The Social Construction of Backdirt in Chaco Archaeology

An article by Kelsey Hanson (SoA PhD candidate), “The Social Construction of Backdirt in Chaco Archaeology” was published in Journal of Field Archaeology. You can download the paper from this link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00934690.2024.2307122#abstract.

Abstract: Archaeologists routinely create backdirt during excavation, but it is rarely acknowledged and remains surprisingly undertheorized. In this paper, we treat backdirt as a uniquely archaeological product that is socially constructed and guided by culturally and historically situated motivations. Using Chaco Canyon as a case study, we examine the ways in which project priorities changed over nearly 150 years of excavation and (more recently) re-excavation. We illustrate the importance of understanding backdirt as a social product by comparing the avifaunal assemblages created by two major excavation projects at the great house of Una Vida. Differences in these assemblages demonstrate how changes in research goals structured what was collected, what was left as backdirt, and how this ultimately impacts interpretations about Chaco history. Finally, we offer thoughts about the future role of backdirt in archaeological praxis as a space to welcome feminist and Indigenous perspectives in the construction of archaeological narratives.