As archaeologists, we are often called upon to discuss our work with various groups
that share our interest in human culture and human adaptation, to communicate with
those whose heritage we study, or to explain our findings to other
‘stakeholders’ in the archaeological enterprise. As
communicators, however, we are less adept at accurately portraying our thoughts to
those groups. All too frequently we enter into opportunities to communicate with
groups and then bore them with jargon, try to dazzle them with technological
brilliance, or lose their attention all together. And, even when we do not confuse
them with acronyms, we take it for granted that the words we choose are understood
in our intended manner. The following article begins with a few examples of
misunderstandings involved in communicating archaeology and then goes beyond these
topics to the core of the Western scientific process of naming and categorizing, to
the politics of our profession and to the implications of our archaeology on
contemporary populations.
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