archaeology at the world trade center site

Reuters reports more discoveries at the World Trade Center site. The news focus is on the remains of the hull of an eighteenth century ship, probably used as landfill at the site. However, one of the archaeologists working there, Michael Pappalardo of AKRF, told reporters that 'the discovery was indeed a good find, but added "we've found bottles and dishes, and that's exciting too."' (Reuters).
Picture from NY Times City Room blog

This struck me as emblematic of archaeology's difficulties in getting our subject across to the public - we find these wonderful bottles and dishes that tell us all sorts of interesting things about past lifeways, but the media only want to hear about the big boat...

Zoe

NY waterfront

The New York Times reports on some urban archaeology downtown at the World Trade Center site. Visible right now is the late 19th century stone waterfront running up to 59th street. Strange to imagine that the Hudson river used to flow along here before Battery Park city was constructed...

image: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

The Goddess of Democracy

I. A Brief History of the Present

On the 4th of June, the night after my arrival at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a second, more visible visitor arrived on campus. Earlier that night, a variety of democracy activists and other dissident groups gathered in Victoria Park for the 21st consecutive year to commemorate the Tiananmen Square Massacre. This year featured a new guest: an approximately 15' tall, plastic iteration of the Goddess of Democracy statue, recalling the foam and paper-mache version created by students during the Tiananmen protests.

Following the remembrance ceremony at Victoria Park, a group of activists, including CUHK students, delivered the statue to the entrance of campus. Logistically, this might be compared to having a rally at Coney Island and then transporting its centerpiece to Columbia's campus. This act was perpetrated in spite of the disapproval of university authorities (who recanted once it became a fait accompli).

Now, a full month later, the statue still stands in front of the University Train Station, surrounded by little more than some traffic cones, crime-scene tape, and (occasionally replaced) wilted flowers. The plastic edges of the mural accompanying the statue are beginning to fray. The stickers reading "Liberty, Democracy, Justice" on the Goddess' book are held on by nothing but scotch tape, and sometimes flap in the wind. Often, students and other vistors pose with the statue for pictures; most merely rush by without a glace. No one took notice when this foreigner casually stepped over the crime-scene barrier to knock on the statue, discovering its hollow and plastic nature. An ambiguous gift indeed! This unasked for goddess and its current liminal status have now become a site of contention between groups with differing interests and beliefs. This contention is exacerbated by its fragile materiality, and the question of its final disposition.

Why is the statue here, of all places? Why now? What is its context? What does it mean to people here, and how is it being used in a continuous game of power over Hong Kong's political future? Over the next few weeks, I'll share some thoughts about how this particular object connects with wider currents moving through the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Next time, I'll talk about the statue as both object and sign, and might even muse about iconoclasm a bit. Till then, I hope those of you in "Mer'ka" enjoy some barbeque, beer, and fireworks tonight.

field | work - summer recess and notes from the field

Well, the spring semester has ended, and although teaching continues through June and July most of us are away doing fieldwork right now.


Check out the New Buffalo Blog for the field projects run by Prof. Sev Fowles in and around Taos. Taos has its own history of connections with New York, in the form of Mabel Dodge Luhan's artists' salon. Great to think that the links are being maintained!

Meanwhile others of us will send periodic posts from the field over the next few months.

Theoretical Archaeology Group at Brown University #2

A somewhat belated review of the third US TAG held at Brown University at the end of May. The conference was a great success, with a real variety of papers and presentation formats. The opening plenary session, moderated by Nick Shepherd was particularly strong with the theme of the location of theory. Homi Bhabha was invited to comment on presentations by Alejandro F. Haber, Yannis Hamilakis, and Uzma Z. Rizvi. Papers can be found on the plenary session page of the TAG website.

There were also a number of wonderful artistic interventions during the conference which did a great deal to promote the creative and innovative attitude of the conference; the organizers also made some interesting experiments with session format and organization that will hopefully be picked up on in future years.

Of course, with any TAG conference, the key question is always 'How was the party?' and we are happy to report that TAG Brown lived up to the high standard that has been set by 30 years of British TAGs. Do you have any photos? Please submit them for posting for here if so...

Next year Berkeley! But before then, don't forget the Old World British original, in Bristol, UK this December.