To Collect or Not to Collect,That is the Question. . . But Where’s the Point?

Many land managing agencies have policies that forbid the collection of artifacts during archaeological survey and, even under controlled situations, collection is determined to be an “Adverse Effect” under Section 106 compliance interpretations of the National Historic Preservation Act. The main rationale is that removal destroys the contextual information of the artifact in relation to the rest of the site. This paper argues that such “non-collecting policies” are short-sighted and do not “protect” artifacts from unauthorized removal. In these days of technology, when sub-meter GPS instruments and other tools are available to pinpoint the location of artifacts, we submit that not collecting artifacts with important information potential is deleterious to interpreting the archaeological record. This point will be made by a case study from the Coconino National Forest in northern Arizona that illustrates the excuse “if I don’t pick it up, someone else will,” is a correct assumption. Surface collections, properly documented, provide useful information that justifies their collection and curation for present-day and future research.