List Members:

In part, Buhr wrote, "I am reminded of an intense excavation of an ancient
Maya site in Belize some years ago: large crew, large excavation area, no
artifacts of significance recovered....a colleague visited the site ... and
found the one wonderful artifact to represent the season's effort...."

What is a non-significant artifact?  How sad it is to sum up a season's
work based on one "wonderful artifact."  Is it the artifact that is
important or the information that it imparts?  If I were to sum up my
career by the number of "wonderful artifacts" I have identified and/or
recovered, I would be sadly disappointed.  But my career has been based on
interpreting human behavior most often from non-signficant artifacts that
are so typical and common to all historic sites.  I would venture to guess
that curated collections are full of non-significant artifacts, artifacts
that have a story to tell.

With respect.....ww