A Time and Place: Structures of Knowledge at an Archeological Field-Site

In regards to the places where it happens, our shared beliefs about science encompass two seemingly contradictory positions. On the one hand, scientific-knowledge is understood as universal, and as being tied to nowhere in particular. On the other hand, we believe science cannot happen just anywhere, and more often than not, we imagine it at home in the highly controlled and cleansed environments of laboratories. In this dissertation I utilize ethnographic data collected at Angel Mounds (an active archeological field-site and museum) to describe somewhere very different than where we typically imagine science occurring. At Angel Mounds science is deeply rooted to the particulars of the site, scientists are not always in control, and things are rarely clean and neat. Yet rather than liabilities, I suggest these qualities are a reflection of the processes which make knowledge produced at Angel Mounds relevant and important. Alone in their labs, scientists are easily ignored and forgotten about, but with the help of others they extend their reach and power throughout society. This dissertation describes some of the ways Angel Mounds facilitates that expansion for the archeologists invested in the site, and in doing so, has a surprising degree of influence over the kind of archeology that gets made there