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Archaeological Collections, Government Warehouses, and Anxious Moderns: The Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory

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Abstract

This paper focuses on archaeological curation repositories and their role as more than mere storage facilities. Archaeological collections are increasingly marshaled to confront anxieties about a seemingly ‘vanishing past’ and to arrest its disappearance. In Maryland, the state has invested heavily in a ‘state-of-the-art’ facility to protect and study archaeological collections in its custody. The facility has become the proxy for the collections and a form of cultural property itself, becoming part of the ongoing process that serves to recast this portion of the state as a place rooted in the past.

Résumé

Cet article met l’accent sur les dépositaires de sauvegarde archéologique et leur rôle bien supérieur à de simples entrepôts de stockage. Les collections archéologiques sont, de plus en plus, réunies pour assurer leur préservation et empêcher leur disparition. Dans le Maryland l’état a investi massivement dans un entrepôt de pointe destiné à protéger et étudier les collections archéologiques placées sous sa garde. L’entrepôt est devenu le mandataire des collections et constitue une forme de propriété culturelle par lui-même, en constituant une partie du processus en cours qui sert à refondre cet ensemble en tant que lieu prenant racine dans le passé.

Resumen

Este trabajo trata de los depósitos de custodia arqueológica y su función como mucho más que simples almacenes. Cada vez es más común presentar las colecciones arqueológicas como un medio para aliviar la angustia por un pasado que parece esfumarse y para detener su desaparición. En Maryland, el estado ha invertido considerables sumas de dinero en instalaciones de tecnología punta donde proteger y estudiar las colecciones arqueológicas que tiene bajo su custodia. Esta instalación se ha convertido en el estandarte de las colecciones y constituye por sí sola una forma de propiedad cultural que forma parte integrante del proceso continuo orientado a cambiar la imagen de esta parte del estado y presentarla como un lugar con fuertes raíces históricas.

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Charles Cobb and Diana Loren for inviting me to participate in the symposium at the 2006 meeting of the Society for American Archaeology that led to the development of this paper. I am also grateful to the staff of the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory for their commitment to the preservation and accessibility of Maryland’s archaeological heritage and their struggle within state government to professionalize archaeological collections management. I am especially grateful to Ed Chaney for sharing his views on the meaning of collections management and the MAC Lab.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 18952 E. Fisher Road, St. Mary’s City, MD, 20686, USA

    Julia A. King

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Correspondence to Julia A. King.

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King, J.A. Archaeological Collections, Government Warehouses, and Anxious Moderns: The Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory. Arch 4, 264–287 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-008-9069-5

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