Dear colleagues,

After reading the recent digest which included the curt response to Ms.
Street's genuine question, debates over the definition of our field and
scope of the list, and threats by the listserve owner/manager to quit, I
felt compelled to write an apology (emailed off-list) to Ms. Street for the
way in which her question was dismissed and for the negative perception she
may well now have of our field and its practitioners.

Perhaps I am more aware of our obligations to the public/s than others,
given my more public outreach oriented job, but no archaeologist in this day
and age should ignore a genuine question posted in sincerity. It may fall
outside of our areas of expertise, but we do have access to colleagues and
resources that many members of the public do not, and it certainly does not
present a good face of historical archaeology as a profession when we can't
be bothered to even point a person with a genuine interest in the past in
the right direction. Instead of creating an ally for historical archaeology
and archaeological resources, we may well have alienated her from the entire
discipline. This is most definitely not in line with our values as scholars,
stewards of cultural resources, and teachers, and is certainly not
politically astute in a time of economic recession.

I appreciate the spirited debate about the definition and scope of our
field, but am afraid that it may have just reinforced perceptions by
outsiders of our discipline as parochial and irrelevant to their interests
and needs. The practical considerations of running a successful listserve
must be considered (and thank you, Anita for keeping the list going), but we
all need to be mindful of our broader goals and obligations as
archaeologists.

Sincerely,

David T. Palmer, Ph.D., RPA
Southwest Regional Archaeologist
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
P.O. Box 40198
Lafayette, Louisiana 70504-0198

http://soci-anth.louisiana.edu/SRAP/
337.482.5198
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