Disgraceful Archaeology

Author: Bill Tidy
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752483331
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 167

Book Description
The book that all archaeology buffs have secretly been yearning for! This unique blend of text, anecdote and cartoon reveals, and revels in, those aspects of the past that have been ignored, glossed over or even suppressed — the bawdy, the scatological and the downright bizarre.Our ancestors were not always serious, downtrodden and fearful creatures. They were human like ourselves and shared our earthy sense of humour that is based on bodily functions, bawdiness and slapstick. So it’s time to take the fig leaf off the past and have a long, hard look at the real past — the world that would have had the Victorians reaching for their smelling salts. So if you want to know what your average Egyptian slave thought of pharaoh, or a Roman legionary thought of his commander, you will find the answer in Disgraceful Archaeology — in hilarious graphic detail!

Revolting Things

Author: Paul R. Mullins
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813065720
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 175

Book Description
In this book, Paul Mullins examines a wide variety of material objects and landscapes that induce anxiety, provoke unpleasantness, or simply revolt us. Bringing archaeological insight to subjects that are not usually associated with the discipline, he looks at the way the material world shapes how we imagine, express, and negotiate difficult historical experiences. Revolting Things delves into well-known examples of “dark heritage” ranging from Confederate monuments to the sites of racist violence. Mullins discusses the burials and gravesites of figures who committed abhorrent acts, locations that in many cases have been either effaced or dynamically politicized. The book also considers racial displacement in the wake of post–World War II urban renewal, as well as the uneasiness many contemporary Americans feel about the social and material sameness of suburbia. Mullins shows that these places and things are often repressed in public memory and discourse because they reflect entrenched structural inequalities and injustices we are reluctant to acknowledge. Yet he argues that the richest conversations about the uncomfortable aspects of the past happen because these histories have tangible remains, exerting a persistent hold on our imagination. Mullins not only demonstrates the emotional power of material things but also exposes how these negative feelings reflect deep-seated anxieties about twenty-first-century society.

Archaeology, Sexism, and Scandal

Author: Alan Kaiser
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442230045
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Book Description
A true story of plagiarism, complicity, and a 1930s excavation that “has the arresting immediacy of investigative journalism” (The Journal of Hellenic Studies). The 1931 excavation season at Olynthus, Greece, ushered a sea change in how archaeologists study material culture—and was the nexus of one of the most egregious (and underreported) cases of plagiarism in the history of classical archaeology. In this book, Alan Kaiser draws on the private scrapbook that budding archaeologist Mary Ross Ellingson compiled during that dig, as well as her personal correspondence and materials from major university archives, to paint a fascinating picture of gender, power, and archaeology in the early twentieth century. Using Ellingson’s photographs and letters as a guide, Kaiser brings alive the excavations led by David Robinson and recounts how the unearthing of private homes—rather than public spaces—emerged as a means to examine the day-to-day of ancient life in Greece. But as Archaeology, Sexism, and Scandal clearly demonstrates, a darker story lurks beneath the smiling faces and humorous tales: one in which Robinson stole Ellingson’s words and insights for his own, and fellow academics looked the other way—denying her the credit she was due for more than eighty years. “Kaiser’s exciting and timely volume should force readers to openly confront gender-related biases in science and academia.” —Library Journal (starred review) “Important.” —Publishers Weekly “Highly recommended.” —Choic

Destruction

Author: Jan Driessen
Publisher: Presses universitaires de Louvain
ISBN: 2875581244
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 490

Book Description
Destruction remains a relatively unexplored and badly understood topic in archaeology and history. The term itself refers to some form and measurable degree of damage inflicted to an object, a system or a being, usually exceeding the stage during which repair is still possible but most often it is examined for its impact with destructive events interpreted in terms of a punctuated equilibrium, extraordinary features that represent the end of an archaeological culture or historical phase and the beginning of a new one. The three-day international workshop of which this volume presents the proceedings took place at Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium, from November 24 to 26, 2011 and was organized by CEMA – Centre d'Étude des Mondes Antiques – one of the research centres within INCAL – Institut de Civilisations, Arts et Lettres. Our aim with organising this gathering was to seriously engage with destruction as a phenomenon and how it is perceived by archaeologists, historians and philologists of the ancient world. The volume is similarly structured to the workshop which it reflects, with first a series of more theoretical papers and then following a chronological and geographical order.

Lost City, Found Pyramid

Author: Jeb J. Card
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
ISBN: 0817319115
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
Lost City, Found Pyramid: Understanding Alternative Archaeologies and Pseudoscientific Practices explores the phenomenon of pseudoarchaeology in popular culture and the ways that professional archaeologists can respond to sensationalized depictions of archaeology and archaeologists.

Illicit Antiquities

Author: Neil Brodie
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134568231
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Book Description
The exploitation of archaeological sites for commercial gain is a serious problem worldwide. In peace and during wartime archaeological sites and cultural institutions, both on land and underwater, are attacked and their contents robbed for sale on an international 'antiquities' market. Objects are excavated without record, smuggled across borders and sold for exorbitant prices in the salesrooms of Europe and North America. In some countries this looting has now reached such a scale as to threaten the very survival of their archaeological and cultural heritage. This volume highlights the deleterious effects of the trade on cultural heritage, but in particular it focuses upon questions of legal and local responses: How can people become involved in the preservation of their past and what, in economic terms, are the costs and benefits? Are international conventions or export restrictions effective in diminishing the volume of the trade and the scale of its associated destruction?

Archaeological Fantasies

Author: Garrett G. Fagan
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415305921
Category : Pseudoarchaeology
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Book Description
Including case studies, this collection of engaging and stimulating essays written by a diverse group of scholars, scientists and writers examines the phenomenon of pseudoarchaeology from a variety of perspectives.

Grave Disturbances

Author: Edeltraud Aspöck
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1789254434
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 452

Book Description
Archaeologists excavating burials often find that they are not the first to disturb the remains of the dead. Graves from many periods frequently show signs that others have been digging and have moved or taken away parts of the original funerary assemblage. Displaced bones and artefacts, traces of pits, and damage to tombs or coffins can all provide clues about post-burial activities. The last two decades have seen a rapid rise in interest in the study of post-depositional practices in graves, which has now developed into a new subfield within mortuary archaeology. This follows a long tradition of neglect, with disturbed graves previously regarded as interesting only to the degree they revealed evidence of the original funerary deposit. This book explores past human interactions with mortuary deposits, delving into the different ways graves and human remains were approached by people in the past and the reasons that led to such encounters. The primary focus of the volume is on cases of unexpected interference with individual graves soon after burial: re-encounters with human remains not anticipated by those who performed the funerary rites and constructed the tombs. However, a first step is always to distinguish these from natural and accidental processes, and methodological approaches are a major theme of discussion. Interactions with the remains of the dead are explored in eleven chapters ranging from the New Kingdom of Egypt to Viking Age Norway and from Bronze Age Slovakia to the ancient Maya. Each discusses cases of re-entries into graves, including desecration, tomb re-use, destruction of grave contents, as well as the removal of artefacts and human remains for reasons from material gain to commemoration, symbolic appropriation, ancestral rites, political chicanery, and retrieval of relics. The introduction presents many of the methodological issues which recur throughout the contributions, as this is a developing area with new approaches being applied to analyze post-depositional processes in graves.

Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries

Author: Kenneth L. Feder
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 270

Book Description
A comparison of the hypotheses and approaches of pseudo-archaeologists to those of archaeologists and other scientists. By describing the flaws in the purported evidence for each claim, the author exposes students to the thinking and methodology that underlie real scientific research.

Forbidden Archeology's Impact

Author: Michael A. Cremo
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780892132836
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 620

Book Description
Examines the impact of the author's controversial 1993 book Forbidden Archaeology on the scientific community.