THE 'NEW' ARCHAEOLOGY
With the rise of postmodernism came the notion that there is no absolute truth. It heralded the end of history and has similarly called into question the condition of archaeology. Archaeological evidence suggests that sites frequently have contradictory functions and different uses. With such conflicting and alternative views of the purpose of an archaeological site, how can we be confident that archaeologists are presenting an effective interpretation of what they have found?
Laurie Taylor talks to Barbara Bender, professor of heritage anthropology, University College London and Matthew Johnson, professor of archaeology at the University of Southampton and author of 'Archaeological Theory' about how British cultural identity has been shaped by archaeology.
PLASTINATION FOR DISPLAY
Plastination, the preserving of human remains by medical technique, was pioneered by the German anatomist Gunther von Hagens. Donors who wish to offer their bodies for plastination pay for the transportation of their bodies to Dalian in China where the plastination plant is located. Gunther Von Hagens then sells the plastinated body parts to scientific and educational institutions or exhibits them, most famously was the 2002 the Body Worlds exhibition which came to London amidst some controversy.
Laurie Taylor is joined by Dr Tony Walter, Reader in Sociology at the University of Reading, who has published a paper entitled Plastination for Display: A New Way to Dispose of the Dead in The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. They discuss whether plastination of the dead will ever be a viable alternative to cremation and burial and how visitors to Body Worlds reacted to the exhibits.
Additional information:
Professor Matthew Johnson
Professor of archaeology, University of Southampton
Archaeological Theory: An Introduction
Publisher: Blackwell Publishers
ISBN: 063120296X
Archaeology of Capitalism
Publisher: Blackwell Publishers
ISBN: 1557863482
Behind the Castle Gate: From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance
Publisher: Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Lt - ISBN: 0415261007
Professor Barbara Bender
Professor of heritage anthropology, University College London
Stonehenge: making space
Publisher: Berg Publishers - ISBN: 1859739083
Landscape: Politics and Perspectives
Barbara Bender (Editor)
Publisher: Berg Publishers
ISBN: 0854963731
Ancestral Geographies of the Neolithic: Landscapes, Monuments and Memory
Mark Edmonds, Barbara Bender
Publisher: Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Lt
ISBN: 0415204321
Dr Tony Walter
Reader in Sociology, University of Reading
Plastination for Display: A New Way to Dispose of the Dead
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Vol. 10 Issue 3 Page 603 September 2004
Other books mentioned:
The Making of the English Landscape
by W.G.Hoskins
Tristram Shandy
- Vol 1 - Chapter 24
by Laurence Sterne
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