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Coast archafSlogist urges united effort in site studies
DALE GREENWELL
JERRY KINSER Herald Staff Writer Coast historian and archaeologist Dale Greenwell has urged a stronger affiliation between professional and amateur archaeologists on the Coast. ?They need each other,? he said.
He said a full understanding and appreciation of the two roles ?is vital to the success of Coastal archaeology.?
Greenwell takes issue with a statement by Dr. Barry Lewis in a recent newspaper article that ?very little research of an archaeological nature has been done on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, compared to other coasts of adjacent states."
Lewis, professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois, has received a grant for an archaeological site survey of the Bay St. Louis area.
Greenwell said between 1971 and 1979, the University of Southern. Mississippi conducted 10 major archaeological projects on the Coast and the South Mississippi Archaeological group conducted another five.
?None of these excavations has been published as yet,? said
Greenwell, ?and that has added, perhaps, to the opinion of some that there has been no professional work on the Coast.?
He said the data collected through these projects and the survey of more than 350 other Coastal sites has just begun to provide a suitable and sufficient sample of the archaeology of the Coast.
Said Greenwell: ?To have begun publication of data earlier would have been premature due to the lack of knowledge of our prehistory." However, he said, ?Assumptions could have been made through contiguous states' archaeology with limited data from our area."
Greenwell said Coast archaeologists are now reaching a point of acquired knowledge that will enable them to produce a more accurate prehistory.
"Although there is never enough data or enough people to gather it, we have, nonetheless, accumulated great quantities in the last 10 years,? he said.
Greenwell urged that professional and amateur archaeologists work closer together in the future than has been the case in the past. "There are always more amateurs around than professionals, but most amateurs prefer to pursue their interests alone, which frequently results in the loss of valuable data, either through ignorance or design.?
Greenwell said over the years, a small number of amateurs has worked under scientifically controlled investigation of Coastal sites along with professionals and have contributed invaluable service to archaeology.
?On the other end of the scale," he said, ?are some who have wantonly destroyed valuable data through ignorance or other reasons.
?Persons interested in amateur field work should contact the professionals at the universities in their respective areas, or their state departments of archives and history," said Greenwell.
Greenwell is a part-time faculty member with the University of Southern Mississippi, teaching anthropology on the Gulf Park Cam-
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