Indigenous Archaeology

In 1902, the American physical anthropologist, Aleš Hrdlička

visited a Sonoran battlefield in the Sierra Mazatan. Ten days

earlier Mexican soldiers had attacked Yaqui families and

executed Yaqui men. Hrdlička removed 10 skulls, human bones,

clothing, weapons and a cradleboard. He sent them to the

American Museum of Natural History in New York City. All over

North America, Hrdlička and his archaeological colleagues

engaged in a colonial enterprise, the study of the ancestors of

the conquered by the descendants of the conquerors. Indigenous

Archaeology sprung from attempts by archaeologists both native

and non-native to decolonize this archaeology. In the 1980s and

1990s, I published seminal articles examining the historical

relationship between archaeologists and Indigenous peoples in

North America and I continue to do Indigenous archaeology

today. Indigenous archaeology is archaeology informed by

Indigenous values and agendas. As such, it is archaeology

conducted by and for Indigenous people. Ultimately Indigenous

archaeologists strive to help Indigenous peoples build vibrant

communities in full control of their pasts, presents and futures.

In 2008, Andrew Darling, Ventura Perez, Luis Jose Moctezuma,

Raquel Padilla and I assisted the Yaqui in their demand for

repatriation of the human remains and artifacts Hrdlička had

looted. Two years later, the Yaqui brought their dead home for

burial. PUBLICATIONS