An interesting archetype of social / business anthropology (the "business anthropology" a degree in the Netherlands I saw in a MRI scan of human copulation) occurred while I worked for an RPA archaeologist Celia Bergoffen in the "Moore-Jackson" cemetery in Queens, NYC ("Woodside's landmarked Moore-Jackson cemetery" - Google). Various headstones are in the ground, now owned by the Queens Historical Society, and as part of a research project the archaeology of the area of the "community garden" where the headstones appear was investigated archaeologically. The relations house, at a crossroads, had been used by the British Army in the first battle of the American Revolution, in the "Battle of Long Island" which General Washington lost, and Donald Trump's father came to regret when he was called "Blitzkrieg Trump" when he developed and then handed out historical report to the new house owners of the battle site, reported in the "Brooklyn Eagle". The crossroads house owners were found "not guilty" of collaboration with the British forces in the early proceedings of the new American republic, which NYC was the first capitol of. Others may have been related to the author of the "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" which, at the time, the NY Times reported might be plagiarized from an Upstate call to tip the newsboy at the Holidays, a verse included in the bill!
Numerous reporters from the papers appeared while we were (a crew of two with the assistance of the Queens Borough Historian somedays) excavating and reported in the press, which I haven't read. However, it was interesting, because the stones had been placed (from 1700's to about 1900) in the ground from somewhere else in the lot, perhaps, by the Works Progress Administration, perhaps, or being next to the circa World War II Japanese-American nursery, recreated as garden, which is tended by a neighbor who has a key to the fenced in lot stretching from street to street. Each of the stones ended quite shallow in the ground and there was no pit outlines.
One of the questions I have, is if one works for the NPS, you are told to speak to the visitors (I worked for the NPS's Denver Service Center [slashed by the Reagan administration] in Allegheny Portage Railroad, Hopewell Village Foundry, both in PA; Fort McHenry, Baltimore, MD; The Moore Cabin, Skagway, AK; The William Floyd Manor, Mastic. NY, first NYer and fourth signer of the "Declaration of Independence" all national historic sites, most from former private property) or be considered rude, and encouraged to be friendly to promote the site and archaeology. On other sites I've had people who think they own the Constitution of the US tell people not to say a word. I think policy should be determined beforehand, but within the reasonable bounds we fought to win. Doing otherwise, I feel, leads to sloppy fieldwork, bad relations. On the other hand, its hard to get a retraction from an "archaeologist digs up cemetery" story when there ain't.
If you know anyone who might want to conduct a remote sensing prospection on the property, we thought it would be the next logical step for the Queens Historical Society. - at archaeologyfieldwork.com
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