Archaeology society blocks video of lecture arguing for more science-based research

The Society for American Archaeology meeting, held between April 15 and 17, featured a pre-recorded lecture by San Jose State anthropology professor Elizabeth Weiss and attorney and anthropologist James Springer that discussed the role of creationism in archaeology.

On Wednesday, the SAA released a statement apologizing to ” those who were harmed by the inclusion of the presentation.”

“After careful review of the recording, the SAA board finds the presentation does not align with SAA’s values, and so has chosen to not re-post it at this time,” it read.

In their presentation, Weiss and Springer argued that many Native American creation myths stemming from oral traditions have worked their way into scientific research and are given as much weight as scientific data such as DNA.

“By promoting objective knowledge and scientific reasoning, we would say that we are doing our best to help students, colleagues and the public understand the world around us, and negating the misinformation promoted by creationism,” Weiss told The College Fix in an email.

The lecture was accused of being racist, which Weiss refutes.

“In our talk, there was no mention of race; we were specifically arguing against the use of creationist tales to determine repatriation and archaeological research,” she said. “We contextualized this by highlighting the way the SAA (and similar organizations) have been at the forefront of fighting creationist intrusion when it is Christian creationism and we suggest that the same concern of creationism entering into the field is valid when it relates to non-Christian creationism.”

But the lecture angered many in the archaeology community, who saw it as disrespectful to Native American tradition. Even before the lecture took place, conference attendees took to Twitter to denounce it as “completely unacceptable and anti-Indigenous.”