Geoanthropology
Resource type
Conference paper (unpublished)
Creator (person)
Maxwell, Mhairi
Chong, Stephanie
Abstract
n the aftermath of the unexpected ‘cancellation’ of the Anthropocene as a geological epoch by the International Union of Geological Sciences in 2024, this session asks how geological theorisations (and geomaterials themselves) nonetheless continue to shape the fields of archaeology and heritage, and, conversely, how these fields in turn shape new understandings of the socio-political role of geological materials.
A diverse array of scholarship has emerged from geology’s political turn, particularly the argument that geological materials are politically generative. The interaction between people, their geological surroundings and politics has long been discussed by archaeometric and heritage landscape research, though only recently have theorisations of the political nature of the geological been expressly discussed by archaeologists. This session calls for papers that engage with any aspect of the material, social, and political roles of geology for heritage and archaeology. These might include questions such as:
How do theorisations from geology influence or challenge archaeological interpretations?
How does the political shape the geological, and vice versa; how can we see this archaeologically?
What insights can archaeological characterisation and provenancing studies provide into the political nature of geological materials?
How do archaeological and heritage studies contribute new insights into human relationships with geology and anthropogenic effects upon the environment?
Event title
Theoretical Archaeology Group meeting
Publisher
Theoretical Archaeology Group
Official URL
Rights statement
In Copyright