Scale in Archaeological Interpretation and Information Management: An Example from Cape Cod, Massachusetts

This review of data from and interpretations about the archaeology of the outer Cape Cod area considers variation over time as new discoveries led to fuller explanations of the record in this area. Knowledge about the ancient past of the region is cumulative and colored by changes in the analytical perspective of researchers during the second half of the twentieth century. Archaeological data in this area has been brought to the surface, literally. through both purposeful archaeological investigations and inadvertent discoveries of archaeological material. The means of data discovery also has affected cultural interpretations during this period. The interpretive variation over time is matched by change in technical means of how information about the archaeological record is produced, managed, and distributed. The scale of the data, in this case from test unit, to site area, to the Nausel Marsh locality in Eastham, Massachusetts, to southern New England, to all of northeastern North America, affects cultural interpretations, as does the analytical perspective of the investigator.