Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network

The Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network, or OKPAN, is a home for any Oklahoman who cares about the past and celebrates the diverse, interwoven threads of our state’s heritage tapestry.  

OKPAN fosters conversations and learning about Oklahoma heritage with the goal of improving relationships among our state’s diverse communities.

OKPAN’s staff consists of a dynamic cast of team leads and team members who propose and carry out our long-term initiatives and short-term projects and work to facilitate new relationships among communities interested in Oklahoma heritage. Because OKPAN is based at the University of Oklahoma, many of those team leads and team members are PhD, MA, and undergraduate students. However, because we are, first and foremost, a “network,” those teams always include and are sometimes led by, other Oklahomans from as many Oklahoma communities as would like to participate.  

Archaeology is one tool of many that generates knowledge about the past, yet most of us do not learn about it in school. OKPAN creates opportunities for students and lifelong learners to better understand archaeology, the body of knowledge it generates, and how that knowledge can be interwoven with other sources of information about our heritage. For these reasons, OKPAN’s tagline is “Archaeology in Service of Heritage.

Principally through the power of our human network but also through original programming, OKPAN creates spaces for teaching and learning. We operate under the premise that every Oklahoman has wisdom to share and a desire to learn, and that by leaning into both, we can better understand the past and more mindfully shape the future.

Below are just a few of OKPAN's highlighted programs and initiatives. Click to learn more.