Sites on the Margins are not Marginal Archaeology: Small, Upland Sites in the Vicinity of Meyersdale, Pennsylvania

Means, Bernard K.

doi:10.2190/laf7-a6wc-crme-l5gn

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…He also pursued a PhD at Harvard—which he was unable to finish because of being drafted for service in World War II. His report on the Somerset County New Deal excavations today only exists in an incomplete draft form (Cresson Jr. 1942; Means 2010; 2013b).…”

Section: Doing New Deal Archaeology Around Philadelphiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Chapter 7 Start the Presses? John Alden Mason as Mesoamericanist and a Reluctant New Deal Archaeologist in the 1930s

Means

2023

Archaeological Papers of the American

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During the 1930s, J. Alden Mason was a curator at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. He was best known during this time for his work at the site of Piedras Negras in northwestern Guatemala. Yet, the 1930s excavations at Piedras Negras were not published until 2005. This delayed publication prevented other scholars from building on this work. Also, during the 1930s, Mason led lesser‐known excavations around the Philadelphia area with federal work relief funding. No field records exist for these investigations, the whereabouts of artifacts are unknown, and only a single short article was ever published on the scant archaeological findings. Exactly what archaeology was done and where through these New Deal investigations is unknown and may be unknowable. Mason struggled with the overly bureaucratic nature of New Deal archaeology, and this might help explain his lack of due diligence with archiving his records, or with completing a properly detailed report. Today's archaeologists deal with similar constraints. But we are also ethically bound to publish our results in a reasonable time frame, rather than hoard our data the way a dragon hoards a mountain of gold. If we fail to meet these ethical principles, we really are little more than well‐educated looters.

show abstract

Section: Doing New Deal Archaeology Around Philadelphiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Chapter 7 Start the Presses? John Alden Mason as Mesoamericanist and a Reluctant New Deal Archaeologist in the 1930s

Means

2023

Archaeological Papers of the American

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Archaeological Skeletal Part Profiles and Differential Transport: An Ethnoarchaeological Example from Hadza Bone Assemblages

Lupo

2001

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Shadow of Doubt or Doubtful Shadows: Small-Scale Low-Density Lithic Scatters and Agrifacts

Staley

2006

North American Archaeologist

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The fundamental identification of flaked stone as artifact is critical to all that follows in archaeology. The identification of sites, interpretations of prehistoric behaviors, adaptations, land use patterns, settlement and subsistence studies, etc. can be distilled to the initial determination of an artifact as being "real" or the result of natural or accidental phenomena such as plow damage. In cultural resource management, artifact identification drives immediate field decisions to modify research strategies and ultimately forms the argumentative basis for research potentials and determinations of significance. Chert flakes and shatter discovered during a NYSDOT sponsored project conducted by New York State Museum-Cultural Resource Survey Program were subjected to a battery of lithic attribute analyses in an attempt to identify artifacts in an agricultural area blanketed by natural chert. With the exception of exotic material types, no single attribute can certainly identify human involvement. A cumulative score of multiple attributes affords greater levels of confidence for cultural vs. natural determinations for larger assemblages. In settings with the "background noise" of natural chert in cultivated soils, cultural genesis determinations of single pieces and very small sparse assemblages must be recognized as hunches or faith-based decisions yet worthy of measured continued investigation.

show abstract

Sites on the Margins are not Marginal Archaeology: Small, Upland Sites in the Vicinity of Meyersdale, Pennsylvania

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Chapter 7 Start the Presses? John Alden Mason as Mesoamericanist and a Reluctant New Deal Archaeologist in the 1930s

Chapter 7 Start the Presses? John Alden Mason as Mesoamericanist and a Reluctant New Deal Archaeologist in the 1930s

Archaeological Skeletal Part Profiles and Differential Transport: An Ethnoarchaeological Example from Hadza Bone Assemblages

Shadow of Doubt or Doubtful Shadows: Small-Scale Low-Density Lithic Scatters and Agrifacts

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About