All Posts David R. Wilcox – “Synergies of Success: Stories of Cooperation between Professional and Avocational Archaeologists in Arizona””
The history of archaeology is replete with stories about the synergies that have come from relationships between professional and avocational archaeologists whose cooperation repeatedly has produced significant contributions to knowledge. Recalling some of those stories today is a valuable reminder of how such success is crafted, and perhaps a guide to how it again can be realized. Looking first to my own experiences, I remember my time with the AAHS and the research team I organized with president Steve Larson to study the archaeology of Tumamoc Hill, resulting in publication of a whole issue of Kiva (1979). More recently, I have worked with members of the Arizona Archaeological Society on a “hilltop survey” and I will have a poster summarizing that work. Principally, however, I want to look again at the early years of avocational/professional archaeological collaborations in Arizona, beginning with the Hemenway Expedition of 1886-1889, the Arizona Antiquarian Association of 1895-1901, the formation of the “Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society” in Phoenix in 1912, and its merger with a group organized by Byron Cummings in Tucson in 1916. What came of those efforts in the early days of “professional” archaeology is discussed, and I present an analysis of the membership of those groups, comparing them to a later support group that coalesced around Cummings, the Hohokam Museums Association. The differences between the strategic alliances forged by Cummings is then contrasted with those implemented by Emil Haury when he returned to the University of Arizona in 1937-38. A few comments of lessons we may learn are then made.