Introduction: A L'Enfant plan for archaeology

Abstract

What does the contemporary relevance of archaeology mean? From a public policy point of view, it means having a seat at the table and being recognized as having something readily useful and important to contribute to topics at hand. This chapter introduces the topic of relevance for the volume, reviews other recent archaeological writings on the relevance theme, and sets out a vision for the role of archaeology in public policy at the US federal level using the case example of social science research in risk communication at the US Environmental Protection Agency National Homeland Security Research Center. Evidence suggests that interest in human behavior is growing in the world of policy-making and there is potential for increased contributions to modern issues by archaeology as one of the broad range of social sciences, if key aspects of question and research translation and distribution can be addressed.