Heritage of Value, Archaeology of Renown: Reshaping Archaeological Assessment and Significance

359 Pages·2004·3.4 MB·English

by  Clay Mathers

H E R I T A G E
O F V A L U E,
A R C H A E O L O G Y
O F R E N O W N
Reshaping Archaeological Assessment and Significance
Edited by
Clay Mathers,
Timothy Darvill,
and Barbara J. Little
Heritage of Value, Archaeology of Renown
Cultural Heritage Studies
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
New College of Florida
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola
Cultural Heritage Studies
Edited by Paul Shackel, University of Maryland
The University Press of Florida is proud to announce the creation of a new series devoted to the
study of cultural heritage. This thematic series brings together research devoted to understand-
ing the material and behavioral characteristics of heritage. The series explores the uses of heri-
tage and the meaning of its cultural forms as a way to interpret the present and the past. The
series highlights important scholarship related to America’s diverse heritage.
Books include important theoretical contributions and descriptions of significant cultural
resources. Scholarship addresses questions related to culture and describes how local and na-
tional communities develop and value the past. The series includes works in public archaeology,
heritage tourism, museum studies, vernacular architecture, history, American studies, and mate-
rial cultural studies.
Heritage of Value, Archaeology of Renown: Reshaping Archaeological Assessment
and Significance, edited by Clay Mathers, Timothy Darvill, and Barbara J. Little (2005)
Heritage of Value,
Archaeology of Renown
Reshaping Archaeological Assessment
and Significance
Edited by Clay Mathers, Timothy Darvill, and Barbara J. Little
University Press of Florida
Gainesville/Tallahassee/Tampa/Boca Raton
Pensacola/Orlando/Miami/Jacksonville/Ft. Myers/Sarasota
Copyright 2005 by Clay Mathers, Timothy Darvill, and Barbara J. Little
Printed in the United States of America on recycled, acid-free paper
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Heritage of value, archaeology of renown: reshaping archaeological assessment
and significance / edited by Clay Mathers, Timothy Darvill, and Barbara J. Little.
p. cm. — (Cultural heritage studies)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-8130-3648-9
1. Cultural property—Management. 2. Cultural property—Valuation.
I. Mathers, Clay. II. Darvill, Timothy. III. Little, Barbara J. IV. Series.
CC135.H463 2005
363.6'9—dc22 2004058120
The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State
University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic
University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida
State University, New College of Florida, University of Central Florida, University
of Florida, University of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University
of West Florida.
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611-2079
http://www.upf.com
To Bill and Teg, whose significance remains in our hearts, and to Susan
and Dorothy for their enduring support, good humor, and cups of tea.
Clay Mathers
In memory of Dorothy A. Humpf
Barbara J. Little

Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
Foreword: Valuing Heritage and the Heritage of Value xiii
Preface and Acknowledgments xv
List of Abbreviations xvii
1. Introduction: Archaeological value in a world context 1
Clay Mathers, Timothy Darvill, and Barbara J. Little
I. Archaeology and heritage
2. “Sorted for ease and whiz”?: Approaching value and importance
in archaeological resource management 21
Timothy Darvill
3. Good citizens and sound economics: The trajectory of archaeology
in Britain from “heritage” to “resource” 43
John Carman
4. Shaping and suppressing the archaeological record: Significance
in American cultural resource management 58
Joseph A. Tainter and Bonnie Bagley
II. Archaeology in context
5. Archaeological significance and the governance of identity in cultural
heritage management 77
Laurajane Smith
6. “Rigidity and a changing order . . . disorder, degeneracy and daemonic
repetition”: Fluidity of cultural values and cultural heritage management 89
W. E. Boyd, Maria M. Cotter, Jane Gardiner, and Gai Taylor
7. The U.S. National Register of Historic Places and the shaping of archaeological
significance 114
Barbara J. Little
8. Reassessing archaeological significance: Heritage of value and archaeology
of renown in Brazil 125
Pedro Paulo A. Funari
9. Plastic value: Archaeological significance in South Africa 137
Gavin Whitelaw
III. Judging value and importance
10.“Drawing distinctions”: Toward a scalar model of value and significance 159
Clay Mathers, John Schelberg, and Ronald Kneebone
11.Significance in American cultural resource management: Lost in the past 192
Jeffrey H. Altschul
12.Archaeological deposits and value 211
Jane Grenville and Ian Ritchie
13.Archaeological and Indigenous significance: A view from Australia 227
Ian Lilley and Michael Williams
14.Sacredness, sensitivity, and significance: The controversy over Native
American sacred sites 248
Sherene Baugher
15.Traditional cultural properties and the national preservation program in the
United States 276
Nina Swidler and Michael Yeatts
IV. Managing valued places
16.Handling the unknown: The expanding role of predictive modeling
in archaeological heritage management in the Netherlands 289
Jos Deeben and Bert Groenewoudt
17.Assessing the cultural significance of World Heritage Sites: A case study from
Avebury, Wiltshire, England 301
Melanie C. Pomeroy
18.The bigger picture: Archaeology and values in long term cultural resource
management 317
Kate Clark
List of Contributors 331
Index 335
Figures
1.1.Sites discovered by year, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, 1900–1995 4
2.1.The hermeneutic relationship between subject and object 25
2.2.The place of preknowledge and experience in the relationship between
subject and object 25
2.3.The place of historical context in the hermeneutic cycle 26
2.4.The place of social values and specialist preknowledge and the relation-
ship between subject and object in the double-hermeneutic cycle 26
2.5.Value systems and importance systems within a generalized model of the
relationship between subject and object in the double-hermeneutic cycle
27
3.1.“Public” heritage values 51
4.1.Number of articles on how to practice cultural resource management
59
4.2a.Mean sizes of sites or components determined to be eligible or ineligible
for the National Register 61
4.2b.The presence of residential or religious structures produces a probability
of eligibility or ineligibility 61
10.1.New Mexico location map 162
10.2.Representation of National Register sites versus all known archaeologi-
cal sites, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, 1900–1995 163
10.3.Overall archaeological site distributions, Rio Arriba County, New Mex-
ico, 1900–1995 167
10.4.Comparison of site densities for buffers extending 1–10 km in the
Carson National Forest and the Tierra Amarilla Land Grant, Rio Arriba
County, New Mexico 167
10.5.Site visitation/recording frequency, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico,
1900–1995 169
10.6.Comparison of the frequency of sites < 1000 sq meters in size with those
> 1000 sq meters in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, 1971–1995 175
10.7.Idealized site definition strategies 176
10.8.Mean size data for National Register, vandalized, and nonvandalized
sites, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, 1900–1995 178
10.9.Distribution of vandalized sites, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico 179
10.10a.Methods used in archaeological site investigation in Rio Arriba County,
New Mexico, 1900–1995 182