ABSTRACT
Most archaeologists practicing in the United States have been trained in a tradition of keeping everything that we find. In the Chesapeake region, archaeologists working on prehistoric and historic sites may recover thousands of oyster shells, which until recently were viewed as another redundant artifact class. Archaeological objects are not viewed as individual objects, such as tables and chairs might be, but rather, each flake or sherd is seen as part of the context from which it is recovered. It is that paradigm that releases such an overwhelming sense of primal fear when the thought of deaccessioning archaeological material is raised. Particularly in the early stages of preparing scopes of work or research designs, archaeologists must start to think about sampling redundant artifact types, such as fire-cracked rock or brick fragments. In the National Capital area, the decision is made by the same individual or group of individuals.
