Tag: excavation
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Who Gets to Feel Good in Archaeology?
Over the past decade, there has been a lot of attention drawn to the benefits of archaeological fieldwork on the mental health of participants (e.g., Finnegan 2016, Rathouse 2019, Everill et al. 2020, Dobat et al. 2022). And while it is wonderful to see people have such a positive experience with archaeology, I have to
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On Getting There: The (Im)patience of Archaeology and Heaven’s Vault
Please note that this blog post contains spoilers for the game “Heaven’s Vault”. As I wrote in a post almost a year (!!!) ago, I finished my second playthrough of Heaven’s Vault (Inkle Studios, 2021). And perhaps one of the things that struck me most on this replay was just how long the travel sequences
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Alex Excavates a Toy Block: A Serious Tutorial in Archaeological Fieldwork
Hello everyone, and welcome to what may be the worst blog post I’ve ever posted on this website. So, last Christmas my wonderful and supportive family decided that what I truly deserved was to get mercilessly dunked on by gifting me the meanest thing you can gift an archaeologist (well, second meanest thing, I think
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On Flare Ups in the Trenches: Personal Reflections on Disability in Archaeology
Disability in archaeology can be discussed from two perspectives: identifying and interpreting disability in the past (e.g., Gowland 2017, Kristjánsdóttir and Walser 2021, and my own previous blog post briefly discussing this), but also supporting accessibility and inclusivity for disabled archaeologists (e.g., Philips et al. 2012, O’Mahoney 2015). Today’s blog post will focus on the
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Building Barricades and Breaking Sh*t: The Archaeology of Protest and Dissent
After a year of many protests, it will be interesting to examine what the archaeological record says about 2020. Protests have always interested me as a form of archaeology given how varied the characteristics of a protest can be – is it an impromptu, one-off event? A pre-planned occupation that lasted several days? Did it
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When does “Cultural Preservation” become “Cultural Taxidermy”?
I’ve been thinking a lot about modern engagement with heritage sites lately, specifically beyond the “museum model” that most are presented through. These are the heritage sites that allow for much more engagement, if not actual interaction, between the heritage site and the visitor – most of these are in the form of free-standing spaces,
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“Start at the Beginning, and When You Get to the End, Stop” – The Archaeology of Time
At the time of writing this blog post, we are only three days into 2019. I’ll be honest – I’ve experienced 25 years on this planet and I still make New Year’s resolutions. The usual ones, of course: exercise more, consume less sugar, etc. And, of course, these resolutions usually make it until mid-February before
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Digging While Depressed: Struggling with Fieldwork and Mental Health
This post will be focused on dealing with mental illness, so if issues related to depression and anxiety are triggering to you, please feel free to skip today’s blog. Take care of yourself. A few weeks ago, I was in Scotland doing fieldwork for the first time in years. Prior to this trip, I was
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Studies in Skyrim: Lessons in Typologies, from Dwarven Fortresses to Nord Ruins (Part II)
Today’s blog post is the second part of our discussion of archaeological typologies as seen in Skyrim. Last week we started off the conversation with an example of using typology to differentiate between ancient Nord and Dwemer ruins in Blackreach (you can read Part One here!). For today, we’ll be continuing this conversation by looking
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The 2018 Excavation Season Wrap-Up!
I’m baaaaaaaaaaack! Missed me? Probably not, if you were following along with my project’s social media (Facebook, Twitter, and website). For those of you who missed out, however, here’s a bit of a recap of the past three weeks of excavation at the Covesea Caves in Scotland. So, the good news about my recent field
Animal Archaeology 