Community-Based Ethnoarchaeology to Inform Experimental Archaeological Research: Learning from the Diasporic Tigrayan Community in Vancouver, British Colombia

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part II" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Experimental archaeology is an extremely beneficial method of inquiry, as it centralizes the physical knowledge of material culture and sensory experiences. While experimental archaeology brings researchers closer to the realities of creating and using material culture, ethnoarchaeology reconnects researchers with people, reducing the distance between archaeologists and their subjects of study. Ethnoarchaeology also fosters connections between researchers and communities, improving research directions and questions, increasing relevancy to communities, and pushing results into more public spaces. The people of Tigray, Ethiopia are a culturally distinct ethnic group inhabiting the northern highlands. Despite deep temporal occupation, the area has recently been inaccessible to researchers due to ongoing political unrest in the region. However, Tigrayan communities in the diaspora maintain strong cultural ties and therefore valuable traditional knowledge. Using community-based ethnoarchaeology, the documentation of traditional knowledge guides experiments that aim to further our understanding of the use of indigenous African grains in traditional beer and brewing practices and aid their archaeological identification. Scientific experiments grounded by a firm foundation in the community contribute to the educational outreach of this research to the wider community while simultaneously benefiting archaeological investigations in the region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part II

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39382.0