Reservation Archaeology: Past, Current, and Future Themes

Summary

The Reservation Era (AD 1778 to present) is a time of culture change and fight for cultural sovereignty. There are approximately 326 American Indian Reservations covering 56.2 million acres in the United States, numbers that fail to capture the realities of non-federally recognized groups, those with no land base, or indigenous peoples in Canada or Mexico. All of these communities experienced profound transformations in economies, cultural institutions, and socio-political structures during the Reservation Era, a subject that is best approached through an interdisciplinary lens. Primarily studied through history, ethnography, and oral traditions, archaeology offers a unique perspective in which to study these processes. Many of the changes of this period have material signatures that trace the evolution of contemporary indigenous lifeways and identities. This is facilitated by increased participation of indigenous people in archaeology to generate knowledge that can be applied to wellness or revitalization projects on modern reservations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018   •
• Reservation Archaeology: Culture Change, Historical Trauma, and Community Resilience in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Native North America

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 565