Teaching
Archaeology
-
Unit 4
Archaeology and Colonialism
Colonial perspectives about hierarchies of human worth and worldviews shaped the creation of anthropology, and modern archaeologists are grappling with this legacy. This unit encourages students to explore the impacts of colonialism on the discipline and consider how archaeologists are taking steps to decolonize their methods and theories.
Sapiens articles
Digging Into the Myth of Timbuktu
Long considered by Europeans to be void of archaeological riches, Timbuktu is a treasure trove of ancient human history.
The Revolutionary Power of Andean Folk Tales
Stories shared by diverse oppressed peoples of the Andes during Spanish colonialism gave witness to their suffering and helped to unite them in the face of exploitation.
Keywords
View All in category|archaeology
![Envolta em escuridão, uma estrutura de pedra redonda no lado direito da foto é iluminada por uma luz instalada no lado esquerdo.]()
![Uma imagem mostra a cabeça e o tronco de uma lhama marrom clara em um chão bege e arenoso.]()
![Deitada de lado, uma pessoa com rabo de cavalo loiro usa camisa azul e calça jeans preta e aponta uma câmera para uma lápide.]()
Solucionando o quebra-cabeça das torres antigas de Omã
Nos últimos anos, o governo de Omã investiu em arqueologia e turismo patrimonial para impulsionar sua economia —renovando o interesse em misteriosas torres de 4.000 anos que se encontram na paisagem do sudeste da Arábia.
Escavar passados culinários – com a ajuda do cocô de lhama
Uma arqueóloga da alimentação pesquisa a comida cotidiana e os tempos de escassez no antigo povo Moche do Peru através da descoberta notável de milhares de “feijões” de lhama.
A digitalização de lápides pode salvar a história?
Uma antropóloga está digitalizando lápides em Burial Hill, um cemitério histórico localizado em Plymouth no estado de Massachusetts que guarda os restos mortais de alguns dos primeiros peregrinos. Documentar esses registros únicos e torná-los acessíveis também levanta questões necessárias sobre a preservação das histórias coloniais.
View All in Indigenous
![People walk through a long, wide museum hallway with high arched ceilings and skylights framed by tall tan columns.]()
![A person wearing a dark blue shirt and a red umbrella hat walks through a lush field of tall green grasses.]()
![A line of cattle travel across a dry desert landscape, kicking up dust.]()
![A gnarled tree stands on a reddish cliff, beyond which stretches a landscape of deeply hued sandstone plateaus that an ox-bowed river cuts through.]()
![A whale’s tail appears above the water, creating white foam as it splashes on the ocean’s surface. A small bird flies in the background.]()
![An ancient circular stone structure lies exposed under the ground surface. In the distance, light-red and tan mesas and flat desert expanses lie under a piercing blue sky with scattered fluffy white clouds.]()
Spain’s Move to Decolonize Its Museums Must Continue
In early 2024, Spain’s culture minister announced that the nation would overhaul its state museum collections, igniting a wave of anticipation—and controversy.
It’s Time to Replace “Prehistory” With “Deep History”
A team of archaeologists working in Southeast Asia is pushing toward a deeper understanding of history that amplifies Indigenous and local perspectives to challenge traditional archaeological timelines.
An Imagined Monograph for Nongqawuse
A 19th-century prophetess reportedly bore a serious message from the ancestors to her Xhosa people amid British colonial assault. The written archives judged her—but much still remains unknown and unacknowledged.
Gathering Firewood—and Redefining Land Stewardship—at Bears Ears
At Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, a new co-management plan brings together federal agencies and a consortium of Native American tribes—revealing deep tensions over land rights and demands for environmental justice.
Protecting Ancestral Waters Through Collaborative Stewardship
The proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, along California’s Central Coast, would be the first of its kind in the U.S. to be nominated by Native peoples.
Digging Into an Ancient Apocalypse Controversy From a Hopi Perspective
When producers for a popular Netflix series sought a permit to film on public lands in the U.S. Southwest, many Native leaders objected. A Hopi tribal official, Stewart B. Koyiyumptewa, shares his views.
View All in Memory
![An image focuses on two hands of a statue in shadow coming together holding a white flower.]()
![An old bucket coated in multicolored limestone sits in front of a limestone-covered wall out of which protrudes a faucet dripping water that falls into the bucket.]()
![A close-up image features two stained-orange hands holding a cluster of objects that look like small, orange strands.]()
![A person stands inside a moving flame of yellow light while sparks fly out in all directions. A second person stands on the left side holding an umbrella against the sparks.]()
![A narrow, paved trail cuts through a grassy field and ends at a small white building in the distance that has a cross on its roof.]()
![A weathered hand grabs a tree branch laden with fresh green olives.]()
Survival Notes
Black African women in former colonial centers such as London gesture to subversive ways of communicating with those imprisoned in archives across generations.
Her Dirge
A poet-historian reflects on women’s labor carrying memories and the past.
The Land of Dreams
In a dystopian short story, an anthropologist imagines an alternate world in which Kashmiris are forbidden to dream.
A Call for Anthropological Poems of Resistance, Refusal, and Wayfinding
SAPIENS is seeking poetry submissions for a curated collection that will publish next year. Deadline: September 1, 2024.
Buried in the Shadows, Ireland’s Unconsecrated Dead
A visual anthropologist reflects on the history of cillíní, unmarked and mostly hidden burial sites in Ireland where loved ones continue to care for the dead.
A Palestinian Family’s History—Told Through Olive Trees
A new book chronicles a Palestinian family’s life and connections to their land over decades under Israeli occupation in the West Bank.
View All in Politics
![A person dressed in a red Santa Claus suit with white trim kneels on a military runway while speaking into a handheld radio. In the background are two rows of large military airplanes.]()
![A photo shows the back of a person in a dark suitcoat standing at a podium and speaking to a large, captive, seated audience. Most onlookers wear red MAGA hats and Trump T-shirts.]()
![Two pairs of scissors, two rocks, and two slips of paper rest on a pale-yellow surface.]()
![A close-up view features an art exhibit composed of multiple photographs arranged side by side. The photos show people riding a horse, receiving medical care, and speaking at a women’s event.]()
![A woman’s legs and a man’s leg are shown against the backdrop of a stage where red, white, and blue colors are prominent. The man wears a black cowboy boot and black pants. The woman wears a cream-colored skirt and dark-blue high heels.]()
![Amid a political rally where red, black, and green colors are prominent, a smiling woman wearing glasses, a khaki shirt, and a black headscarf holds aloft a sketch of a person’s face that says, “Khan Is Hope.”]()
Unwrapping Operation Christmas Drop
An anthropologist takes a critical eye to a long-running holiday tradition: a U.S. military mission that drops toys and supplies throughout Micronesia.
Five Reasons Why Trump Won Again
In an effort to address toxic polarization in the U.S., an anthropologist of the “Trumpiverse” explains MAGA supporters’ thinking in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Playing Rock, Paper, Scissors Across the Red-Blue Divide
As toxic polarization deepens in the U.S., some global conflict prevention experts are now addressing political violence at home. An anthropologist shares three key insights from a community action program in Wisconsin.
Fighting for Reproductive Rights in Retirement
An anthropologist conducts research in an Arizona retirement community, where older women share hard-won insights about how limitations on sexual and reproductive freedom impacted their lives.
The Shortcomings of Height in Politics
Why is height a focal point for some politicians? An anthropologist explores the significance of height—explaining how cultural perceptions influence and distort political dynamics in the U.S.
The Rise of Aunties in Pakistani Politics
Middle-class, conservative women in Pakistan have found a political voice as supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party—putting them at odds with the secular women’s movement their own daughters support.
View All in Violence
![An image focuses on two hands of a statue in shadow coming together holding a white flower.]()
![A line of cattle travel across a dry desert landscape, kicking up dust.]()
![Two pairs of scissors, two rocks, and two slips of paper rest on a pale-yellow surface.]()
![Dozens of papers with text on them are punctured and strung horizontally on wires.]()
![A white cartoon speech bubble on a red background is wrapped in barbed wire.]()
![A person wearing a gray T-shirt and tan baseball cap pushes buttons on a camera that is attached to a tree in the forest.]()
Survival Notes
Black African women in former colonial centers such as London gesture to subversive ways of communicating with those imprisoned in archives across generations.
An Imagined Monograph for Nongqawuse
A 19th-century prophetess reportedly bore a serious message from the ancestors to her Xhosa people amid British colonial assault. The written archives judged her—but much still remains unknown and unacknowledged.
Playing Rock, Paper, Scissors Across the Red-Blue Divide
As toxic polarization deepens in the U.S., some global conflict prevention experts are now addressing political violence at home. An anthropologist shares three key insights from a community action program in Wisconsin.
Archived Haints
SAPIENS’ 2024 poet-in-residence conjures the voices of those imprisoned in archives.
Speaking Truth to Israel Requires More Than Academic Freedom
Educators and students critical of Israel’s war on Gaza face censorship, harassment, and dismissal. An anthropologist who researches coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians argues such critics need more than free speech protections.
Payangko, or Echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi)
After a 60-year haitus, an Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna was seen in Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountains. A poet-anthropologist reflects on the echidna’s message through the storied lens of the people of Yongsu Sapari.
Professor Talking Points
- Colonialism is a process in which a colonizing nation/state dominates another and exploits it economically for the benefit of the colonial power. This process can involve the imposition of the colonizing body’s social, political, religious, and/or linguistic traditions, and uses force to maintain power and control.
- European colonization (from the late 1400s to the 1900s; see this timeline via Vox) also instated systems of hetero-patriarchy, specific forms of classism, capitalism, and racism—all of which were used to subjugate colonized peoples.
- Archaeology was instrumental in legitimizing scientific racism through pseudoscientific practices such as skull measuring.
- It also helped create narratives about the inferiority of colonized groups based on their ancestors’ material culture. Many sacred objects and remains currently in museums were stolen from burial sites that were desecrated during the colonial period. These items and remains were often displayed in ways that were horribly inappropriate according to Indigenous traditions and ethics.
- Today archaeologists are challenging the colonial roots of their discipline in order to create better, more equitable practices.
- There are a growing number of people of color in archaeology who belong to ethnic and racial groups that were colonized, and who bring new perspectives and demands to this field of study.
Academic Articles
-
Flewellen, Ayana Omilade. 2017. “Locating Marginalized Historical Narratives at Kingsley Plantation.” Historical Archaeology 51 (1): 71–87.
-
Panich, Lee. 2013. “Archaeologies of Persistence: Reconsidering the Legacies of Colonialism in Native North America.” American Antiquity 78 (1): 105–122.
-
Tuck, Eve, and K. Wayne Yang. 2012. “Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education, & Society 1 (1): 1–40.
Student Discussion Questions
- What are some of the harmful practices you learned about in these readings? How can you tell that they are colonialist in nature?
- How do colonialist mentalities about the inferiority of colonized people impact the way archaeologists interpret their findings?
- Why is it important to decolonize archaeology?
- What do non-colonialist perspectives bring to this field of study? What can researchers see when they decolonize that they otherwise could not see? Use the content of the readings to support your argument.
- How does repatriation and working with communities that were historically harmed by anthropology fit into efforts to decolonize the field?
Activities
- Have students search the internet to find historical and current examples of colonialist archaeology in practice.
Additional Resources
-
Article: Science’s “Caribbean Excavation Offers Intimate Look at the Lives of Enslaved Africans”
-
TEDx Talk: Nikki Sanchez’s “Decolonization Is for Everyone”
-
Video: Students on Ice Foundation’s “Decolonizing Archaeology”
Unit By
Eshe Lewis (2020)
Teaching
Archaeology
-
Unit 5
Public Archaeology
