Had to interrupt the morning identification to head over to the Maxwell Museum. Every time I head in to the Maxwell I wonder, why don’t I come here more often? It’s a terrific museum – definitely worth a visit if you’re ever in the Albuquerque area.
I visited the Maxwell this morning to look for a collection for my zooarchaeology class to work with this fall. I need an assemblage small enough that students can manage it as a part of the class but large enough – and identifiable enough – for students to learn from. Fortunately there are several options at the Maxwell, and they are well-curated (not always a given) and so will be easy to work with. Dave Phillips, curator of archaeology, kindly interrupted his morning to show me some possibilities.
I think we’re going to go with the faunal material from the Tijeras Pueblo archaeological site – there’s plenty of it, there’s good chronological control, and there’s the potential for the students to come up with some interesting research questions.