Contemporary archaeology comes under the spotlight tomorrow [Thursday 18 December] in a session marking 25 years of the Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) conference (16-19 December 2003).
The session, entitled Why All This CHAT About Contemporary Archaeology? will go live on-line for the first time at: www.lamp.ac.uk/ARCHAEOLOGY/tag/
Members of the public will be able to email questions to the speakers at TAG@Lamp.ac.uk as the sessions take place.
The session begins at 9.15am and is organized by Dr Angela Piccini of the University of Bristol and Cornelius Holtorf of the Swedish National Heritage Board.
Partnering this session from 2.00pm is a session entitled Why All This CHAT About Historical Archaeology?, organized by Dr Kate Giles of the University of York and Dr Dan Hicks of the University of Bristol.
Both sessions arise from the recent Bristol CHAT (Contemporary and Historical Archaeology in Theory) conference and explore archaeology as a modern, global project.
Contemporary archaeology marries archaeology in the modern world with the archaeology of the modern world: from peace camps to zoos and theme parks; from urban soundscapes to suburban roadscapes; from performative archaeological practices to archaeological performance practices; from the personal geographies of family to the political landscapes of the Cold War; from Freudian archaeological metaphor to the archaeology of Antarctic explorer psyches; from the privatization of experience to the public captivation and display of exotic animals.
The session participants are:
Paul Graves Brown, Dessin Design: THE PRIVATISATION OF EXPERIENCE AND THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE FUTURE
Tadgh O'Keefe, University College Dublin: SOUNDING A CITY: TOWARDS AN AURAL ARCHAEOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY URBANISM
Angela Piccini, University of Bristol: GUTTERSNIPE: A MICRO ROAD MOVIE
Sarah Cross, English Heritage: THEN TIGER FIERCE TOOK LIFE AWAY
Cornelius Holtorf, Swedish National Heritage Board: REVEALING THE MYSTERIES OF A LOST TREASURE: ARCHAEOLOGY AS THEME IN POPULAR CULTURE
Mike Pearson, University of Wales Aberystwyth: PILES OF PONY POOP. AND WHY GEORGE MARSTON DRESSED AS A WOMAN
Colleen Beck, Harold Drollinger, John Schofield (Desert Research Institute and English Heritage): ARCHAEOLOGISTS, ACTIVISTS AND A CONTEMPORARY PEACE CAMP
Louise K. Wilson (Video Artist): SPADEADAM
Julian Thomas (University of Manchester): FREUD'S ARCHAEOLOGICAL METAPHOR AND ARCHAEOLOGY'S SELF-UNDERSTANDING