Thread by @DrKillgrove

I am going to disagree with a lot of this, perhaps an unpopular opinion. While science is definitely for everyone, and I don't think gatekeeping the presentation of science is a good thing, there's a difference between gatekeeping and professionalization of archaeology. (1/n)

https://twitter.com/ArchaeologyGame/status/1439942216336695305

US archaeology used to be treasure hunters and metal detectorists and people who just liked to dig stuff up. There wasn't a lot of education or training required - just money. But around the time of the Civil Rights movement, new laws and regulations were passed... (2/n)

... that began to protect cultural resources, particularly of Indigenous and Black populations in the U.S. So, suddenly, there was a need for culture resource management (CRM), and archaeology job opportunities skyrocketed in the 1970s. (3/n)

One of the issues was: how could prospective employers or clients tell if an archaeologist was qualified for CRM? We aren't board-certified like doctors, nor do we have to pass a bar exam like lawyers. How can we tell the trained, ethical archaeos from pseudoarchs? (4/n)

In 1974, a joint conference by the Society for American Archaeology and the National Park Service brought together bunches of archaeologists to discuss professionalization standards in the field of archaeology. (5/n)

The idea for a National Registry was approved and, in 1976, this ended up being instituted as the Society of Professional Archaeologists or SOPA. Here's a preamble to the 1980 SOPA directory of registered archaeologists. (6/n)

SOPA's requirements for listing as a professional archaeologist were in line with the National Park Service / Secretary of the Interior guidelines. Those requirements have changed very little from 1976 to 2021. Here's what the 1997 Federal Register said... (7/n)

"A professional archeologist typically has [2.5 years of] experience in field survey, site testing, site excavation, artifact identification and analysis, documents research, and report preparation" as well as a graduate degree. (8/n)

govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR…

SOPA evolved into RPA - the Register of Professional Archaeologists - in 1997. (Full disclosure: I am the current Registrar, although I am writing this thread outside of that capacity, etc etc.) RPA has a Code of Ethics and Standards of Research for archaeologists. (9/n)

I imagine that the vast majority of RPA registrants are CRM archaeologists, rather than academic ones. The professionalization criteria for academic archaeologists are rather different -- more focused on teaching and publication. (10/n)

My point here is that there ARE professionalization criteria in American archaeology. These criteria mean that pseudoarch folks like the Atlantis dude and TV presenters like Josh Gates are absolutely NOT professional archaeologists. This is not gatekeeping. (11/n)

Gatekeeping absolutely happens. Hell, there are abundant examples from early SOPA that suggest lab-based archaeologists were excluded (which is problematic, as lab-based archaeos were much more likely to be women). (12/n)

But differentiating between professional archaeologists and those in other professions who make a contribution to archaeology or its promulgation -- historians, journalists, TV hosts, etc. -- is not gatekeeping or siloing or anything nefarious. (13/n)

It takes all these people to effectively get out the messages and stories that archaeology can tell. But if academic archaeo was a bit more invested in understanding the professionalization criteria that CRM archaeos do, I think there'd be less arguing about gatekeeping. (14/14)