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Courage and Thoughtful Scholarship = Indigenous Archaeology Partnerships

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Dale R. Croes
Dale R. Croes*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, South Puget Sound Community College, Olympia, WA 98512 and Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA (dcroes@spscc.ctc.edu) (websites: http://www.library.spscc.ctc.edu/crm/crm.htm, http://NewsWARP.info)
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Abstract

Robert McGhee's recent lead-in American Antiquity article entitled Aboriginalism and Problems of Indigenous archaeology seems to emphasize the pitfalls that can occur in “indigenous archaeology.” Though the effort is never easy, I would emphasize an approach based on a 50/50 partnership between the archaeological scientist and the native people whose past we are attempting to study through our field and research techniques. In northwestern North America, we have found this approach important in sharing ownership of the scientist/tribal effort, and, equally important, in adding highly significant (scientifically) cultural knowledge of Tribal members through their ongoing cultural transmission—a concept basic to our explanation in the field of archaeology and anthropology. Our work with ancient basketry and other wood and fiber artifacts from waterlogged Northwest Coast sites demonstrates millennia of cultural continuity, often including regionally distinctive, highly guarded cultural styles or techniques that tribal members continue to use. A 50/50 partnership means, and allows, joint ownership that can only expand the scientific description and the cultural explanation through an Indigenous archaeology approach.

Resumen

Resumen

El artículo reciente de Robert McGhee en la revista American Antiquity, titulado: Aborigenismo y los problemas de la Arqueología Indigenista, parecen enfatizar las dificultades que pueden ocurrir en la “arqueología indigenista”. Aunque los esfuerzos nunca son fáciles, enfatizaré un enfoque basado en una sociedad 50/50 entre el científico arqueólogo y las communidades indígenas, cuyos antepasados tratamos de estudiar con nuestras técnicas de investigación y de campo. En el Noroeste Norteamericano, resulta de importancia este enfoque de compartir la propiedad, por una parte, de los esfuerzos de la tribu y los científicos, y por otra, igualmente importnate, al añadir conocimiento cultural de alta significacia (científica) de miembros de la Tribu a través de su continua transmisión cultural—un concepto básico en nuestra explicación en el campo de la arqueología y la antropología. Nuestro trabajo en cestería antigua y otros artefactos de madera y fibra en sitios inundados de la Costa Norteamericana, demuestra milenios de continuidad cultural, muchas veces incluyendo estilos culturales distintivos y meticulosamente cuidadosos regionalment, así como técnicas que los miembros de la tribu continúan usando. Una sociedad 50/50 significa, y permite, co-propiedad que solamente expande la descripción científica y la explicación cultural a través de un enfoque arqueológico indigenista.

Type
Forum
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 75 , Issue 2 , April 2010 , pp. 211 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2010

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References

References Cited

Croes, Dale R. 1977 Basketry from the Ozette Village Archaeological Site: A Technological Functional, and Comparative Study. W.S.U. Ph.D. Dissertation. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Order No. 77–25, 762.Google Scholar
Croes, Dale R. 1995 The Hoko River Archaeological Site Complex, the Wet/Dry Site (45CA213), 3,000-2,600 B.P. Washington State University Press, Pullman.Google Scholar
Croes, Dale R. 1997 The North-Central Cultural Dichotomy on the Northwest Coast of North America: It’s Evolution as Suggested by Wet-site Basketry and Wooden Fish-hooks. Antiquity 71:594–615.Google Scholar
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