more fantasy archaeology

– the never-ending search for the Holy Grail … The BBC is reporting what looks like another publicity scam Fascination with the Holy Grail has lasted for centuries, and now the Bletchley Park code-breakers have joined the hunt. But what is it that’s made the grail the definition of something humans are always searching for…

Robert Sarmast – more junk about Atlantis

More fantasy archaeology in the news. Robert Sarmast has modelled underwater topographic data and sees the remains of a city. Sarmast’s Atlantis This underwater geology has been well researched and is understood as volcanic activity ([Link] [Link]). But the pictures have far more rhetorical force. As does Sarmast’s own story of the rogue amateur who…

Michael Herzfeld on comparative ethnography

Comparing one society with another Michael Herzfeld was talking today about ethnography, about the centrality of comparison. His latest work is to compare Greece with Italy with Thailand. Michael Herzfeld at Stanford today Many anthropologists have become anxious about the comparative method, because comparing one society with another with the aim of understanding each through…

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 – Check out the newly posted projects at the recently launched online exhibition Digital Recycling at The Stunned Net Art Open 2004, where one person’s trash is another’s treasure trove: What’s more, you can participate by…

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….

Fred Dibnah – industrial archaeologist

Fred Dibnah has died [Link] [Picture Link – BBC] Steeple Jack turned uncanny acolyte of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, he knocked down chimney remnants of Victorian industrial England with a style and passion matched only by his love of steam engines. Now industrial archaeology is dogged by rather geekish character types who love brass fittings and…