Archaeological collections on their own has little meaning except as interesting objects if they are separated from their archival material (unit forms, excavation forms, profile notes/maps). I am saying this as both an archaeologist and a curator.  If you have the paperwork that goes with the artifacts, then you should curate the material by site provenience (area/unit/level). I also suggest you contact the sate Historic Preservation Agency/Office for whatever state the site is located in order to identify if the site has been recorded. If it has been recorded, the state may have associated paperwork that goes with the site. They may also have copies of any possible report that was written on the site.
Good luck!
Sara PfannkucheMidwest Archaeological Research Services, Inc.
Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2013 13:25:15 -0500
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Accessioning archaeological collections?
To: [log in to unmask]

Colyn,

Have you looked at the Society for Historical Archaeology website (www.sha.org)? There are resources there that can help you (http://www.sha.org/research/research_resources.cfm).



Have you contacted any archaeologists/cultural resource management firms in your area? They can be of great help to you.

Have you contacted other museums or historic sites in your area that have historical archaeological collections to see how they deal with this material?



Have you contacted your state department of historic resources? They may be able to help you as well.

The organization, cataloging and storage of archaeological materials is very much a current topic in historical archaeology today, and I hope that other Museum-L list members who are archaeologists will have other suggestions for you.



Good luck!

Martha Katz-Hyman
Curator
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
Williamsburg, VA






On Mon, Dec 9, 2013 at 12:09 PM, Colyn Hunt <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


Hello all,

 


I am an intern at a historic museum that is trying to sort through several boxes of various archaeological artifacts from the 1700 & early 1800s
(broken wine bottles, a dozen wine glass stems, a box of 
potsherds, a box of at least 100 assorted pipe stems and bowls, etc.) that 
were donated to the museum in the '80s and accessioned as a whole with a
 deed of gift form.



 


I am seeking advice and book recommendations on how others have gone about accessioning and storing
such items.


 
Most of what I've found seems only to deal with archaeology in the field, not once it needs long term storage and organization.


 


Thanks for your help!
Colyn Hunt







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