1,721,132 research outputs found
The visual language of archaeology: a case study of the Neanderthals
No full textTwo notable reconstructions of Neanderthal individuals are analysed in this perceptive study of the role of visual reconstructions in archaeological debate. The author concludes that such images are more than popular by-products of academic discussion and play a crucial role in the construction of archaeological argument
Visions of the Australian Pleistocene: prehistoric life at Lake Mungo and Kutikina
No full textIn addition to the vast number of historic images of Australian Aboriginal peoples, a number of archaeological images depicting life in prehistoric times in Australia have recently been produced (Attwood and Edwards 1987; Deiley 1979; Jones 1987a; Wood 1977). While the historic images include drawings, paintings and photographs produced in association with the early scientific expeditions to Australia and the European settlement of the country, the prehistoric images include drawings and paintings which have been produced in association with the excavation of major archaeological sites in the country. The historic images appear in colonial accounts and expedition memoirs, and have been used as a documentary resource in a wide range of disciplines including history, anthropology, archaeology and art history, and the prehistoric images appear in popular scientific texts and have been used as a resource for communicating archaeological findings to the wider public. While the historic images have been used to assess the ways in which the Europeans rationalised their invasion of Australia and their oppression of the Aboriginal population, the prehistoric images can be used to assess the way in which prehistorians have rationalised their reconstruction of prehistoric behaviour and their development of theories about how the continent was first colonised by human populations. In essence, both the historic and prehistoric visions of Australian Aboriginal peoples constitute a critical resource for understanding both the colonial construction of Australian Aboriginal identity and the archaeological construction of prehistoric Aboriginal lifeways. Despite the fact that the prehistoric images or visual reconstructions are limited in number, they still make an important contribution to the rich iconographic tradition of depicting Australian Aboriginal peoples. Similar to the historic images, the value of the prehistoric images lies not so much what they tell us about what the Aboriginal peoples looked like and what they did, but also in what they tell us about ourselves and how we have constructed knowledge about Australian prehistory. This paper constitutes a preliminary attempt to outline the role that such images play in the conceptualisation of the Australian Pleistocen
Robin Derricourt . Antiquity imagined: the remarkable legacy of Egypt and the ancient Near East. 2015. xi+288 pages, 40 b&w illustrations. London: Tauris; 978-1-78453-275-8 hardback £25.
No full textScience, stratigraphy and the deep sequence: excavation versus regional survey and the question of gendered practice in archaeology
No full textDo gender roles, or expectations about gender roles, affect what kind of study is pursued by the individual researcher? Has excavation been rather a man's business? And if so, have other kinds of study — regional survey, for example — rather become women's business? These issues are explored as they are illuminated by the research careers of two eminent Australian contemporarie
Designing Antiquity: Owen Jones, ancient Egypt and the Crystal Palace
No full textIn the 19th century, designers became involved in the public presentation of the past, focusing specifically on the decoration of historical monuments. By exploring ornamental designs and the way they represented the cultural concerns of distant civilizations, and in addressing how color may have originally been applied to exteriors and interiors, designers animated the past and incited a new passion for the ancient world.A crucial figure in this movement was the designer and architect Owen Jones (1809–1874), who from the 1830s until his death pioneered the study of ancient ornament and its central role in historical traditions of art. Particularly significant were the series of Fine Arts Courts that Jones designed in 1854 for the Crystal Palace's relocation to Sydenham. The ten displays on the great cultures of the ancient world featured detailed re-creations of palaces and courts. Designing Antiquity focuses on Jones's Egyptian Court, which produced a fundamental shift in the way Egyptian art was understood in the second half of the 19th century
Wondrous Curiosities: Ancient Egypt at the British Museum
No full textWhen the British Museum opened its doors more than two centuries ago, scores of visitors waited eagerly outside for a first glimpse of ancient relics from Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Even today, in this age of satellite television and high-speed Internet access, museums maintain their unique allure, continuing to play a vital role in connecting us with little-known terrains and the deep mysteries of our historical past. That’s because, as Stephanie Moser argues in Wondrous Curiosities, museum displays don’t just transmit knowledge—they actually create it. Based on her exploration of the British Museum’s world-famous collection of Egyptian antiquities, this pioneering study reveals the powerful role of museums in shaping our understanding of science, culture, and history. Drawing on guidebooks and archival documents, Moser demonstrates that this British exhibition of ancient Egyptian artifacts was central to the way we came to define the remarkable society that produced them. And she also reveals the specific strategies—such as using pattern and symmetry, juxtaposing different types of objects, and singling out particular items—that the British Museum and others used, and still use, in representing the past. With a wealth of illustrations and a detailed account of how the museum acquired and displayed its Egyptian collections, Wondrous Curiosities will fascinate curators and scholars of British history, Egyptology, art history, archaeology, and the history of science
Ancestral Images. The iconography of human antiquity
No full textPictorial reconstructions of ancient human ancestors have twin purposes: to make sense of shared ancestry and to bring prehistory to life. Stephanie Moser analyzes the close relationship between representations of the past and theories about human evolution, showing how this relationship existed even before a scientific understanding of human origins developed. How did mythological, religious, and historically inspired visions of the past, in existence for centuries, shape this understanding? Moser treats images as primary documents, and her book is lavishly illustrated with engravings, paintings, photographs, and reconstructions.In surveying the iconography of prehistory, Moser explores visions of human creation from their origins in classical, early Christian, and medieval periods through traditions of representation initiated in the Renaissance. She looks closely at the first scientific reconstructions of the nineteenth century, which dramatized and made comprehensible the Darwinian theory of human descent from apes. She considers, as well, the impact of reconstructions on popular literature in Europe and North America, showing that early visualizations of prehistory retained a firm hold on the imagination—a hold that archaeologists and anthropologists have found difficult to shake
Representing human origins: constructing knowledge in museums and dismantling the display canon
No full textArchaeological representation is a relatively new field of inquiry in the discipline, focusing on the construction of knowledge by the diverse range of ‘non-academic‘ media that present the past. In this analysis the subject of museum display and the construction of disciplinary knowledge is addressed, with a case study on the way the subject of human origins has been exhibited. After an initial discussion outlining the manner in which displays construct the past, I proceed to establish that displays of human origins have created a highly formulaic and restrictive version of our evolution as a species. This critique is then followed by a set of five proposed strategies for dismantling the display canon so firmly entrenched in museum practice. These are: 1) engaging the present; 2) challenging the iconography; 3) abandoning the narrative; 4) telling different stories; and 5) harnessing emotion
The devil is in the detail: museum displays and the creation of knowledge
No full textThis paper presents a methodological framework for conducting research on the knowledge-making capacity of museum displays. As active agents in the production of knowledge, museum displays are increasingly being recognized as documents of significance to the history of scholarly disciplines and the evolution of ideas. In order to investigate how exhibitions create knowledge, a basic outline of some of the key attributes involved in creating meaning in exhibitions is offered. Building on research in exhibition analysis, the history of collecting, and archaeological representation, this account emphasizes how there is a complex network of factors that warrant consideration when assessing the epistemological function of museums
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