In message Tue, 7 Jun 1994 22:27:26 -0700,
  Anita Cohen-Williams <[log in to unmask]>  writes:
 
> Ah, but the Presidio of San Diego excavation only costs $50 for 8 weeks
> (but no room and board is provided), and there are no African Americans
> there either.
 
Forest Service Passport in Time projects (both historical and
archaeological) usually cost nothing for two weeks of work in a Bational
Forest (room is usually provided for even though in some cases in remote
areas this entails camping).  Sometimes you have to pay for your own food
and you've got to get yourself to the pickup spot at the beginning of the
project.  Then again, it costs nothing to volunteer for a day or weekend at
the many hundreds of archaeological and historical projects going on around
the country probably right near your home.
 
No, I think the problem is much deeper than merely the actual paying
the direct costs of going on a project (I've worked with many, many
lower-income European American volunteers).
     Despite the progress made during the last 20 years or so, archaeology
remains a field dominated by males of European American descent.  Clearly
women within some of the subdisciplines of Archaeology (e.g. Historical
Archaeology and Gender Studies) have made great strides, yet as we've noted
numerous times during this discussion - minorities have not.
     Some of the reason for the success of the women in Historical
Archaeology and Gender Studies may be (and I'm not meaning to be sexist
here by referring to women as if they were all the same), that we're
finally asking questions that interest them (and women are becoming more
visible in the archaeological record now that we're consciously looking for
them).  I think a similar case can be made for African Americans who found
digging a Native American site or European American house is not as
interesting or perhaps as exciting as the excavation of an African American
cemetary in NYC.  Clearly there are other factors to consider - interesting
questions regardless, some folks just are not interested in archaeology (I
don't understand it ;-))
     Sorry about the rambling thoughts but I think that there are many more
complex explanations than being able to afford to go on a project.  Perhaps
the primary reason is that archaeology and anthropology are usually
encountered only once you reach the college level?
 
David McKivergan, Department of Anthropology, Baldwin Hall,
University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602
(706) 542-3922, Internet:  [log in to unmask]