Beyond Boundaries: Society for California Archaeology 49th Annual Meeting, March 12-15, 2015

SPARK Consulting; McCarley, Rebecca

Program from the 49th Annual Meeting of the Society for California Archaeology in Redding, California, March 12-15, 2015. From introduction: "Whether they be geographical, political or cultural, boundaries serve to protect us, define us....and sometimes limit us. Here in Redding, the Sundial Bridge serves as a symbol of this community’s efforts to go beyond boundaries, to unite the town of Redding as it crosses the Sacramento River. In the distance, Mt. Shasta stands as a testament to the men and women who have challenged themselves by pushing their own physical boundaries. And at this moment we are all sitting within the cultural boundaries of the State of Jefferson; a collection of counties from northern California to southern Oregon, whose efforts work towards adding another state to the union. For the 2015 SCA Annual Meeting, we have chosen the theme “Beyond Boundaries”. Although we are the Society for California Archaeology, we all know that archaeology doesn’t stop at our state line. That’s why this year we’ve invited speakers from Oregon and northwest Nevada to join us. Communication between our states is key; we must share our data and our hard-earned knowledge to gain a holistic view of the archaeology of the Pacific Northwest, to learn how prehistoric and protohistoric boundaries changed over time and why. To exemplify this year’s theme, the SCA has invited archaeologists and Native Americans to coauthors papers for our Friday morning Plenary Session. One of the Plenary duos, Me’-lash-ne Loren Bommelyn and Shannon Tushingham, put it best -- “Collaborative studies between archaeologists and modern indigenous communities can provide fruitful avenues of research and inform our understanding of themes and periods of time that are often overlooked in traditional anthropological inquiry.” If we want to explore these “overlooked” areas of inquiry, we must start chipping away at the walls between our two communities, and demonstrate ways to communicate and work together productively. We think the SCA 2015 Annual Conference is a great place to start." Project funding was provided in part by a 2014 Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Society for California Archaeology (project number CA-14-049) administered by the California State Historic Preservation Office (grant number P14AF00134) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Beyond Boundaries: Society for California Archaeology 49th Annual Meeting, March 12-15, 2015

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