Psychological outcomes of local heritage engagement: participation in community archaeological excavations increases wellbeing, self-efficacy, and perceived community support

There is evidence that engagement with tangible heritage is linked to improvements in wellbeing. However, experimental tests of this association, as well as theoretical accounts explaining this relationship, are lacking. The present study aims to compensate for this gap by developing a theoretical framework based on the social identity approach that explains the effect of community-based heritage engagement on wellbeing, and testing this effect in a quasi-experimental field study in the context of community test pit archaeological excavations. In line with the predictions, the results demonstrate that excavation participants (but not participants in the control condition) report improvements on a number of psychological outcomes after (as compared to before) participation in a two-day excavation programme (including wellbeing, self-efficacy, and perceived community support). The findings offer implications for community-based approaches to enhancing wellbeing, as well as the practice of conducting community-based archaeological excavations.