Departmental Research Seminar: Global Heritage as Catch-22, and How to Move Through: A Local Community Success Story

Archaeology in the Middle East has historically been performed by large groups of local excavators employed by westerners, who often view the labourers as unskilled. Despite being incredibly knowledgeable about the archaeology of the area, local workers often downplay their own experience and are reluctant to consider themselves experts. Allison Mickel describes the factors that lead to this phenomenon as 'Catch-22-esque', as local excavators often benefit financially from performing an 'expected role'. She proposes new ways for labour management in archaeology to be more community-minded using her own excavations as case studies.