Why Archaeology?

George Leigh Mallory:“Because its there”

When asked by a New York Times reporter in 1923 why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, the British mountaineer stated, ”Because it’s there.” Mallory and a companion died a year later on the slopes of Everest. Whether they

reached the summit before their deaths remains a mystery. Until now ….

Mallory, discovered at 27,000 ft

in 1999: archaeological

Tut

Lenin

Fate

Otzi, the Ice Man 3300 BC

Relics:metonymy

St. Anthony of Padua

Saint Jerome

Saint Stephen

Saint Valentine

Draw an archaeologist

you do not need to sign your name,

but please

a. Indicate if you are male or femaleand your country of origin

b. imagine where your archaeologist is

(it is optional whether you choose to draw this)

If you can draw an archaeologist then

what is archaeology??

Howard CarterTutankhamen

1923

Can you see anything?

Yes, wonderful THINGS …

Looking down on Wonderful

Things

If the correspondents do not weaken

we may yet have Tut’s jewel-

encrusted golf sticks and

mummified caddie taken

from the tomb

Photo Opp

Carter with

benefactor

Callander

Why African Diaspora

Archaeology?

People without History

“those to whom a history has been denied by those who have claimed history as their own …

it is not surprising to find non-western peoples depicted in

conventional western histories as passive recipients of change

inaugurated by western culture-bearers”

McIntosh et al 125-6

Small things forgotten: the Mundane

Retentions

Unconventional“I think as much as there is an obvious demand upon a growing mind to ‘learn,’ there is an equally big demand to ‘unlearn,’ but I am of the opinion that the demand to unlearn gets drowned out as we unknowingly, (and almost irreversibly), structure our lives to prepare for the realities of our living circumstances …

I think of such a discovery as being in terms of obtaining an awareness about the unknown, unrevealed gifts or exceptional qualities that an individual may bear; things that could be immensely beneficial to the world – a gradient or exponent above what is practical.”

Power and Memory

Genocide is about the destruction of memory. The destruction of

memory involves the destruction of all possible connections to even

established family trees.(in Shepherd 2007:104)

Uncommon Fate: an ethical archaeology