Once upon a time archaeology was art collecting with picks and shovels.  The
objective was to collect the best artifacts for your institution or museum, to
artifactually scoop the opposition.  Dr. I. Jones may be fictional, but he is
the archetype of real archaeologists from days gone by.  It got so bad that
people hired thieves to hijack shipments and contracts were issued to murder
rivals.

We have fortunately gotten beyond the 10,000 natives with picks, shovels, and
wheelbarrows level of excavation.  BUT, archaeology still has a tendency to
wander down small dimly lit streets.

Anthropology means literally "the study/science of man".  There is literally
nothing that cannot be included under that umbrella.  But, during the last 20 or
so years we have gotten sidetracked.  Our entire reason for being is not to
illuminate the oppressed.  But, a quick look at the literature of the last 20
years would leave that impression.  Yes, we have a responsibility to shed a
light on the lives of those who have not been included in history books.  We
must because we can.  But, we cannot ethically do this while largely ignoring
everything else.

With our anthropological blinkers firmly in place we have excavated farms
without looking at the fields and barns.  We have investigated the domestic
situation of workers in industrial company towns and ignored the fact that they
had jobs.  Ignored the fact that most of their time was spent at their jobs and
the only reason they were there was the jobs.  Because of our lack of training
in the history of technology and our extensive training in cultural anthropology
we slight industrial sites both during excavation and analysis.  If you don't
understand it, or worse yet won't understand it, you shouldn't excavate it.
Industrial waste is just as important as ceramics in the interpretation of what
went on at a site.

Anthropology is not just concerned with gender, race, master/slave relations,
and domestic life.  It encompasses everyone and everything.  If we forget that,
and too many American archeologists do, we sell ourselves and our science short.

JH Brothers IV