Assistant Curator, zooarchaeological specialist

Primary Function

The Assistant Curators provide strategic support to the curatorial department primarily through the supervision of artifacts as they move through the various stages of artifact processing. They are primarily responsible for collections management tasks including cataloging, inventory management, and general lab supervision. Assistant Curators also aid the curators in the development of the Jamestown Rediscovery Archaeological Reference Collection through inventory, research, physical organization, and data entry. The zooarchaeological specialist will have a particular focus on the faunal, shell, coral, and fossil material in the collection, which comprises about a quarter of total recovered archaeological finds in the collection.

As Historic Jamestowne is a public archaeology site, Assistant Curators disseminate information about the site to visitors via on-site interpretation, answering questions, giving tours, and participating in the creation of videos, website content, and social media.

The Assistant Curators, with departmental colleagues, support the Jamestown Rediscovery Archaeology Department when necessary. This may include on-site interpretation and providing artifact or collections based data for reporting or site analysis. The Assistant Curators may have other duties assigned by the Director of Collections or other departmental staff in support of special events and visitor assistance.

Work to be Performed

• Assist with the care and management of the collections. To include: maintaining organization and inventories of artifacts and samples taken in the field, collaboration with conservation staff when necessary, assistance with preparatory and post-event tasks related to disaster response, support maintenance of inventories of archaeological laboratory supplies, and upholding cleanliness and organization of laboratory areas.
• Undertake proper documentation of the artifacts and objects in the collection, including artifact identification and cataloging, long-term artifact housing, data editing and verification of database accuracy, and artifact photography.
• Assist with the development and maintenance of the Jamestown Rediscovery Reference Collection, with a particular focus on the faunal and shell Reference Collections.
• For faunal material specifically, in collaboration with the Director of Collections and the Curator, facilitate internal and external faunal research, including reviewing and collaborating on outside research requests and grant applications.
• Create and maintain a laboratory processing guide and basic faunal/shell artifact identification guide for use in the laboratory by volunteers and students.
• Perform basic analysis and prepare general feedback reports on cataloged or inventoried data. Contribute to archaeological reports and papers in the form of database queries and help to facilitate targeted artifact photography.
• Participate in public outreach and education-related tasks to include social media, website content, and tours.
• Assist to supervise daily laboratory procedures, including supervision of volunteers, field staff, and field school students, and collaboration with conservation staff.
• Assist the collections team on special assignments and perform other related duties as required. As the faunal specialist, this would specifically include the development of the faunal Comparative Collection as time and resources allow.