Archaeology Enabled Colonial Land Expropriation

Excavations in colonial contexts sometimes depended on state power to take or control local land, turning scholarly digs into instruments of dispossession and grievance. Revisiting archival records and oral testimonies can reveal how archaeological projects produced real social harms that were then written out of official accounts. — Recognizing archaeology's role in dispossession reframes repatriation, restitution, and institutional accountability debates about museums, excavations, and colonial-era research funding.