Anarchy and Archaeology Workshop

Simply, we offer an anarchist archaeology as an alternate way to think about the past and to consider our methods and practices in the present. An anarchist approach reminds us to consider relations of power and to question whether those relationships are authoritarian or coercive, whether in past societies we study, among archaeologists as teams in practice, among archaeologists and descendant communities concerning heritage, or in the relationships between archaeology and contemporary nation-states. The vast bulk of societies in the past were anarchic societies, organizing their lives without centralized authorities. This is one primary reason that an anarchist archaeology can be of use for understanding the principles and dynamics of societies without government. Moreover, sustained critique of power can help us better recognize the forms of resistance within centralized societies. Finally, anarchist principles can help us better attain more egalitarian and democratic practices among archaeologists and others with interests in the past. This approach can also engage archaeology to invigorate the historical imagination and present alternatives to contemporary top-down oriented political and economic structures of authority. In short, an anarchist archaeology can help us to expand the realm of the possible, both in relation to our interpretations of the traces of past lives, and in terms of our understandings of what is possible in the future. ( The Black Trowel Collective: We come to anarchism and archaeology from many backgrounds, and for varied reasons. Most of this document comes from a conversation started at the Amerind Foundation in April 2016 (made possible by a grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation), where we began to put the ‘sherds’ of an anarchist archaeology into a coherent framework. Since then, many of us have continued to work together on this and other projects relating to anarchist archaeology, and our circle has widened as the project evolves. We invite you to join us, or to keep up with the work we are doing at http://www.anarchaeology.org/site-forum/. )

The SAA Archaeological Record, 2017

Savage Minds, 2016

An anarchist archaeology embraces considerations of social inequity as a critique of authoritarian forms of power and as a rubric for enabling egalitarian and equitable relationships. An anarchist archaeology insists on an archaeology that is committed to dismantling single hierarchical models of the past, and in that sense, its core incorporates tenets of a decolonized, indigenous, and feminist archaeology, contesting hegemonic narratives of the past. Here we outline principles for an anarchist archaeology that can be applied towards studies of the past, toward archaeologically informed examinations of contemporary societies, and to archaeological practices, including professional ethics.

Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, 2018

The theory of anarchism primarily concerns the organization of society in a way that fosters egal- itarian or equitable forms of association and coop- eration and resists all forms of domination. An anarchist perspective involves an awareness of, and critique of, how power is implemented through social relations, whether positively as in collaborative acts of mutual aid to common goals or negatively as in assertions of authoritarian power contrary to the interests of the community as a whole. As a theory concerning power and social relations, archaeologists apply anarchism for analyses of past societies, to interpret and evaluate forms of egalitarian or hierarchical rela- tions, modes of domination or resistance, and expressions of control or autonomy. Moreover, it is not just for considering the past, but the theory can be applied to contemporary social arrange- ments concerning archaeology in multiple ways: how archaeologists organize themselves for research teams and field crews, involve local or descendant communities, or relate to the various publics concerning heritage. Anarchism has had an increasing influence upon archaeology in recent years, just as the theory has influenced other disciplines throughout the social sciences and humanities.

Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 2018

The organization of archaeological fieldwork often resembles a military-style campaign structured around rigid, top-down hierarchies. This is reflected in many aspects of current practice, including the ultimate authority of the site director, the use of excavation methodologies that remove the act of interpretation from field archaeologists, and the general deskilling and reification of archaeological labor in fieldwork. Though there have been several examples of resistance to this hierarchical model we maintain that a sustained critique could stem from an unexpected source: the creation of communities that model anarchist principles through the implementation of the single context methodology in archaeology. In this article we explore the potential for anarchist praxis in archaeological fieldwork and the implications of anarchist thought on the issues of authority and non-alienation of labor in a neoliberal landscape.

2022

My goal in this essay is to examine the contours of anarchist social thought (theory) and to explore how they have been and are currently being used in archaeology. Modern political thought-liberalism, romanticism, conservatism, anarchism, and socialism-has its origins between c. 1750 and 1840; however, its roots go back further in time. The four strands of modern political theory developed in an ongoing give-and-take (dialectical) debate or struggle among their proponents. They have different perspectives or standpoints, because their advocates occupied or identified with groups that had different social positions in the emerging, hierarchically-organized power structures of the commercial and industrial capitalist societies of the day (Wylie 2012). What distinguished the proponents of the different standpoints from one another was their relation to power-their ability to set agendas and produce intended outcomes or effects. The power relations inflect knowledge. What this means is that (1) the social position of the proponents shaped and constrained their understanding of the social and cultural world they inhabited; and (2) analysts from different social locations may experience, know, privilege, and clearly understand some features of the world they inhabit and, at the same time, deny, not understand, or are invested in ignoring other features.

This paper will briefly explore several areas of public archaeology. The first will be an outline of the broad concepts that underpin the idea of public archaeology itself, and attempt to define the concepts that underpin this approach to archaeology. The paper will then focus upon the work of York Archaeological Trust (YAT) and their Archaeology Live! community project. That section will explore the positive impact on the development of archaeological training within the UK, and on the wider community, without a drop in the standard of archaeology performed. The paper will then explore why public archaeology is an important area to focus upon. It will look at how public archaeology, and successful community training projects such as Archaeology Live!, can enhance the spread of archaeological appreciation and understanding across a wider audience. Finally, the paper will conclude that public archaeology is a vital part of building a sense of archaeological heritage within communities, and plays an important part in protecting the past and bringing groups of people together. It will argue that projects such as Archaeology Live! are integral to this movement, and should act as a model for successful public archaeology in the future. Submitted and presented at the Oxford University Archaeological Society's 2014 Annual Undergraduate Conference ('Celebrating the Diversity of Archaeology'), the full proceedings of which can be found here: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxvdWFyY2hhZW9sb2dpY2Fsc29jaWV0eXxneDozNmRmMDllNmIyODE5M2Iy

World Archaeology, 2012

The power and the promise of digital technology provides the opportunity to revolutionise the way we think about and do archaeology. This opportunity has been seized by a few enterprising archaeologists, but can only be fully realised when a culture of participation and sharing is fostered in both academic and professional realms. Digital literacy and critical digital media object creation cannot be the realm of only a few heritage professionals, but should be cultivated and rewarded as we create new publication standards throughout archaeology. We present the background of digital participatory culture, the current entanglement of open source, open access, and for-profit technology in archaeology, and offer a challenge: to create a more ubiquitous, reflexive, open and participatory archaeology on both the institutional and the individual level.