Labouring in the Fields of the Past: Geographic Variation in New Deal Archaeology Across the Lower 48 United States

Archaeology and Heritage Management in the Maya Area: History and Practice at Caracol, Belize

“…After a series of consultants for these various funding agencies had completed their studies, the IDB provided the Belize Government with a loan for improving the road to Caracol and for also carrying out more stabilization not only at that site but at other archaeological sites throughout the country of Belize. This effort, which lasted from December 2000 through November 2004, was also seen as a way of providing employment opportunities to local constituents, much like the Works Project Administration in the US had used archaeology [61] during the Great Depression.…”

No deal

“…The New Deal era was arguably a critical period in the maturation of the Americanist archaeology (Fagette, 1996). A substantive research arc in the history of Americanist archaeology, in fact, has been the advent and impact of New Deal relief funding on archaeological research, mostly in the Eastern United States, along with its legacy in institutional organization, training of personnel, dissemination of field and laboratory methods, and generation of collections and new data (e.g., Dunnell, 1986, 2001; Fagette, 1996; Griffin, 1976: 37–40; Lyon, 1996; Haag, 1961, 1985; Means, 2011, 2015; Milner & Smith, 1986; O’Brien, 1992; Sullivan et al., 2011). Although much of this research has traditionally been directed toward the Southeastern United States, increasingly it has come to encompass New Deal, relief-funded, archaeological work throughout the contiguous lower 48 states.…”

“…Although much of this research has traditionally been directed toward the Southeastern United States, increasingly it has come to encompass New Deal, relief-funded, archaeological work throughout the contiguous lower 48 states. In a survey of federal relief archaeology, by state and county, Means (2015: 3) identified “considerable geographic variation in the nature and extent” of New Deal archaeology projects. Unsurprisingly, “[l]ocal [read: political] traditions and personalities guaranteed that the New Deal would have almost as many different effects in the West as there were states” (Patterson, 1969: 318–319).…”

“…As important as is elucidating the full extent of New Deal archaeological activities, whether in the American South or elsewhere in the United States (Kolb, 1996; Means, 2011, 2015), this article takes a somewhat different tack, focusing instead on one state, Kansas, bypassed by New Deal relief program funding for archaeology. This does not mean that the state resisted New Deal programs and funding, as this was manifestly not the case (Fearon, 2007a, 2007b; Lowitt, 1984; Merrill, 1981; Miner, 2002; Reading, 1973; Works Progress Administration (WPA), 1942, 1943); the concern here is strictly with New Deal funding for archaeological endeavors.…”