P-01 Community Archaeology: Theory and Practice

The poster will make the case for a more inclusive vision of archaeology in the lands of the Bible. Such a vision is needed in order to address biases resulting from the expeditionary model that has been the mainstay of much biblical archaeology. Under this traditional model discoveries unearthed by excavations and surveys in these lands that did not pertain to biblical times and events were either discarded or ignored. Also, host communities were seen as ancillary, as a source of labor, but not much more. Andrews University archaeologists working in Jordan have pioneered a new approach to biblical archaeology that is both inclusive in terms of time periods studied and in terms of engaging with the local host community. This new model is called community archaeology. The approach has been well received by our Jordanian hosts and by our scientific colleagues, and it has been adopted by many other archaeological projects working in Jordan and beyond. It has also been embraced as the way forward for the future of archaeology by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. The poster will highlight the inter-disciplinary nature of this new approach and include a brief overview of best practices of community archaeology as crystallized by the Hisban Cultural Heritage Project