Resolved!
I, K. Kris Hirst, your Guide for Archaeology at About.com, modestly suggest the following resolutions for archaeologists and their supporters for 1998:
To foster cooperation
over competition among archaeologists.The state of cultural resource management in the
United States is, to be frank, abysmal, and a large part of the problem is infighting and
rivalry displacing constructive collaboration.
To do more Public Archaeology.
Archaeologists should actively participate in public relations, such as in giving talks at
Elks Clubs, providing local information to people who are most interested, and are most
willing to support the funding of archaeology.
To publish site reports on the World Wide Web.
Publishing on the web is faster and cheaper than any print medium, and has the opportunity
to reach more people than any other kind of publication, perhaps with the sole exception
of Archaeology magazine.
To maintain a safe and pleasant working environment
for field crew, and to work actively towards making this difficult and demanding job better recompensed.
To contribute more to the Archaeological Conservancy, which instead of
spending money lobbying to protect cultural resources, actually buys up endangered sites
and keeps them in perpetuity.
Go-o-olden Rings! (short musical interlude)
To actively support the study of science in the elementary and high schools. Give
talks, work with teachers to provide suitable materials, train teachers to communicate the
lessons of the past.
To demand a more appropriate graduate education from
our graduate schools. There is something seriously wrong with our graduate schools, and
although it would take six more features for me to explain it all, I include grounding in
ethics, basic techniques and methods, and a belief in cultural relativity.
To actively seek out and work with
indigenous peoples who have a stake in the cultural data, and to support their rights
and information. Collaboration with native peoples is only sensible; in addition to
providing data to the people most seriously concerned with the work, it allows for input
from the people most likely to have information concerning the things we study.
To remember, at all times, that we are the first, the
last, and all too often the only defense an archaeological site has against the
earth-eating processes of progress.
The numbers in this page were collected from Digit Mania, through Bobbie Peachey's Web Clip Art site here at The Mining Co..
See ya next week!
