S20-3

From a “Roots-Seeking” Expedition to an Archaeological Journey: The Indigenous Archaeology Project in the Bunun’s Traditional Landscape of the Lakulaku River Basin, Taiwan

Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan

Indigenous archaeology is defined as an archaeology done with, for, and/or by indigenous people, emphasizing the importance of a collaborative relationship between archaeologists and indigenous communities in every aspect of an archaeological project. This archaeological approach has become popular among Taiwanese archaeologists in recent years. In this presentation, I discuss the application of indigenous archaeology in Taiwan by introducing the project I have been conducting in the Lakulaku River Basin since 2014. This project explores the abandoned indigenous settlements in the mountains and involves collaboration between archaeologists and the local Bunun community. During the process, we developed an archaeological approach that integrated Bunun traditional knowledge with the aims and objectives of our archaeological research project to help us understand the indigenous landscape in the surrounding mountainous environment.