Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Advances in Archaeological Practice
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Publication Date
2021
Publisher location
Cambridge
First Page
379
Last Page
386
Issue Number
1
Volume Number
9
Abstract/ Summary
This article shows how to record current events from an archaeological perspective. With a case study from the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway, we provide accessible tools to document broad spatial and behavioral patterns through material culture as they emerge. Stressing the importance of ethical engagement with contemporary subjects, we adapt archaeological field methods—including geolocation, photography, and three-dimensional modeling—to analyze the changing relationships between materiality and human sociality through the crisis. Integrating data from four contributors, we suggest that this workflow may engage broader publics as anthropological data collectors to describe unexpected social phenomena. Contemporary archaeological perspectives, deployed in rapid response, provide alternative readings on the development of current events. In the presented case, we suggest that local ways of coping with the pandemic may be overshadowed by the materiality of large-scale corporate and state response.
Repository Citation
Magnani, Matthew; Venovcevs, Anatolijs; Farstadvoll, Stein; and Magnani, Natalia, "How to Record Current Events like an Archaeologist" (2021). Anthropology Faculty Scholarship. 66.
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ant_facpub/66
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Advances in Archaeological Practice 9(4), 2021, pp. 379–386
Publisher Statement
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021
DOI
10.1017/aap.2021.24
Version
publisher's version of the published document
Rights Statement
