What happens when nobody cares about a historic property?
Why don’t students care about saving People’s Park as a historic property?
Historic Preservation
“The Chair” is why I don’t blog about archaeology anymore
Since I’m an assistant professor of anthropology, my social media threads are buzzing with conversation about the new Netflix show “The Chair.” Over the past month my friends and family have been asking me things like; Is “The Chair” really what being a professor is like? Is that how academic […]
African American Burial Grounds Need Protection
Archaeologists Cheryl LaRoche and Michael Blakey (1997) described how construction at a the Ted Weiss Federal Building in New York City ground to a halt under withering protests from New York City’s Black community when they realized a slave burial ground was being removed for a construction project. Even though […]
Cultural resource management without consultation is a mistake 2
I’m not a fortune teller but I’m pretty sure the recent unpleasantness associated with the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) will spawn a number of books and articles about cultural resource management archaeology, historic preservation, and environmental justice. It’s likely a few individuals will generate whole careers based […]
What the NPS junior ranger program can teach CRMers
Who would have ever thought a 5-year-old would be enthusiastic about seeing a pile of rocks in the desert? No toys. No playground. Just an 800-year-old archaeological ruin…and a little sister. This last weekend, I took a National Parks and Monuments tour with my wife and kids through northern Arizona. […]
Why Matt Damon is the best historical archaeologist in the universe 2
I just got done watching “The Martian” and, seeing how I’m a Matt Damon fan already, I liked it. But, then again, I pretty much always like any science-based movies depicting humans colonizing other planets (especially Mars). As an archaeologist, it’s not hard for me to ponder the future of […]
Coming out of my Shell: Lessons learned by doing public archaeology
For a person who is building a career based on the study of human beings, I have to confess: I really don’t like other people. The main problem with other people is they aren’t me. They have their own lives, thoughts, experiences, and perspectives that differ with the way I […]
Can the Plentitude Business Model save cultural resource management?
Historic preservation-minded developer Bill Naito didn’t just save buildings. He helped create ambiance, character, and augmented the quality of life in downtown Portland, Oregon. During the 1960s, Naito saw potential in the rotting waterfront warehouses. He realized that remodeling these buildings may not immediately improve property values, increase foot traffic, […]
Ancestors are created every day
[NOTE: This post is not about my friend Chris Webster. He is alive and well] Chris, my good friend of 20 years, died today. He was 36 years old and leaves behind a wife and two kids in preschool. Dying that young shouldn’t have happened. Leaving behind a wonderful wife […]
Historic Preservation Starts with Community
This last weekend, my family and I volunteered at another public archaeology event spearheaded by a prominent Arizona historical society. It was the final field session of the project I discussed in my post that discussed how to involve minorities in archaeology by introducing them to the science at an […]