Controlled Chaos: Organizing and Working with Extant Archaeological Collections
Document Type
Poster
Event Website
https://source2022.sched.com/
Start Date
16-5-2022
End Date
16-5-2022
Keywords
Archaeology, Collections, Collections Management, Lab Management, Research Organization, Research Practices
Abstract
Excavated more than 50 years ago, the Grissom site (45KT301) has yielded a collection of tens of thousands of artifacts housed in 60 archival boxes. Pieced together across several field seasons by dozens of students, the Grissom collection contains many uncertainties. Though many of these were addressed through a rehabilitation of the collection in the mid-2000s and a thesis exploring the history of the investigation, students wishing to complete research on this collection still face a variety of unique challenges, including unclear labels, misfiled artifacts, and compounding transcription errors. Through the work of six students totaling over 300 hours of lab time, many of these issues were identified, articulated, and addressed. This poster summarizes some of the specific concerns one might face when conducting research on collections such as Grissom and discusses how problems were anticipated and addressed, where errors occurred, and how to better prevent such mistakes in the future. The practices discussed here will be useful to any researcher tackling a collection of a similar scale and history and provide a better understanding of how to make the most of a collection and protect it for future use.
Recommended Citation
Cobb, Jeremy; Kovach, Maria; Menzia, Kevin; Otto, Lauren; Radovich, Kiley; and Simurdak, Nik, "Controlled Chaos: Organizing and Working with Extant Archaeological Collections" (2022). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 30.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2022/COTS/30
Department/Program
Anthropology & Museum Studies, Cultural & Environmental Resource Management
Additional Mentoring Department
Anthropology & Museum Studies
Poster
Controlled Chaos: Organizing and Working with Extant Archaeological Collections
Excavated more than 50 years ago, the Grissom site (45KT301) has yielded a collection of tens of thousands of artifacts housed in 60 archival boxes. Pieced together across several field seasons by dozens of students, the Grissom collection contains many uncertainties. Though many of these were addressed through a rehabilitation of the collection in the mid-2000s and a thesis exploring the history of the investigation, students wishing to complete research on this collection still face a variety of unique challenges, including unclear labels, misfiled artifacts, and compounding transcription errors. Through the work of six students totaling over 300 hours of lab time, many of these issues were identified, articulated, and addressed. This poster summarizes some of the specific concerns one might face when conducting research on collections such as Grissom and discusses how problems were anticipated and addressed, where errors occurred, and how to better prevent such mistakes in the future. The practices discussed here will be useful to any researcher tackling a collection of a similar scale and history and provide a better understanding of how to make the most of a collection and protect it for future use.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2022/COTS/30
Faculty Mentor(s)
Patrick McCutcheon