Archaeology Magazine - October 1971 - 10

the past Continued
new facilities- in Texas, in Indiana, in Georgia
cooperation like this is providing for much important archaeological excavation. The instance
cited above in Delaware so disturbed everyone
that the state provided more funds for the Delaware Archaeological Board. In Florida, the Marco
Island Development Corporation is going to alter
the entire island ; the Bureau of Historic Sites and
Properties has been able to carry out research
there for four years, and will continue for another
four years- with state, historical society and the
Development Corporation all providing funds.
These examples will have to be multiplied many
fold.
Based on the assumption (a reality in some
parts of the country) that all sites will be adversely affected to one degree or another by land
alteration, archaeologists must review their current knowledge of the prehistoric occupation of
particular geographical - and cultural - regions,
and on the basis of this over-view, choose sites for
study. Before it will be possible to know which sites
can provide this needed information, archaeologists must reorient their view of salvage archaeology. Rather than digging a site because it is to be
destroyed, sites must be chosen for excavation because of the information they contain. Some sites
are obviously more important than others, in
terms of the amount and kinds of information
they contain, to fill in gaps of knowledge of local
and regional developments. These should either
be excavated or they should be set aside and not
disturbed further until it is possible to do a
proper and complete excavation. It won't be easy
to watch some sites being destroyed without
salvaging anything. But knowledgeable decisions
will have been made which indicate that the site
being destroyed does not contain as much scientific information as does another where efforts
must be concentrated to save or to preserve it or
several sites of an area, for the future.

will never have enough professionally
w.
trained archaeologists to test, even partially, all
the sites which potentially will be destroyed.
There is a large, interested and enthusiastic source
of help in the amateur archaeologists; cooperation between amateur and professional is vital, if
the goal of an adequately preserved past is to be
attained.
What is needed with equal urgency is an
alerted public, a concerned public. Interest in the
past, both historic and prehistoric has increased
306

as leisure time has increased. If America knows
that its past, and the past which it inherited from
the Indians is being completely, irrevocably destroyed- largely through ignorance and lack of
concern - some, perhaps even enough of the past
could be preserved for the future to understand
it and to profit from its successes and failures.
Digging destroys archaeological information,
whether it is done by a bulldozer or a professional
archaeologist. If the professional archaeologist is
given a chance to dig before the bulldozer, then
a scientific and photographic record is made and
interpretations are possible about the way of life
of that particular segment of prehistory. The site
is destroyed, but the information is saved.
The destruction of sites for economic reasons,
by businesses and corporations completely unaware of the fact that a site exists is tragic
enough. The destruction of sites by individuals
wanting relics for a collection, or by individuals
completely innocent of the damage they are doing, is inexcusable. The ones in these latter cases
who are really to blame are the knowledgeable
archaeologists, be they professional or amateur,
who have made no effort to make others aware
that archaeology is more than digging in the
ground; that without the observations and written information about the relationships of artifacts to soil features, to structural features, and to
each other, the artifacts themselves mean nothing.
A concerted effort must be made by archaeologists, by laymen, by archaeological societies, by
state legislators, by the federal government, if the
fragments from the past which are left to us are
not to be completely destroyed. The ideal of a
basic knowledge of cultural change and adapta- *
tion throughout the history of human occupation
in the New World, and in all environmental
regions, is still not impossible if we act NOW.
By tomorrow yesterday will be gone.
HESTER A. DAVIS, a native New Englander ,
obtained a B.A. in history from Rollins College
in Florida and an M.A, in anthropology from the
University of North Carolina. In 1959 she went
to the University of Arkansas Museum as Prepar ator and in 1963 was made the Assistant Director .
With the formation of the Arkansas Archaeological Survey in 1967, she became State Archaeologist and is currently serving, also, as President of
the Southeastern Museums Conference, and
Chairman of the Committee on the Public Understanding of Archaeology, of the Society for
American Archaeology.

Archaeology Magazine - October 1971

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - October 1971