Gauging the Impact of Community Archaeology: A View from Boise, Idaho

Summary

What gets measured gets managed.

Public archaeology projects seek to involve local stakeholders in the conservation of their own history. Universities, not-for-profit organizations, and volunteers have taken leadership roles in public archaeology. Landowners and public institutions are tasked with the management of heritage resources. This is primarily done through cultural resource management and historic preservation laws; but, in the case of public archaeology, it also frequently involves collaboration with non-governmental organizations.

Despite its successes, public archaeology faces challenges because the need for public institutions to manage heritage resources like archaeological sites frequently conflicts with the community’s desire to participate in archaeology. Measuring the impacts of public archaeology is vital to maintaining the connection between resource management organizations and the public. This paper is an overview of how the results of public archaeology projects in Boise, Idaho have been measured so they can be presented to resource management organizations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Motivation and Community in Public Archaeology Evaluation   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 535