples has changed. Samples are often collected with specific research goals in mind (pollen, soil chemistry, starch analysis, phytoliths, macrobotanicals), while others are taken as a precaution. A common problem is that these environmental samples are then de-prioritized and overlooked once the report has been written. These factors feed into the curation crisis we see today. Looking across two National Park Service affiliated archeological collections, the Boston African Meeting House collection and the Carns Site collection, this paper discusses the curation of legacy environmental samples, as well as methods used at the Northeast Museum Services Center to evaluate these samples over 30 years later.

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