In the 1970s, the County of Hawaiʻi proposed the creation of a "Wilderness Park" in the town of Hilo on over a hundred acres of overgrown and neglected land. An archaeology inventory survey for a proposed housing development on the land uncovered a history of household and commercial agricultural use, along with a story political intrigue tied to the expansion of Hilo's water supply. The results of the archaeological study prompted a re-evaulation of the public perception of the land as "wilderness" and the problems of short-term public memory. The study provies yet another demonstration of historical archaeology's ability to interrogate how we collectively remember, how these memories are passed down, and how the results of compliance-driven research might be used to do so.

Historical and archaeological research on the lives of enslaved and free African American people in Alexandria, Virginia has been a robust part of the City’s community archaeology program for decades. Archaeologists have studied housing, demographics, material culture, labor, the growth of the domestic slave trade, Contrabands and Freedmen during the Civil War, and more. This paper considers old sources of data to strive for new insights on the living spaces of Alexandria’s Black residents by creating a digital and spatial index of Mutual Assurance Society policies. The index will serve as both a preservation and research tool. The dataset is comprised of 630 policies from at least 180 individual properties dating from 1796 to 1860. Though not without limitations, the policies provide an important way to refocus on the study of African American communities living and working in non-plantation contexts.

In the spring and summer of 2025, archaeologists from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the Shawnee National Forest explored a site known locally as the location of the "Simpson Tavern," operated by one of the earliest Anglo-American settlers to claim land in Southern Illinois. The hope was to begin a multi-year project examining life on the frontier before and during Illinois's transition to statehood. However, as this paper will discuss, the archival record and the archaeological finds have challenged local tradition and raised further questions about the site, the tavern proprieter, and whether the two are connected at all.

Since 2007 the Historical Society of Brooklyn, Illinois (HSOBI) has worked to preserve and promote the cultural heritage of Brooklyn, Illinois, a small community on the Mississippi River settled by free and freedom-seeking African Americans in the 1830s. Historically significant as a stop on the Underground Railroad and recognized as the first majority-black incorporated town in the United States, population loss and economic and political marginalization in the 20^th century have hindered recognition of the village’s significance and preservation needs. In 2023, Brooklyn appeared on the Illinois Landmarks Most Endangered Places in Illinois list. Through a partnership between HSOBI and the Illinois State Archaeological Survey, archaeology has emerged as a tool to foster growing community interest in Brooklyn’s history and support grassroots efforts to revitalize the village through heritage preservation and youth engagement. Here we present some achievements of our collaboration and an overview of recent archaeological investigations in Brooklyn.

From 2019-2024 the Oak Bluffs Historic Highlands Archaeology project mapped the construction and growth of an early-20th century Black vacationing community in the Highlands area of Oak Bluffs, MA. OBHHAP aimed to be community-based and participatory, working with descendent and local community members to design, conduct, and review the research and share results and findings. The core questions of this study are: how did the Highlands community come to be? and why is it remembered as an important site of Black history and culture?

Community participation led to the adoption of three primary investigation methods: deed research and the creation of a public web-based map of historic properties; archaeological investigation of an historic site associated with Baptist Revivals; oral history interviews with long-time residents of African descent. The OBHHAP identified Black-owned properties, learning more about the individuals associated with them and how the properties were acquired, used, and changed hands.