Archaeological Geographies - A Reflexive Consideration of the Impact of Archaeology across Racial and Socioeconomic Regions Using DINAA

Summary

This paper uses "big data" about archaeological sites from the Digital Index of North American Archaeology (DINAA) to reflexively assess and interpret how archaeology has affected minority communities. DINAA’s data set represents an almost complete record of the current extent of archaeological site definitions, within the project’s area of effect. Therefore, collectively, these data can reveal information about archaeologists and archaeology as a discipline, as well as the past. As public spending, whether via heritage management or university research, is the impetus for most archaeological work in the United States, archaeological sites can be seen as a metric of sorts to gauge public spending, and develop a better understanding of where, and how monies have been invested around American communities over the past half century. This paper will use the free, open source, and publicly accessible DINAA database to examine the correlation of archaeological site density across the eastern US with US Census data on socioeconomic and demographic trends, with specific interest in parts of Appalachia, and historically African American communities, in order to begin to assess the impact of archaeological work on modern residents.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21501