Archaeo-Tourism and Heritage Policies: What Works, What Doesn’t, and How to Move Forward—Case Studies from Belize and the United States

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeological sites in the United States are governed by a complex network of state and federal regulations, sovereign tribal governments, and private landowners. This often leads to difficulties managing access to heritage sites and their research potential. In contrast, extant literature describes the efforts of the Belize Institute of Archaeology and the country’s Tourism Development Project as having been extremely successful in preserving archaeological sites, increasing tourism, and creating revenue to fund heritage management projects. However, if we were to look at both nations’ policy frameworks regarding archaeological sites, we would expect to find that each comes with unique benefits and consequences. Using multiple case studies, this research seeks to understand how differing policies enacted by their governments impact artifact collection, conservation/preservation, and education. While acknowledging that this is a complex issue informed by policies that are historically rooted in the colonizer’s perspective in the governments of the United States and Belize, we also hope to find that the gap between the cultural importance and academic interests within the United States could be bridged by adopting a more cohesive policy structure between heritage management, Indigenous stakeholders, and national institutions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36592.0