Public Engagement and Education: Developing Heritage Stewardship

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

The biggest ally and advocate for the preservation and protection of archaeological materials is an informed public. Educating young students about the importance of ancient cultures, maintaining a lifelong dialog between archaeologists and the general public, and involving people in their own histories are essential for developing a sense of heritage stewardship. Presenting accurate archaeological information through various hands-on experiences, easily accessible digital data, and continuous learning opportunities bring archaeology into the everyday lives of all learners where they can develop respect and passion for the discipline. Participants in this session will share effective approaches for educating and engaging non-specialists about the field of archaeology in order to foster a shared responsibility for preserving the world’s collective heritage. Topics include discussions of K-12 curricula and service learning programs, approaches to teaching and developing undergraduate and graduate heritage studies, examining adult and senior enrichment programs as venues for archaeological education, and inspiring public awareness and action to protect heritage through the involvement of local residents, the use of curated materials, and the dissemination of digital data.

Other Keywords
heritage • Pedagogy • Education • Paleoethnobotany • Teaching • Public Outreach • Cultural Heritage • digital archaeology • Interdisciplinary • community engaged scholarship

Geographic Keywords
North America - Midwest • North America - Northeast • West Asia • Twin-Cities Metro, Minnesota

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-8 of 8)

  • Documents (8)
Documents
  • Archaeologists and the Pedagogy of Heritage: Preparing Scholar-Practitioners for Complex and Changing Heritage Work (2016)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Phyllis Messenger.

    Heritage studies and public history are the publicly engaged and community-accountable practices of historical scholarship, whether it is based in archival research, archaeology, architecture and preservation, landscape studies, or other related areas. Archaeologists share a commitment to public interpretation, education, and preservation with these other disciplines, and graduate education must reflect this reality. Today’s scholar-practitioners need to understand the connections and common...

  • Continuing Heritage Education: Reaching Adult and Senior Learners (2016)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Katherine Erdman.

    Continuing education and adult enrichment courses offer readily accessible opportunities for archaeologists to engage a non-traditional learning group who are often already curious about archaeology and are relatively informed. Adult and senior students in these settings prefer discussions and debates to strictly information transmission; such an environment is conducive for presenting issues of cultural heritage and preservation. In 2015, these topics were introduced to two such audiences...

  • Engaging the "First Person" in the Past – BACAB CAAS Revisited (2016)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Lewis Messenger, Jr..

    Descendant, often indigenous, communities, have felt varying degrees of tension between themselves and archaeologists. Historically this results from an archaeology that often treated ancient cultural materials as specimens to be scientifically analyzed. While seen as contributing to the greater knowledge, the sense of the ancient individual, of the person – those often perceived as direct ancestral kin of descendant communities – is lost. In many cases this has led toward feelings of distrust...

  • Heritage preservation efforts in northwest Syria (2016)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Salam Al Kuntar.

    As the security situation in northern Syria deteriorated following the beginning of the Syrian Revolution/civil war, members of civil society, heritage activists, and museum workers have placed themselves at risk to safeguard the country’s cultural heritage. This paper discusses two heritage protection projects in the Idlib region in northwest Syria, a region that has fallen out of the control of the Assad regime to opposition groups. The projects are self-initiative efforts by local activists...

  • Heritage Stewardship in the Digital Age (2016)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jodi Reeves Flores. Leigh Anne Ellison.

    Digital access to all levels of archaeological data, from the raw data to synthesized reports and summaries, can support public interest in cultural heritage. High quality internet resources easily provide access to more information on local sites that they are already interested in, and can also make them aware of heritage issues that they never considered. The Center for Digital Antiquity makes a variety of archaeological and historical information available to researchers and the general...

  • The Microscopic World and Curated Collections as Entry Points to Discuss Archaeological Stewardship with Multiple Publics (2016)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jammi Ladwig.

    The very word “archaeology” conjures interest by the public generally. Finding meaningful ways to engage that interest, however, is less straight-forward for practitioners, educators, and researchers. Sitting within any given repository of archaeological materials are collections in need of additional documentation and analysis, some of which may have not been handled since the time of their initial excavation and curation. Additionally, while much can be learned through microbotanical...

  • Schools and Public Archaeology: Igniting a Commitment to Heritage Preservation (2016)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Charles White.

    Schools are a natural and potentially fruitful venue for public archaeology efforts; natural, because cultural transmission is a fundamental purpose of schooling, and potentially fruitful, given the nearly 50 million students currently enrolled in K-12 schools (National Center for Education Statistics, 2015). Schools are also a target audience of enormous importance to public archaeology, largely because the goals of heritage preservation depend on the formation of durable habits of mind and...

  • Uncommon Engagement: Integrating Archaeology into High School Education (2016)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Lindsay Randall. Marla Taylor.

    Archaeology-centered education is typically relegated to throw-away curricula in elementary school classrooms, often not to be discussed again until post-secondary education. The Peabody Museum strives to break this pattern by actively engaging high school students and teachers in ways that connect archaeology to their everyday lives. This is done through a work study program focusing on hands-on interaction with artifacts, as well as teaching traditional subjects with archaeology. This model...