Digital archaeologists claim that their practices have proven to be an important tool for mediating conflict, ensuring that the digital turn in archaeology entails engaging in current political ...issues. This can be questioned by analysing a copy of the Syrian Arch of Triumph. The original was destroyed in 2015. A year later, a copy was carved out of Egyptian marble; the replica was constructed thanks to digital documentation, which allowed archaeologists to create a 3D model. The arch was placed in various Western locations; however, it never reached Syria. Hybridity, the cultural and political significance of the arch’s replica and its ‘Grand Tour’ invite us to think about different interpretive layers of this artefact of ideological discourse (ontological, epistemological, ethical). In this paper, the replica of the Syrian arch will be analysed through the frameworks of post-colonial theory and technology studies. Both perspectives provide an insight into promising advantages and alarming drawbacks of such digital practices. This paper argues that the case of a copy of the Syrian Arch of Triumph on the one hand reflects the contemporary colonial technocracy in heritage politics (an ethical dimension), and on the other demonstrates that an ideological aspect of its digital reconstruction emerges from a speculative anticipation of what might constitute the universal value of world heritage in the future (an onto-epistemological dimension).
Prosthetic archaeology is a theoretical proposal for a materially oriented digital practice. It is based on a critical approach to implementing the latest technologies in archaeology. Drawing from ...the philosophy of technology and prosthetic studies, this project offers a more critical and meaningful understanding of digital methods in archaeology. The main interpretative figure is the verb “to prostheticize.” Thus, prosthetic archaeology is not solely about prostheses — technological improvements understood as supplements. Rather, it is about the processes of “prostheticizing” archaeology, brought on by the digital turn in “the discipline of things.” A verbal understanding of this main category and its processual potential allows for a technological prosthesis to function as an active addition that does, makes, transforms, refers, evokes, (re)constructs, and generates meanings. The concept of prosthetic archaeology is illustrated with a discussion of the “Body Can’t Wait” advertising campaign organized in Paris, March 2018, where ancient and neoclassical sculptures were equipped with 3D-printed artificial limbs. Inspired by an advertising campaign that uses technology to raise social awareness and engage in current global problems, prosthetic archaeology may offer a prefigurative blueprint for a future, radical archaeology.
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This paper is an attempt to discuss the concept of lively heritage, based on examples of accidental encounters with animals at archaeological sites. The starting point of this study is criticism of ...the “sterilisation” or “sanitisation” of archaeological sites. Its theoretical discourse on sterilisation of the past begins with a brief reference to contemporary photography (Alfred Seiland’s “Imperium Romanum” series), which is contrasted with the innovative conservation strategy employed at the archaeological site in Agrigento, Sicily, and vital encounters with animals at selected Mediterranean archaeological sites: the Tombs of the Kings in Paphos, Cyprus, and the archaeological site of Soluntum, Sicily. By discussing my own ethnographic experiences of encountering animals that inhabit these two archaeological sites and how their presence helped me rethink the past and heritage, I challenge the concept of living heritage and propose in its place the term “lively heritage”, which extends beyond the confines of human-centred and institutionalised heritage, and argues that the prevailing meaning of heritage sites and their management remains limited to staged, constructed and sanitised notions of the past. Within this critical perspective, the actual embodied experience of visiting the sites while remaining attentive towards their hosts (various species of animals) opens up new possibilities for seeing lively heritage not only as biodiversity, but also as hospitality hubs.
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The text aims to reflect upon the notion of landscape in the context of exhibitions; more precisely, it aims to do so in relation to the musealization of archaeological heritage and presentation of ...archaeology. The last 30 years of museum transformations, referred to as “the age of museums,” and the digital shift in museology have had a significant impact on building archaeological narratives in museums and beyond. Immersive and telematic landscapes, currently being constructed in museums, allow for sensorial engagement, broadened perceptive possibilities, and more intense interest in archaeology with the use of complex and convincing visions of the past. Hence, the musealized landscape presented in this paper is to go beyond the traditional criticism of multimedia in museums; it is an attempt to appreciate the cognitive opportunities provided by modern archaeological exhibitions.
Digital Escapism Stobiecka, Monika
Journal of contemporary archaeology (Online),
01/2019, Volume:
5, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
In contemporary archaeology, we can identify a clash of two apparently antagonistic "paradigms": the "(re)turn to things" and the "digital turn". The latter has had great impact on archaeological ...museums, traditionally focused on material objects, and in this article I analyse this in terms of a phenomenon that I call "digital escapism". Digital escapism embraces ontological and epistemological questions that stem from the digital turn in archaeology - it might denote the dismissal of artefacts as subjects of scientific interest, or a shift in focus to digital methods as a means to creating an immersive past reality. It may also relate to big data in archaeology and the attempt to (re)connect this archaeology with science by way of informatics. My analysis of the exhibition presented in Rynek Underground, a museum in Krakow, provides a case study of digital escapism within museum space.
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