Community Archaeology Project Research Articles

Archaeology of Historic Football Grounds: A Case Study of the 19 May Stadium in Turkey

In Turkey, being young and healthy was idealized as the politics of the state that had successfully ruptured the link with the Ottoman Empire, thereby making sport a significant component of culture and modern life in Turkey. One of the most important football grounds was the 19 May Stadium, which was the first football ground in Turkey and reflected the political and sports culture of the time. Yet, 19 May Stadium is not perceived to be part of the country’s heritage equation; it has meaning for individuals of all ages, and it contributes significantly to the overall quality of life. Accordingly, this study makes an archaeological examination of 19 May Stadium as a form of material culture. It examines the evolving field of community archaeology projects and how they contribute to the importance of place, memory, and meaning in the historical context of the site, thereby making them more visible on the historical environment agenda in Turkey.

Hume Village and Castle

A three-year community archaeology project was completed on behalf of the Hume Castle Preservation Trust at the village of Hume in the Scottish Borders. The project engaged with over 300 members of the public, providing training and volunteering opportunities in a suite of archaeological skills. The project work focused on Hume Village and its surrounding landscape; in particular Hume Castle and the remains of the former medieval village immediately surrounding it, and the associated kirkyard which housed the former Hume Parish Church. Extensive survey work was completed in the kirkyard and adjacent Glebe, in the grounds of Hume Castle, and at the castle itself. Excavations were completed in the castle grounds, the Glebe, and in the garden of West End Cottage in Hume Village. The results of the survey and excavation works portray the changing settlement pattern and use of land in the village area, particularly highlighting occupation and use of the former buildings surrounding the castle up to 200 years after its destruction. A similar pattern was found in the kirkyard, with continual use of the cemetery over 300 years after the abandonment, and probable destruction, of the former kirk. The results indicate that despite the destruction of its castle and kirk, the village of Hume has persevered, maintaining an important sense of place and memory in the landscape.

Unmarginalising participation in the past and enabling engagement in community archaeology – Dig Greater Manchester, a case study

ABSTRACT Dig Greater Manchester (DGM) was a large archaeological community engagement project operating within Britain during the years 2011 to 2016. Its scope and scale were designed to assess the impact of enabling local communities and individuals to acquire and enhance heritage skills and awareness of heritage-based practices, whilst also contributing to the exploration of the city region's experience of industrialisation. This paper looks at the ways in which the Dig Greater Manchester community archaeology project set about recording the impact of the project, especially individuals with learning disabilities. The community impact data was captured through specifically designed feedback questionnaires, one-to-one interviews with adult volunteers, one-to-one interviews with disability volunteers, and the input of psychology researchers from the University of Salford. The results provide data on how archaeology engagement activities can help to build communities and break down barriers, but also highlight areas where the project could have been improved.

The Archaeology of Northern Slavery and Freedom

The Archaeology of Northern Slavery and Freedom

8 Hidden In(site): Meritocratic Stewardship and the Materiality of Volunteering

ABSTRACTThe Dr. James Still Historic Office and Homestead—home to a nineteenth century, self‐educated, African American doctor, born to formerly captive parents, who would go on to become the third largest landowner in a predominantly White rural community in Southern New Jersey—has been the focus of the Dr. James Still Community Archaeology Project (DJSCAP) since 2013. This paper, however, shifts the target of archaeological exploration and asks what we can glean from the actors in and around the site. Using data collected by DJSCAP, this chapter critically examines how a community comes to understand and commemorate their efforts to protect and preserve Dr. Still's meritocratic narrative via a material engagement with the site. Reflecting on the simultaneous navigation of the past, present, and future via objects, the chapter explores how “things” such as donations and donor plaques do the social work of volunteering, informing perceptions of effort, talent, memory, and entitlement around the site. Using materiality theory and an archaeological lens attuned to nowness, this chapter identifies key instances in which the articulation of bodies, ideas, objects, and labor generate fascinating insights into the theorization of meritocracy as a moral economy that underpins volunteering. This contemporary archaeological approach uncovers the materiality of austerity, informing how communities navigate systemic failures in heritage site management through individual and collective efforts that I call meritocratic stewardship.

Citizen science and deep mapping for climate communication: A report on CHICC

ABSTRACT This paper reports on CHICC: a community archaeology project funded by Horizon 2020 (2021–2023). CHICC (Culture, Heritage, Identity: impacts of Climate Change) explores the impact of heritage upon climate communication and action in the project areas of Denmark, Ireland and Scotland. The citizen science methodology involves working with communities to co-create digital presentations or ‘deep maps’ of heritage sites at risk from anthropogenic climate change. The early results of this unrestricted co-creation include the community’s deeper understanding of their local heritage and its relationships to climate change, which can be a provocation for climate action.

Hard roads to travel: Lessons learnt from practising community archaeology

ABSTRACT Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage has developed community archaeology projects with marginalized communities, and within areas where archaeology is often disregarded, socially, economically, and politically. These projects use approaches based on the co-production of historical and archaeological knowledge, and have ethical implications for academics and participants; projects actively engaging the public in archaeology often do so by linking modern day communities to historical communities, and in this process uncover uncomfortable truths and painful pasts. To explore the issues raised by this work, this paper self and collaboratively reflects on experiences from two contrasting community archaeology projects in the UK and Nigeria. This discusses lessons learnt from these ‘socially engaged’ community archaeology projects, including contentious and unanticipated aspects that arose in the field, and such issues as dealing with conflicting values, ensuring long-term sustainability, supporting duty of care, and understanding psychological and emotional risk.

Analysing the Contributions and Longevity of Community Archaeology in the Context of Maritime Cultural Heritage Projects

Scholars readily agree community archaeology offers a way to engage non-professional archaeologists in the archaeological process. However, few analyse whether community archaeology projects achieve their goals and contribute positively to involved stakeholders. This article proposes a framework for analysing the contributions and longevity of community archaeology in maritime environments. The framework consists of three sections: the influencing factors, intended and actual contributions, and longevity. The influencing factors highlight the most common elements that impact the contributions of a project. The intended and actual contributions compare the project’s goals with their results. The longevity section proposes a number of prompting questions to assess the longevity of the outcomes. Three case studies provide a closer look at each project’s influencing factors, contributions and longevity. Synthesizing the case study’s results reveals several overall conclusions and areas for improvement within community archaeology.

The shape of absence: Community Archaeology and the heritage of the Queensland Native Mounted Police, Australia

ABSTRACT This paper explores the notion of absence as a key, but elusive, element in the contemporary recognition, perception and reception of Australian frontier conflict. It derives from a four-year-long community archaeology project to document the lives and legacies of a devastating frontier paramilitary policing force – the Queensland Native Mounted Police (NMP). The sources of absence in the heritage of the NMP are complex, deriving from silences in historical records, the partial nature of archaeological data, and the vicissitudes of memory work. We offer an introductory taxonomy for the kinds of absence that characterize the NMP and use this to consider the potency of absence in theorizing, reconstructing, defending and interpreting the heritage of Australian frontier conflict.

Introduction: Current Directions in Community Archaeology of the African Diaspora.

This article introduces the special issue, “Community Archaeology of the African Diaspora.” This collection of papers grew out of a session at the 2020 Society for Historical Archaeology conference in Boston, Massachusetts, with additional authors invited to add further geographical and methodological diversity. The papers in this issue address a single question—how are archaeologists currently involved with community archaeology projects related to the African Diaspora?—and reflects the wide array of approaches currently being implemented across the discipline.

The Magic Mountain community archaeology project

ABSTRACT Nestled in the foothills of Golden, Colorado, Magic Mountain is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Front Range of the Southern Rocky Mountains. The earliest contexts date back to 9000 BP, when the site served as camping grounds for groups passing through the region. Later remains, such as ceramics and stone structures, indicate that through time it became a semi-permanent residence that was inhabited until at least 1000 CE. From 2016 to 2018 the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and Paleocultural Research Group conducted research at the site through a large-scale, community-based effort. This paper details the community involvement and provides a template for others wishing to engage in similar endeavours.

Settlement and Social and Economic Patterns at Old Basing, Hampshire: The Results of a Community Archaeology Project

A community archaeology project (Dig Basing) was carried out by the Basingstoke Archaeological and Historical Society within the village of Old Basing, Hampshire during 2014–17 to discover more about settlement and social and economic patterns pre-1900 and to simultaneously engage the local community with archaeology. A total of 48 test pits of 1 × 1m were excavated across the village and over 16,000 artefacts recovered. The project provided a wealth of information that adds to and amplifies existing data, particularly medieval and later. Evidence for prehistoric and Roman occupation was slight but it implied a late Mesolithic/early Neolithic focus along the River Loddon. A lack of early medieval artefacts meant that it was not until the 11th century that the archaeological record became increasingly visible. Post- Norman conquest settlement was initially focussed along The Street, where settlement at the northern junction of Milkingpen Lane appeared largely discrete from that further south in the vicinity of St Mary's Church, before later expansion joined the two areas. Important evidence for post-Conquest metalworking, probably smelting, was found to the south-west of Oliver's Battery. A decline in amounts of medieval pottery, mid-period, may be attributable to the ravages of the Black Death, but from c. 1550 the situation had reversed, coinciding with increased occupation at Basing House. Subsequent rebuilding of village properties after the destructions of the Civil War saw Tudor brick robbed from the ruins of Basing House. Thereafter new pottery types and other goods reflected the new opportunities that arrived with the construction of the canal through the village in the 18th century and the railway in the 19th century. Artefacts recovered suggest a low to middling status, with infrequent indicators for greater wealth despite the existence of, at various times, the Norman ringwork, Basing House and the hunting lodge at the Grange.

A four stage approach to community archaeology, illustrated with cases studies from Dorset, England

This article presents an approach to guide the planning, development and evaluation of community archaeology. This will assist practitioners of all forms of community archaeology by providing a pathway to ethical practice that will benefit all. The approach focuses attention on four elements that are integral to community archaeology and which should always be considered: Who (the people involved); Why (their motivation); the Archaeology (in the broadest sense, including research questions and research methods); and How (the specific format the community engagement will take). This framework is applied to three case study community archaeology projects in Dorset, England, in order to demonstrate challenging examples of planned and reflexive community archaeology.

What is the role of the academic in community archaeology? The changing nature of volunteer participation at Caistor Roman town

ABSTRACT This paper charts the long-term development of a community archaeology project at the Roman town of Venta Icenorum (UK), which started as community participation in a university research project and has ultimately developed into a more equal partnership between academia and the voluntary sector. The paper describes the changing nature of community participation over the 13-year arc of the project to date, and looks at the relationship between academic research and voluntary participation in archaeology. It discusses the tensions between the needs of research and those of a successful community heritage project, particularly in light of the demands driven by the inclusion of ‘impact’ in the Research Excellence Framework (REF).

Between Government and Grassroots: Archaeology as Advocacy in Southern Belize

The consolidation of archaeology as a scientific discipline reinforced the power of the nation-state as archaeologists produced material and intellectual data that was used to bolster state identities at the expense of the history and heritage of Indigenous peoples. Accordingly, there are inherent structural inequalities within the discipline that favour researchers from Western nation-states in knowledge creation about the past. In this paper I explore the political implications of advocating for an equitable archaeological practice in Belize, Central America. Though archaeological research has incorporated grassroots engagement and community-based approaches, there is a gap in the discussion about negotiations with government officials. Among the issues surrounding grassroots advocacy is walking a ‘middle ground’ between negotiating with government officials for excavation permits and working closely with disenfranchised communities. Building relationships between registers of power supports the practice of a socially just archaeology abroad and could mitigate the structural inequalities inherent in our discipline. I illustrate this ‘middle ground’ with the Aguacate Community Archaeology Project, which I conducted in collaboration with Aguacate village, Toledo district, from 2012 to 2015. I explore the role of the archaeologist as an advocate for local communities’ control over knowledge produced on their community land.

The Black Friary: Reflections on a Community Archaeology Project

The Black Friary: Reflections on a Community Archaeology Project

Toward an Intermediate Level: Making the Most of Evaluation in Italian Community Archaeology

Over the last decade public and community archaeology have established themselves as essential parts of the Italian contemporary archaeological debate, as a result of work at a series of venues and a growing commitment to public engagement within fieldwork. However, data and evaluation reports about participation are rarely found in academic literature, limiting the development of a critical attitude to the topic. This paper attempts to outline a specific scenario for the development of Italian community archaeology as a proper field of research. This scenario consists of two main stages: the development of a shared attitude to evaluation and the creation of a native theoretical framework. Between them there is the ‘intermediate level’, that may be properly considered as the comparison and interpretation of the data resulting from the multiple evaluation processes conducted in Italian community archaeology projects in the context of the existing international theoretical framework. The brief presentation of an evaluation process conducted for the case study of ‘Uomini e Cose a Vignale’ — a long-term excavation project in Tuscany jointly managed by archaeologists and local stakeholders — fosters a reflection on specific opportunities provided by conceiving evaluation as a first step toward an ‘intermediate level’.

Wheelbarrows full of mud: Improvising a learning programme on a community archaeology project

ABSTRACTWhat happens when you are asked to run a learning programme for young people on a community archaeology project, at the very last minute and with minimal resources? This paper is an overview and critical review of the programme that we and some of our students coordinated for a group of local children in the village of Villanueva de Santo Adriano, Asturias, Spain. It describes the planning and delivery of the five-day programme of activities, some of them standard fare for archaeological education and others improvised or designed for this specific site and excavation project. The paper looks at the feedback and aftermath of the project, including a shocking episode of vandalism, and reflects on the lessons and outcomes of the project.

Reclaiming space at Red Hill Camp: Community archaeology with urban indigenous groups

ABSTRACTCommunity archaeology can contribute to positive social outcomes for urban Indigenous communities by focusing on the recent history of the modern city. We report on a community archaeology project undertaken in Canberra, Australia, which focused on the 1940–50s campsite of one of the authors’ Indigenous Ngambri/Ngunnawal family. Project outcomes showed that even despite a lack of material culture, community archaeology has the ability to shift narratives of place in an urban centre to include sites of contemporary significance to local Indigenous people. We consider methodological limitations, the concept of parallel conversations and the possibility that such projects are able to reclaim land in historically marginalized groups’ struggles for recognition. We argue that a focus on recent Indigenous history has the potential to be particularly transformative in this regard.

Recording Loss: film as method and the spirit of Orford Ness

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the use of film as a method to explore themes of change and loss which emerged during the recording of archaeological features at Orford Ness, UK. Owned by the National Trust, Orford Ness is an exposed shingle spit off the Suffolk coast recognised for its natural and cultural heritage. The research discussed in this paper engaged with a community archaeology project which has been recording features on the shingle spit as they are altered and erased by erosion and other coastal processes. The authors experimented with film as a method to investigate the work being undertaken by practitioners and volunteers in this dynamic landscape. We conclude that, within interdisciplinary heritage research, experimenting with film as a method facilitates the representation of embodied practices and exposes processes of meaning-making. We frame our discussion about the active production of meaning through an analysis of the way that film engaged with qualities articulated in the National Trust’s Spirit of Place statement for the site.