Neighborhood Archaeology: Exploring the Significance of Volunteers, Communities, and Local Politics for Contemporary Archaeology

Uzi Baram,Robert J Austin

doi:10.5334/pp.38

Abstract

The expanding discussions of public archaeology have propelled consideration of the roles for descendant communities, both linear descendants and those with social ties to the peoples whose lives are being studied. Consideration of local communities has included the economic potential of heritage tourism and the dynamics of civic engagements. There have been important contributions on issues of race and recently on class. This collection seeks to extend consideration of public archaeology as civic engagements within urban neighborhoods, to explore the implications of archaeological research within and with complex social places. The integration of volunteers, the significance of archaeological sites and historic structures for communities, and the local politics involved in historic preservation and neighborliness focus the contributions.

Highlights

Some archaeological sites have impressive material finds and all have interesting stories about the past and their excavations
The collection of conference papers in this issue of Present Pasts focuses on lesser known, but no less meaningful, archaeological sites and their stories, highlighting the interaction between volunteers, communities, and local politics, and giving overt consideration to what had been background until recently. These are interesting and, the authors would argue, important dynamics for the socio-politics of archaeology; dynamics that late twentieth-century scholars recently have begun to examine in depth
The context of archaeological practice is recognized as fertile terrain for reflection and exploration as part of an excavation. This collection of papers from the 2010 annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology provides examples of public archaeology as civic engagement within urban and suburban neighborhoods and explores the implications of archaeological research within complex social places. The articles in this collection focus on the social relations of the places they are studying, rather than the archaeological record, and the integration of volunteers, the significance of archaeological sites and historic structures for communities, and the local politics involved in historic preservation and neighborliness are seen as arenas for public archaeology’s consideration

Summary

Introduction

Some archaeological sites have impressive material finds and all have interesting stories about the past and their excavations. The collection of conference papers in this issue of Present Pasts focuses on lesser known, but no less meaningful, archaeological sites and their stories, highlighting the interaction between volunteers, communities, and local politics, and giving overt consideration to what had been background until recently.

Results

Conclusion