Join SAA for a celebration of archaeology! Online Archaeology Week will run from April 5 to April 9, 2021, the week before the SAA 86th Annual Meeting Online. All members of the public are invited to explore archaeology and history through downloadable activities and talks from archaeologists and other related experts. Though we won't meet in person in San Francisco as planned this year, learn more about the past in California and elsewhere.

All activities are free and do not require an annual meeting registration. For questions, please contact [email protected].

Help spread the word with the graphic below.

2021 SAA Online Archaeology Week

Activity Booklet

Download the booklet [PDF 6.5 MB] for activities using archaeological knowledge, word searches, connect-the-dots, and 3D models of artifacts. Some activities can be done digitally, while others may need to be printed. If you complete any of the activities in this booklet, you can send it to the Society for American Archaeology for a small prize, an embroidered patch, pictured below. You can either email the document to [email protected] (saved or scanned) or physically mail it to our office.

2021 SAA Online Archaeology Week Patch

Speaker Series

Listen to a series of archaeologists and other experts share their knowledge about heritage and the past through 5-10 minute talks. You can watch their individual lectures below or watch the full YouTube playlist.

Live Speakers and Q&A

The following speakers presented their talks in a live event on April 7 at 6:00 PM Eastern Time:

James Delgado
SEARCH Inc.
Gold Rush Pompeii: The Archaeology of Downtown San Francisco’s Buried Ships and Gold Rush Waterfront

Leah Grant
San Mateo Veterans Curation Program
The Veterans Curation Program: Engaging California's Past for the Future

Joe D. Horse Capture
Autry Museum of the American West
"We, Native Americans, Reclaim the Land Known as Alcatraz Island"

A Q&A session followed their presentations, when they were joined by Gregg Castro and Anna Goldfield to answer questions from the audience.You can view a recording of the questions and responses.

Prerecorded Speakers

The following speakers prerecorded their talks:

Gregg Castro (t'rowt'raahl Salinan / rumsien & ramaytush Ohlone)
Association of Ramaytush Ohlone
Land Owns Us

Ayana Omilade Flewellen
Anthropology Department at UC Riverside
Diving with a Purpose

Anna Goldfield
University of Tulsa
From Caveman to Cousin: The Neanderthal Image and Science Communication

Lara Lloyd
Chandler-Gilbert Community College
Yes, You Can Taste, Touch, and Lick the Science: Methods for Student Engagement in Archaeology

Bernard K. Means
Virtual Curation Laboratory
Was Frederick Douglass an Archaeologist?

David Robinson
University of Central Lancashire Division of Archaeology
Enhanced Reality: The New Possibilities of Immersive Virtual Archaeology

Jiajing Wang

Stanford Archaeology Center
Beer Making in Ancient China

Additional Resources

Exploring Archaeology in California: A PDF [461 KB] of resources for getting involved in archaeology in California, made for the National Council for the Social Studies conference in San Francisco, 2017.


Ancestral Landscapes: Kevin O'Briant presents a series on the ecological history of California from an archaeological perspective in this YouTube playlist.

Learn about Archaeology in Your State: This map by Elizabeth Reetz can help you find an archaeologist to contact near you. If you have questions about archaeology resources, activities, and events of interest to teachers and families, ask a local archaeologist!

Feedback

We would love your feedback on our 2021 Online Archaeology Week. Please share what you learned about archaeology or felt was missing on our feedback wall.

SAA's Online Archaeology Week is made possible through donations to the Public Education Endowment Fund.

Archaeologists Share What they Do

The Archiving the Archaeologists series is an oral history project of video interviews of archaeologists near retirement or already retired. Listen to real archaeologists reflect on their careers, how and why they became archaeologists, and their contributions to the discipline on the SAA YouTube channel.

Is the Past in Your Future?

Aimed at high school students, the Is the Past in Your Future?  [PDF 1.1 MB] brochure from the SAA provides brief information about a career in archaeology.

The National Historic Preservation Act

The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966 is a federal law that protects archaeological resources in the United States. The What is the NPHA? [PDF 1.3 MB] fact-sheet from SAA helps explain the NHPA. It includes common misconceptions about the law and explains the Section 106 review process, which is particularly important to historic preservation.

Be an Archaeology Education Coordinator

If you are an SAA member interested in serving as your area's Archaeology Education Coordinator, please contact [email protected].

SAA Education and Outreach Awards

SAA gives out several archaeology education and outreach-related awards each year: the Distinguished Achievement in Public Archaeology Award, the Excellence in Public Archaeology Programming Award, the Outstanding Public Archaeology Initiative Award, the Binford Family Award for Teaching Scientific Reasoning in Archaeology, the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology Award for Archaeology And Education. Learn more about these awards, nominate a worthy individual or project, and view the past honorees!


Archaeology Education Newsletter Archive
1990-Present

SAA's archaeology education newsletter started as the Public Education Committee's print newsletter Archaeology & Public Education (A&PE). Running from 1990 to 1998, it featured news, events, and K-12 lesson plans aimed at expanding awareness of archaeology and heritage issues. It switched to a web format from 2000 to 2004. After a hiatus, it returned as Public Archaeology Notes (PAN) in 2016, managed by SAA's Archaeology Education Coordinators as a way to share news across regions.

Educational Videos

Looking for video content for your classroom? The SAA YouTube channel has short informational videos on a wide variety of topics, long-form interviews with archaeologists, and publicly-available online seminars.

State Archaeology Celebration Poster Contest

Does your state have an annual archaeology celebration? Submit a poster to the SAA State Archaeology Celebration Poster Contest! Learn more about the award and the submissions process.

SAA Committee on Repatriation

The Committee on Repatriation tracks national legislation, testifies at hearings when necessary, and represents SAA in discussions and negotiations on repatriation issues.

JOIN TODAY!

Join to lend your voice and your numbers to our efforts to ensure the archaeological record will exist for future generations.


Race, Inequality, and Decolonization

Please visit a selection of items on topics of race, inequality, and decolonization from The SAA Archaeological Record, Advances in Archaeological Practice, American Antiquity, and Latin American Antiquity.


Online Learning Archive

SAA members, log into the Member Center to access 30+ hours of free continuing education recordings. This is an exclusive member benefit.

Publicly-Available Recordings

Everyone can enjoy and learn from these events. See SAA's Continuing Education playlist on YouTube for publicly-available recordings of past lectures.

Have a Request?

The seminars we offer on-demand will change over time. If there is a past online seminar recording you'd like to view, please let us know at [email protected]. We can't guarantee that we can meet your request, but your input will help us make decisions about what to offer next.

Download the SAA Principles of Archaeological Ethics

In 1996, the SAA Executive Board adopted its Principles of Archaeological Ethics, and in 2016, membership voted to add a Principle No. 9. In 2018, the SAA Board created a series of task forces which culminated in a 2024 update to the Principles, which were adopted overwhelmingly by members on the January 2024 ballot. Download the most current SAA Principles of Archaeological Ethics [PDF 183 KB] to print or use for classrooms or training.