This article suggests archaeologists, like myself, should do more to manage what they collect. What about situations with mandatory 100% collection guidelines? Or, projects with no culling protocols? Or, projects where there is no limit on the size of historical artifacts get collected. I’ve collected tens of thousands of near microscopic glass and ceramic fragments because of adherence to near-sighted, ancient regulations. It seems like, since repositories have the option of deaccessioning, the archaeologists need to make more of an effort to help them with this process.

We are rapidly facing a situation where repositories may refuse to take historical artifacts at all. And archaeologists may start culling collections in the field at their own discretion. There is some indication this is already taking place.

The fact that, after 40 years, we’re still talking about this is even worse than the fact that we rarely, if ever, revisit these collections. What are our alternatives?

Archaeology is implicitly an information science; there is much that we can learn from libraries, museums, and archives (which are understood to be information centers and have, therefore, been developing methods of information management and ACCESS for decades). Yet we continue to manage archaeological collections in a vacuum… why? Another great concept we stand to learn from these information fields is that PEOPLE are at the heart of what we do… people TODAY, not ancient people! We do archaeology ultimately so that we better understand our place in the universe, not just knowledge for knowledge’s sake. The popular notion of archaeology is that “archaeologists excavate.” I feel this contributes to looting because people think that’s what archaeology is all about—obtaining relics. Archaeology is the scientific interpretation of material culture, not the scientific study of excavation! Instead of taking students into the field to generate more collections for the sake of learning field methods, take them to a repository and teach them how to curate and utilize collections. Not to say that field methods aren’t important because they are; I’m just saying that maybe we should put the emphasis where it belongs.