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The Maxwell Museum of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico has in its storage a collection of materials excavated during several UNM archaeological field schools held at the Tijeras Pueblo archaeological site between 1971 and 1976. Some of the artifacts have been analyzed, some have not. But one thing for sure, the collection needed to be archived to make it accessible to researchers.
And so through a collaborative effort by Dr, Dave Phillip, Curator of Archaeology at UNM, and a number of volunteers (the greater number of them being Friends of Tijeras Pueblo members), the Tijeras Archiving Project was launched on Election Day of 2004! The collection of artifacts had been stored in the paper bags and cardboard boxes in which it was initially placed during the field schools of the 70's and was just waiting for exactly this kind of attention. At the start of this project there were well over 1500 boxes to be processed. As of August 15, 2006 the dedicated Archiving Crew was down to exactly 118 boxes left to archive!
The purpose of the Archiving project has been to transfer all the archaeological materials into archival quality plastic bags and lidded storage boxes, then to record every bag and every box, first on paper and then on computer. The goal has been to make every item accessible through a computer record that details contents, catalog number, box number and shelf location. The artifacts have been boxed by type, i.e. ceramics, lithics, wood, bone, corn, charcoal and so on. A researcher should be able, ultimately, to search the computer for all 'charred corn', for instance, and find each and every bag and box containing just that.
The student notebooks, field supervisors notes, specimen cards, preliminary written reports and computer printouts from the initial analyses were catalogued first. These items are in permanent storage in archival boxes on shelves in the first-floor laboratory of the Hibben building at UNM. The artifact materials will be in permanent storage in the basement of the Hibben building across the sidewalk form the Maxwell Museum.
The Albuquerque Archaeological Society has materials from their excavations at AS-10, part of the Tijeras complex. Those materials will be accessed into the UNM collection as part of our work. There are also unprocessed materials from a salvage dig done in 1979 by Stu Peckham. These materials, obtained from a room block at Tijeras, are presently in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The Archiving Crew meets on Wednesdays at UNM to process materials into plastic bags and boxes, and then record them. Anyone interested in participating in this project is welcomed to join in, whether of one day, one month or until the project is completed. Karen Armstrong, who was very instrumental in the creation of this project, says that she foresees completion of the work by the end of 2006 or sooner. You can email us at info@friendsoftijeraspueblo.org to get more information about how to join in.
The Archiving Crew, who as we stated earlier are mostly Friends fob Tijeras Pueblo members, consists of Tim Brown, Sonya Dobberfuhl, Roger Houghton, Lionel and Sandy Hurtkoff, Jeanice Jensen, Jacqueline Johnson, Luther Rivera, Lou Schuyler, Judy Vredenberg, Linda Vogel, Nancy Woodworth, Candace Lord, Ann Yeck, and Diane Zentner. Thanks to you all for your participation in this valuable and exciting project!
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