We’ve been trying a number of weekly social media events on the Facebook pages of various Arkansas Archeological Survey (ARAS) stations. “Throwback Thursday,” a wide-ranging phenomenon across the Book of Faces, has been used for showing off images from past fieldwork. In the past year or so, some of our stations have been contributing to “What Did We Find Wednesdays,” showing interesting or evocative finds.
These two basically show data collection (fieldwork) and analysis (artifacts). But, what of the final stage of archaeological research, reporting results? Let’s address that with a new section, which to continue the trend of alliterative titles, which I’m dubbing “Monograph Mondays.”
Some guiding principles
- The work can be a book, journal article, or piece of gray literature, but it should be quality work and an important contribution to our understanding of the past in your respective research areas. These can be, but don’t have to be, the “master works” for local areas. If it’s interesting, write a blurb about it.
- The material should be available to the general public in some way shape or form. If it’s a book, it should at least be available in the library of your station’s host institution. If it’s gray literature, it should be available from a source such as DTIC (for Department of Defense reports).
- Preference should be given to works that you don’t need three PhDs and a spare brain to understand.
- While giving some idea of what the work is about, you don’t need to give a full report on it. A little taste will suffice
Now it’s up the flagpole. Let’s see if anyone decides to salute.
