Good morning and welcome to day 3 of our 2020 Festival of Archaeology – Digital Week. Today we turn our Festival over to professional and volunteer archaeologists and students to submit blogs as part of A Day in Archaeology. It is an easy way to take part and help us bring together as many stories, voices and experiences from across the archaeology and heritage sector as possible to showcase what we do and how we think about the world we live in and the environment around us.

For me, the most important thing about archaeology is that it is not actually about the past, it is about the present. Yes, we look at the material culture and surviving evidential value of past peoples and environments, but we do this from the present; the here and the now. Therefore, we are fully governed by our own perspectives and life experiences – these are the lenses through which we act and think as archaeologists. Whilst we can try to be as objective as possible, we would not be human if we did not bring some of our own self to looking at the world around us and our work.

Understanding and accepting this, working within this open and subjective framework is not problematic, it is not being dishonest to the past,  its actually very liberating – understanding that our work reflects more about us than the past or the people who preceded us, allows us to grow and develop the range of questions we ask of the material and experiences we encounter as archaeologists. It is about being honest to the present and understanding of the world around us today and the issues we face. If we cannot understand these issues, then how can we ever apply narratives to the past from the very limited material we see of it? Limiting our perspectives restricts and damages our thought processes and the questions we ask. To me the most important skill an archaeologist needs is to be able to open their eyes to the present, to today and the issues we face in today’s world. Only by asking questions about our place and actions in today’s world can we seek better questions about the past and the material culture we encounter. 

Never has this been more important as we think about our role as archaeologists in respect of the Black Lives Matter movement and the protests around statues and narratives relating to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and our colonial past. At the CBA we have been looking at our own approach and considering what we can do better to reflect society today.  As an organisation we acknowledge that we have work to do, not only to better understand many of the issues facing individuals participating in archaeology, but to create changes that ensure archaeology is accessible and open to everyone. 

We are using our Festival and today – A Day in Archaeology – to make a statement and commitment to addressing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in archaeology and our work. We are also launching an Equality and Diversity Resources Hub on our website where we have brought together a range of resources and links relating to equality and diversity.

You can read our CBA Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement and I would ask, as you read it and the blogs and stories written by archaeologists today, that you think and reflect on how we can all do more to make our work and archaeological activities more diverse and inclusive.

I hope you all have a great day and enjoy the rest of our Festival Digital Week. Don’t forget, in this extraordinary year we hope to be returning in October with a full range of on the ground activities for part 2 of the 2020 Festival of Archaeology. All the details will be available on the Festival website.