the future of archaeological theory – looking forward with Ben Cullen

On the anniversary of the untimely and sudden death in 1995 of Ben Cullen, archaeologist and anthropologist. Now twenty years past – how time accelerates. And in April 2015 Ian Gollop, his friend who found him that December morning, died in St Dogmael’s, West Wales – [Link] [Link] Previous thoughts – [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link]…

design thinking – cultural ecologies – better teams

There’s a great recent post on Tim Brown’s Design Thinking blog from Tim and Jane Fulton Suri – [Link] They present four tips, inspired by biology, to create better teams: 1. Design a Fertile Habitat 2. Create Simple Rules 3. Be Productive 4. Expect Collaboration I think Tim and Jane are again raising the question…

Ben Cullen

On the anniversary of the untimely and sudden death of Ben Cullen in 1995. [Link] [Link] [Link] I dedicated my book, The Archaeological Imagination [Link], published in April, to Ben. It is seventeen years today since he died. Uncanny. I wonder what I would say to him about the book, that might reveal how much…

Ben Cullen

Ben Cullen died eight years ago today in Cardigan, Wales. He was only 31. He had the same birthday as my daughter Molly; died on my parents wedding day. He was a great friend. Ben’s big idea was that biological organisms and things are not always as radically different as we usually hold. Viral phenomena…