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AP: Online Journal in Public Archaeology
From present to future. An academic perspective of Public Archaeology in Spain2021 •
Ten years seems little time to assess the future of such a relatively young topic as Public Archaeology (PA) is, in special in Spain and in the academic arena. I divide my answer in two classic parts: present and future. By understanding the present (based on the past) we can try to guess (more or less) the future… Even if we think in the context of a pandemic, predicting the future of anything becomes really uncertain and reckless. If I may write, there is a high level of uncertainty and luck in getting it right.
Post Classical Archaeologies, nº 2, pp. 337-360
Public administration of archaeology in Spain. Notes on the current situation and future prospects2012 •
This paper seeks to connect the reader to the personal conversational experience of two archaeologists from different generations and specialisations. Far from being a personal diary, what we share here is a fragmented experience of knowledge exchange. A reflexive photo-essay on the precariousness of resources and ideas in times of pandemic, materialized through digital communication tools such as WhatsApp or Gloogle Drive. Through these epistolary fragments (captions) and pictures, we intend to question how different the ordinary lives and tasks of an “armchair post-doc archaeologist” and an “early career field archaeologist” are. Each of us wrote down what is suggested by the other's images as an exercise in the exchange of otherness. Our emphasis here is on reflecting on the narratives generated by archaeological contexts. The result is an invitation to the audience to engage and be part of our otherness; a safe space for thinking in the collective and the archaeology of care. Keywords: Corporative Archaeology, Academic Archaeology, Cyber Ethnography, Archaeological contexts, Archaeology of Care
[EN] I am beginning to tire slightly of trying to explain to foreign colleagues what is happening both to and in Spain. The fact is that nothing is going on that has not happened before in other countries subject to hyper-neo-liberal policies. The blame lies with the Spanish oligarchies, but also with current European neo-con policies and German hegemony. Perhaps the dream that was Europe has failed and instead turned into a nightmare, because of the intrinsic, fundamental failures of European modernity and history, such as exploitation, slavery, predation...; after centuries of draining resources and wealth from the rest of the world, this model of growth has reached its end. Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Spain are experiencing difficulties that France, Belgium, the UK, and later countries such as Holland, Germany and Norway will come to suffer. Instead of being a model of the Welfare State for the rest of the world, Europe is becoming a cyber-punk delusion; a combination of high technology and low standard of living. In this text (available in English and Spanish version) I recently wrote for The European Archaeologist (the newsletter of the European Association of Archaeologists), I attempted to briefly discuss this matter, its relationships with current European policies, its correspondence with the actuality of a “Posteurope” understood as a cyberpunk post-historic nightmare, or its correlation with a post-Europe considered as an alternative dream to be constructed, a different Europe for the future. The main aim of the text is to question what the consequences will be of the current processes we are experiencing in Europe on Archaeology, Cultural Heritage and the internal and external dynamics of any European project or association, particularly with respect to the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA). I know these are too many things to be examined with any real precision: a post-Europe as a critique or alternative. Words with an ambiguous dualism that need to be overcome through a symmetrical reading. The text starts with: “In this title I have chosen to use the prefix “post” in its two generally accepted meanings: as a criticism and as an alternative. Therefore, the intention of the title is twofold. On the one hand it is a way of suggesting that if we do not react soon in Europe, we will have to start thinking about a new Europe that will no longer be the one we know. This is a Threat that affects us all, including the EAA. On the other hand, it is a way of suggesting that we should perhaps start to think in the future using reasoning and ideas that are different from those we have used up to now; I am not sure whether this is an Opportunity or a Weakness, but in any event, strengthening European integration against the backdrop of the current context is a challenge of interest to us all, including the EAA...
This article revisits the concept of the ‘invisible college’, defined within the field of History of Science in the 1960s as the informal power groups formed in academia. It is argued that the concept of the ‘invisible college’ is still valid but should integrate new developments within the social sciences. Thus, the networks formed in the invisible colleges should be understood as fluid and contingent and even as overlapping. These ideas are tested in the case of José Ramón Mélida y Alinari (1856-1933), an archaeologist who was at the centre of a number of important networks in early twentieth-century century Spanish archaeology.
In the first third of the twentieth century the study of prehistory in Spain became institutionalised and in this process the influence of Germany would be paramount. It was not a single-track process: several alternatives emerged. The earliest one — that of prehistory as part of the natural sciences — was headed by Professor Eduardo Hernández Pacheco from 1910. Although from 1916 the renowned Palaeolithic archaeologist, the German Hugo Obermaier, was associated with Hernández-Pacheco’s group, the impetus behind it can be considered a reaction against French imperialism. After Hernández-Pacheco and Obermaier fell out, a second alternative opened up — leading to the almost total demise of the first alternative — when the latter was offered a chair at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters (i.e. Faculty of Arts) in 1922. It was therefore a German professor who would train most of the future archaeologists of the Madrid school. Yet circumstances such as the Civil War, the Second World War, Obermaier’s exile and his death would seem to have diminished the impact of the German influence on this school. Prehistoric archaeology in Spain would also be institutionalised through a third alternative — that of the Barcelona school. A chair of archaeology was created in 1916 at the University of Barcelona. It was obtained by Pere Bosch Gimpera, then a young man, who had been trained in archaeology in Germany. It is through Bosch Gimpera that most of the theories current in Germany at that time came to Spain. In this paper, the German influence on the development of professional archaeology in Spain will be analysed, paying attention to the main protagonists both in Spain and in Germany.
AP: Online Journal in Public Archaeology
Editorial: Public archaeology in debateAP: Online Journal in Public Archaeology
Towards the public: The contribution of public archaeology at Serra do Carvalho2020 •
This article presents the results of the valorisation of two burial mounds that are part of the Serra do Carvalho necropolis in Póvoa do Lanhoso, Portugal. The work involved about a dozen local volunteers, and consisted of removing vegetation mantle on top of the tumuli, felling the trees on the mounds, and graphically recording the structures. Besides a detailed characterisation of the tumuli, this project allowed the creation of a dynamic of heritage education and social awareness to foster a better understanding of the preservation of such monuments, which are often subject to destructive actions. We focus on the relationship between archaeology and society, in terms of how our work is perceived. We also briefly touch on public archaeology, as well as a historiographical review of the concept in Portugal. After explaining our methodological approach, we discuss its potentialities, weaknesses, and the factors that may differentiate it from other forms of fieldwork. We will also highlight the potentially controversial inclusion of volunteers—especially since the project encompasses education and social awareness on archaeological preservation, and is financed by private or corporate promoters and awarded to archaeology companies. Finally, we will discuss how the project is situated in the discipline that is, or should be, archaeology as a social science.
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M. Cruz Berrocal, L. García, A. Gilman (eds.) The Prehistory of Iberia. Debating Early Social Stratification and the State. Routledge, London: 29-49
Archaeology is (sometimes) History, or it is Nothing. The Value of History as Critical Archaeology2023 •
European Journal of Archaeology
Kristian Kristiansen and Michael J.J. Rowlands, Social Transformations in Archaeology, Global and Local Perspectives. (London and New York: Routledge, 1998, 438 pp., hbk., ISBN 0 415 06789 8, € 118.50)2002 •
2011 •
Public Participation in Archaeology; Heritage Matters Series. Edited by Suzie Thomas and Joanne Lea
Public Archaeology as a Reflexive Practice: An Argentine Case Study in the Pampean Region, by Mazzia, Salerno and PupioJournal of Mediterranean archaeology
La Trahison Des Archeologues] Archaeological Practice As Intellectual Activity In Postmodernlrv'1999 •
24th Annual Meeting - European Association of Archaeologists
2018. Session on "Archaeological education beyond archaeology: looking at the cultural and social relevance of research" (Barcelona 5-8 September 2018)2018 •
Forum Kritische Archäologie
Archaeology of the Contemporary Past: An Interview with Alfredo González-Ruibal, Thomas Kersting and Laurent Olivier2018 •
Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory
No compensation needed: on archaeology and the archaeological2017 •