Studio Michael Shanks Stanford University

Click images to enlarge

Questions and propositions

Four interrelated research questions:

• How might one understand and model human societies and cultures, design and innovation, change and stasis, as long term genealogies of complex living adaptive systems?

• How does an archaeological sensibility and imagination, working with what remains, offer fresh perspective on building knowledge, on making and creativity, on archives and memory?

• How might one build fresh accounts of antiquity and European prehistory, given the evolution of archaeological theory and method, and the availability of new data over the last few decades?

• How might the answers to these three questions help us now navigate our troubled and complex times 
of uncertainty and threat?

Current projects — ongoing

Archaeological history — building scenarios. Greece and Rome: a new model of antiquity. With Gary Devore. A project concerned with how one might conceive of antiquity as a kind of archaeological prehistory, retold through speculative fabulation. Against conventional narrative is offered a model of ancient lifeworlds conveyed through 45 personae and scenarios. Estimated delivery end of 2026.

Archaeological sites — encountering location. Against place: a border archaeology. Based on archaeological itineraries in the northern borders of England/Scotland, including prehistoric and Roman field research, this project explores border crossings, trespass and transgression in questioning the character of space and place, site and region. Estimated delivery 2027.

Archaeological praxis — performance design. Theatre/Archaeology: performing remains. With Mike Pearson. This book sums up 30 years of collaboration with performance artist Mike Pearson. In five portfolios of case studies in performance design they set out a pragmatics and methodology of deep mapping contemporary antiquity and prehistory. Estimated delivery end of 2025.

Archaeological actuality — for the future. Archaeologies of Nature in Art: from Landscape to Climate Breakdown. With Gabriella Giannachi. This project mobilizes an archaeology of arts practices, from prehistory to contemporary art, to offer action-oriented responses to climate change in a reframing of the concept of nature. Estimated delivery late summer 2025.

Concept mapping 2025