Archaeology involves the interpretation of material culture from peoples in the past. But we rely on contemporary theoretical concepts and analytical tools to study the objects that we find.
Archaeology Division
Museums and the Restitution of Cultural Property
The policy of restitution raises many questions. These questions are an invitation to reassess the role of museums, curators, and professionals within a system of appropriation, or rather possession and disaffection, which has failed to communicate the moral, historical, and scientific implications of separating an item from its historical context.
The Digital Legacy Collections of Salmon Pueblo
Preservation and dissemination of data are at the heart of efforts to digitize and make accessible collections of legacy data from archaeological excavations.
What Did the Moon Landing Do for Archaeology?
It is true that the moon landing did not do much for archaeology. Yet, the space program and the space race, the military-industrial complex of the late 1950s and 1960s, along with other lines of research, created the fundamentals of what we use in spatial technology in archaeology today.
Building a Diverse and Inclusive Archaeology
How can we build a diverse and inclusive archaeology when the unequal access to our discipline starts at such a young age? If we want to understand the nuances of human history, we must make sure it is not about rich white people . If you run public outreach programs, I invite you to think carefully about to whom you direct these programs, and who shows up, and make a change to broaden your audience. If we each do our part, we can build a discipline that is as diverse as the past peoples that we study.
The 2019 Archaeology Division Student Awards
The Archaeology Division (AD) supports students with the Student Diversity Travel Grant and the Student Membership Award. Applications this year are due by September 15, 2019.
Archaeology of Menstruation
Worldwide, the amount of ethnographic and textual work on menstruation is disproportionate to the amount of archaeological work on the subject. Research into menstruation at Deir el-Medina is a step forward in the process of understanding how we can question the archaeological record to learn more about menstruation and its surrounding behaviors.
Practicing Heritage Means Life or Death in Rwanda
In Rwanda, the field of heritage production is dominated by the central government. National museums and memorials are part of the government’s efforts to establish a usable history for the country, where politicized divisions between ethnic groups, reinforced and reified during colonialism, resulted in a devastating genocide in 1994. Establishing a singular narrative and identity—along with the life-or-death stakes—means that the democratizing practices advocated within heritage scholarship circles are unlikely to gain traction.
My Path to the Archaeology of Child Migrants
The Undocumented Migration Project (UMP) is a long-term anthropological study of undocumented migration between Mexico and the United States that uses ethnography, archaeology, and forensic science to better understand this clandestine social process. Children are often set aside when talking or thinking about such an “adult” issue, yet they are still subjected to the same socio-political forces as adults. Part of Nicole Smith’s research project, involves the voices of those who migrated when they were children.
Black Feminist Science
Archaeologists have the potential to contribute to collective black history and memory, and to help black folks reconstruct their histories from a more politically aware viewpoint. I am a member of a historically disempowered and marginalized group with access to forms of elite knowledge, utilizing social theory and producing knowledge within a field that has traditionally been dominated by white men. From my position, I am able to rearticulate the stories of the black women in this collection and lend my own critical insights into the history of oppression.
