– another reason for the importance of categories and databases One of my interests is the way we use databases to organise and administer the collections that are at the core of our archaeological lives. (And have played a crucial role in state society since ancient Mesopotamia.) Databases – sounds dull and tedious? Have a…
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body politic and an archaeology of democracy
– some comments on the origins of war The BBC is airing some views about the causes of war and policy in the Middle East. UK | Magazine | Do democracies fight each other? When outlining his vision for peace in the Middle East, President George Bush said “democracies don’t go to war with each…
Media trips – digital trash and garbology
A new blog devoted to remix and sampling – Media trips Here’s an entry of theirs from October 20 – Thanks to Troels (Myrup) for spotting this one.
the patina of preservation
Boonville, northern California. Up for the weekend with Sam and Angie. The general store on the main street – organic produce in the oldest working refrigerators I’ve seen. On the aura of Polaroids and the temporality of color see my blog for 12 September on the physiognomy of nostalgia.
Mike Pearson and theatre/archaeology
Mike Pearson, performance artist, was in Stanford this week. We wrote the book Theatre/Archaeology together. He talked to our New Media Workshop about recent work of his, and then to the Archaeology Center about his research into what really went on in the expeditions to the Antarctic back in the early 1900s. Both were provocative….
mysteries of the tiny people – more on Homo Floresiensis
When I was studying anthropology at Cambridge back in the late 70s, Alan Bilsborough, my academic advisor, got me to buy a children’s book on human evolution – Bernard Wood’s “Evolution of Early Man”. Not an undergrad’s text book. Reason – it was the most up-to-date account of a field that changed almost by the…