ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the author's interaction with the educational system, specifically teachers and museums, led him to choose archaeology as the discipline. It relates how various life events have shaped his approach to the practice of archaeology and anthropology of indigenous peoples. The archaeologists stated that the ancestral pueblo buried their babies by the hearth so that the babies could be by their mothers all the time. This statement struck a very powerful chord within the author. The years of mistreatment, abuse, and violence at the hands of the Spanish, Mexicans, and Americans left many native Californians landless and powerless, working as laborers on ranchos residing on what were once tribal lands. The chapter concludes by describing the encouragement and guidance that he receives from a remarkable and inspirational community of Native and non-Native scholars who participates in the indigenous archaeology movement.
