Co-creating Knowledge about Iowa Sites and Increasing Awareness of Iowa's Descendant Tribes through Community-Engaged Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Democratizing Heritage Creation: How-To and When" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In June 2023, the University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist (OSA) completed a year-long project for the University of Iowa (UI) Community Engaged Scholars Program in collaboration with the Elgin Historical Society & Museum (EHS) and Meskwaki Nation. The partners aimed to share knowledge about archaeological and historical sites along the Turkey River in northeast Iowa, which is archaeologically very dense but sorely under documented. The project was prompted by an inquiry to OSA from the EHS who recognized that many area residents had large family artifact collections, but the people with contextual knowledge were aging and sadly passing away. In an effort to encourage community members to share their guarded knowledge and document these sites, the partners organized four community events, including two events called an “Archaeo-blitz” where local residents worked with professional archaeologists to identify their artifacts, record site locations, and learn collections care tips. These events included Meskwaki and Ho-Chunk Nation historians, artists, and dancers, whose participation encouraged public involvement and reinforced for both local residents and Native people the continuing Tribal interests in the area. This paper communicates project outcomes and reflections from the collaborative team.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Democratizing Heritage Creation: How-To and When   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37908.0