Reconciliation and Indigenous Archaeology: On Care for and the Futurity of Káamalam (First Peoples)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Retelling Time in Indigenous-Colonial Interactions across North America" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In 2019, the state of California issued an unprecedented formal apology to California's Indigenous peoples, followed by executive order N-15-19 establishing the California Truth and Healing Council (CTCH) to document historical and ongoing settler abuses against Native Californians. Unlike other reconciliation efforts abroad, archaeology has not played a significant role in said testimonial efforts. In addition to outlining the need for testimonies on acts of genocide, land dispossession, and assimilation, CTCH Tribal consultation explicitly calls for a reassessment of archaeology by examining stagnant repatriation programs and the broad lack of deference to Indigenous knowledge. Archaeologists have much accounting to do, and yet, as noted by archaeologist Peter Nelson (Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria), “Where have all the Anthros gone once the regulations and ethical codes mandate that we be partners rather than data?” (2021, 471). This paper examines how Indigenous Archaeology is positioned to address violent histories of settler colonialism while animating Indigenous futurity in alternative processes of recognition and repair. I discuss how the Enduring Indigenous Homelands Project (EIHP, in partnership with the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians) practices deference to Indigenous values of care for the ancestors and First Peoples through repatriation and Indigenous cartography as historical testimony.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Retelling Time in Indigenous-Colonial Interactions across North America

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50525