Community Centered Archaeology in Colorful Colorado

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Community Centered Archaeology in Colorful Colorado," at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Session Chairs: Holly Norton, History Colorado, holly.norton@state.co.us

                          Michelle Slaughter, Statistical Research Inc. (SRI), mslaughter@SRI.com

In keeping with the Conference theme of “Landscapes in Transition: Looking to the Past to Adapt to the Future” this collection of papers discusses the ways that governments, non-profit, and CRM archaeologists directly center contemporary communities in Colorado while striving to preserve and understand the past. As Colorado continues to experience a population explosion while also grappling with climate change and major economic shifts, the papers in this session illustrate how Colorado—a place where diverse cultures and traditions have collided for centuries--has grown and changed to become the state it is today. We posit that archaeology aids in creating a deeper public understanding of our place and our people.