Dear Viewer,

Welcome to the publication formerly known as OKPAN Quarterly and brought to you proudly now as The Community Archaeologist (TCA). 

TCA Editor-in-Chief and PhD Candidate Delaney Cooley and Associate Editor and PhD Student Horvey Palacios led the reconceptualization of everything from our look, to our publication frequency, to the sorts of stories we feature.  Our focus remains the heritage that matters to Oklahomans, but we now emphasize stories about and by those who seek to eliminate the polarization—fundamentally rooted in power imbalances—that has too-often divided academics from non-academics, faculty from students, and archaeologists from descendants of the people they study.  None of that ill-will and distrust needs to exist; not when we all care so much about our heritage and can learn about and celebrate it together.

In this inaugural issue, you will learn about a University of Oklahoma (Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network) program that introduces high school students from backgrounds historically excluded from archaeology to a discipline with many private-sector jobs to fill.  You will meet new OU Native American Studies professor Lewis Borck, whose honesty and vulnerability will inspire students who might otherwise have thought the Academy lacked a place for them.  Writer Justin Lund, who recently earned his PhD in Anthropology at OU and now teaches at Northern Arizona University, will captivate you with his clever use of Star Trek to show all anthropology students that the future belongs to them.  And Mississippi State University professor and OU PhD Shawn Lambert shares his experience working with members of the Natchez, Mississippi community to understand the history of the nineteenth century enslaved people at Concord Quarters, a local plantation.

We hope you enjoy these stories and the many more to come in TCA’s pages.  If you are an archaeologist or other heritage practitioner who works or is based in Oklahoma, we welcome your proposals to share your work with a broad audience.  I am happy to answer your questions or to hear your thoughts, so do not hesitate to reach out to me at bonnie.pitblado@ou.edu.  You may also direct queries and ideas to our editors at thecommunityarchaeologist@gmail.com. 

Sincerely, 

Bonnie Pitblado, PhD

Robert E and Virginia Bell Professor of Anthropological Archaeology

Director, Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network (OKPAN)