... and see even the other papers in International Journal of Heritage Studies 14 (1), 2008 as this was a themed issue on zoos as heritage, and I think some others in that issue have not been too concerned with preservation/archive issues either but are exploring various interesting themes instead!

 
----
Cornelius Holtorf
Archaeology, School of Cultural Sciences 
Linnaeus University
391 82 Kalmar, Sweden
 
http://www.lnu.se
http://web.comhem.se/cornelius

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion List for Contemporary and Historical Archaeology [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Cornelius Holtorf
Sent: den 16 januari 2012 09:22
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Future archaeology? (again)

Dan and all - 

you are spot on! Yes, preservation and recording are tightly connected as you say. 

Even some of the most radical (!) contemporary archaeologists have obvious difficulties separating truly innovative research from recording and conservation issues, so the one-million-dollar-question is how we can practically work with our material in different, more creative ways. I am not sure I am as pessimistic as you are concerning what you call "light-touch sociological/ethnographic studies of heritage" as I think there can be depth even in superficialities but that cannot entirely answer the challenge at hand.

So, to repeat your formulation (with a few words added), can contemporary/historical archaeologists do fieldwork that is IN PRACTICE not MAINLY about recording, and preservation through creating an archive? 

I will look at your paper again and get hold of Emma's book. I think my zoo project is conducted in that spirit too, although I have nothing substantial to share at this point (except a co-authored paper in which I have at least been deconstructing the conservation ethos somewhat: International Journal of Heritage Studies 14 (1), 2008, 74-90).

What do others think on these issues?

C


 
----
Cornelius Holtorf
Archaeology, School of Cultural Sciences 
Linnaeus University
391 82 Kalmar, Sweden
 
http://www.lnu.se
http://web.comhem.se/cornelius

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion List for Contemporary and Historical Archaeology [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dan Hicks
Sent: den 14 januari 2012 14:41
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Future archaeology? (again)

I am enjoying the exchange between David and Cornelius. We should remember that the blurring between preservation and recording, to which David accurately points, is one that was self-consciously created by post-war archaeology: through the idea of 'preservation by record' (where 'preservation in situ' is impossible). Archaeologists, at least in Britain, have built a whole multi-million-pound industry on this idea over the past generation.

Cornelius' concerns about the ongoing effects of the conservation ethic should be shared by us all. But especially, I want to suggest, because without doubt that ethic has defined so many of the choices of what is studied (and what is not) by contemporary archaeology. 

I am sure I'm not alone in hoping that we are not limited as a field to writing, and re-writing, the trope of the contemporary ruin; in fearing that our field interventions might become as light-of-touch as those of the urban explorer or place-hacker: cultural speleologies producing a style of metropolitan nocturne through empty warehouses filled with fading graffiti. 

As many of us (especially Graham Fairclough) have observed, the superabundance of materials from the very recent past makes our field an especially important place from which to explore alternatives to those deeply melancholic definitions of archaeology in terms of the abatement of decay -- or also (worse) simply in terms of decay.

But so far in practice the calls creative alternatives, to which Cornelius adds a strong voice, have led simply to rather light-touch sociological/ethnographic studies of heritage value/significance/intangible heritage, etc. Contemporary archaeology becomes a small sub-set of anthropological material culture studies.

So, a central question emerges for us: can contemporary/historical archaeologists do fieldwork that is not about recording, and preservation through creating an archive? And would such fieldwork be ethnography, or something else?

Some provisional answers might emerge from starting to conceive of historic materials not as objects of enquiry, but as the effects of practice, including archaeological practice. That is a line of thought to which I tried to make a small contribution in my chapter 'The Material-Cultural Turn: event and effect' (In Dan Hicks and Mary C. Beaudry (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Material Culture Studies. Oxford: OUP, pp. 25-98).

In practice, the most exciting thing I've read recently, which starts to realise the potential of the idea of contemporary-historical archaeology, is Emma Dwyer's "The Impact of the Railways in the East End 1835-2010: The Historical Archaeology from the London Overground East London Line" (Museum of London 2011) -- which includes some wonderful and ground-breaking accounts of recording changing human and material landscapes through development-funding.

DH
........................................
Dr Dan Hicks MIfA, FSA
University of Oxford
http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/DH1.html


On 13 Jan 2012, at 21:58, David Gordon wrote:

What is confusing me somewhat is the blurring of any distinction between the preservation and the recording of the material heritage, which itself becomes a blurring of archaeology and history. I do take your point about creation - here in the Olympic Park we (we?) are creating something new, then reshaping it into something newer. I suppose I'm looking for ways to record the process, perhaps with preservation as well, given that this site will inevitably, like all recent Olympic sites, become a "heritage" attraction in itself.
Ultimately I'm still concerned by the paradox inherent in much Historical Archaeology, where we don't seem to take much interest in investigating and recording things until they have become derelict or ruined, at which point, being fixed in time and no longer subject to development, they suddenly become worthy of study!
 
From: Cornelius Holtorf
Sent: Friday, January 13, 2012 9:36 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Future archaeology? (again)
 
Literally minutes before this message arrived, I added this quote into a paper I am writing - it seems to fit perfectly to this query.
 
"The obsession with physical conservation became so embedded in twentieth century mentalities that it is no longer easy to separate an attempt to understand the past and its meaning from agonising about which bits of it to protect and keep. It is almost as if one is not allowed to be interested in the past without wanting to keep or restore ... the remains of the past, which seem to exist only to be preserved. The wide range of how the past is used by society has been reduced to the literal act of preserving its fabric. In that sense, history has been subsumed into heritage, scarcely having any independent existence."

What is the alternative? I have another quote on that in the same paper, too.
 
"Conservation should move towards a completely different context of understanding and safeguarding heritage: shifting the focus from protection towards creation. Conservationists need to 'escape' from the discontinuity created between the monuments, considered to belong to the past, and the people of the present and also from the attachment to the fabric, and move towards embracing communities' associations with sites and the continual process of creation of the sites in the context of these associations."



 
The references are
Fairclough, Graham (2009) n.d. Conservation and the British. In: J. Schofield (ed.) Defining Moments: Dramatic Archaeologies of the Twentieth-Century, pp. 157-164. BAR Int. Ser. 2005. Oxford: Archaeopress. 
Poulios, Ioannis (2010) Moving Beyond a Values-Bades Approach to Heritage Conservation. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 12 (2), 170-85.

 
---
Cornelius Holtorf
Archaeology, School of Cultural Sciences
Linnaeus University
391 82 Kalmar, Sweden
 
http://www.lnu.se
http://web.comhem.se/cornelius
 
From: Discussion List for Contemporary and Historical Archaeology [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Gordon [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, January 13, 2012 9:54 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Future archaeology? (again)

If I may re-open the idea of the Archaeology of the future, the talk below on the redevelopment of the Olympic Park seems to characterise some of the aspects we might/should consider.
Some questions arising are:
To what extent should the plans, as well as the current exhibition, be archived, given that the actual built result may be different?
Should we (can we) attempt to build in any mechanism whereby the archaeology of these developments can be recorded contemporaneously?
How can we archive the unsuccessful plans - alternative futures which will now never exist?
As opposed to records, are there any material artefacts, such as models, which might be preserved?
How should we treat computer-generated 3D realisations, given that they are neither written records nor actual material, but arguably something distinct from both?
If archiving of any of the above is theoretically worthwhile, how do we make our selections, given the time, space and financial restrictions in the real world?
Should we be encouraging the developers to find space in their plans for archiving and perhaps permanent exhibition?
 
David

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contemp-hist-arch is a list for news and events
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For email subscription options see:
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contemp-hist-arch is a list for news and events
in contemporary and historical archaeology, and
for announcements relating to the CHAT conference group.
-------
For email subscription options see:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/archives/contemp-hist-arch.html
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Visit the CHAT website for more information and for future meeting dates:
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