The Camera “at the Trowel’s Edge”: Personal Video Recording in Archaeological Research

Video recording is increasingly becoming a favourable medium in archaeological research, particularly as an unconventional documentation tool that captures the elusive processes of ongoing interpretation in an audiovisual format. Our research forms part of the Personal Architectonics Through INteraction with Artefacts (PATINA) project, a project focused on the design of technologies for supporting research. Archaeological fieldwork is one of the research environments being studied by the project, and one of our primary concerns was to observe and record current research practices in the wild and to examine the influence of new technologies on those practices. This research brings together well-established and advanced observation techniques used in social sciences and computing fields such as human–computer interaction with archaeological research and presents the deployment of an off-the-shelf wearable camcorder as a recording interface in archaeological fieldwork. The article discusses the user evaluation methodology and the results, while addressing long-standing and timely theoretical discussions on the role of video recording in archaeological research.     

The Freedom of Archaeological Research: Archaeological Heritage Protection and Civil Rights in Austria (and Beyond)

Archaeologists like to think that heritage protection laws serve the purpose of protecting all archaeology from damage. Thus, provisions like that of §11 (1) Austrian Denkmalschutzgesetz or Art. 3 i-ii of the Valletta Convention are interpreted as a blanket ban on archaeological fieldwork ‘unauthorized’ by national heritage agencies, and a general prohibition against archaeological field research by non-professionals. The Austrian National Heritage Agency, the Bundesdenkmalamt, interprets the Austrian law in this way. Using the Austrian example as a case study, this paper demonstrates that this interpretation must be wrong, since, if it were true, it would revoke a fundamental civil right enshrined both in the Austrian constitution and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union: the unconditional freedom of research, which applies to archaeological field research as to any other kind of academic research, and extends equally to every citizen.     

Archaeological Ethnography,Heritage Management,and Community Archaeology: A Pragmatic Approach from Crete

This article examines the introduction of archaeological ethnography as an approach to establish positioned research and bring context-specific and reflexive considerations into community archaeology projects. It considers recent critiques of heritage management in archaeology and the role of archaeologists as experts in it, contending that smaller and less prominent sites exist in different contexts and pose different problems than large-scale projects usually addressed in the literature. We describe how the ‘Three Peak Sanctuaries of Central Crete’ project, investigating prehistoric Minoan ritual sites, involves communities and stakeholders and what demands the latter pose on experts in the field. Archaeological work is always already implicated in local development projects which create and reproduce power hierarchies. It is therefore important that archaeologists maintain their critical distance from official heritage discourses, as they are materialized in development programmes, while at the same time engaging with local expectations and power struggles; they also have to critically address and position their own assumptions. We use examples from our community archaeology project to propose that these goals can be reached through archaeological ethnographic fieldwork that should precede any archaeological project to inform its methodological decisions, engage stakeholders, and collaboratively shape heritage management strategies.     

Multiple inventories and divided archaeology in the West Bank: An assessment of databases in the Etzion Bloc

This paper presents and discusses an assessment of the scope, priorities, and coverage of existing archaeological datasets, via database comparison and on-the-ground re-survey of all accessible known sites in one region of the West Bank, the Etzion Bloc. The main goal of this survey was to assess the current inventories listing archaeological sites in the Etzion Bloc, an area that brings together an interesting range of archaeological and geographical issues that result directly from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This database assessment and review of listed archaeological sites included the verification of site existence and the examination of sites’ modern context, accessibility, current condition, potential threats, and the accuracy of their recorded location. The results of this fieldwork demonstrate the importance of keeping data up-do-date, provide suggestions on how to enhance the structure and contents of current inventories, and help prioritize and inform plans for further archaeological fieldwork in this region.     

Where are the witches of prehistory?

Why are certain common classes of ritually destroyed objects (persons, artifacts, or architecture), such as persecuted witches, so difficult to identify in the archaeological record? Although a common topic in cultural anthropology, witches seldom receive the attention of archaeologists. The difficulties archaeologists face in the study of religion derive, in part, from the lack of correlates linking ritual activities to the formation of archaeological deposits. This paper defines ritual as a technology and employs an object life history approach that draws upon ethnographic, archaeological, and experimental research to begin building such linkages—including those describing the presecution and deposition of witches, sorcerers, and other victims of ritual violence. These new directions are illustrated through a case study of anomalous deposits of human skeletal remains from the North American Southwest     

Would Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) be welcomed by undergraduate students to support their learning during fieldwork?

This paper reports student perceptions of the benefits and challenges of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in a fieldwork context. Student perceptions from six field courses across two institutions have been gathered using questionnaires and focus groups. Whilst a number of studies have focused on BYOD in a classroom context, little research has been undertaken about BYOD in a fieldwork context. The key findings suggest that around one fifth of students were not willing to use their own device during fieldwork citing loss or damage as the main reason. This key challenge is different to that which are found in a classroom which generally focus on network security, connectivity etc. The findings also suggest that some students believe that BYOD can have a negative impact on group work. There is a misalignment here between student and practitioner thinking with previous literature which suggests that practitioners believe BYOD and smart devices can enhance group work. The one key challenge which is found regardless of learning environment is inequality between those who have a device and those who do not.     

Excavating ‘Hell Upon Earth’ Towards a Research Framework for the Archaeological Investigation of Workers’ Housing: Case Studies from Manchester,UK

This paper uses 16 years of targeted fieldwork on excavating workers’ housing in the Manchester region, UK, to assess a variety of research approaches to the investigation of urban industrial housing of the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. Manchester was one of the ‘shock’ cities of industrial Britain, and a honey pot for social commentary during the Victorian period. Using data from more than 30 excavation sites, it looks at the way in which archaeological evidence can be used to explore issues around house build quality, overcrowding, sanitation and disease, and reconstructing households from their material remains. Manchester's reputation for poor living conditions during the industrialising period was crystallised around the comments of contemporary social commentators from Engels to Gaskell. Yet, the archaeological evidence reviewed in this article demonstrates the value of archaeological approaches in challenging and testing such views through detailed case studies. More importantly, it shows that archaeological material can be used to study directly features of the new industrialised form of urban living, providing a set of research questions applicable across the industrial urban workers’ housing of Britain.     

Early Settlement and Archaeological Sequence of Northeast Yorubaland

This work examines the archaeological evidence for settlements in Northeast Yorubaland, using data obtained during fieldwork undertaken between 1985 and 1988. A reconnaissance survey was carried out in the vicinity of Iffe-Ijumu providing a comprehensive inventory of important archaeological features in the area. Excavations indicate that human settlement certainly extended into the ceramic phase of the West African Late Stone Age and that by at least 300 BC the rockshelters had been occupied. Evidence from the principal sites of Itaakpa, Oluwaju, and Addo indicates continuous occupation in the area during at least the last 2000 years.     

For ‘emotional fieldwork’ in critical geopolitical research on violence and terrorism

In recent years, there have been exhortations for scholars working in the area of critical geopolitics to be more committed in initiating ‘primary fieldwork’. These appeals are predicated on the belief that the subdiscipline's apparent over-reliance on secondary (re)sources neglect the ways in which political processes and dynamics ‘play out’ on the ground. Not denying the validity of such observations, I further argue that critical geopolitics needs to take into account the fieldwork process which can arguably shape the progression and outcomes of research. Drawing on my ‘field’ research on violence and terrorism in the Philippines, I propose that thinking critically about how emotions are intertwined in the conduct of fieldwork can provide a pathway to appreciate the unpredictable nature of the research process and the wider contexts/agencies that shape research outcomes and knowledges produced. Crucially, the witnessing of violence/terror is emotionally demanding, often bequeathing the researcher with fully embodied experiences of the ‘real’ situation on the ground. It opens up the researcher to different emotional engagements and connections with his/her respondents, which in turn allows for critical reassessments of issues pertaining to danger, ethics and responsibility. In this sense, ‘emotional fieldwork’, as I term it, has much to offer to critical geopolitics if incorporated as part of the subdiscipline's methodological consciousness. It not only provides researchers with useful navigational guidelines to traverse the tricky research terrains of working in ‘dangerous’, conflict-plagued regions but it also provides the basis for weaving more accurate and situated narratives that complements and advances deconstructivist critiques of dominant geopolitical discourses in and around certain locales.     

Remote Sensing and Archaeological Prospection in Apulia,Italy

Abstract

When deployed in combination with ground control, archaeological surface survey, and environmental research, remote sensing based upon high-resolution multispectral satellite imagery allows large areas to be evaluated efficiently by a small team of researchers and contributes to a better understanding of an archaeological landscape. In 2007 and 2008, we analyzed ca. 100 sq km of imagery centered on L'Amastuola, Italy. Combining the evaluation of high-resolution multispectral imagery with concurrent ground control led to the discovery of 29 sites and significant off-site scatters during about four weeks of fieldwork. Our analysis indicates that most of the detected features reflect geological conditions amenable to past human habitation rather than subsurface archaeological remains. Earlier fieldwork by the Murge Tableland Survey (MTS) provided independent definitions for various types of sites and a large sample of sites and off-site scatters in the study area. Comparison of our remote-sensing guided efforts with the results of that survey suggests that our success rate is too high to be explained by random association and also illuminates the strengths and weaknesses of the respective methods, underscoring the need to integrate satellite image analysis with ground control and surface survey.     

Destruction and the Rhetoric of Excavation

In this paper a recurrent perception of archaeological excavation as destruction is addressed. By examining this rhetoric in discourses about fieldwork in the UK, the theoretical issues implicit in its use are examined, issues that affect not only Britain but also other European countries and beyond. Tying it into notions of the archaeological record and the archaeological resource, the traditional model of the archaeological process is found to be problematic and an alternative perspective is presented which characterizes fieldwork in a radically different way, through the concept of displacement. Considered as a materializing practice, the processes of excavation and archiving are examined in new ways.     

Notice of Inscriptions and Antiquities,Discovered at Caerleon

This paper presents some of the background information considered necessary to expand the archaeological uses of aerial photography. Some problems encountered recording archaeological features from the air are discussed but the paper concentrates on the subsequent use of aerial photographs and covers the interpretation and plotting of archaeological features, use of different map scales, and outlines two schemes for the presentation of completed drawings which show air photograph evidence. The uses and potential of morphological analysis are included, as are comments on the relevance of fieldwork to air photograph interpretation.

An appendix considers the application of geophysical techniques to air photograph sites, and the deductions that may be derived from these non-destructive methods.     

The Hungarian and Slovak sources of archaeological obsidian: an interim report on further fieldwork,with a note on tektites

This report describes the results of fieldwork carried out in the Zemplén Mountain area of north-eastern Hungary in 1975. The aim of this work was to locate and sample geological sources of obsidian which may have been used by prehistoric man. These sources are of increased importance since the work of Nandris (1975) showed that the Romanian “sources” do not produce workable obsidian. During the fieldwork three sources in Hungary were visited and sampled; one of these was the previously unlocated source of Csepegö Forräs. A number of other possible localities for geological obsidian are mentioned in 19th and 20th century geological and archaeological literature, and the present state of knowledge with regard to these is summarized. Further sources exist in central and in south-eastern Slovakia. These sources were not visited but material has been obtained from both areas. The central Slovak sources do not produce workable obsidian and are not therefore relevant to archaeological studies. Obsidian from three localities in south-eastern Slovakia is of good glassy quality and further fieldwork is now needed to check the validity of these localities as geological sources. Reference is made to obsidian sources in the western U.S.S.R., and the problem of the use of tektites in archaeological sites is discussed.The obsidian samples obtained during this work are currently being analyzed using neutron activation, in order to characterize the sources on the basis of their trace element analysis and thus to relate them to archaeological obsidian from central and eastern Europe.     

The center and the edge: Archaeology in Belize, 1809–1992

The archaeological history of Belize now spans, in a sense, 183 years. For all but the past quarter-century of that time, research in the country has ranged from sporadic to nonexistent. In recent years, however, forces both internal and external to Belize have brought about an explosion of fieldwork and reporting, as well as wide-ranging analyses, problem-focused studies, and the beginnings of placement of Belize in a theoretical frame. Review of the development of archaeological research in the country establishes a base on which to rest discussion of themes in current work, as well as the impact of Belizean data as regards changes in our assessment of Maya prehistory as a whole.     

Assessing the later prehistoric environmental archaeology and landscape development of the Cetina Valley,Croatia

Abstract

This paper describes preliminary work on the environmental and archaeological potential of the Cetina River Valley, Croatia. Two seasons of fieldwork and assessment have suggested that the valley contains a preserved landscape, much of which is waterlogged. It is clear that there is the potential to address many local and regional questions concerning land use, subsistence and environmental change in an area where previously only limited environmental archaeology has been undertaken. One pressing issue is how to prospect for both cultural and environmental archaeological deposits within this regional landscape. This is especially true in cases where little 'base-line data' exists. This paper outlines the current practice and suggests a number of new approaches to prospecting for environmental 'hotspots'.     

Mediating messiness: expanding ideas of flexibility,reflexivity, and embodiment in fieldwork

This article aims to help researchers think about some big-picture challenges that occur in the early stages of fieldwork. In particular, we address the transition from a clear, concise research proposal to the often complicated, messy initiation of a project. Drawing on autobiographical accounts of our own PhD research projects, we focus on dilemmas that may arise for researchers guided by feminist epistemology and methodology. First, we discuss parameters regarding acceptable changes to original research plans and questions. Noting that the carefully planned proposal may dramatically change as fieldwork begins, we draw on feminist literatures to expand and concretize the notion of flexibility in the research process. Second, we puzzle out the relationship between theory, epistemology, and method as the researcher delves into her fieldwork. As logistical challenges may take priority, theoretical and epistemological concerns may temporarily wane. Third, we consider the many ways in which the researcher's personal and field life bleed into each other to shape the conduct of research. We emphasize the importance of considering – prior to research as well as during – what the concepts of reflexivity and embodiment mean in fieldwork, especially for the researcher in terms of personal needs and logistical realities. Finally, while we suggest that there are certain unique pressures that shape the early stages of the field research period for PhD students, we conclude the article by focusing on ways in which lessons learned during our own experiences might be broadly useful for any researchers in the beginning stages of fieldwork.     

When bodies do not fit: an analysis of postgraduate fieldwork

Feminist geographers are increasingly examining embodied aspects of research. These embodied dimensions of fieldwork often build upon intersecting positionalities, yet studies focusing on bodily limitations encountered by feminists in the field are relatively few. In this article, we explore what it is like to be bodies that do not fit easily into the context within which they are supposed to be doing fieldwork. We are both female postgraduate students conducting fieldwork in the Global South. We have encountered, many times over, instances where, because of our sick and fatigued bodies, we have not been able to continue our work. We question the normalization of able-bodied postgraduate students by problematizing our own experiences, and argue that discourses of ability dominate fieldwork, in both its expectations and its conduct. This is especially the case for those with invisible disabilities because researchers may appear healthy but are not. As a result, postgraduate students may jeopardize their health for the sake of their research.     

The Early Development of Pastoralism in the Central Zagros Mountains

This paper explores the changes in early forms of pastoralism in the West Central Zagros Mountains from village-based herding in the Neolithic period to initial stages in the formation of full-fledged nomadic pastoralism by the Late Chalcolithic period. It has been argued that the initial development of pastoralism in the Central Zagros Mountains should be viewed as an adaptive strategy to a highland environment with limited and dispersed resources in order to supplement a primarily agricultural village-based economy. With expansion of the agricultural regime, the distance to be traveled to pastures by herders became greater, and as a consequence, the organization of labor involved in herding had to be modified to meet the more complex task of moving sizable herds over larger areas. The empirical evidence for the assessment of hypotheses proposed in this paper comes from archaeological fieldwork in the Islamabad Plain in the Zagros Mountains in western Iran, as well as previous archaeological and ethnographic research in the region.     

The current state of post-medieval archaeology in Flanders

Abstract

Post-medieval archaeology in Flanders (Belgium) is a comparatively young archaeological discipline, even in an historically important region with centres such as Antwerp, Bruges and Ghent. Originating in the slipstream of Flemish urban archaeology during the 1970s, the discipline has struggled for recognition ever since. As a result of more than 40 years of fieldwork, the material record of early-modern and modern history has changed drastically. Yet post-medieval archaeology has not reached its apogee. A framework with its own methods, teaching, research questions and theoretical approaches is still under construction. This paper aims not only at historiographical analysis of the field, but chiefly at defining a clear framework for positioning post-medieval archaeology in one of the most important regions in early-modern and modern Europe.     

The Peopling of Iceland

In recent years intensive archaeological research on the Viking Age in Iceland has produced much new evidence supporting a late 9th century colonization of the country. It can now be stated not only that people had arrived in Iceland before AD 870 but also that comprehensive occupation only took place after that date. The increased temporal resolution of the new archaeological data not only allows the characterization of different phases of the colonization but also supports assessments of the scale and rate of the immigration. In this paper we report the results of fieldwork in Mývatnssveit, NE-Iceland, where more than 30 sites have been investigated, ranging from small test trenches to large-scale open area excavations. We argue, based on the Mývatnssveit data, that a minimum of 24,000 people must have been transported to Iceland in less than 20 years to account for the dates and density of the Mývatn sites. In the absence, so far, of comparable data from other parts of the country these conclusions must remain hypothetical but if supported by further work they will have significant implications for our understanding of first peopling of Holocene farming populations in general and of Viking Age migrations in particular.