archaeology needs bold science

A seminar with Bjørnar Olsen and and Chris Witmore at Stanford Archaeology Center. Our title Innocence regained? Is there a new consensus in archaeology? An alternative case for bold thinking. I wrote Social Theory in Archaeology and Reconstructing Archaeology back in the 1980s partly because I was so disenchanted with archaeological thinking – we wanted…

The illusions of VR

Lynn Meskell at Stanford telling us about her new technology project with Columbia computer scientists. High resolution laser survey/scanning produces 3D models of archaeological sites. They tried it at Monte Polizzo over the summer. The result – a textured wireframe model of one of the architectural features of this hill top settlement. As excavated by…

Media aura

Bill Viola – The Passions – an Exhibition on at the National Gallery London. Lots of high definition videos of people’s faces in slow motion, displaying emotion, disposition, reaction. The technology and medium makes us look differently at the everyday. That was about it though. I couldn’t bring myself to stand in front of a…

Performance research

Canton, Cardiff. Talking with Mike Pearson. Performance practice as research – something that is on the agenda in UK universities. Can theatrical performance (or a novel, or painting) be classed as research? Being there – Tri Bywyd: a work of theatre/archaeology by Brith Gof 1995 Barry Eisler, the novelist and my good friend, came along…