Amateurs in North American Archaeology: Changing Perspectives

Interrogates the boundaries between amateur and professional archaeology

Until the mid-twentieth century, professional archaeologists readily worked alongside amateur or avocational archaeologists—those who did not have an academic, professional, or governmental affiliation. However, the gulf between professionals and amateurs has grown in recent decades, and amateurs are now often viewed more warily and are even conflated with looters. Amateurs in North American Archaeology traces the traj...