Shadow Archaeologies: In the Shadow of Antiquity: For Other Modes of Archaeological Worldmaking

Shadow Archaeologies explores the modes of knowledge production which operate where the light of mainstream, historically oriented archaeology does not reach. It exposes the field’s underbelly and dwells on issues that standard practice ignores or glosses over, questioning what archaeology and the archaeological are or could be.

The volume brings together scholars working at the discipline’s theoretical cutting edge to challenge mainstream archaeology in various ways. They engage with the political dimensions of the discipline’s mode of production, develop alternate practices, and conceive of other manifestations of the archaeological object, thus illuminating various ways in which the concept of shadow archaeology can be articulated. After an introduction by the editors, the volume is organised into three parts, which address from different angles the politics, practices, and objects of an archaeology that resides in the shadow of antiquity.

While the book will appeal to any archaeologist with an interest in theory, it is also a challenge to all archaeologists to reflect on their discipline and their own working practices and an invitation to join in the discussion about what archaeology might become.

Assaf Nativ is an independent scholar. His primary interests pertain to how archaeologists construct their professional knowledge, especially pertaining to the value systems that underlie their choices and judgements. His practical experience was primarily acquired in the southern Levant, where he excavated sites spanning the Pottery Neolithic period and the 20th century.

Gavin Lucas is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Iceland. He has had an enduring interest in the way archaeologists think and work, with a special interest in the concept of time. His main focus of fieldwork and empirical research has been on the archaeology of the last 500 years.