Climate change? Archaeology and Anthropocene

• Published in: Archaeological Dialogues
• Main Author: Pétursdóttir, Þóra
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2017
• Subjects: Norway; Iceland; Northern Norway
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1380203817000216; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1380203817000216

Abstract As we pass into an age of the Anthropocene, archaeologists, as scholars of other disciplines, are driven to consider how this physical and ideological climate change affects our craft, or how archaeology can contribute with knowledge and insight of significance in a shifting world. Basing its arguments on research conducted on marine debris and drift beaches in northern Norway and Iceland, the aim of this article is to imagine what kind of alternative ways of doing and thinking archaeology the current climate is calling for. With reference to this material, which conspicuously manifests both obstacles and promises for an ‘Anthropocene archaeology’, the article will question the worth of some perspectives traditionally considered essential to our discipline, while simultaneously building on confidence in a sincerely archaeological imagination.