Archaeology looks to the past to find meaning in modern identities; for this reason, its sites are often political and the public wants a stake in the research, resulting in increased efforts towards public outreach in archaeology. Yet there is a spectrum of politicism to sites and not all efforts at community outreach are as strongly political as others, like the excavations at Caraun Point, Achill Island, Ireland. These sites are just as valuable for community engagement but can take a different approach, given the different context. The current research evaluates community engagement on Achill through a two-pronged approach: assessing the value of various approaches and then choosing an approach to test. Ultimately the research saw value in a permanent passive engagement strategy, resulting in a children’s book to share with the public.
Author: Faith R. Walker
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jeb Card, Department of Anthropology
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