ABSTRACT
This chapter divides ontological approaches in archaeology into four different lines of thought, focused respectively on worldviews, relations, objects, and worlds. It considers the relative strengths and weaknesses of each of these lines of thought, particularly as they relate to politically engaged North American collaborative archaeologies. It then brings these ontological arguments into critical dialogue with a variety of Indigenous thinkers in North America, including Sonya Atalay, Vine Deloria Jr., Zoe Todd, and Gerald Vizenor. It concludes with thoughts on how these different ways of thinking support broader efforts to reduce Eurocentrism in the discipline and open up archaeology to a much broader set of sensitivities, interests, and needs.
