Doing Community Archaeology

Archaeology isn’t only about understanding things that happened in the past. Objects and places from other times can play a role in people’s lives today, too. This means that it is really important for archaeologists working in an area to know how local people feel about the history of the place where they live. It is also important for local people to know what the archaeologists are doing in the community and why they are there. And it is important that other people, from all over the world, who are interested in the ancient and modern history of a place get the chance to understand that there are lots of different perspectives on the subject. Putting all of these modern opinions about the past together and respecting different ideas is what we call community archaeology. By understanding and sharing different knowledge everyone involved can gain a better understanding of what sites from the past mean in the present and how they should be used or protected.

Authors:
Gemma Tully