ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to argue for the end of Indigenous archaeology. The title is intentionally provocative, but it does reflect an important and fundamental set of issues. Here I take what can be termed a bipolar approach. Currently Indigenous archaeology is emerging as a distinct form of the discipline, and some would suggest a very separate one; certainly, this approach remains at the margins of archaeology. While I strongly encourage the pursuit of community-based, ethnocritical, and reflexive methods and modes of interpretation as much-needed and long-overdue elements in contemporary archaeology, at the same time I suggest that we must also work to eliminate Indigenous archaeology as a creature that resides solely outside of the mainstream. That is, rather than working to develop Indigenous approaches to archaeology separate from others, we should be trying to incorporate them within the discipline. Failing to do so will limit significantly or marginalise the potential contributions of archaeology as a more representative and responsible discipline, and constrain its continued intellectual growth.
