Outreach, Education, and Archaeological Collections: Public Archaeology at the Office of the Wyoming State Archaeologist

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Touching the Past: Public Archaeology Engagement through Existing Collections" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Office of the Wyoming State Archaeologist (OWSA) has become increasingly focused on implementing public outreach initiatives to more effectively engage Wyoming’s citizenry in archaeological investigations and collections care. Our office manages the University of Wyoming Archaeological Repository, and the incorporation of our educational collection in our outreach efforts have had a demonstrable impact on our ability to more effectively engage with interested publics. Archaeological investigations benefit from the inclusion of a wide range of stakeholders in the identification, investigation, interpretation, and preservation of these resources. As a public agency conducting archaeology, it is incumbent upon us to include interested individuals in the archaeological process; more effectively connecting participants to their local history and shared cultural heritage. The active inclusion of a wide range of individuals in the archaeological process serves to make our office, the work we do, and the archaeological record more relevant in today’s world. This paper will highlight recent public outreach initiatives undertaken by OWSA including archaeology fairs, a program involving high school students in archaeological digs, and a new Avocational Archaeology Training Program, and discuss the challenges and benefits of each.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Touching the Past: Public Archaeology Engagement through Existing Collections   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25705