Communicating archaeology

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.