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Accepted Paper:

Rambling the rivers: the narrative of a shovel bum in the Ohio and MIssissippi Valleys  
Sheila Kohring (University of Cambridge)

Paper short abstract:

Commercial archaeology is often the poor relative to academic research in North America (and often in Great Britain as well). This paper explores archaeological practices and the presentation of excavation data within the US contract world with specific examples from the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.

Paper long abstract:

Commercial archaeology is often a primary vocation for fledging archaeologists wanting to "gain experience". However, often the realities of contract work often push to the limit ethics of "best practice" as inculcated in academic discourses. As a result, commercial archaeology is often the poor relative to academic research in North America and other western countries. This paper explores archaeological practices and the presentation of excavation data within the US contract world. The paper follows a narrative of experiences and engagements of one "shovel bum" working in the 1990s in the Mississippi and Ohio River Valleys. It then juxtaposes these experiences with academic expectations and practices redefined for research in Great Britain. After 10 years separation and a return to look at contract projects again, has anything changed?

Panel S10
The forgotten continent? Theorizing North America for UK-based researchers
  Session 1