Workshop Description

Queer archaeology has its roots in the quest for and identification of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in the past.* Incorporating queer theoretical advances and approaches from other disciplines, queer archaeology has expanded in scope and now serves as a powerful tool to help understand the past. In this workshop, we will use a place-based approach to tracing the development of queer archaeology and how archaeologists are now using it to develop more nuanced interpretations.

*A discussion of the challenges of looking for LGBTQ+ people in the past was covered in a previous Brush Up Workshop, The Relevance of LGBTQ+ Historical Archaeology, on December 4, 2024.

About the Instructor

Dr. Megan Springate (she/they) is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland. She received her PhD in Anthropology (2017) from the University of Maryland. Dr. Springate began her career in archaeology at a public archaeology field school outside of Toronto, Canada in 1987, where she earned a Senior Social Science high school credit and fell in love with the field. Since then, she has worked in academia, government, museums, the private sector, and non-profits in archaeology or archaeology-adjacent fields. Dr. Springate is the author of Coffin Hardware in Nineteenth Century America (2014), editor of LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History (National Park Service, 2016), and has published several articles. In 2021, she received the John L. Cotter Award from the Society for Historical Archaeology.

What to Expect

As part of Archaeology in the Community’s Brush Up series of workshops, participants will receive:

• a certificate of completion
• expert instruction and Q&A during the live virtual workshop
• a copy of the presentation slides
• a video recording of the session
• a document of resources and key points
• a short quiz to test understanding