Thinking Through Living: Experience and the Production of Archaeological Knowledge

Abstract

________________________________________________________________As archaeologists, we tend to forget the extent to which our everyday experiences frame our potential understandings of past cultures. Instead of being taken for granted, such experiences need to be explored so that we may more fully acknowledge how our own pasts have an eminent role in the production of archaeological knowledge, from the methods through which we recover and record our data to the kinds of investigations we deem worthy of effort. While our decisions and thought processes are readily recognized to have had genesis in the archaeological and theoretical approaches which came before, an entire body of cultural and experiential knowledge remains ignored. In the interest of addressing this disparity, meticulous reflexive investigations of the day-to-day world of the individual archaeologist can be used to provide insights into the less formal factors informing research trajectories, by providing alternative viewpoints and bringing hidden components of experience to light. This paper discusses a critical thinking exercise which examines the utility of deep descriptions of contemporary commonplace experiences, employing a variety of media and documentation techniques, in assessing our interpretations of the past. A case study of 'The Virtual Pub Project' illustrates the practical application of this approach. ________________________________________________________________ Résumé: En tant qu'archéologues, nous avons tendance à oublier l'étendue selon laquelle nos expériences de chaque jour encadrent nos compréhensions potentielles des cultures passées. Au lieu d'être prises pour argent comptant, de telles expériences doivent être explorées de telle manière que nous pourrons pleinement connaître comment nos passés personnels ont un rô le éminent dans la connaissance archéologique, des méthodes grâce auxquelles nous restaurons et enregistrons nos données des diverses investigations que nous jugeons digne d'effort. Tandis que nos processus de décisions et de pensée sont volontiers reconnus pour avoir eu leur genèse dans les approches archéologiques et théoriques antérieures, une organisation entière de connaissance culturelle et expérimentale reste ignorée. Dans l'intérêt d'aborder cette disparité, des investigations méticuleuses réfléchies du monde au jour le jour de l'archéologue peuvent être utilisées pour donner un aperçu des facteurs les moins formels informant les pistes de recherche, en présentant des points de vue différents et en mettant à jour des composantes d'expériences cachées Cet article traite d'un exercice de pensée critique qui examine l'utilité de descriptions en profondeur d'expériences contemporaines banales, en employant une variété de médias et documentations techniques, en évaluant nos interprétations du passé. Un cas d'étude de « The Virtual Pub Project » illustre l'application pratique de cette approche. ________________________________________________________________Resumen: Como arqueó logos, tendemos a olvidar lo mu...

Virtual Archaeology, Virtual Longhouses and "Envisioning the Unseen" Within the Archaeological Record

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A Neo-Documentalist Lens for Exploring the Premises of Disciplinary Knowledge Making

“…Documentation (as an activity) has been described, for instance, as the accumulation of observations and finds (Collis, 1999), recording (Thomas, 2006), and documentation (e.g. Accary-Barbier et al, 2005;Charest, 2009;Davidovic-Walther, 2011). These descriptions harbor considerable variation in the explicit and implicit theoretical assumptions related to the choice of terminology, the conceptualizations of the documentation activity, and its outcomes.…”

When knowledges meet: Engagements with clay and soil in southern Africa

“…Its origins can be traced directly to the rise of positivist anthropological approaches within New Archaeology (Lane, 2006b: 403), and ethnoarchaeological research raises fundamental epistemological and ethical questions (e.g. Charest, 2009;David and Kramer, 2001: 54-62;Gonza´lez-Ruibal, 2006aGosden, 1999Gosden, , 2005bGreen et al, 2003;Haaland et al, 2004;Lane, 1996Lane, , 2006aLane, , 2006bLucas, 2007).…”