Bringing About Change in the Profession and Practice of Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "United States Archaeology at Crossroads Part 1: The Obstacles, the Failures, and the Victories" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The discipline and practice of archaeology in the US face escalating ethical challenges and calls for evolution and change. Public archaeology can serve as a vehicle to educate according to new norms and values, inspire student interest in ethical archaeology as a career, and enhance academic study with practical training incorporating meaningful work with descendant communities and sovereign Tribal Governments. As two non-native leaders of a non-profit that constantly interacts with the public, K-12 students and teachers, college and graduate students, and archaeology professionals, we seek to bring about these changes and share our experiences in this paper. We feature one change wrought with challenges but also benefits – evolving beyond archaeology’s persistent colonial practices and lack of descendant community influence to promote trusting relationships and a restorative approach to understanding the human past. We observe that the failure of our discipline to acknowledge and act upon the harm caused to Indigenous people is a critical factor holding back the field. The Society for American Archaeology’s Ethical Principles recognizes this and guides our path. We hope our experience will illuminate the compelling need for change and some ways to bring it about.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• United States Archaeology at Crossroads Part 1: The Obstacles, the Failures, and the Victories

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51546