Archaeology and Heritage in the United States

Summary

In this paper we consider how the State, through law and practice, affects United States archaeologists’ abilities to conduct innovative, humanistic research in the context of cultural resource management (CRM) and may become an impediment to inclusive heritage-management practices. CRM is, perhaps, best known for its accumulation of collections and data and its ability to answer middle-range-theory questions that remain broadly ecological in scope. Here, we consider how CRM can better contribute to a growing field of heritage and identity studies and the seemingly process-based barriers to such studies. We discuss the methods and goals of some projects in the Southwest United States that have attempted to overcome these limitations and the State’s role in encouraging more inclusive and more socially relevant CRM and heritage-management practice in this country.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Archaeology and the State

Keywords

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