Military Veterans, Archaeology, and Mental Health: Fact and Fiction

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

An increasing body of literature, including peer-reviewed research, suggests that participation in archaeological fieldwork, labwork, and conservation benefits military veterans. Data now demonstrates conclusively that most military veterans will receive at least short-term mental health benefits from participation in tailored archaeological fieldwork. These benefits are becoming more widely acknowledged in the archaeological community due in part to their popular appeal and social impact. As a result the number of programs advertising archaeology’s benefits for veterans has increased in the United States and beyond. At this stage in the development of what is essentially a new area of practice there is an immediate need to establish standards and codify methods aimed at benefiting the veterans themselves. These standards must recognize the realities of working with veterans in this context and acknowledge the limitations, as well as the potential, of how archaeology may impact mental health. This presentation will incorporate lessons American Veterans Archaeological Recovery has learned on some 30 fieldwork projects carried out with veterans since 2016.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53983