Power To The People: The Community's Role In Public Archeology

Abstract

In the 1970s, the emergence of public archeology, a discipline within archeology aimed to engage the participation of the public, led many to raise questions about the public's role in the proper stewardship of cultural materials. The public is encouraged to not only be viewed as the audience, but as equal partners alongside archeologists. With final reporting, analyses, and curation of objects requiring specialized skills, broad participation in the final stages of projects has been limited. Generally, archeologists are viewed as the arbiter of significance in the collections management process and the public's role is challenged as their participation does not often lead to meaningful input into our understanding of the site or material. Using a post-processual theoretical framework, the questions I raise are how does the general public become involved in public archeology, and is the general public aware of its role in public archeology? If not, how can archeologists increase public participation levels? To answer the research questions, I reviewed responses from a questionnaire by the Texas Historical Commission (THC) and conducted an anonymous survey of the public, aiming to elicit the public’s opinion on public archeology. The results of the event and anonymous survey reveal that the public is limited in their participation levels by a lack of communication with archeologists and knowledge of what archeology entails. An analysis was conducted to provide reasons as to how both archeologists and the public can benefit from them volunteering alongside archeologists in the future, which includes empowering communities, expanding their knowledge, and raising awareness for archeology as a field of study.