MAC Occasional Papers, Number 3 Summer 2018
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Number 3 Summer 2018 ISSN 2372-9899 OCCASIONAL PAPERS Official Publication of the Midwest Archaeological Conference, Inc. MIDWEST ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONFERENCE, INC. OCCASIONAL PAPERS Number 3 Summer 2018 CONTENTS Collaborative Engagement: Working with Private Collections and Responsive Collectors Edited by Michael J. Shott, Mark F. Seeman, and Kevin C. Nolan The Ethics of Professional-Collector Collaboration Michael J. Shott 1 Dealing with Museum Legacy Collections in the Twenty-First Century: Three Case Studies from Ohio Brian G. Redmond and Ann S. DuFresne 7 Preserving Michigan’s Archaeological Heritage: A Collective Endeavor William A. Lovis 21 Who Is Interested in Archaeology? Building a Trusting Relationship among Landowners and Collectors in Haldimand-Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada W. Lorenz Bruechert 29 Experiences in Both Worlds: Balancing the Worlds of Collecting and Professional Archaeology Jerrel C. Anderson 37 Informatics for the Stone Age: Knowledge-Management Approach to Lithic Raw Material Identification Dan Wendt 45 The Single-Pass Survey and the Collector: A Reasonable Effort in Good Faith? Kevin C. Nolan, James Leak, and Cameron Quimbach 51 Addressing Private Collections and the Results of Avocational Archaeology as a Cultural Resource That Enhances Our Understanding of Archaeological Landscapes Madeleine G. Evans, Constance Arzigian, Jean Dowiasch, Brad H. Koldehoff, and Thomas J. Loebel 67 Illinois Archaeologists’ Legacy of Learning from Collectors Dale L. McElrath, Thomas E. Emerson, Madeleine G. Evans, Steven L. Boles, Thomas J. Loebel, David J. Nolan, and Robert J. Reber 83 Windows to Ohio’s Past: Building Relationships among Professional Archaeologists and Avocational Artifact Collectors Mark F. Seeman and Charles Fulk 97 OCCASIONAL PAPERS Editor Society Membership Thomas E. Emerson, Illinois State Archaeological Survey, USA Individuals who wish to receive access to all Occasional Papers (and MCJA journals) can join the Midwest Archaeological Conference and Editorial Assistant receive access to the online-only Occasional Papers series as part of Sarah E. Boyer, Illinois State Archaeological Survey, USA their annual membership. Visit http://www.midwestarchaeology. org/ for details. Founding Editor David S. Brose, Imprints from the Past, LLC, USA First Midwest Archaeological Conference Inc.’s Occasional Papers (ISSN 2372-9899) is published by Midwest Archaeological Confer- Book Reviews Editor ence, Inc. Each volume contains material from sponsored sympo- Tamira K. Brennan, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA siums at past annual meetings on timely spatial or temporal issues that form special edited volumes of Occasional Papers. Editorial Board Susan M. Alt, Indiana University, USA Copyright © Midwest Archaeological Conference Inc. 2018. All rights Jane E. Baxter, DePaul University, USA reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a Robert A. Cook, Ohio State University at Newark, USA retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without John F. Doershuk, University of Iowa, USA the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for such Christopher J. Ellis, University of Western Ontario, Canada permissions must be addressed to the MCJA Editor or Assistant Duane Esarey, University of Illinois, USA Editor. For more information, visit http://www.midwestarchaeology. Robert J. Jeske, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, USA org/home. T. R. Kidder, Washington University in St Louis, USA Neal H. Lopinot, Missouri State University, USA Disclaimer George R. Milner, Pennsylvania State University, USA Responsibility for opinions and statements contained in the arti- Michael Nassaney, Western Michigan University, USA cles, notes, correspondence, reviews, and discussion is that of the Timothy R. Pauketat, University of Illinois, USA authors, and not of the editors, Midwest Archaeological Conference. Mark R. Schurr, University of Notre Dame, USA Online Publication Aims and scope The full text of this series is available via our online platform at The Midwest Archaeological Conference Sponsored Symposium http://www.midwestarchaeology.org/home. Access to the online held at MAC, Inc. annual meetings is a forum for presentation of version is available to current MAC members only. problem-oriented current thinking on key midwestern archaeological issues. The publication of such symposium proceedings in the Occa- Cover Image sional Papers series serves to articulate how innovative breakthroughs and cumulative evidence may question previous interpretations and Project documenting private collections in Ross County, Ohio. lead to a new understanding of the midwestern archaeological record. Photos courtesy of Kevin Nolan for the Central Ohio Archaeological Digitization Survey (COAD), funded by the National Science Founda- Style tion (NSF) awards BCS 1723879 and BCS 1723877. Occasional Papers generally follows the conventions of American Antiquity with a few exceptions. For more specific information visit: http://www.saa.org/Portals/0/SAA/Publications/StyleGuide/ StyleGuide_Final_813.pdf or contact the Editorial Assistant for more information. Midwest Archaeological Conference Occasional Papers No. 3, 2018, 1–6 The Ethics of Professional-Collector Collaboration Michael J. Shott University of Akron, USA Across the midcontinent, merely the private collectors and collections that exist today are too many to count. Collectors and other nonprofessionals vary widely in motivations and standards, from near professional to irrespon- sible. In turn, professional attitudes to collaboration with collectors and non- professionals range from enthusiastic through indifferent to actively hostile. Correctly or not, some professionals perceive categorical ethical barriers to collaboration. Yet ethical concerns cut both ways; the reasonable standards of many collectors and the undeniable aggregate size and information con- tent of private collections justify engagement with responsible nonprofes- sionals and opposition to irresponsible ones. Here, I consider ethical issues that counsel such engagement, propose serious study of collecting as a so- ciological phenomenon, and advocate documentation of private collections in research and conservation practice but also care in avoiding encourage- ment of irresponsible behavior. Keywords Ethics; Private collections; Collaboration; Research; Preservation Most midwestern archaeologists know that private artifact collectors are scattered in the thousands across the region. Collectors know the relevant properties of their local areas intimately and survey at optimal times. Collectors vary in their orienta- tion toward professionals and in the quality of their records and degree to which they document their collections. Some document to professional standards and others scarcely at all. To any archaeologist with more than passing experience of conditions across the Midwest, this much is common knowledge. We also know, at least broadly, that collectors hold many more diagnostic chipped- and ground-stone artifacts than we do. One recent study compared results of midwestern professional survey with what collectors found in the same tracts. By conservative estimate, collectors hold roughly 95% of diagnostics, and in most respects their data preserve more original spatial structure than do professionals’ © Midwest Archaeological Conference Inc 2018 2 MICHAEL J. SHOTT (Shott 2017). Obviously, diagnostic artifacts are informative about past cultures. It is less obvious, at least to some of us, why professionals have treated the vast corpus of diagnostic data held in private collections with attitudes that range from indifference to open hostility, the latter a sentiment that some collectors return. One answer, perhaps obvious to some, is the objection of collaboration with private collectors on the grounds of professional ethics. Somehow, collaboration is thought to taint us, making us complicit in the damage, sometimes illegal, that some unprincipled collectors wreak on the record. Of course, professionals should condemn such actions and work with responsible and responsive collectors (sen- su Shott and Pitblado 2015) to minimize or eliminate damage. Ethical objections to egregious conduct are both sensible and unremarkable. But some professionals argue not just in favor of negative ethical strictures that we share but of positive ethical obligations that not merely permit but require us to collaborate with re- sponsible and responsive collectors. A Closer Look at Ethics According to its bylaws, the Midwest Archaeological Conference (MAC) serves in part as “a bond among those interested in” archaeology, promoting “the preserva- tion of . resources . [and] the conservation of . data” (2017). Professionals and responsible collectors share the bond of interest in regional prehistory, making us natural allies. Considering the magnitude of private collection and the infor- mation residing there, it comprises a considerable portion of the aggregate record that MAC urges us to preserve. My reading of this statement is that it encourages professionals to promote preservation in part by the documentation and limited conservation of private collections. Practically then, MAC’s bylaws require us to engage with responsible collectors in preservation and conservation of their collec- tions and records. Similarly, the Society for American Archaeology’s (SAA) Statement of Ethics (1996), which presumably governs the practice of MAC members, not merely per- mits but enjoins