Airlie House 2.0 – Visioning Future Directions in CRM Archaeology
During the third week of May 2024, the National Park Service (NPS) and the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) hosted a workshop to consider pressing issues in archaeological cultural resource management (CRM) and to propose action plans to move CRM archaeology into the future. Organizers built on the 1977 Airlie House Report, drawn from a historic set of seminars examining issues facing the nascent discipline 50 years ago.
In 1974, responding to a need for standards and guidance, the NPS and SAA collaborated on a series of seminars that set the tone for the practice of CRM for nearly five decades. Many of the standards and templates set out in the 1977 Airlie House Report are still used today. The seminar results also influenced development of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, passed in 1979, and its regulations. The 2024 Airlie House Revisited workshop, initiated by NPS staff, built on that effort.
To identify critical issues in CRM archaeology, in 2022 the SAA conducted a national survey to identify topics of concern for CRM practitioners and partners involved in CRM; 651 people responded to the survey. Survey participants ranked nine topics in order of importance. In addition, the SAA held an online webinar and a four-hour listening session at the 2023 SAA annual meeting and a forum at the 2024 SAA annual meeting. As a result of these endeavors, the 2024 Airlie House Revisited workshop focus and structure were based on input from CRM stakeholders across the nation.
The 2024 Airlie House Revisited workshop was structured around four broad themes: Workforce Training and Careers; Decolonization/Engaging Descendent Communities/Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging; Archaeological Collections, including Records; and CRM Archaeology Compliance. Invited workshop participants included individuals from CRM firms; federal, state, and local agencies; federally recognized American Indian Tribes; universities and colleges; curatorial facilities; and professional organizations. Participants were nominated by colleagues, self-nominated, or designated organizational representatives.
The outcomes of the 2024 workshop, like the original Airlie House effort, will be presented in an edited volume that contextualizes the current challenges and provides actionable
recommendations for the future. Committees formed during the workshop are already developing and implementing action plans identified during the 2024 workshop. These committees will also be reaching out this year and in 2025 to other members of the CRM archaeology and historic preservation communities in order to advance the action plans. The organizers and participants in the 2024 Airlie House Revisited workshop view the implementation of these action plans as an “all-hands-on-deck” effort within CRM archaeology, in partnership with all of the communities and organizations that contribute to the protection and preservation of archaeological places and collections in the United States.
The preliminary outcomes of the 2024 Airlie House Revisited workshop will be presented in an upcoming article in The SAA Archaeological Record. Workshop representatives will also update professional archaeological organizations over the next several months and during the next year as action plans are implemented.
It is anticipated that action plans from the 2024 workshop will provide a crucial roadmap for CRM in the United States and the US Federal Archeology Program for decades to come.
The following organizations provided important financial support for participation by a number of Tribes, early career archaeologists, and other underrepresented groups: Algonquin Consultants Inc, Desert Archaeology, Jones Archaeology Consulting, Metcalf Archaeological Consulting, Inc, National Park Service, Society for American Archaeology, Society for Historical Archaeology, and Statistical Research, Inc.