Last month I was thinking about archaeological antecedents for the Tolkein movies. The visualization of the books was very reminiscent, for me at least, of northern European prehistory. OK so Tolkein was immersed in epic sagas. And the design team clearly complemented the conceptual design with details drawn from archaeological finds, most notably Sutton Hoo,…
archaeological imagination
Lord of the Rings – archaeological antecedents?
At University of Wales Lampeter we found that almost half of our undergraduates had chosen to study archaeology because of their fascination with fantasy worlds of the likes of Tolkien’s. I went to see the latest in the movie trilogy again tonight – to try to get a handle on this. (And because I can’t…
Vermeer’s archaeological interiors
Gorgeous. The movie. “Girl with a pearl earring”. At the heart – the simulacrum – the exact copy of an original that never existed. The PR and website for the movie are all about a delicate understated relationship, implicit in a finely crafted painting, a love story (the publicity stills show the main characters staring…
Modernism/modernity – an archaeological glossary
Winding up the paper with Bill Rathje and David Platt on the perfume of garbage. Here is something I wrote for the introduction to the special issue of Modernism/Modernity. We have outlined what may be called the duplicity of the archaeological object and have tracked aspects of some archaeological modernisms that work upon this duplicity,…
Cultural physiognomy
Visiting Alan Campbell, House of Commons, London. Prime Minister’s Question Time and a debate calling for a judicial inquiry into the Iraq war. The look and feel of the corridors and chambers together with the look of the inmates (MPs, visitors and staff) are so familiar. Not because we have all seen it on TV…
A way of thinking
East End of London. Looking for a house on Princelet Street. Alessandra Lopez Y Royo puts it all this way – archaeology is a way of thinking.
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