Archaeology in the Anthropocene. A session at the Chicago TAG Conference, USA, May 9th-11th 2013
Dear all,
Paper proposals are invited for a session on Archaeology in the Anthropocene at Chicago TAG Conference. Archaeologists of the contemporary and recent pasts are especially encouraged to contribute.
Call for papers: http://tag2013.uchicago.edu/program.html
Title of session: Archaeology in the Anthropocene
Session abstract: Until recently we thought we were living in the Holocene epoch. But now some geologists argue that we may have moved into a more unstable geological epoch, characterised by human impact on Earth systems. The very word ‘Anthropocene’ (anthropo=human and cene=new) controversially foregrounds human agency as more powerful than geological or other natural forces in shaping the Earth today. Though not yet formally accepted into geological time-frames, the Anthropocene has become one of the hottest topics of inter-disciplinary debate.
Archaeology has a major role to play here. If the Anthropocene is real, a material record of it must exist in the stratigraphic sequences, material residues and artefact assemblages that constitute archaeological evidence. Does the proposed new epoch have a distinctive stratigraphy? What are the principal artefacts / architectures / structures / markers of the Anthropocene? At which scales are material phenomena of the Anthropocene manifested? Can these be recognised in soil boundaries or other traditional kinds of evidence? Or might one also look into orbital space, virtual realities, digital worlds, nano-realms and other recently opened up domains of human activity? Is there an architecture As well as providing evidence for the proposed new geological epoch, archaeologists are well-positioned to formulate a critique of the implicit theories of agency and material culture that go along with it. Archaeologists of contemporary and recent pasts in particular will find much to engage and contend with in the idea of the Anthropocene.
The main question posed by the session is - how might archaeologists help in formulating, shaping, questioning, challenging or reworking the idea of the Anthropocene?
Format: 15-20 minute papers, followed by an extended period of open discussion.
Organiser: Dr Matt Edgeworth FSA
Honorary Research Fellow in Archaeology at the University of Leicester
Senior Investigator at English Heritage (Cambridge)
Contact: [log in to unmask]
Closing date for paper proposals: end of February
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