IN AND OUT OF THE BOX: SHIFTING VIEWS AND PARADIGMS IN CRM GEOARCHAEOLOGY

When geoarchaeology first emerged more than 40 years ago, it was viewed as a “specialty” study reserved for a few highly educated and trained individuals. At the time, many of the concepts and soil jargon used by geoarchaeologist seemed too foreign or obscure to be directly applicable for many CRM projects. Since then, geoarchaeology has grown in relevance and become a necessary sub-industry within the CRM world. While these are positive developments, it is apparent that academic institutions are not able to train or produce enough geoarchaeologist to keep pace with the demand in the CRM sector. Recognizing the need for stop gap measures, this presentation critically reviews several common misconceptions and counter-productive perspectives that have led many to think only geoarchaeologists can do geoarchaeology. Instead, geoarchaeologist should help every archaeologist and CRM practitioner understand how to better integrate geoarchaeological concepts into their daily work and field methods. We need to send a clear message that geoarchaeology is accessible to many different education levels and is readily available to those who wish to learn that geoarchaeology is just good archaeology.