Jon Hanna is an undergraduate here at Montclair State University. He
submitted this review last week and I have edited and revised it slightly
during the review process. Anita Cohen-Williams will be reviewing the
entire series from which this text hails at some time in the future, and
from a very different perspective.

Archaeology by Design



By Stephen Black
and Kevin Jolly
Walnut Creek, CA:
AltaMira Press
2003, 157 pp., $22.95.



Reviewed for Archreview
by Jon Hanna,
an Montclair State University
Undergraduate Student,
Department of Anthropology
and
Center for Archaeological
Studies.

"If archaeologists are to continue to suckle the CRM teat in the twenty-first
century, we sure better be learning
things worth knowing." (68) Designing such
worthwhile research projects in the real
world of politics, money, and "archaeology
by default," (15) however, is a lot more
complicated than the novice archaeologist
may expect. Thus, Archaeology By Design
by Stephen Black and Kevin Jolly
(both associated with the University of
Texas at Austin) intends to educate the
newest generation of archaeologists on
how to "think first, [and] dig later" (83)
when framing archaeological research.
Black and Jolly's discussion forms the
cornerstone (Volume 1) of the new
Archaeologist's Toolkit series edited by Larry
Zimmerman (Minnesota Historical Society)
and William Green (Logan Museum of
Anthropology at Beloit College).

Stephen Black (Ph.D., Harvard) is editor
of "Texas Beyond History, a public
education project of the Texas
Archeological Research Laboratory-TARL- at UT
Austin where he is also a research
associate. Dr. Black has been involved in
various aspects of CRM archaeology since
the 1970s. Kevin Jolly is also a
research associate of TARL as well as the
Vice President of Technology for RW3
Technologies, Inc., a business management
and technology provider. Together they
outline everything from CRM jargon to
assessing how much toilet paper is likely to
be used during fieldwork. Individual
chapters systematically address how to create
realistic research questions, develop a
functional strategy for answering them, and
then write the results up in a useful
final report.

As dry as the subject may seem at some
points, Black and Jolly do their best to
lighten the mood while keeping their
discussion from diverting into other topics.
This habit allows for brief side notes on
archaeological specializations (such as
geoarchaeology), handling work-relations,
being honest, keeping everyone
informed, accepting (and asking for)
criticism, and an adequate basic survey of
CRM history and laws in North America
(although if your looking for the specifics
on CRM logistics, you'd be better off
investing in a volume intended for that
purpose- some of which are listed in this
title's annotated bibliography). An
emphasis is also placed on the importance
of keeping updated on current research,
and an appendix offers various starting
points in "Journals You Should Read"
(131). The authors also offer sound
advice on many aspects of developing a
realistic project design- including how
to involve the public's interest (a topic
actually covered in Presenting the Past-
the final volume of the Toolkit series).
Perhaps the most emphasis, however, is
placed on the importance of being a
legitimate CRM archaeologist and a
pragmatic decision-maker rather than indulging
the temptation of riding a mechanical
routine through every contract (an approach
they label as "archaeology by default" (15)).

The strengths of this work are abundant,
but perhaps the only apparent weakness
is its brevity. Though said to be the
soul of wit, brevity seems to hamper thorough
treatment of the authors' points and some
are left unsupported by examples. Of
course, the advice is quite beneficial
and the repetition of some points could be
accepted as emphasis. This brevity,
however, also necessitates a cursory
discussion of academic research design.
Though the authors certainly do give an
outline of an academic research project,
complete with an example of UT's lengthy
research at the Classical Mayan site of
Colha, Belize, the up close and personal
intricacies of the CRM world are more
thoroughly addressed than those of the
academic perspective. The distinction
between the two worlds (i.e. their history
together) is also emphasized and
sufficiently discussed. Black and Jolly probably
favored an emphasis on the contracting
world because of the more problematic
nature of research design that world
faces, and the fact that most of the
archaeology conducted in the developed
world is non-academic.

Naturally the goals of theoretically
guided and question-based research are
ubiquitously expressed throughout
archaeological research publications, but the
issues of realistically implementing such
ideals in contract archaeology is rarely
discussed outside of professional
conferences. As an Anthropology undergraduate
with less than a year's experience in the
field, I found the book to be quite helpful in
clarifying the mysterious jargon and
procedures often encountered in the CRM
domain. This self-help style paperback
provides quick info and theoretical models
while also offering useful, realistic
advice for the totally unexposed beginner to
serious Cultural Resource Management.
Insights on this topic are not always
available in college textbooks and
classes, making this book an excellent
elucidation of an oral archaeological
tradition that's finally been written down for
those who need it most- the earnest
students of archaeology.


Jonathan Hanna
Anthropology/Archaeology Undergraduate at
Montclair State University
hannaj1@...