by Christopher W. Merritt, Ph.D. , Utah State Historic Preservation Officer
Archaeology, like many scientific disciplines, relies on formal plans called a research design. Research designs lay out the fundamental justification for why the work is necessary and what questions we try to answer about the past. These questions help guide an archaeologist, like a rudder steers a ship, from excavating sites to laboratory work, or even searching for sites in the desert.
One such example is the Ordnance Storehouse at Fort Douglas on the east bench of Salt Lake City, where the Utah State Historic Preservation Office has developed a research design. Divided into three main sections (context/background, research questions, and methods) the research design first provides the historical and bureaucratic background of Fort Douglas which establishes the context for our research questions, and finally how (methods) archaeologists plan on answering those questions.
The background section of a research design helps to establish the foundational history of the subject from a broad view (Fort Douglas) to one that is more narrow (Ordnance Storehouse). To build a successful background section, you could write for years on a complex and long-term military installation. The key is to focus the research design on the most important historical pieces to guide research questions. In this case, we begin with a simple summary of Fort Douglas’ history from the first arrival of the United States Army in 1858, all the way up the University of Utah’s acquisition of the property in the 1990s and the Olympics developments of the early 2000s. But specifically, we attempted to gather photographs, maps, and written descriptions of our focus, the Ordnance Storehouse. The background provides the context of our research questions.
In the research questions section, we narrow our questions to the Ordnance Storehouse; specifically investigating construction details, periods of construction or demolition, materials, and especially its contents. We had only a few photos with the limited descriptions to understand the when (built in 1863 and demolished in the early 1880s), and the what (red sandstone foundation and walls); but as for use and contents we lacked crucial information. Here we turned to United States Army manuals in order to understand the use and content classifications of the 19th century Ordnance Department. These fragments of information helped us to construct straightforward research questions that aimed to increase our understanding of the foundational elements of the Ordnance Storehouse.
The final element of the research design lays out ‘how’ we intend to answer those questions. In this case, we plan to excavate the Ordnance Storehouse. We will begin with “+” shaped excavation trenches that will help us find all four walls in order to define the Ordnance Storehouse’s size and location and hopefully we will encounter relevant historic artifacts. The methods section comprehensively details the tools and techniques we employ for the excavation; from the hand tools and screen sizes, all the way to the laboratory methods after the fieldwork is completed.
As you can imagine, research designs vary in size and complexity depending on site type or the individual researcher’s focus and plans. Regardless of where an archaeologist works in the world, there are professional and often legal expectations of a research design to be completed, reviewed, and approved by a permitting agency or landowner. In Utah, we provided the Research Design to the University of Utah (the landowner), and the Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office at the Department of Natural Resources who issues permits for excavation on lands administered by the State of Utah.
One added benefit for the author is that much of the writing in the research design can be used as a base for the excavation report, which is another required piece of paperwork to document what we do as archaeologists. Archaeology by its nature is destructive, meaning we destroy the things we study, so writing those results up for the next generation of scholars to find and use is an inherent piece of our discipline. Questions drive research, and research drives our understanding of all human past!