473 CHAPTER 19 Archaeology through the Lens of the Local LARRY J . ZIMMERMAN IN THIS COMMENTARY, I INTEND TO ADDRESS THE IDEA OF LOCAL, AND ITS USES AND importance for the papers in this volume. Local is almost a foundational theme for the volume, and I applaud most authors for concerning themselves with it. At the same time I wonder how much reflection they have done on what local actually means for their projects and how seeing something as local distances people from archaeology. Let me preface my remarks by describing the lens, through which I view archaeology and which certainly influences my comments here. I strongly support an archaeology that engages with local communities. As noted in the volume introduction, I was asked by the editors to write this commentary precisely because my experience with the archaeology of Greece is minimal and the kind of archaeology I have done is substantially different in location and kind. My knowledge of Greek archaeology derives mostly from what I have learned by reading, preparing lectures for undergraduate students, and less frequently, discussing issues raised by colleagues who are members of the World Archaeological Congress. I do not actually see the questions asked by the archaeologists in this volume as all that much different structurally from anthropological archaeology anywhere. At the same time, this volume did sur- prise me in many ways. The papers are certainly not the “classical” archaeology I expected, with its myopic emphasis on architecture and art; I was delighted to see the authors wrestling with many of the same issues world archaeology deals with today, including the impact of globalization, decolonizing archaeology, and cultural and intellectual property rights. I primarily work as an anthropological archaeologist and have excavated mostly pre-contact and early post-contact Native American sites in the Great Plains and Midwestern regions of the U.S., with additional experience in the Valley of Mexico and Australia, as well as some historical archaeology and the archaeology of contemporary life. Early in my professional career I began col- laborating closely with contemporary Native Americans and other Indigenous 2010 Archaeology Through the Lens of the Local. In Archaeology in situ: Local Perspectives on Archaeology, Archaeologists, and Sites in Greece, co-edited by Anna Stroulia and Susan Buck Sutton. Lexington Books. pp. 473-480.