Ralph J. Hartley and Anne M. Wolley Vawser
ABSTRACT
Anthropological archaeologists have long recognized
that the nature of the archeological record at a “site,” defined
spatially and by artifact assemblage, is sometimes the result
of hundreds of years of intermittent and diverse activities by
unrelated individuals or kin groups. Many “sites” with
observable remains of prehistoric or historic Native American
activities are places amenable to contemporary use by individuals
in an era of sophisticated mobility. These means of moving about
the landscape often result in increased use of a place by any
number of individuals but with less time occupying the place
per individual. The result being that a place may be visited
by a great number of individuals for a short period of time per
person. The siting of a “campground” on public land,
for example, is often topographically situated such that humans
may have intermittently occupied this place for centuries, with
the resultant material remains of past activities. One consequence
of this siting is conflict between the preservation of the remains
of these historic activities and that of continued use of the
place, where “use” may involve the potential alteration
or destruction of these remains.
Archeological sites in the Black Hills National Forest are places
where both the effects of vandalism and graffiti can be observed.
The purpose of this study is to (1) assess what situational factors
are associated with a prehistorically occupied site that make
it amenable to contemporary marking or the target of firearm
discharge; and (2) to ascertain how the morphology and technique
used in recent markings varies with these settings. This study
is therefore not focused on interpreting use of prehistoric sites
in the recent past but rather to initiate an effort to categorize
variation in observations about contemporary activities and to
derive testable predictions about future behavior at these places.
Also, results of this study permit questions to be posed that,
although more broad in scope, lend themselves to potential empirical
research.