Betwixt and Between: Bridging the Gap between Field and Repository

Abstract

All too often, archaeologists have viewed curation as a process that manages, rather than investigates, archaeological collections. The resulting curation crisis is the result of a serious imbalance between the continued generation of field collections and a corresponding lack of standards, best practices, resources and facilities devoted to accessioning, analyzing, reporting, curating and otherwise caring for archaeological collections. Researchers mistakenly prioritize ‘interpretation at the trowel’s edge’ with emphasis on excavation, field work and subsequent research, without considering the downstream issues of data standards, best practices and how and where the objects they excavate will be stored (collection management). Researchers, educators, and the general public will remain unable to reap the benefits of their cultural and historical significance until archaeologists and museum professionals can work together to determine a long-term strategy for the efficient management and care of these collections.

Legislation, in the form of the Curation of Federally Owned and Administered Archaeological Collections (36 CFR Part 79) (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2011-title36-vol1/pdf/CFR-2011-title36-vol1-part79.pdf), was intended to ensure the long-term management and care of these resources. However, insufficient funding at institutional and federal levels, the absence of legislative enforcement by the National Park Service, and compliance issues at both the research and collection level, have resulted in collections at risk of loss through deterioration, mismanagement, and neglect. In the following chapters I will demonstrate that accessioning, inventorying, cataloguing, rehousing and conserving are meaningful generative encounters among scholars, objects and collections staff, not simply byproducts of research. An online database specifically designed for archaeological collections is suggested as one way to address the curation crisis. Implementing digitization will enhance preservation by reducing damage to the artifacts caused by physical handling. Persons working in archaeology will gain a better understanding of collections care and the collections transition to the repository. The solution must extend beyond one discipline alone and needs a dialogue between archaeologists and museum professionals.