Touching the Past: Public Archaeology Engagement through Existing Collections

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Touching the Past: Public Archaeology Engagement through Existing Collections," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Public archaeology is a forum for engaging stakeholders from all backgrounds. Beyond the professional archaeological community, repository specialists, and the individual practitioners of our discipline, there is another audience—the broader public—that takes equal joy in discovering the past. By connecting with them at the community and individual levels, we create a relationship between archaeologists and the public that promotes and protects cultural heritage. Of the various ways in which public archaeology operates, perhaps one of the most successful and satisfying ways is through direct public interaction with real sites and artifacts. Through programs that allow people to view, touch, and care for archaeological materials, we have found a way to make the past come alive and feel personal to people in the present. The different approaches presented here describe both successes and challenges of that engagement: they are guides and stories to learn from. Though they are as diverse as the practice of archaeology itself, their common thread is the creation of genuine experiences with the past for our communities in the present.