Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Interpreters, educators, biologists, law enforcement rangers, paleontologists, historians, and descendants -- among many others -- can contribute to and benefit from working with archeologists to engage the public. Benefits to working with other disciplines and skill sets include the potential to:

• Maximize the use of available interdisciplinary resources;
• Match goals for archeology outreach with skills, knowledge, and expertise of other resource management fields;
• Co-create relevant programs with multiple, broad, and diverse audiences;
• Support shared and complimentary resource management aims; and
• Build capacity to create programs that meaningfully engage the public.

Educators and Interpreters

Educators and interpreters are important allies to archeology outreach. It is important for archeologists to understand that education and interpretation are different professional entities that each have their own skill sets. When collaborating with educators or interpreters, know the pros and cons of their techniques. For instance:

• Educators can advise interpreters on state and local benchmark standards, contacts in local schools and governments, and appropriate techniques for various groups by age, learning level, and ability. For example, archeology education programs will be fundamentally different for kindergarteners, high school seniors, or senior citizens.
• Interpreters can advise educators on the range of techniques to engage with audiences and ways to work across visitor groups and other identity categories. Archeology interpretation programs reflect the purpose of conveying information specific to a place or topic in ways that respond to a range of audiences.
• Archeologists can be both educators and interpreters, and educators and interpreters should turn to archeologists to vet their programs. Archeologists can advise educators and interpreters on the accuracy of information, useful resources, and ways to link specific topics with broader themes.

Read on for more information about the differences between education and interpretation.

Education

"Education" tends to refer to formal curricula delivered to fulfill specific knowledge standards according to school grade or developmental stage. Its audiences are often classroom-based, such as K-12 and college or university classes. Educators tend to present multiple points of view but expect a correct answer, use facts to support learning objectives, believe the retention of information to be paramount, and guide learners toward information that they need to learn. An education program may be followed by an activity or an assessment to see what students have learned.

Resources for examples of archeology formal lesson plans and informal activities are:

• Explore Archeology For Kids (National Park Service)
• Latino Archeology for Kids (National Park Service)
• Online Activities (National Park Service)
• Archeology, NPS Teaching with Historic Places (National Park Service)
• tag: archeology, NPS Education Portal (National Park Service)

Interpretation

"Interpretation" is the catalyst for audiences to form their own intellectual, personal, and emotional relationships with resources and their meanings and significance inherent to them. While it can be educational, interpretation takes place in informal settings. Interpreters tend to offer multiple points of view, lead audiences to personal revelations, encourage open-ended dialogue, and believe the process to be as important as the end result.

Resources for discovering the interpretation of archeology are:

• Interpreting Archeology: A Shared Competency for Archeologists and Interpreters Working Together, National Park Service

For More Information

• WASO Interpretation, Education, and Volunteers, National Park Service
• Director's Order #6: Interpretation And Education, National Park Service
• Chapter 7: Interpretation and Education, NPS Management Policies (2006), National Park Service

Related Subject and Discipline Specialists

Archeology outreach may draw in a range of related subject areas and specialists. Natural resource disciplines use science communication, which involves the use of appropriate skills, media, activities and dialogue, to produce personal responses to park resources and values. Biologists, soil specialists, paleontologists, hydrologists, and many others can bring perspective to archeological findings in a way that opens new opportunities for engagement. These opportunities may be rooted in the past, such as learning to read human impacts on a historic landscape, or the ways peoples' past activities can inform modern life, such as water use or hunting strategies.

Examples of archeology and related subject specialists include:

• Archeology Subject Site, National Park Service
• Explore Nature Portal, National Park Service
• Science Subject Site, National Park Service
• Heritage Areas Subject Site, National Park Service
• Research Learning Centers, National Park Service
• Traditional and Ecological Knowledge Subject Site, National Park Service

Law Enforcement

Law enforcement rangers are frontline staff who regularly interact with visitors. As a result, they can play a unique and important role in archeology outreach. Archeologists and law enforcement officers who conduct Archaeological Resource Protection Act (ARPA) investigations should consider outreach as complementary to other protection activities.

Archeological outreach aims to improve the public's understanding that the NPS's preservation and protection of archeological resources is a legal matter. ARPA incidents often result from local individuals, who may or may not know that metal detecting or digging on federal land is a federal crime. A lack of understanding about why the NPS protects archeological resources is frequently behind incidents. When law enforcement rangers have an understanding of archeology and its significance, they are in a position to communicate the value of archeology to the visitors they encounter.

In order to know where the archeological resources are in order to protect them, minding the sensitivity of locational data, archeologists should in some way share the locations of sites with law enforcement. It may be helpful to take rangers on a tour of park sites and provide a general introduction to the archeological process.

For More Information

• The FLETC Training Catalog (search by "Archaeological Resources Protection")

Curators and Collection Managers

Archeological resources are curated into collections facilties managed by the NPS or its partners. Collaboration with curators and collections managers can be a critical aspect of archeology outreach. Curation cares for archeological artifacts and associated documentation, ensuring that its data potential remains intact for future use, such as using artifacts in exhibits, photographs, or 3d scans; providing access to collections for researchers (such as interpreters, non-archeologist subject matter experts, or others), descendant and culturally-affiliated groups, and members of the public; or making artifacts available for special programs, 3d reproduction, or other activities.

Federal law protects archeological collections, such that they are part of the mandate for outreach. In addition, Section 79.10 Use of collections in the federal regulations at 36 CFR Part 79, “Curation of Federally-Owned and Administered Archeological Collections” stipulates that: “(a) The Federal Agency Official shall ensure that the Repository Official makes the collection available for scientific, educational and religious uses, subject to such terms and conditions as are necessary to protect and preserve the condition, research potential, religious or sacred importance, and uniqueness of the collection.”

For More Information

• NPS Museum Handbook, especially Part III: Museum Collection Use, National Park Service

Descendant, Affiliated, and Associated Groups

An important aspect of archeology outreach is inclusivity, meaning engaging the people for whom the archeological subject is personal and matters the most. Possible partners include Native groups, park partners, schools and education councils, and local communities or gateway communities. These groups can help archeologists understand sensitive issues, such as racism, inequality, or prejudice; use culturally- and historically-accurate terminology; recognize and confront personal biases; see perspectives other than their own; and craft more inclusive and needed outreach than archeologists might without their guidance.

Consultation is a regular part of archeological compliance activities, but should be a habit for creating outreach programs, as well. Consultation involves working with invested groups to make sure that archeology outreach programming is culturally sensitive, accurate, and meets the needs of a range of publics. It enables individuals or groups who are represented archeologically to speak about their concerns or beliefs. It provides descendant groups with a voice in archeological outreach and assurance that their perspectives will not be misrepresented. Consultation with diverse populations improves outreach because it enhances and broadens content, and identifies multiple points of view and potentially sensitive issues.

For More Information:

• Chapter 5, NPS Management Policies (2006), National Park Service