I should warn everyone that this is a very biased reply; I deal almost exclusively with historical bottle research, so I read reports focused through that lense.
 
Although this does not directly address Susan's issue, it is relevant to it.
 
As we have more information available, it becomes harder -- not easier -- to evaluate sites, levels, and/or depositions.  For example, when Toulouse (1971) was the definitive source for manufacturer's marks, it was relatively easy to look up a mark, plug in the date, and happily write the report.
 
Those days are over!  Toulouse did a great job with evidence available in 1971.  It is now so woefully out of date that the information should be regarded as approximate -- AT BEST.  The Bottle Research Group (BRG) and other researchers are revising dates and identifications of logos, manufacturing techniques, and other factors involving bottle identification daily.
 
Numerous bottle are misidentified in reports by as much a half a century -- confounding any REAL understanding about the inhabitants.  I am certain that similar updates are occurring in virtually all other areas (ceramics, metal artifacts, bricks, etc.).
 
What that means in real terms is that assigning the most junior member of the team to write up the bottles (or any other artifact class), based on a two-week learning curve, no longer works well.  The information is too vast, and accuracy is too important.
 
I understand the time and financial constraints, especially with CRM firms, and I know that few will undertake major expensive revisions in current methods.  However, the BRG and many others on this list offer free consulting.  Members of the BRG receive several requests for information each week (sometimes several per day!), and we give away information freely.
 
When I began, I did not intend for this to be a commercial.  My point is that we need to delve more deeply into the information -- that IS available -- in order to achieve a better understanding of the past.
 
Bill


 
 
 
 
Bill Lockhart
Professor of Sociology
New Mexico State University
Alamogordo, NM
(575) 439-3732
>>> Susan Walter <[log in to unmask]> 6/27/2012 10:10 AM >>>
June 20, 2012

Happy Summer everyone.

I read this yesterday:

"Thought of the day:  'The things people discard tell more about them than the things they keep.'  Really?  We saw this saying in a magazine and aren't sure we agree.  Do you?"
    Kovels on Antiques and Collectibles Volume 38 Number 11, July 2012: page 129.

As a historic archaeologist, I often wonder if I am misinterpreting the site's inhabitants because of the garbage - artifacts - that I have on hand to interpret, especially when the written record is sparce and there are no descendants to give insight.

I may do a brief caveat in a report, but I wonder how or if you all out there address this skewed version of the at times very specific individuals we claim to understand just from their garbage.

S. Walter