Indigenous Data Sovereignty and American Archaeology: Taking Responsibility to do Better Regarding the Messy Legacy of Archaeological Datasets

U.S. Indigenous Data Sovereignty Network

Indigenous Data Sovereignty and American Archaeology: Taking Responsibility to do Better Regarding the Messy Legacy of Archaeological Datasets

Skylar Begay (Diné, Mandan and Hidatsa), Moderator

Joshua Watts & Caitlynn Mayhew (Diné) – cyberSW.org

Katharine Williams (Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma), Crow Canyon Archaeological Center

Shannon Cowell, BIA ARPA Assistance Program

Amy Gillaspie & Anastasia Walhovd (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), BIA NAGPRA Assistance Program

Susan Ryan, Crow Canyon Archaeological Center

American archaeology largely remains a discipline shaped by non-Indigenous researchers and compliance specialists (including academic, government workers, and private sector) and supported by a legal framework focused on historic preservation. Field and laboratory work in that context conducted over the last 100-plus years has generated enormous amounts of data primarily about pre-contact Indigenous settlements, artifacts, and People. In particular, the Cultural Resources Management (CRM) industry—starting in the 1970s and now accounting for over a billion dollars annually for compliance work, often with Federal agencies either as clients or permit issuers—has led to a deluge of archaeological data. But, at present, these datasets remain incredibly difficult to manage, access, understand, and use for Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars alike. Current database managers and researchers are wrestling with these legacy resources and assuming responsibility to leverage these resources to help support Indigenous Peoples’ self-determination and collective benefit. This roundtable brings together a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous archaeologists working in the Southwest US to discuss how their programs are engaging with Indigenous Data Sovereignty issues and the CARE principles.