Unravelling the spectra of stewards and collectors

Non peer reviewe

On Rehumanizing Pleistocene People of the Western Hemisphere

Since the emergence of the niche in Folsom, New Mexico, in the late 1920s, peopling archaeology has sought to understand the earliest human occupants of the Western Hemisphere. Three generations of practitioners have made great strides in the techno-environmental arena. However, we have largely failed to tap into PaleoIndigenous intellectual, emotional, and social lives—the very domains that made Ice Age people as fully human as we are. As a result, our interpretations of those pioneering populations could often apply as readily to a colony of ants or a herd of wildebeest as they do to living, breathing, thinking, dreaming, loving, striving human ancestors. This article first explores the reasons for our failure to fully actualize First Peoples, identifying and implicating a feedback loop that includes practitioner homogeneity (we have always been and continue to be disproportionately white men of European descent); our predominantly positivist worldview; our language, training, and practice; and even the limited nature of the material record we study. This article also, however, highlights the ways that an important minority of peopling scholars have sought to access the humanity of PaleoIndigenous people. By more consistently mobilizing our own human capacity to creatively interrogate the deep past, we will produce scholarship that more consistently recognizes the capacity of the people who lived it and, just as importantly, respects those living today. Desde la aparición del nicho en Folsom, Nuevo México a finales de los años 1920, la arqueología del poblamiento ha buscado entender los ocupantes humanos más tempranos del hemisferio occidental. Tres generaciones de profesionales han dado pasos grandes en el campo tecno-ambiental. Sin embargo, en gran medida hemos fracasado en ganar acceso a las vidas intelectuales, emocionales y sociales de los paleo-indígenas, las mismas esferas que hicieron que la gente de la Edad del Hielo fuera tan completamente humana como nosotros. Como resultado, nuestras interpretaciones sobre esas poblaciones pioneras a menudo podrían aplicarse tan fácilmente a una colonia de hormigas o una manada de ñus como a los ancestros humanos que viven, respiran, piensan, sueñan, aman y se esfuerzan. En primer lugar, este artículo analiza las razones de nuestra incapacidad para actualizar por completo a los Primeros Pobladores, identificando e implicando un ciclo de retroalimentación que incluye la homogeneidad de los profesionales (siempre hemos sido y seguimos siendo desproporcionadamente hombres blancos de ascendencia europea); nuestra cosmovisión predominantemente positivista; nuestro idioma, formación y práctica; e incluso la naturaleza limitada del registro material que estudiamos. Sin embargo, este artículo también destaca las maneras en que una importante minoría de académicos dedicados a estudiar el poblamiento ha buscado acceder a la humanidad de los pueblos paleo-indígenas. Al movilizar de manera más consistente nuestra propia capacidad humana de interrogar creativamente el pasado profundo, produciremos conocimiento que reconozca más consistentemente la capacidad de las personas que lo vivieron y, lo que es igualmente importante, respete a quienes viven hoy.Ye

The Dangers of Conflating Responsible and Responsive Artefact Stewardship with Illicit and illegal collecting

Archaeology and private artefact collecting have complex and inextricably linked histories. Archaeologists have long drawn attention to criminal activity among collectors, but to assume that all private owners of cultural material-and any archaeologists who interact with them-have ill-intent or engage in illegal behaviour can cause as much harm to the archaeological record as the criminal actions themselves.Non peer reviewe

LA-ICP-MS Analysis of Quartzite from the Upper Gunnison Basin, Colorado

We report the results of LA-ICP-MS analysis of 402 quartzite samples representing 48 collection loci in the Upper Gunnison Basin (UGB), Colorado and determine the extent to which the sources can be geochemically discriminated from one another using this non-destructive technique. The ability to differentiate among the sources would open the door to provenance studies of the quartzite chipped-stone tools and debitage that constitute 95% or more of most of the 3000-plus prehistoric site assemblages documented in the UGB. Our samples represent prehistorically quarried and non-quarried quartzite sources, including outcrop (primary) and gravel (secondary) deposits. The results reveal spatial and chronological trends in quartzite elemental composition that can be exploited for provenance determinations of quartzite artifacts from UGB sites, albeit using an assemblage-based sourcing strategy that differs from the familiar approach of “matching” obsidian artifacts to their statistically likeliest geological source. We offer a preliminary version of a sourcing protocol for UGB quartzite

Professional–Collector Collaboration: Moving beyond Debate to Best Practice

This article introduces the first of what will ultimately be two collections of case studies in archaeologist–responsible/responsive artifact collector collaboration. Focused on the United States, the articles in this issue of Advances in Archaeological Practice share the thoughts and experiences of archaeologists representing diverse employment sectors (compliance, agency, museum, and university), artifact collectors, and members of descendant communities. Research areas extend from California to Virginia and from Ohio to the Texas/Mexico border. The breadth of the writers' backgrounds and their focal regions reinforce the wide applicability of collaborative best practices. Every author explicitly treats two subjects: (1) the intersection of their work with the Society for American Archaeology's (SAA) recently published guidelines for ethical professional–collector collaboration, and (2) their own practical suggestions for establishing and nurturing those relationships. This introductory article provides an overview of each of the other contributions, notes how the contributions articulate with the SAA guidelines, and offers its own, mostly philosophical suggestions for prospective members of professional–collector collaborations. Este artículo introduce la primera de las que eventualmente serán dos colecciones de casos prácticos en colaboración responsable / receptiva entre arqueólogos y coleccionistas de artefactos. Centrados en los Estados Unidos, los artículos de esta edición de Advances in Archaeological Practice comparten los pensamientos y experiencias de arqueólogos que representan diversos sectores laborales (cumplimiento regulatorio, agencia, museo y universidad); coleccionistas de artefactos; y miembros de comunidades descendientes. Las áreas de investigación se extienden desde California hasta Virginia y desde Ohio hasta la frontera entre Texas y México. La amplitud del historial los escritores y sus regiones focales refuerza la amplia aplicabilidad de las mejores prácticas colaborativas. Cada autor versa explícitamente dos temas: la intersección de su trabajo con las directrices publicadas recientemente por la Sociedad para la Arqueología Americana (SAA) para la colaboración ética entre profesionales y coleccionistas; y sus propias sugerencias prácticas para establecer y nutrir esas relaciones. Este artículo introductorio resume cada trabajo, señala cómo cumple con las pautas de la SAA y ofrece sus propias sugerencias, principalmente filosóficas, para futuros miembros sobre las colaboraciones entre coleccionistas y profesionales.Ye

Paleoarchaic Surface Assemblages in the Great Salt Lake Desert, Northwestern Utah

The primary purpose of this article is to present new data regarding igneous toolstone use patterns and lithic reduction/production practices as evidenced by a recently recovered sample of Great Basin Stemmed projectile points, in order to improve our understanding of the basic Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene settlement systems associated with the central Great Salt Lake Desert. Great Basin Paleoarchaic settlement and subsistence practices, as well as temporal affiliations of different stemmed point styles, are poorly understood. For the most part, this situation results from a dearth of excavated cultural deposits and a poorly defined projectile point tradition

Paleoarchaic Surface Assemblages in the Great Salt Lake Desert, Northwestern Utah

The primary purpose of this article is to present new data regarding igneous toolstone use patterns and lithic reduction/production practices as evidenced by a recently recovered sample of Great Basin Stemmed projectile points, in order to improve our understanding of the basic Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene settlement systems associated with the central Great Salt Lake Desert. Great Basin Paleoarchaic settlement and subsistence practices, as well as temporal affiliations of different stemmed point styles, are poorly understood. For the most part, this situation results from a dearth of excavated cultural deposits and a poorly defined projectile point tradition