Doing Archaeology on Public Land

By Mario Castillo
FODAAP 2015 Staff

When Fort Davis Archaeology Project members engage in archaeological field work, that is, when they excavate, record, document, and examine square holes in the ground or investigate the artifacts that emerge from these holes, they are being seen. Put simply, to do archaeology at Fort Davis National Historic Site is to be seen doing archaeology.

So what kind of responsibility do the FODAAP project members have to the people that see them do these investigations? Do chance encounters between excavators and spectators offer opportunities to learn more about what it means to do archaeology in general, and what it means to do archaeology at Fort Davis? I think it depends on how close visitors at Fort Davis can get to the archaeology at Fort Davis. I mean not only seeing an archaeological excavation up close, but also participating in the excavation itself.

This season I gave visitors at Fort Davis an accurate representation of what it is like to excavate and document archaeological units and what it means to do archaeology at the site. At one point in the season, my work site was located very close to where visitors walked by to explore the site. I would get questions like “Have you found anything yet?” or “What are you doing?” Depending on the type of person that I encountered I would give them different types of information.

At Public Day I got the chance to explain to visitors about the principles and techniques of archaeology. I explained that as anthropological archaeologists we explore culture through material remains of patterned behavior. I explained the indexical nature of artifact analysis—the fact that pieces and chunks of excavated materials point to behaviors like a weathervane points to where wind blows. I explained the methodical and often mundane act of stratigraphic excavations. But most importantly I explained about the destructive nature of archaeology insofar as the act of excavation and documentation means that we can only capture part of what we uncover—the parts that seem most interesting to us.

And here is the point of convergence that makes doing archaeology on public land and interesting activity. You never know who will come across your excavation unit. Depending on the context of the situation the next project may materialize within the exchange between excavator and spectator.