Our recent thread on whether to or how much to associate with collectors got me to
thinking about a couple of aspects of publiction

Archaeological publications, especially reports, are in essence reactive; we research
what we have excavated.  Many of the collectors' literature is proactive, seeking to
find out more about bottles in general or bottles in specific areas.

We need more proactive archaeological research on bottles and bottle making.  We
see many more thing differently than collectors -- not just such things as provenience
instead of values or scarcity.  For example, collectors generally show only the front of
a bottle--because that is all they need.  They deal in complete containers.  We need
deep description because we frequently only finds fragments.

This brings me to a quandry that I often face.  Since my main interests are
local/regional, where should I publish my findings?  The El Paso Archaeological
Society is generally interested in almost all my bottle articles, and our regional
conferences (mostly prehistoric) publish my historical papers, although I am one of
the few historical presenters most of the time (sometimes the only one).

Maybe we need more "mid-range" publication sources.  I can submit articles on
solarized amethyst glass or depostion lag in returnable bottles to Historical
Archaeology, but what about a couple of new manufacturer's marks I have traced?
Or where do I go to publish a history and bottle chronolgy of a soda bottling
corporation that had branches in Arizona and New Mexico?

I have turned to local historical societies for books and articles on bottlers in local
New Mexico towns and El Paso, thus adding to the "grey" literature.  And maybe the
grey literature is becoming more and more valuable.  With more and more of us
vying for the refereed journals, maybe reports and articles in magazines will begin to
have greater value.  Maybe even collectors magazines wil be more useful as a
venue for archaeologists.

I look forward to feedback.

Bill

Only Historical Archaeologists know what "Time in a Bottle" really means.

Bill Lockhart
New Mexico State University
Alamogordo, NM
(505) 439-3732