“Like We're Meeting the Ancestors”: Toward an Lˈnucentric Archaeology in Miˈkmaˈki

ABSTRACT We explore the possibilities for an archaeology that is relevant to, and empowering of, Indigenous futures by reflecting on four seasons of archaeological fieldwork, our encounters with Lˈnu (or Miˈkmaw) material culture, our experiences returning to ancestral Lˈnu places, and our engagements with sociocultural and archaeological anthropologists and Indigenous studies scholars who have been debating the merits of community‐based collaborative research projects for the past three decades. Drawing on Linda Tuhiwai Smith's definition of decolonization, we suggest that a not‐quite‐here future Lˈnucentric archaeology in Miˈkmaˈki would not seek to imitate Western archaeological conventions, but change them. Our efforts to change archaeology have included expanding the scope of what counts as relevant archaeological data. We record both empirical observations related to artifacts, features, and stratigraphy, and also moments when our work has provided opportunities for our Lˈnu coauthors to meet their ancestors.