Archaeology as Meditative Practice

Summary

In this paper I will illustrate how my research praxis necessarily altered as a product of close collaboration and consultation. The Muwekma Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area (California, USA), is a community that has been eager to engage with respectful researchers in the analysis of their ancestors remains, once they have been disturbed. As a non-indigenous researcher collaborating with the tribal community, aspects of proper respect and care towards ancestors, and materials associated with them, in the form of focus, love, respect and acknowledgement, have been integral in my engagement with plant remains from ancestral Ohlone graves. The ethics of calm, careful, and one pointed focus throughout material analyses have deeply altered the way that I have engaged with archaeological materials, and have illustrated a necessity to transcend secular and materialist ontologies when interacting with, and thinking about, Muwekma’s ancestral heritage.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Archaeologies of Heart: Exploring the Role of Emotion and Spirit in Archaeological Research and Practice

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14797