Phil LeTourneau, an Archaeologist with the King County Historic Preservation Program, studies an artifact brought in for examination at last Saturday’s Highline Historical Society “Treasure Hunt” antiques appraisal, held at the Ruth Dykeman Children’s Center Gym in Burien.
Burke Museum Archaeologists Bob Kopperl and Laura Phillips are in the background.
Closeup of the artifact being examined.
People were invited to bring their treasures in and have them appraised.
“Among the artifacts brought in that day were arrowheads and other ancient stone tools, fossils, traditional Native American baskets and drums, as well as various carved figurines,” said Barbara McMichael of the society.
Photos Courtesy the Highline Historical Society (we’re members – join here).]]>
Just want to clarify that the archaeologists helped to identify the objects in terms of material type, function and culture area. We do not do appraisals–determine objects values.The commercialization–buying and selling of artifacts for personal enjoyment or profit–results in the destruction of archaeological sites and of contextual information that is essential to understanding the archaeological record.
There were two separate events occurring simultaneously – the antiques appraisal and the artifact identification. As Laura Phillips says, we archaeologists did not (and do not) appraise anything. But we did identify lots of interesting things!