Welcoming Remarks

Francis P. McManamon – Departmental Consulting Archeologist, National Park Service.

 

 

Good morning everyone and welcome.  Thank you, Paul, for your kind introduction.  Thank you, Dean Montgomery for your inspiring remarks and for your emphasis on the very productive partnership between the National Park Service and the University of Maryland. 

 

I am delighted to be here, participating in this cooperative venture between the National Park Service and the University of Maryland.  I’d like to thank some of the people who have made this possible.  Thank you to Kristen Owens and Chris Morris of the University’s Academic Consulting Services.  And to Lena Mortensen, Charlotte King and Paul Shackel with the Center for Heritage Resource Studies and to Barbara Little with the Archeology and Ethnography program of the National Park Service.

 

As most of you know, the National Park Service has a long history of interpreting our national heritage to the public in our national parks.  Among the earliest was Mesa Verde.  Our archeological heritage is sometimes quite obvious in the visible remains of mounds, earthworks, cliff dwellings, fortifications and other above-ground structures.  Other parts -- the vast majority in fact -- of our archeological heritage are much less visible.  Many parks have archeological remains that are nationally significant and tell vital stories about the long history of this land, and yet are all but invisible.  For example, Cape Cod National Seashore was set aside by Congress primarily for its recreation and natural resource values and yet there are hundreds of archeological sites that tell stories of thousands of years of Native American history that is far too poorly known by most Americans today.

 

“Diversity” is a word that is so overused these days that it is in danger of becoming meaningless, and yet the concept and the reality of diversity is deeply embedded in our heritage and identity.  Archeology and the stories it can tell about people in both the ancient and recent past does more than celebrate that diversity; it can make diversity real and continuous for people today who are struggling with issues that we sometimes mistakenly think are new.  Diversity is not new.  Cultural conflicts and clashes and accommodation are not new.  The challenges of living in a changing environment are not new either.  Archeology can lend insight into our national civic dialogues, but not if its results are limited to a small circle of archeologists.  And that is why it is important that we are here today: to talk about the public meaning of our archeological heritage and to talk about how we can tell the stories more effectively.  And archeological resources need interpreting.  Most are invisible.  All are palimpsests of the physical evidence of human activities that need deciphering.  In fact, the means of deciphering are also subjects for public interpretation.

 

Of course, as you know, there are far more archeological resources outside of national parks than inside park boundaries.  And there are federal, tribal, state and local laws that are designed to ensure that the value and importance of archeological and other cultural resources like historic buildings and structures are considered and weighed when there is development or other potentially damaging activity.  Many of us in this room spend much of our days dealing with the details of compliance with these laws, trying to protect and preserve the tangible remains of our heritage for future generations.

 

Sometimes, projects driven by legal compliance and even accidental discoveries of archeological remains force us to step back and take a look at the bigger picture.  Sometimes, in fact, archeological resources cause quite a stir.  I am thinking of two very well-known examples that have received a great deal of national and even international media coverage:  Kennewick Man in Washington state and the African Burial Ground in lower Manhattan.  Both of these are astonishing discoveries that require an archeological perspective to understand.

 

These two cases represent very divergent time periods – from approximately 9000 years ago to just a few of centuries ago.  They both raise many important issues surrounding management decisions and planning, scientific investigation, descendant communities, broader public interest and the meaning of these important discoveries in our national history.   Many of the issues they raise are not easy; nor is their resolution quick.  But archeologists and interpreters do not need to shy away from difficult issues.  The National Park Service as a whole has been grappling more effectively with difficult histories and with challenges that have roots in our long past but continue into the present.    

 

One of the new directions in the National Park Service today is to take on the challenge of civic engagement and to use parks and park stories as tools in our civic dialogue about the issues that face us today.  Archeology has a role in that dialogue.  Government at every level faces increasing demands for accountability and the demonstration of public benefits.  Archeology has a role in the delivery of public benefits to a wide range of communities and a responsibility to let the public in on the important work that we do. 

 

We need to find ways to effectively broaden the conversation, to include archeology and the unique perspective it offers on the distant and recent past, to provide members of the public with the opportunity to understand and appreciate that long view of the past.  

 

Again, thank you all for being here today.  The National Park Service is committed to improving the effective interpretation of archeology.  We are encouraged by the groundswell in the archeological profession that is looking seriously at improving the presentation of archeology worldwide.  

 

This conference and our discussions will not really be over at the end of today or even tomorrow.  We are working with the University on offering some distance-learning courses and other opportunities.  I invite you all to continue the dialogue, even as each of us is enmeshed in the day-to-day demands of management decisions, maintenance issues, audits, reports and the small and large crises we face routinely.  It is easy to get lost in the daily details, but energizing to remember that there is a larger purpose in the big picture of public meaning.

 

I am looking forward to our discussions today.  Thank you.    

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