Marine Shell from Australian Historic Sites: Research Design and Data Standardisation

This paper describes a computer-based system designed to facilitate both description and interpretation of environmental and cultural information about marine molluscs from colonial-period sites in south eastern Australia. The study is based on work in progress on materials from primarily nineteenth...

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Published inAustralasian historical archaeology : journal of the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology Vol. 23; no. 2005; pp. 71 - 77
Main Author COLLEY, SARAH
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Sydney The Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology 01.01.2005
Copyright Agency Limited (Distributor)
Subjects
Archaeological excavation
Archaeological sites
Archaeology
Dana Mider and Associates Pty Ltd
Data analysis
Data bases
Excavations
Historic artifacts
Historic sites
Historical archaeology
History
Marine life
Mollusks
Quadrant site (46-60 Mountain Street and 147-179 Broadway, Sydney)
Quadrants
Research design
Standardization
Sydney
Taxa
Australia
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Summary:This paper describes a computer-based system designed to facilitate both description and interpretation of environmental and cultural information about marine molluscs from colonial-period sites in south eastern Australia. The study is based on work in progress on materials from primarily nineteenth-century contexts at the Quadrant site in Sydney excavated by Dana Mider & Associates Pty Ltd. ahead of development work under NSW legislation. Potential research questions linked to marine molluscs are outlined. Only some of these can be addressed solely on the basis of shell data previously recorded to a 'basic minimum standard' to meet statutory requirements. The link between data, research questions, research design and research context are discussed. Good research design is argued to be an open-ended and flexible process which can accommodate the interpretative nature of archaeology. This has broader implications for debates about standardisation of artefact recording currently topical in Australian historical archaeology.
Bibliography:AHA.jpg
Australasian Historical Archaeology, Vol. 23, 2005: 71-77
ISSN:1322-9214
2209-0134
DOI:10.2561/1322-9214.23..1202