Each year, one month (generally October) is designated as Archaeology Awareness Month, or "AAM." In Connecticut, this is an offshoot of the Archaeology Awareness Expo, whose first event occurred in October, 2004 and which was sponsored by the new Connecticut Archaeology Center in cooperation with the Office of State Archaeology and the State Historic Preservation Office. The purpose of that event, which continues with the AAM today, was to help further enhance archaeology awareness through events presented to the Connecticut public.

Connecticut has a rich archaeological heritage, starting with pre-Contact Paleo-Indians, continuing into colonial settlements, then to expanding industrialization, and finally into the era of today.

Archaeology's intent is to understand how people lived during different times. This can be accomplished not only through "digs" at various sites but also using tours of abandoned or rebuilt manufacturies and mines. Interpretive and re-enacting groups also play a role in this: even though they don't commonly come under the banner of "archaeology," they can help by giving a hands-on appreciation of how various items worked ... or how they didn't, if the interpretations are found to be incorrect.

In 2012 FOSA began coordinating Archaeology Awareness Month activities in Connecticut, contacting archaeological, land trust and similar groups encouraging them to sponsor archaeologically-related activities during October; and setting up an Archaeology Fair, where groups can set up tables to show off their activities, and patrons can participate in exhibits and activities, and attend archaeologically-related lectures.

The activities are collected and placed into AAM Calendars, which are posted on this website. Below are links to the Calendars since 2012, to give the viewer an idea of the range of activities and events that are involved. Where pictures have been provided, we'll show them as well.

Note: In 2014, coordinating the Fair activities was transferred to Wesleyan University, though FOSA continues to prepare the AAM events & Calendar and the AAM Fair Flyer.

In addition to the Calendars of Events, there is also an Archaeology Awareness Month page on Facebook. To access this page, please click the "AAM Facebook" link above.

Year	Calendar of Events	Fair Flyer	Fair Pictures
2024	N/A
2023	N/A
2022	(FOSA ended its AAM Coordinator role after 2019.)
2021	Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no Archaeology Fair in 2021.
2020	Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no Archaeology Fair in 2020.
2019			No pictures from the 2019 Archaeology Fair have been received by the webmaster.
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012