Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress ( 2011)

DOI 10.1007/s11759-011-9181-9

Why Do People Become Involved With

RESEARCH

Archaeology? Some Answers from Alabamas

Black Belt Region
Linda Derry, Old Cahawba Archaeological Park, Alabama
Historical Commission, 719 Tremont Street, Selma, AL 36701, USA
E-mail: cahawba@bellsouth.net

ABSTRACT
________________________________________________________________

This paper considers a question posed by the organizers of the Dynamics of

Inclusion in Public Archaeology symposium: Why do people become
involved? Based on my own quest for public involvement with Cahawba, a
site in Alabamas Black Belt region, I contend that people are most likely
to become involved when an archaeologist communicates interpretively.
Furthermore, certain categories of people are just more likely to become
actively engaged with archaeology than others. Who are they? What are
their characteristics? Where can they be found? The National Survey on
Recreation and the Environment has the answers.
________________________________________________________________
ARCHAEOLOGIES Volume 7 Number 3 December 2011

Resume: Cet article examine une question posee par les organisateurs du
colloque Dynamique dinclusion dans lArcheologie publique (Dynamics of
Inclusion in Public Archaeology) : Pourquoi les personnes simpliquent-elles ?
Me fondant sur ma propre quete en faveur dune participation du public en
faveur de Cahawba, un site dans la region du Black Belt de lAlabama, je
soutiens que les personnes sont plus susceptibles de participer lorsquun
archeologue communique de manie`re interpretative. En outre, certaines
categories dindividus sont simplement plus susceptibles de sinteresser
activement a` larcheologie que dautres. Qui sont-ils ? Quelles sont leur
caracteristiques ? Ou` peut-on les trouver ? LEtude nationale sur les loisirs et
lenvironnement detient les reponses.
________________________________________________________________

Resumen: Este documento considera una pregunta planteada por los

organizadores del simposio sobre Dinamica de Inclusion en la Arqueologa
Publica: APor que llega a implicarse la gente? Basandome en mi propia
busqueda de implicacion publica en Cahawba, un emplazamiento en la
region del Cinturon Negro de Alabama, afirmo que es mas probable que las
personas lleguen a implicarse cuando un arqueologo comunica de manera
interpretativa. Asimismo, es mas probable que determinadas categoras de

538 2011 World Archaeological Congress

 Alabamas Black Belt Region 539

personas lleguen a implicarse activamente mas que otras en la arqueologa.

Quienes son? Cuales son sus caractersticas? Donde pueden encontrarse?
La Encuesta Nacional sobre Entretenimiento y Medioambiente tiene las
respuestas.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

KEY WORDS

Interpretive communication, National Survey on Recreation and the Environment,

Civic tourism, Cahawba
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction
When considering the question of why people become involved with
archaeology, or why they dont, we have to confront the sad truth that
many archaeologists emerge from their university programs much better
equipped to deal with dead people than live ones. Scholars, like Zimmer-
man (2008) have reflected on how theories of archaeological knowledge
contribute to this situation, but experience leads me to believe that we
archaeologists, for the most part, are usually more comfortable with the
dead because we lack the skills to communicate well with the living.
I didnt really understand this until I was well into my career in public
archaeology. I regarded myself as a public archaeologist because I worked
in public settings, four different State Historic Preservation Offices and
three museums. I developed programs for avocational archaeologists and
even managed the first fully interactive excavation at bus stop number one
at Colonial Williamsburg, one of Americas premier outdoor living history
museums. I thought I was doing quite well until I moved away from
the insulating environment of university towns, the museum world, and
government bureaucratic centers.
I left my colleagues at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the
College of William and Mary in 1985 to work with the Alabama State His-
toric Preservation Office (SHPO) but whereas most of my new Alabama
colleagues worked within the insulating beltway around the state capital, I
was to work and live out among the grassroots in order to create an
archaeological park in a rural area near Selma, Alabama. And I was to do
this with very little financial or staff support. Ultimately, my task was to
build a larger constituency for the preservation and interpretation of a
1000 acre archaeological site called Old Cahawba located near Selma.
Essentially a ghost town since the American Civil War, Cahawba was cre-
ated in 1819 to be Alabamas capital city, and the centerpiece of this
540 LINDA DERRY

planned nineteenth century town was a relic sixteenth century Mississip-

pian Indian village complete with earthworks. Cahawba until 1866 was the
county seat and economic center of Dallas County. This county in 1860,
just before the Civil War, was the fourth wealthiest county in the U.S.
according to per capita measures. This wealth was based upon cotton and
slavery. Since 1866, shortly after emancipation, Selma has been the county
seat, and today, Dallas County and most of the Black Belt region of
Alabama exists below the poverty line. Americas Black Belt region, a nar-
row band across several southeastern states, was named after the rich black
soil that originally supported tall grass prairie, and in the nineteenth cen-
tury the Black Belt became the nations cotton belt.
Selma is a town in the Deep South with an African-American majority.
I entered this town as a minority twice overbeing Euro-American and
not southern by birth. Selma is a town that will forever be associated with
a famous historic voting rights march in 1965 and is still struggling to
move beyond negative aspects of its historic civil rights reputation. As I
tried to build a constituency for the preservation of Old Cahawba, I had to
confront the notion that I was not only a minority but essentially also
socially disadvantaged. I was ill equipped to handle small talk, because, up
until that point, I had always socialized with academic or museum col-
leagues and the topic of conversation, even in social settings, tended to be
our own research.
The hard truth, is that out there in the rest of the world, most people
do not care about our research. I now question the commonly held insider
assumption that archaeology is inherently fascinating to the general public.
Instead I found that most people are not even sure what exactly archaeol-
ogy is. This assertion was proven by a Harris Interactive Poll sponsored by
the Society for American Archaeology that found that the American public
has a lack of clear knowledge of what the study of archaeology comprises
(Ramos and Duganne 2000:31). Maybe it is dinosaurs, or maybe not; they
are not really sure. In my early days in Selma, when I responded to the
inevitable ice-breaker question in social situations about what I did for a
living, I noticed peoples eyes glazing over. Then they would ease away
from me because they could not relate to my answer. They retreated to the
comfort of old friends who could better chat about last nights football
game, their children, the latest issues on talk radio, the craziness at city
hall, or even just the weather. Archaeology, on the surface, is just not rele-
vant or meaningful to most peoples lives.
Although painful at first, ultimately facing this realization was good,
because it forced a great deal of personal and professional growth upon
me. It may be hard for those of you who have not experienced the Deep
South to understand, but now I take the most pride in the fact that,
although a Yankee by birth, I eventually learned the protocol of southern
 Alabamas Black Belt Region 541

chatter and charm, and now community members sometimes overlook, or

even forget, what they consider a defect in my pedigree. To put it in the
local vernacular, no one knows my mamas family and in Selma, that is
a handicap that is hard to overcome. Most importantly, along the way, I
also learned why and how some people become actively involved in archae-
ology, and found that there are kinds of people that tend to be more easily
involved in archaeology than others. It seems that the key for archaeolo-
gists is not just becoming good communicators; the key is to become good
interpretive communicators. Fortunately, this is a skill that can be learned.
I found that anyone, even an archaeologist, can easily receive formal train-
ing and certification in this practice. Now I believe that interpretive train-
ing ought to be part of archaeology course work, so more archaeologists
can be comfortable and confident working with living, breathing people.

Interpretive Communication

The National Association for Interpretation (NAI) was created for those
involved in the interpretation of resources in settings such as parks, zoos,
museums, nature centers, aquaria, botanical gardens, and historical sites,
but their literature and certification programs are actually full of useful
techniques and theory for anyone interested in communicating with people
about natural or cultural resources particularly if stewardship is the goal.
A great deal of information on N.A.I. can be obtained through their web-
site: www.interpnet.com. There are many characteristics of an effective
interpretive approach, which I cannot summarize in this short paper, but
above all, interpretation has to be relevant. Interpretation is relevant if it
has two qualities; it has to be both meaningful and personal. People will
connect intellectually with a cultural resource only if it becomes meaning-
ful to them, and they will connect emotionally only if it becomes personal
(Ham 1992:818; Brochu and Merriman 2007:33). Since, the primary goal
of interpretation is to help forge connections between people and resour-
ces, NAI teaches that professional interpreters have to know their contem-
porary audiences as well as the resource they are striving to protect
(Brochu and Merriman 2007:39).

Applying an Interpretive Approach to Public Archaeology

Once I rejected the myth that most people are inherently interested in
archaeology, I came to the realization that the responsibility of building
constituencies for archaeology fell squarely on my own shoulders, as the
archaeologist. Most people dont have a clue about what archaeology can
542 LINDA DERRY

do and how it can be useful in todays world. We archaeologists, on the

other hand, know the potential of archaeology, and how it works, so we
have to listen to our communities, determine what people care about by
observing the issues that communities are forming around, and then, as
archaeological interpreters, try to make meaningful connections between
their current issues and the resource that we know so well.
I use the word community merely to describe a group of people who
have something in common and who are actively engaged with one
another in a benign fashion (Gold 2005:2). Ultimately we can only reach
into our archeological toolkit and offer helpful tools to communities in
need; it is their decision whether or not they pick up the tool and use it. If
they do, then you essentially become part of the community because you
are actively engaged in a common cause. Once familiar with you and your
helpful new toolkit, people are likely to return with other problems and
new applications.
These engaged people naturally start caring about the archaeological
resource because it has become relevant and meaningful to their lives. They
are more likely to become involved in preservation even after the initial
community issue has run its course. Ultimately, many of them become
actively engaged with me to save and interpret the site. Although I start by
engaging in an observable existing community issue, I am also completely
aware that, at the same time, I am creating an active new community
around the common cause of protecting an archaeological site. This
appears to be a winwin situation.
There is a cost however. I found that I had to suppress my own favorite
individual research interests and most certainly had to stop chasing the
hot topics that interest my academic colleaguesthe ones that you hear
the most about at conferences, and that usually result in academic accep-
tance and advancement. These had to be suppressed in the face of timely
community interests. However, my professional ethics, conservation values,
and mandated governmental tasks are still intact, and I am always very
transparent about these. I find that people are willing to accept the idea
that I want them to love and protect this one very special place, but they
also understand I am not insisting that we share the same reason for loving
and protecting it.
Interestingly, this creates a space where groups that dont generally work
together, will do so in order to accomplish the common cause of site pres-
ervation. For example, a weekly visitor to my office is the son of Rev.
James Bevel, a driving force behind the 1965 voting rights march that
started in Selma (Kryn 1989). Because his fathers political interests shifted
decidedly to the conservative right by the 1980s, the younger Bevel is try-
ing to rally a community around his cause of Republicanism for Selmas
African-Americans. He has developed an emotional attachment to our
 Alabamas Black Belt Region 543

archaeological site after he learned that it contains the buried remnants of

a village of emancipated slaves that was known as the Mecca of the Radi-
cal Republican Party in the decade following the American Civil War. He
finds this previously underappreciated information useful to his cause.
Meanwhile, other loyal supporters of the site are involved in descendant
groups representing various other communities including the Sons of Con-
federate Veterans. Their Confederate ancestors opposed emancipation and
so most assuredly, after being defeated in the American Civil War, opposed
the formation of this hotbed of Radical Republicanism. But today, descen-
dants of these Confederate soldiers are emotionally connected to the site
because it also contains the remains of a once proud Southern Confeder-
acy. However, on our annual Park Day celebration, both descendants of
enslaved African-Americans and descendants of the men that fought to
keep them enslaved, stand side by side on site with sleeves rolled up to
help with volunteer tasks, and both rally when the site is threatened.
Community issues change over time, so I have to continually listen and
adapt. Ive been in Selma for nearly 25 years, so I could fill a book with
the details of past issues around which communities have coalesced and
how archaeological data has been applied in meaningful ways. A descrip-
tion of some of this work has been summarized elsewhere (Derry 1997;
2003). One example involved local environmentalists and how they earned
a voting seat for rural Dallas County on a river basin management plan-
ning board by demonstrating that they held archaeological evidence about
past flooding that would extend the boards knowledge of water quality
and quantity issues. Once they were able to gain representation on the
river basin steering committee, that issue faded away, as did the commu-
nity that had formed around it. So it is with communities.
Today, Selma is faced with a crumbling and increasingly vacant down-
town, and a shrinking population, so most locals are now wondering if
Selma will survive. They fear that their town is beginning to resemble the
nearby ghost town that I have been working to preserve as an archaeologi-
cal park. Losing hope that they will be able to attract a major industry to
replace the companies that have closed, many citizens are forming a new
community around the idea that tourism will be the economic engine that
will save their town. Its authentic southern character, voting rights history,
the architectural and archaeological remnants of the wealthy antebellum
era, and the uniquely southern and relatively undisturbed natural landscape
could all become tourist attractions for a traveling American public that is
growing weary of cookie cutter hotels, malls, restaurants and recon-
structed historical villages. Savvy travelers are now asking why spend my
time and money to leave town only to end up in a place identical to the
one I left behind?
544 LINDA DERRY

Christopher Mathews in discussing McGuires ideas on fast capital-

ism bemoans the embrace of the touristic value of the ancient past as
something distinct and disconnected from the present (Matthews
2009:87), but this impression may lag behind the current paradigm in
tourism. There is a growing new trend called civic tourism or place-
based tourism which is re-framing tourisms purpose from an end to a
means. The idea that is gaining acceptance is that tourism can be a tool
that can help communities preserve and enhance what they love about
their place, while revitalizing the local economy (Shilling 2007). To this
end, Selma and the entire Black Belt region of Alabama is striving to
achieve National Heritage Area status through the U.S. Congress and the
National Park Service.

Moving Beyond Small Scale Communities to Nationwide

Market Segments

Selmas current worries boil down to an issue of sustainability, both for

the town and for the Save Cahawba movement. The destiny of one is
tied to the fate of the other through tourism initiatives. As a director of a
developing archaeological park and a fully engaged participant in the local
community that is forming around the idea of civic tourism, my focus
now has to shift to a much larger scale. I now need to understand who are
the potential visitors beyond our region and how connections can be
forged between them and our archaeological site. Just keeping an ear open
to local issues will no longer be a viable strategy.
Fortunately, a powerful and useful tool exists, one that archaeologists
can use to locate and understand the segments of American society that
are most likely to actively involve themselves with archaeology. This tool is
the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment (Cordell 2004). It
is the largest survey of the American public, after the U.S. Census, and has
been around, in some form, since 1960. This telephone survey documents
the activities Americans engage in when they leave their homes, including
how many Americans actually visit archaeological sites and how often they
do so. It also provides a great deal of information about these people, for
example: their age, their education level, annual income, ethnicity, and
what other activities they participate in, as well as over a hundred more
details about their lifestyle, their beliefs, and even their fears. In other
words, it provides us with a road map that can guide us to that portion of
the general public that has an active interest in archaeology.
Results for the NSRE are regularly subjected to a statistical technique
called cluster analysis in order to identify market segments, or what
the Survey calls Outdoor Personality Types. Essentially, this means that
 Alabamas Black Belt Region 545

Figure 1. Inactives

Figure 2. Passives

people that favor one activity, also generally tend to share a common inter-
est in a few other activities, and stand apart from individuals who prefer
an entirely different cluster of activities. When primarily urban activities
like outdoor concerts and team sports are set aside, eight clusters emerge
from the NSREs analysis. In 2008, the Society for American Archaeology
contracted with NSRE to prepare a more specific report that focused just
on the people that visit archaeological sites. However, I find the power of
NSRE lies in the ability to compare the market segments that visit archaeo-
logical sites versus those that dont visit, so the data presented below is
from the more general NSRE report.
In order to productively talk about the statistical clusters and to make
them memorable, researchers often assign short descriptive names to each
based on their characteristics. I have followed in this tradition by selecting
cluster names that I thought most appropriate for this context, and also
selected an appropriate clip art icon for each. Below are brief descriptions
of these clusters, Americas outdoor personality types:
1. Inactives (Figure 1) This is the largest of the identified groups, and
the least active. They seldom venture outside, away from their television
sets. They comprise 23.9 % of the U.S. population.
2. Passives (Figure 2) These people have a very short list of favored out-
door activities. Mostly they like to attend family gatherings and sightsee
from their cars. They comprise 15.0% of the U.S. population.
546 LINDA DERRY

3. Dabblers (Figure 3) These people have a more expansive set of pre-

ferred recreational activities than Inactives or Passives. They particularly
like going to the beach and they like to swim. They comprise 11.7% of the
U.S. population.
4. Look and Learners (Figure 4) This group likes viewing, learning and
photography, especially if these involve wildflowers, birds, other wildlife,
and natural scenery. They comprise 12.5% of the U.S. population .
5. Motorized Consumptives (Figure 5) Hunting, fishing and motorized
activities on land, water and snow are the activities that distinguish this
group. If you have a motor boat, jet ski, or snowmobile in your garage
you are probably a motorized consumptive. They are overwhelmingly male,
but they tend to avoid physically demanding or challenging activities. They
comprise 7.5% of the U.S. population.
In Dallas County, Motorized Consumptives from outside the area are
buying large tracts of hunting land and fencing out locals for whom hunt-
ing is an important tradition. At the same time they do not pay lodging
tax while staying at hunting lodges like cultural tourists that stay at hotels.
Consequently, they do not support the local tax base like other visitors.
Moreover, next to the Inactives, who seldom leave their homes, Motorized
Consumptives are the least likely group to visit archaeological sites, or his-
toric sites, or even nature centers. In fact, few people in the five groups
discussed above visit archaeological sites. It is the following three market
segments that statistically tend to visit both prehistoric and historic sites.

Figure 3. Dabblers

Figure 4. Look and Learners

 Alabamas Black Belt Region 547

Figure 5. Motorized Consumptives

Figure 6. Back Country Actives

Interestingly, they also are the groups that frequent nature centers. These
three groups contain 30% of the population, but this 30% are identified in
the research as Americas most active and vital people and, therefore, the
type that would actually travel to Selma and Dallas County. I identify these
market segments as Back Country Actives, Outdoor Avids, and
Water Bugs.
6. Back Country Actives (Figure 6) This is a very active group. It partici-
pates in nearly every recorded outdoor activity more than the national
average. One thing they do not do, however, is engage in motorized water
activities. These are backpackers, day hikers, campers, and cross country
skiers. If you find yourself in a wilderness area, these are the people youll
see there. They also like to visit nature centers and historic sites, and, in
fact, this group reported visiting prehistoric structures and archaeological sites
more than any of the other groupsat a rate of nearly 50%. Back Country
Actives comprise 8.6% of the U.S. population.
So, who are they? Back Country Actives are slightly more male than
female (55 to 45%), and are predominantly white. They are mostly rural,
U.S. born and disproportionately from the Mountain and Pacific states.
They are young and in the middle income bracket. They like environmen-
tal activities, nature magazines, cultural events and country clubs. They
garden, volunteer, and take classes but are not very involved with grand-
children or church. Archaeologists ought to be able to use this information
from the NSRE to locate people that are basically pre-adapted to involve-
ment in archaeology. Applying this data, can be as simple as putting your
last few posters for a public archaeology event on bulletin boards in garden
centers and outdoor outfitters rather than day care centers and churches.
548 LINDA DERRY

7. Outdoor Avids (Figure 7) This group has a higher than average partic-
ipation in all outdoor activities. Many of the activities that this group par-
ticipates in require a good deal of skill and physical exertion. Most
canoeist are in this category. They are second only to the Back Country
Actives in visiting prehistoric structures and archaeological sites, and this
group visits nature centers and historic sites more than any other group.
(90.4% and 81.0%)
Outdoor Avids are primarily young, male, white and in the upper
income bracket. They like country clubs, movies, volunteering, the internet,
taking classes, vacationing, and eating out. Like the Backcountry Actives,
they are not very involved with grandchildren, but they dont garden or
read nature magazines. They comprise 7.5% of the U.S. population.
8. Water Bugs (Figure 8) Water Bugs are generally very active. You
should look for them in or near the water since participation in water-
based activities is their most disguising characteristic. They like to visit nat-
ure centers, historic and prehistoric sites, and they love to picnic. They do
not hunt, backpack or participate in motorized recreation of any type. They
do like viewing and learning activities.
This group is nearly two-thirds women and disproportionately white.
This group is primarily middle-aged, upper income, and U.S. born,
mostly urban, and disproportionately from New England, the Middle
Atlantic and Southern Coastal states. They like cultural events, conserva-
tion activities, the creative arts, vacationing, the internet, and the stock

Figure 7. Outdoor Avids

Figure 8. Water Bugs

 Alabamas Black Belt Region 549

market. Although generally old enough to have grandchildren, they report

that they are not very involved with them. They comprise 13.3% of the
U.S. population.
So, this national survey reveals that there are three segments of the U.S.
public that tend to visit both prehistoric and historic sites. Granted, there
is some variability among the three groups, but there is much common
ground. For example, they all visit nature centers, and they canoe and
kayak more than any other group. They tend to shun all forms of motor-
ized water recreation. They are predominantly white, and, unlike most of
the other groups, they are not interested in spending time with the grand-
kids or in church.
These three segments are probably not well represented in the area
immediately surrounding the archaeological site of Old Cahawba because
the local population is predominantly African-American. Of course, the
NSRE data could be used to broaden archaeologys appeal by finding
aspects of our site that would connect well with the characteristic interests
of any market segment, but that was not our goal. Instead, the commu-
nitys goal is to attract tourist dollars from outside the area as quickly and
efficiently as possible in order to preserve a local way of life. Locals are
willing and anxious to connect with travelers with an already developed
interest in archaeology, and since cities like Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville
and New Orleans are within a six hour drive from Old Cahawba and
Selma, travelers from within the three targeted segments are just a weekend
trip away. Birmingham, Alabama is even closer.
Armed with this information on archaeologys market segments, we are
taking action. First, we are abandoning all plans to create any Grandpar-
ents & Me programs at the archaeological park. Secondly, we are working
hard to attract kayakers and canoeists down the Cahaba River and onto
the archaeological park, knowing that the three market segments that care
about archaeological sites also tend to paddle the most. The Cahaba River
is Alabamas last free-flowing river, and the most bio-diverse river of its
size in the nation. It begins near Birmingham, the biggest urban center in
the state, flows through scenic rural areas, and then terminates at the
archaeological site of Old Cahawba. So, a canoe trail along the length of
this river would essentially be a pipeline full of the very people who are
most likely to care about archaeological sites, and most likely to take an
activist stance on the matter. So, the Dallas County Commission is build-
ing canoe launches, and has agreed to allow the motor boat launch they
built years ago at the archaeological park to silt itself closed. After all, the
Motorized Consumptives, that were using that launch were the group
least likely to visit or care about archaeological sites. Besides, there are
other boat launches in the county that can cater to their needs.
550 LINDA DERRY

Figure 9. An outdoor interpretive panel at Old Cahawba Archaeological Park that

integrates both natural and cultural history and includes a picture of a wildflower
(Photo by L. Derry, Alabama Historical Commission, 2011)

Knowing that nature centers attract archaeologys three market seg-

ments, and that the number of days that travelers stay at historic and
archaeological parks is trending downward, while days at nature centers are
increasing (Green et al. 2008:2021), we are reaching out to environmental
groups in every way we can, listing the site in outdoor recreation guides,
including pictures of wildflowers on our promotional brochures and inter-
pretive signs (Figure 9), and designing a new visitor center for the archaeo-
logical park that will seamlessly integrate both natural and cultural history.
The storyline for presentations, exhibits, and interpretive signs stress the
rise, fall and now hopefully the renewal of Cahawba, its surrounding rivers
and prairie, and by extension, the renewal of Selma and the entire Black
Belt region. Archaeological data will be used to tell this ecological story.
Moreover, this new visitor center is being designed in accordance with an
internationally recognized building certification program called LEED, or
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. This means we will incor-
porate green principals into the buildings design. Since archaeology
revealed how unsustainable choices in the past turned Cahawba into a
ghost town, demonstrating that we are taking this historical lesson seri-
ously is a good way to illustrate the relevancy of archaeology to our tar-
geted market segments.
Our plan seems to be working. More people are visiting the site and
more are becoming involved with the preservation of Old Cahawba.
Although we have yet to do a scientific assessment of our new visitors, the
ones that are most actively engaged do appear to be from the predicted
market segments. The most obvious example is a tourist from Arlington,
 Alabamas Black Belt Region 551

Texas that was especially enthusiastic during her visit. Later we discovered
that she was an award winning author of supernatural mysteries for young
readers. When she returned home inspired by Cahawba, she used it as the
setting of her next novel, The Splendor Falls (Clement-Moore 2009). One
of her main characters volunteers at an archaeological excavation at
Cahawba; he represents good magic and environmental balance. His neme-
sis is a river front developer that caters to Motorized Consumptives; he
uses evil magic and causes environmental chaos. If we can judge this visitor
and author by her story, she does seem to be everything that the National
Survey on Recreation and the Environment predicted she would be.
Meanwhile, The Nature Conservancy in Alabama, originally drawn to
Cahawba by our work with a canoe trail on the Cahaba River, recently
invested five million dollars to acquire 3000 acres of Black Belt Prairie
immediately adjacent to the site. This purchase will preserve not only prai-
rie land but also the archaeological remains of outlying settlements associ-
ated with both the historic and prehistoric town site at Old Cahawba while
creating a much needed buffer around the park. This preserve will provide
public land for local hunters, access to rivers for local subsistence fisher-
men, and another attraction for tourists. The Conservation Fund, another
national nonprofit, is currently (as of July of 2011) negotiating to buy land
within the 1000 acre archaeological site, which they will hold until local
friends can raise the funds to purchase it for the archaeological park. They
are doing this to protect the site from an influx of river front developers
that are catering to non-local Motorized Consumptives. At the same time,
a new foundation has formed and is mounting a two million dollar capital
campaign to help acquire and protect the archaeological site at Old Cah-
awba. Many of the board members have, in the past, been active in envi-
ronmental causes.
Earlier in this paper, I stated that archaeologists that listen to their local
communities and communicate interpretively can help people forge signifi-
cant connections with an archaeological site if we understand our contem-
porary audiences as well as the resource we are striving to protect. It
appears that understanding national market segments and forging connec-
tions between their interests and the archaeological resource may be just as
effective as the same strategy at the local level. Communicating interpre-
tively seems to be effective at any scale. So, why do people become
involved in and with archaeology? The answer is very simple. This happens
when archaeology becomes relevant, meaningful and personal, to their
changing interests and daily lives. Archaeologists, especially American
archaeologists trained in anthropology departments, can easily facilitate
this, by dusting off their ethnographic listening skills, and by reaching out-
side their academic discipline to learn how to communicate interpretively
and to find powerfully useful marketing data.
552 LINDA DERRY

Acknowledgments

Above all, I want to acknowledge all state employees, like those working at
the Alabama Historical Commission, that are true public servants, and go
over and above their job requirements to accomplish great things in part-
nership with citizens, despite inadequate funding and hurtful political rhet-
oric. Also, I must acknowledge the support and hard work of the Black Belt
Heritage Area Task Force, the Cahaba Foundation, the Cahawba Advisory
Committee, the Conservation Fund, the Nature Conservancy of Alabama,
the Selma-Dallas County Centre for Commerce, and all other friends of Old
Cahawba, especially descendants. I wish to thank Patti Jeppson and Mau-
reen Malloy for encouraging me to value my real world experience, and to
the Wenner-Gren Foundation for bringing together a stimulating and
diverse group of archaeologists to observe and discuss the dynamics of
inclusion in public archaeology.

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