Installation of ‘Na Fáná Fuachtmhar’, a new sculpture by Kevin O’Dwyer, artist in residence at the Sixth World Archaeological Congress at University College Dublin. With an excerpt from UCD Scholarcast: Archaeologies of Art. ‘Na Fáná Fuachtmhar’ was inspired by the incised chevron motifs found inside the Megalithic Passage Tomb at Fourknocks, Co. Meath. The chevron…
archaeology
Archaeology, Science Fiction, and Pop Culture
The first time I TAed an archaeology class, we began by having our students draw a picture of an archaeologist. The result was predictable: a pile of comically bad drawings of Indiana Jones, leavened with a few nerdy-looking academic characters. That semester, we went on a mission to wipe this image out of our students’…
The Earth After Us
Ever wondered what will survive, millions of years hence, of our railway networks, skyscrapers, motorways and rubbish dumps? What about trains and cars, or smaller artefacts like mobile phones and ballpoint pens? Such are the questions which the book poses. In this review of The Earth After Us by Jan Zalasiewicz I consider briefly some of the implications this book has for contemporary archaeology.
Rivers as artifacts
This paper starts with the question: can rivers usefully be studied as artifacts? The question may raise an eyebrow or two. For the most part rivers tend to be regarded as more or less natural features of a landscape or townscape. Even in the midst of towns – bordered by buildings on both sides –…