Emily C. Van Alst and Carlton Shield Chief Gover’s edited volume, Indigenizing Archaeology: Putting Theory into Practice, brings together writing by a new generation of Indigenous archaeologists to showcase new methodologies and modes of community collaboration. Each case study demonstrates how Indigenous archaeology can push the discipline to work with and for Indigenous communities, centering their voices and ways of knowing in studying archaeological sites and material culture. Contributors are courageous and clear in demonstrating that nurturing respectful relationships with Indigenous communities and incorporating Indigenous land-based epistemologies and ontologies make for good archaeology: doing so contributes to Indigenous sovereignty and enables Indigenous engagement with and reclamation of their heritage.

The first of three parts of the book discuss “Recontextualizing Archives of Knowledge.” Three authors in this section focus on how museums and archives not only represent ongoing legacies of colonial violence toward Indigenous peoples but also how they can be spaces of survivance, in which Indigenous peoples reclaim their heritage and material culture. The fourth author speaks to using Indigenous language as a framework to analyze material culture. In chapter 1, Zoë Eddy shows how museums are haunted by colonial violence, because they literally house the bones and spirits of Indigenous ancestors. Eddy urges archaeologists to embrace and understand the “ghosts” or “specters” of colonial violence in museums to comprehend the pain felt within descendant communities as they work to reclaim their heritage from such institutional spaces. In chapter 2, Kay Kakendasotkwe Mattena cleverly weaves a short story about colonial violence in excavation, curation, and repatriation from the perspective of the spirit of a Bodwewadmi (Potawatomi) tattoo kit. Mattena argues that an Indigenous approach to archaeology can support Indigenous peoples’ engagement with their cultural heritage stored in museums. In chapter 4, Lydia Curliss discusses the need for archives and their staff to build sustainable relationships with Indigenous communities, to educate themselves about Indigenous knowledge, and to develop and implement ethical collections management and stewardship practices and protocols in partnership with Indigenous communities. She highlights concerns related to digital archives and the needs for ethical care and protection of sensitive information in the digital world. In chapter 3, S. Margaret Spivey-Faulkner demonstrates the utility of emic perspectives in studying zoomorphic iconography in the US Southeast through her folk taxonomy of animals based on the Mvskoke (Muskogean) language.

The second part of this volume focuses on “Reclaiming Cultural Heritage.” Authors in this section demonstrate the importance of centering Indigenous needs, integrating Indigenous ontologies, and building relationships based on trust and respect. In chapter 5, Patrick Cruz shares his experiences in the US Southwest, emphasizing that archaeologists must integrate Indigenous ontologies and epistemologies, as well as Indigenous archaeologists, into their study of the past. He urges archaeologists to constantly ask who benefits from archaeological research and to consider beforehand the consequences of proposed projects. In chapter 5, Nicholas Laluk discusses Ndee (Western Apache) concepts of place, including connections in time and space or “between natural topography and Ndee social reasoning” (p. 87) that drive Ndee moral responsibility. In researching the Ndee, archaeologists must consider a place-based approach that centers Ndee knowledge systems as a theoretical and methodological framework. In chapter 7, Ash Boydston-Schmidt discusses the importance of building trust and respect in work related to NAGPRA and processes of repatriation, which she characterizes as “living relationships, not as stagnant policy” (p. 103). She emphasizes that for Indigenous people ceremonial or sacred items and ancestors are relatives who must be loved, respected, and cared for. In chapter 8, Honey Constant-Inglis discusses Indigenous approaches to land as kin at Wanuskewis Heritage Park in Saskatchewan, which have shaped her identity as a Plains Cree person and have fostered her interest in archaeology “as a form of healing and reconnecting stolen heritage” (p. 109).

The third part of this volume centers on “Retelling Indigenous Stories,” which explores how to apply Indigenous stories, oral traditions, and oral histories in archaeological research. In chapter 9, Van Alst discusses rock art, emphasizing the importance in many Indigenous ontologies of relationships between human and nonhuman actors and between people and places. For Indigenous peoples, rock art is knowledge, history, stories, and ancestors, where the images still play a role in contemporary communities. Van Alst advocates approaches to the collaborative study and Indigenous reclamation of rock art sites through methods such as “visiting circles” and cultural mapping. In chapter 10, Ashleigh Big Wolf Thompson discusses traditional Anishnaabe foodways. She argues that Anishnaabe knowledge comes from the land and is a spiritual gift. In applying storytelling as both a theoretical framework and methodological approach, Thompson draws on the Anishnaabe Deer Clan story as a framework to formulate interview questions. Cultural teachings embedded in this story emphasize lessons pertaining to humans as caretakers of the earth and “reciprocal relationality with more-than-human-kin” (p. 148). She characterizes the continuation of traditional Anishnaabe foodways as forms of survivance and resistance to colonialism. In Chapter 11, Shield Chief Gover discusses Pawnee and Arikara oral traditions regarding ethnogenesis and migration into the central Plains, proposed dates for the separation of different Caddoan languages, characteristics of central Plains archaeological cultures, and radiocarbon dates from archaeological sites. He argues that drawing on these different kinds of data contribute to Indigenous knowledge about their history and homelands: “Oral traditions provided the why, whereas archaeology provided the when and how” (p. 167). In an afterword, Joe Watkins characterizes Indigenous archaeology as sovereignty, self-determination, and activism, drawing on his perspective and wisdom as one of the first American Indians to earn a PhD in archaeology.

This volume will interest anyone conducting archaeology in the Americas, including professionals in museums and archives where Indigenous materials are housed. It is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate archaeology courses and for anyone interested in practicing Indigenous archaeology, Indigenizing archaeology, and collaborating with Indigenous peoples in projects related to archaeology, museums, archives, and heritage.