Origins of Term When the term was coined in the 1960s, it referred mainly to archeological efforts to find cultural information before an area was obliterated by the construction of reservoirs, power plants, or roads, or before land was leveled for irrigation.J. Hester, “Primary Methods in Salvage Anthropology,” Anthropological Quarterly 41, No. 3 Dam Anthropology: River Basin Research (Special Issue) (July 1968): 132, URL These projects were often conducted under time restrictions, based on when the area was slated for destruction. Ibid. , 134. Collection Methods Nineteenth- and early-twentieth century salvage anthropology often was undertaken through disrespectful and disingenuous methods. Archeologists often removed artifacts and human remains from grave sites, paying little attention to whether they were actively being used to bury relatives of tribe members. Ibid. , 184. As archeologists and anthropologists scrambled to preserve a “disappearing” culture, they disrupted memorialization of relatives and ancestors. By the late 1980s, it was estimated that museums, other institutions and private collectors possessed between 300,000 and 2.5 million bodies of American Indians.Jane Weaver, “Indian Presence with No Indians Present: NAGPRA and its Discontents,” Wicazo Sa Review 12, No. 2 (Autumn, 1997): 14, URL Many objects were also obtained without the consent of their owners. Alanson Buck Skinner, who collected for the American Museum of Natural History from 1910 to 1914, was known as “The Little Weasel,” because of his collection techniques. Skinner used deception to acquire objects from the Menomini, claiming that the objects would be held in a “sacred place” with many other Menomini objects.Beck, “Collecting Among the Menomini,” 157. By thus removing objects from native cultures, American anthropologists took on the power to interpret and create narratives for the objects, rather than allowing them to remain part of Native cultural memory.
Origins of Term When the term was coined in the 1960s, it referred mainly to archeological efforts to find cultural information before an area was obliterated by the construction of reservoirs, power plants, or roads, or before land was leveled for irrigation.J. Hester, “Primary Methods in Salvage Anthropology,” Anthropological Quarterly 41, No. 3 Dam Anthropology: River Basin Research (Special Issue) (July 1968): 132, URL These projects were often conducted under time restrictions, based on when the area was slated for destruction. J. Hester, “Primary Methods in Salvage Anthropology,” Anthropological Quarterly 41, No. 3 Dam Anthropology: River Basin Research (Special Issue) (July 1968): 134, URL Collection Methods Nineteenth- and early-twentieth century salvage anthropology often was undertaken through disrespectful and disingenuous methods. Archeologists often removed artifacts and human remains from grave sites, paying little attention to whether they were actively being used to bury relatives of tribe members. Ronald Niezen, Spirit Wars: Native North American Religions in the Age of Nation Building (Berkeley: University of California Press: 2000) , 184. As archeologists and anthropologists scrambled to preserve a “disappearing” culture, they disrupted memorialization of relatives and ancestors. By the late 1980s, it was estimated that museums, other institutions and private collectors possessed between 300,000 and 2.5 million bodies of American Indians.Jane Weaver, “Indian Presence with No Indians Present: NAGPRA and its Discontents,” Wicazo Sa Review 12, No. 2 (Autumn, 1997): 14, URL Many objects were also obtained without the consent of their owners. Alanson Buck Skinner, who collected for the American Museum of Natural History from 1910 to 1914, was known as “The Little Weasel,” because of his collection techniques. Skinner used deception to acquire objects from the Menomini, claiming that the objects would be held in a “sacred place” with many other Menomini objects.Beck, “Collecting Among the Menomini,” 157. By thus removing objects from native cultures, American anthropologists took on the power to interpret and create narratives for the objects, rather than allowing them to remain part of Native cultural memory.
R
Ibid. , 134.
J. Hester, “Primary Methods in Salvage Anthropology,” Anthropological Quarterly 41, No. 3 Dam Anthropology: River Basin Research (Special Issue) (July 1968): 134, URL
R
Ibid.
Ronald Niezen, Spirit Wars: Native North American Religions in the Age of Nation Building (Berkeley: University of California Press: 2000)