8 research outputs found

    THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE POSTINDUSTRIAL: SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURES FOR STUDYING THE PAST IN THE PRESENT

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    Postindustrial urban landscapes are large-scale, complex manifestations of the past in the present in the form of industrial ruins and archaeological sites, decaying infrastructure, and adaptive reuse; ongoing processes of postindustrial redevelopment often conspire to conceal the toxic consequences of long-term industrial activity. Understanding these phenomena is an essential step in building a sustainable future; despite this, the study of the postindustrial is still new, and requires interdisciplinary connections that remain either unexplored or underexplored. Archaeologists have begun to turn their attention to the modern industrial era and beyond. This focus carries the potential to deliver new understandings of the industrial and postindustrial city, yet archaeological attention to the postindustrial remains in its infancy. Developments in the ongoing digital revolution in archaeology and within the social sciences and humanities have the potential to contribute to the archaeological study of the postindustrial city. The development of historical GIS and historical spatial data infrastructures (HSDIs) using historical big data have enabled scholars to study the past over large spatial and temporal scales and support qualitative research, while retaining a high level of detail. This dissertation demonstrates how spatial technologies using big data approaches, especially the HSDI, enhance the archaeological study of postindustrial urban landscapes and ultimately contribute to meeting the “grand challenge” of integrating digital approaches into archaeology by coupling reflexive recording of archaeological knowledge production with globally accessible spatial digital data infrastructures. HSDIs show great potential for providing archaeologists working in postindustrial places with a means to curate and manipulate historical data on an industrial or urban scale, and to iteratively contextualize this longitudinal dataset with material culture and other forms of archaeological knowledge. I argue for the use of HSDIs as the basis for transdisciplinary research in postindustrial contexts, as a platform for linking research in the academy to urban decision

    Vista: October 27, 1977

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    https://digital.sandiego.edu/vista/1480/thumbnail.jp

    Conditions of emergence and existence of archaeology in the 19th century: the royal archaeological institute 1843 -1914

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    Traditional histories of archaeology have left lacunae in understanding of both the discipline and elements within it. Using the Royal Archaeological Institute and its product, the Archaeological Journal, as a pattern site for research the archaeological paradigm is applied to history rather than vice-versa. After a short explanation of method the published membership of the Institute between 1845 and 1942 is analysed in terms of geographical distribution, social composition and occupational interest. In the process the dynamics of a will to discourse are revealed in conjunction with the areas of discourse which were problematic. The text of the Journal (1843-1914) is then analysed on the basis of format, citations, terminology, tropes and objects of discussion in order to identify any 'statements', in the Foucauldian sense, which constitute the objects of discourse. Three major phases emerge. These are characterised at one level by similarities and differences in social and cognitive topography. At another level the conditions of existence and emergence revealed in the study suggest that archaeology itself is a characteristic of the Modem episteme, intimately linked in its successive modes of exploration and interpretation of the past with the Enlightenment project and the nation state

    GERMAN BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY: RETROSPECTIVE OF A NEGLECTED LEGACY; A Study of the German contribution to the Archaeology of Palestine in its longue durée, from 1871 to 1945

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    The history of biblical archaeology and of the archaeology of the Near East has been the subject of many publications until now. Those histories usually offer the reader a detailed account of progressive facts on a long and linear chronology, in which England stares as the main character, later losing its role to the United States. Besides those totalising explanations, there are other ways to interpret the history of Western archaeological interest in the Near East. In this thesis, the emphasis lays upon Germany, which is traditionally attributed a secondary role. German’s peculiar relation to the Orient, as the only western country to settle in Palestine even in the 19th century, or as the only western country to adopt a friendly position towards the Ottoman rulers, allowed German scientific exploration to develop under unique conditions. While studying the development of German archeological interest in Palestine from 1871 to 1945, I intend to present a different perspective on this scenario of western competition for the Holy Land

    Archaeology in Global Cities: Exploring The Profession In London and New York City

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    International and national agendas and policies play a vital role in shaping the conduct of archaeologists and their associated institutions. They impact on research, practice, structures, management and the on-going development of archaeology as a profession. Cities, as test beds for innovative political changes and new forms of governance, are good sources for understanding how various groups, organisations and professions – including archaeology – need to renegotiate their role, position and value within urban society. Over the past few decades, researchers concerned with ‘the urban’ have discussed the impact of neoliberal policies on both urban governance and cultures of planning. Cities are struggling to deal with shifting distribution of powers, decision-making bodies, and the competitive demands of the global economy. Global cities often experience such challenges more strongly being attractive and lucrative spaces. In these processes environmental and cultural concerns, such as archaeology, can become sidelined. This thesis argues that global policies have led to critical changes in how archaeology is practised. Changes range from institutional restructuring, to personal dynamics, funding, and professional opportunities. The research investigates how values, standards, communication, collaboration levels, perceptions and processes have shifted through the eyes of urban archaeologists. In analysing 115 in-depth interviews with practitioners, investigating their experiences over the span of their careers, I explore perceptions of the current trajectory of city planning in shaping urban archaeology, and what we can learn from this global city phenomenon. The paper considers institutional and individual roles, identities, values, dynamics and systems of operation. Through a comparative study between two major global cities – London and New York City – I address the similar aspects and themes that emerge in the urban context, and suggest how these may be used to develop stronger approaches along with improved strategies for the sustainability of urban archaeology

    Cross-cultural analysis of the policy, application and effect of legislation concerning archaeological sites in reservoirs, and implications for future reservoir works and site monitoring

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    The number of dams and reservoirs in the world is at an all-time high, with global increases expected as water shortages, populations and needs for electricity grow. Despite this high number of existent and planned reservoirs, the archaeological sites submerged in reservoirs have been largely ignored saving predevelopment, project-specific archaeological salvage campaigns. The overlooking of submerged archaeological features derives from ideas that sites in reservoirs are destroyed: a notion that continues to permeate discussions surrounding archaeological features in reservoir flood zones. Heritage legislation, at both the domestic and international level, continues to neglect the pressing issue of monitoring the condition of submerged archaeology. This dissertation analyses the domestic heritage legislation of three specific countries (Britain, the USA and Egypt) and heritage legislation at the international level. Effects of submergence on diverse archaeological features from those countries are also taken into account via the data collected from varying types of archaeological investigation: the desk-based assessment, underwater archaeological fieldwork, and non-intrusive terrestrial fieldwork. Analysis of current legal structures suggests that mechanisms with which to monitor sites and provide mitigating measures would be simple to implement and maintain. Data collected through underwater archaeological fieldwork in Britain and terrestrial archaeological fieldwork in the USA suggests that not all types of archaeological sites are at risk of destruction due to submergence, leading to a classification of vulnerable features, determined on the basis of location in the reservoir and construction materials and methods. Mitigating and monitoring measures of these vulnerable feature classifications can be used in future reservoir planning and archaeological conservation efforts, when combined with changes to regional and domestic heritage policy. Final conclusions focus on the need to classify archaeology in reservoirs as "submerged landscapes", an already recognized underwater archaeological category, thereby helping to grant the long-needed protection, awareness and monitoring these features need throughout their duration in situ

    Claiming Valhalla: Archaeology, National Identity, and the German-Danish Borderland, 1830-1950

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    This dissertation traces the emergence of an academic community of archaeologists in the contested German-Danish borderland of Schleswig-Holstein from 1830 to 1950 in order to explore the uses of the distant past for creating modern national identities. The study considers the role of professional scholars in claiming and contesting shared heritages for diverging nationalist ends and explains how scholars handled the paradox of participating in nation-building projects while maintaining their commitments as members of a transnational scholarly community. The study begins in the 1830s with the founding of the Kiel Museum of Antiquities, which was the product of collaboration between German and Danish antiquarians. It then follows the work of antiquarian scholars in the period of the German-Danish Wars from 1848 to 1864, when prehistory became a focal point of claims to territory and led antiquarians to contest the ownership of artifacts such as the Nydam Boat and the Flensburg Collection. In the wake of the wars, the work of scholars such as Johanna Mestorf and Sophus MĂŒller led to a renewal of cross-border collaboration, which resulted in the discovery of the lost Viking trading town of Haithabu and aided the development of a scientific model for the practice of archaeology. The success of research in both countries fostered the production of narratives of prehistory based on scientific methods but tied to national histories. Archaeologists such as Gustaf Kossinna envisioned the borderland as the site of the earliest Germanic peoples and the starting point of Germanic prehistory. The result was a "Nordic paradigm" for prehistoric development with strong racial and imperialist overtones that coexisted with traditional scientific approaches. The dissertation traces the transformation of such thinking in Schleswig-Holstein during the early twentieth century and considers its political implications in the Nazi Era, when the transnational context played a key role in the engagement of borderland scholars with the Third Reich. The study concludes with an appraisal of the fate of nationalist orientations for German and Danish archaeology and the impact of borderland archaeologists on their discipline and their respective national communities
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