Archaeology and Well-Being Delivered through Authentic and Meaningful Participation

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeological Congress: Multivocal Conversations Furthering the World Archaeological Congress Agenda" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeology, heritage, and the historic environment more broadly are increasingly recognized as powerful tools in the delivery of community mental health and well-being benefits. Archaeology as a therapeutic intervention for veterans achieved significant public profile through the work of Operation Nightingale, 2011. Recently, the edited volume “Archaeology, Heritage, and Wellbeing” (Everill and Burnell 2022) included different perspectives that highlight various ways in which the historic environment can support mental health/well-being among marginalized communities. Recent interdisciplinary research by Everill and colleagues has also led to the production of guidelines, designed to unlock the full therapeutic potential of the historic environment through Authentic and Meaningful Participation in Heritage or Related Activities (AMPHORA), in which participants are contributing fully to projects that, in turn, are able to provide the right support and safeguarding. This conversation will focus on the multiple benefits derived from the University of Winchester’s archaeological studentships for wounded veterans, building on potentially short-term well-being uplift of participation in excavations by providing opportunities for long-term skills development and creating life-changing routes into professional practice—consequently not only focused on mental health benefits but also widening participation and access to higher education among individuals who previously felt excluded.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeological Congress: Multivocal Conversations Furthering the World Archaeological Congress Agenda   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36301.0