MA Theses & Ph.D. Dissertations
on Public Archaeology-Related Topics

An annotated bibliography project by Kim Christensen.

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Atalay, Sonya.  2003.  Domesticating Clay: Engaging with 'they'.  The social life of clay balls from Catalhoyuk, Turkey and public archaeology for indigenous communities.  Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley. 
Three primary research themes are addressed in this dissertation: archaeological stewardship and public outreach; the social life of the clay ball materials found at the 9,000 PB site of atalhyk, Turkey; and the practices and daily life interactions which the people who lived in that community had with clay and clay ball materials.
       Stewardship and public archaeology are addressed in Chapter 2, and in a group of accompanying educational materials. Chapter 2 addresses the ethics and practice of making archaeological research accessible and useful to diverse public audiences, with a particular focus on Indigenous groups in North America. The educational materials are for use in K-12 Turkish and Native American classrooms, and bridge academic research with popular education, in an effort to democratize archaeological knowledge. They present cross-cultural comparisons of the changing practices of clay use and cooking in Turkey and Native North America and are particularly oriented to addressing issues crucial for contemporary Native American communities including sovereignty, heritage, repatriation and decolonization processes.
       The remaining chapters present an examination of clay ball materials from atalhyk, Turkey, and utilize ball data and multiple lines of evidence to move from the clay balls to interpretations of the people who lived at this site. The social life of the clay balls is investigated by moving through each stage in their use-life. The symbolic meanings of the balls are examined and joined with interpretations of the activities related to their production, use, re-use and discard.
       Through an examination of clay ball social life, I demonstrate that people at atalhyk were not only involved in domesticating plants and animals, but were also domesticating clay through their everyday practices and interactions with it. They transferred clay from the wild landscape into the domestic domain, and were able to form and transform it into the shapes and uses they desired. After production, the clay balls and objects played an important role in domestic practice, and were used in daily acts of cooking and food preparation to transform plant and animal resources into meals.

Birch, Jennifer.  2006.  Public archaeology and the cultural resource management industry in southern Ontario.  M.A. Thesis, Carleton University. 
ISBN: 9780494164204
The growth of the archaeological consulting industry in Ontario has drastically changed how archaeology is done in this province. This new public context has raised questions about accountability, and it has been suggested that archaeologists have an obligation to public education and outreach. This thesis will investigate the public role of consulting archaeologists in Ontario, with reference to a recent survey undertaken among archaeological practitioners in the province for the purposes of this study. The results suggest that the current system of cultural resource management in this province is lacking in policies and practices that permit meaningful communication with the public.

Boland, Dale Elizabeth.  2006.  Social identity in historic Fish Creek: An archaeological investigation.  M.A. Thesis, University of Calgary.
ISBN: 97804941356010
This study is an archaeological examination into social identity in an historic settlement context. Focussing on two Calgary homestead sites first settled in the late nineteenth century, the research concentrates on discerning facets of past social identities from the material remains of daily activities. Architecture is included in this study along with excavated materials that have been categorized according to function. From functionality a recreation of past activities and lifestyles has been realized. And from these behaviours, working under a postprocessual framework, a more comprehensive understanding of ethnicity and gender roles, coupled with better detail of the socioeconomic status of those living and working on these two farms, has been gained. The field and laboratory component of the research were largely performed by avocationals through the Programme for Public Archaeology, which worked to draw connections between past and present and fostered a sense of community within this western Canadian city.

Kellar, Elizabeth J.  1996.  The Public Trust: Educational Responsibilities and Objectives Beyond Preservation and Awareness.  Masters Paper, December 1996, on file in the Department of Anthropology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY. 
Public education, in concert with stewardship, is a stated ethical responsibility within the field of archaeology. While many public education programs in archaeology today highlight both principles, the public and the education have been defined differentially by various individuals and institutions. Examination of the educational goals of archaeological institutions and the many publics recognized, indicates that they are often self-interested and do not reflect the wider role of archaeologists today. Archaeological education has been emphasized by individuals and institutions, yet it is archaeology as education which is suggested should be our emphasis. Our goals in educating our many publics can no longer be self-serving.
        This paper addresses our ethical responsibilities as narrowly defined and expands them to incorporate educational objectives beyond awareness and protection. We must be more attentive to the goals and agendas of our publics and understand how to communicate with these publics. The archaeological record as a public trust is often ignored by the archaeological community. Our responsibilities and especially those of academia could be successfully accomplished through the creation of partnerships between academic institutions and the local community public school systems.

McDavid, Carol.  2002.   From Real Space to Cyberspace: The Internet and Public Archaeological Practice.  Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge.
The primary purpose of this thesis is to examine whether Internet web sites are effective communicative media for archaeologists to interact with their publics in open, democratic and relevant ways; particularly when the archaeological interpretations themselves are 'sensitive' and 'charged' in contemporary social and political contexts. That is, does the Internet allow a more open and democratic archaeology, and can it provide a voice for the multiple, shifting and sometimes contested understandings of past and present which archaeology frequently engenders? A corollary issue will be to observe what people do when they look at archaeology on the Internet, and to consider what archaeologists should understand about this medium in order to communicate with it effectively.
This work is situated within a number of disciplinary contexts. First, it is situated within American postprocessual historical archaeology, and represents part of a growing movement within that field to make it more relevant to people outside archaeology and to embrace the inherently political nature of archaeological practice. Second, as important, it falls under the rubric of public archaeology; that is, the study of the public dimensions of doing archaeology; or, the interaction between archaeology as a closed discipline and archaeology in public practice. Within public archaeology it is most clearly aligned with recent politically oriented consultative/collaborative movements in America, particularly those which concern disempowered descendant communities, although it is also situated within more general public archaeology discourses world-wide. Third, it was influenced by American pragmatist philosophy, which provided a framework for the 'conversational' (as opposed to 'educational' or 'presentational') approach which was used as a guiding principle for the web site.

Nelson, Susan K. 2004. Perspectives on Archaeology and the New Ohio Social Studies Curriculum Standards: A Case Study of an Interdisciplinary Approach. Masters Thesis. Antioch University. (685 KB; 4 - 5 minutes to download on a 56k modem)

1996.  The Levi Jordan Plantation: From archaeological interpretation to public interpretation.  M.A. Thesis, University of Houston.
Public interpretations of archaeological sites frequently disregard the social and political contexts in which the interpretations (museums, site tours, etc.) operate. This thesis attempts to determine the feasibility of incorporating these contexts into planning the public interpretation of archaeology; in this case, the archaeology of the Levi Jordan Plantation in Brazoria, Texas. It operates within the framework of critical theory, and argues for a "both/and", rather than "either/or", approach to interpretive issues. It examines how diverse understandings of power and control will affect the feasibility of interpreting this site to the public, and examines ways in which descendant communities (African American and European American) can have a voice in presenting the archaeologies and histories of their ancestors. It also presumes the need for archaeological involvement in public interpretation, in order to mitigate the filters frequently imposed on archaeological data by curators, designers, and interpreters.

Stewart, Lisa Claire.  2005.  Public archaeology in action: creating sustainable cultural tourism development plans for the ancient Maya archaeological site of Minanha, Belize.  M.A. Thesis, Trent University.
ISBN: 9780494048627
Tourism is the largest industry in the world. Accordingly, many countries are heavily investing in the creation of archaeological parks for tourists. Belize is one such country. Located in Belize, Minanha is a unique ancient Maya archaeological site with immense tourism potential, which is presently under heavy threat from illegal looting, encroaching land development, and the fact that Belize has not yet taken any steps to ensure its conservation and/or development. Thus, the objectives of this study are to create three sustainable cultural tourism development strategies for Minanha, and to recommend to Belize that they implement the most appropriate one. To create these strategies, this study addressed four research questions, followed the "ideal" planning process, and collected data from texts, human subjects, and archaeological sites. In the end, this study recommends that the Government of Belize actualize a low investment development strategy for Minanha in order to ensure its sustainable and fruitful future.

Whiting, Nancy Carolyn.  1997.  Presenting a plural past: Archaeology and public education.  Ph.D. dissertation, University of Minnesota. 
ISBN: 9780591444865
Archaeology has an ethical imperative to promote the preservation of cultural heritage materials and to make those cultural heritage materials available to the public. At the same time educators are seeking to provide students with an understanding of the positive nature of diversity, to help them grasp both the commonalities of being human and the inherent differences which enrich various cultures. Clearly, there is a common interest here. Archaeology and its parent discipline anthropology, provide one means of teaching about cultures, both past and present.
Archaeology is a social construction which demands a continuing dialogue between the past and the present. It is this interactive process, this questioning attitude, that is essential to impart to school age children. Interpretations of cultural heritage need to be viewed as selective and varied. Children need to know that the same history creates many pasts and many heritages. By making the unwritten past available to the public, archaeology has the potential to supply children with inclusive interpretations of the past.
        This project introduces educators to the value of using archaeological and anthropological concepts to inform a plural past. It also hopes to convince archaeologists of the value of public education. As educators teach children the value of respecting differences, using cultural heritage materials, they are at the same time building respect for the materials themselves. This respect for cultural heritage materials will create support for the study of archaeology and the preservation of archaeological materials.
        This dissertation proposes that a grade school curriculum based on archaeological and anthropological concepts will promote intercultural understanding. The project: investigates the theoretical background which justifies utilizing archaeology in public education, examines the current situation in Minnesota public schools and surrounding states, looks at good examples of state archaeology programs, and surveys grade school teachers, assessing what they are now doing, and what they would like to be doing, to promote intercultural education. An archaeology-based multicultural program for grades one to three is proposed. A pilot project for grade one evaluates the proposed program. Appendices present a handbook for grade one teachers and survey research materials.

Updated 09/20/2007