Summary and Conclusions

Abstract

The role of the archaeologist is to record the physical associations of the cultural material found on a site in a controlled manner and then to account for those associations as fully as possible. Through the process of developing questions or hypotheses, testing them, and observing the results, the ultimate goal is to understand the cultural system and behavior that produced the associations. After analyzing the materials located at the Pulaski Site and five other shipwreck sites in the Dry Tortugas, we can begin to formulate generalizations about the relationship between culture, technology, and resistance to change in the nineteenth century merchant marine.