Jeff, Susan, and Marybeth,

I was told the "family would like to liquidate the remainder as part of the
process of closing out the estate" which I think implies selling. I
understand that the collection is large and diversified but I don't
know the exact quantities. The bottom line is what would be a "good sample
size"? Jeff suggests 10. My feeling was 100 per variety (though there may
not be that many of each, or the family may not want to donate that many)
as that always seemed to me to be a minimum number for any kind of
meaningful statistical analysis.

I guess I could put it another way using a different artifact. Say, if as
happened at one Canadian site, you excavate a large keg of nails, all
roughly the same, and storage (and weight) is a distinct problem, how many
do you keep, say out of 1,000? I think many large archaeological facilities
will be facing this problem in the near future as budgets are cut and the
extremely clichéd question filters down from above: Why do we need to keep
artifacts? So this sort of thing needs some serious consideration.

I agree that the museum should do the selection but then you have the
problem of do they keep a truly random sample (take a tablespoon out of a
bag) which is best for archaeological studies or pick the nicest ones
(which they will do as the beads will go on display in the museum). On it
goes.

Cheers,

Karlis


On Thu, Jun 27, 2013 at 2:25 PM, Boyer, Jeffrey, DCA <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Karlis,
> I agree with Susan and Marybeth. I've had to deal with site owners who
> want the artifacts back after data recovery. I've had to negotiate all
> that, including trying to get them to donate parts of the collections. Try
> to get the family to let you do the sampling, both for the individual items
> and the number of items, aiming for a decent sample rather than a single
> example whenever possible. I don't know how to define "decent" for sample
> size but I should think that, if possible, at least 10 of each type would
> be good, just off the top of my head.
>
>
> Jeff
>
> Jeffrey L. Boyer, RPA
> Supervisory Archaeologist/Project Director
> Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico
>
>   *   The Center for New Mexico Archaeology
>   *   7 Old Cochiti Road
>   *   Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507
>   *   tel: 505.476.4426
>   *   e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> "There comes a time in every rightly-constructed boy's life when he has a
> raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure."  -- Mark Twain,
> The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Karlis
> Karklins [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 7:52 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Representative artifact sample size for museum collections
>
> Hi Everyone!
>
> I have been contacted by a museum person who is dealing with a family that
> wants to donate a representative sample of beads from a collector's estate
> to a reputable museum and they are wanting to know what would be a"good
> sample" size; i.e. a sample of sufficient size to allow adequate study re:
> manufacturing type, shape and size range, etc.? I have my thoughts but I
> want to hear what fellow HistArchers think. This information is needed to
> be able to explain to the family why x number of specimens are required and
> should be donated.
>
> I would appreciate your thoughts.
>
> Cheers!
>
> Karlis
>