I have been fascinated by the implications of the speculative turn for archaeology for some time now (Graham Harman’s blog provides a conduit to the world of speculative realism; Harman currently has several books in press on the topic). I have been pulling together several pieces–aspects of which were presented in previous Theoretical Archaeology Group…
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Ruin Memories: Materiality, Aesthetics and the Archaeology of the Recent Past
Numerous studies have focused on modernity’s destructive effect on traditional life- worlds, the desertion of villages and the ruination of rural areas. However, the fact that the modern condition also produces its own ruined materialities, its own marginalized pasts, is less spoken about. Since the 19th century, mass-production, consumerism and thus cycles of material replacement…
Yes we can! But so what? Some observations on contemporary archaeology
James Symonds (University of Oulu, Finland) For more than 150 years archaeology has had a clear purpose, to sketch out the topography of the past from the pinnacle of the present. Like the traveller’s gaze in Shelley’s Ozymandius, archaeologists have lingered over fragments from ancient times, evoking feelings of wonder, irony, and loss. Archaeological research…
Fields of artifacts: archaeology of contemporary scientific discovery
The times when artifacts come to light – the moments of discovery as it were – are crucial moments in that they precipitate discussion and argument amongst scientists about what is real and what is not, what is natural and what is artificial, how the artifacts got to be there, how to interpret them, and what to do about them.
Contemporary and Historical Archaeology in Theory Conference 2009
John M. Chenoweth (UC Berkeley) From October 16 to 18, participants met at Keble College, Oxford, for the 2009 CHAT conference. Over 30 papers engaged with the theme “Modern Materials: the archaeology of things from the early modern, modern, and contemporary world.” Both participants and subjects of discussion were wide ranging. While many came from…
Tara 2009 Symposium: Live Webstream
The UCD School of Archaeology, in association with the John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies, is hosting a symposium entitled Tara – From the Past to the Future. ————- LIVE WEBSTREAM: http://www.ucd.ie/archaeology/tarasymposium2009/livestream/ ————- Featuring approximately forty papers by an international group of scholars, the symposium promises to be the most extensive review of the…