Colleen Morgan

DIY and digital archaeology: what are you doing to participate?

Abstract The power and the promise of digital technology provides the opportunity to revolutionise the way we think about and do archaeology. This opportunity has been seized by a few enterprising archaeologists, but can only be fully realised when a culture of participation and sharing is fostered in both academic and professional realms. Digital literacy and critical digital media object creation cannot be the realm of only a few heritage professionals, but should be cultivated and rewarded as we create new publication standards throughout archaeology. We present the background of digital participatory culture, the current entanglement of open source, open access, and for-profit technology in archaeology, and offer a challenge: to create a more ubiquitous, reflexive, open and participatory archaeology on both the institutional and the individual level.

Genomic signals of migration and continuity in Britain before the Anglo-Saxons

The purported migrations that have formed the peoples of Britain have been the focus of generations of scholarly controversy. However, this has not benefited from direct analyses of ancient genomes. Here we report nine ancient genomes (∼1 ×) of individuals from northern Britain: seven from a Roman era York cemetery, bookended by earlier Iron-Age and later Anglo-Saxon burials. Six of the Roman genomes show affinity with modern British Celtic populations, particularly Welsh, but significantly diverge from populations from Yorkshire and other eastern English samples. They also show similarity with the earlier Iron-Age genome, suggesting population continuity, but differ from the later Anglo-Saxon genome. This pattern concords with profound impact of migrations in the Anglo-Saxon period. Strikingly, one Roman skeleton shows a clear signal of exogenous origin, with affinities pointing towards the Middle East, confirming the cosmopolitan character of the Empire, even at its northernmost fringes.

Archaeology and the Moving Image

Abstract Archaeological filmmaking is a relatively under-examined subject in academic literature. As the technology for creating, editing, and distributing video becomes increasingly available, it is important to understand the broader context of archaeological filmmaking; from television documentaries to footage shot as an additional method of recording to the informal ‘home videos’ in archaeology. The history of filmmaking in archaeology follows innovations within archaeological practice as well as the availability and affordability of technology. While there have been extensive analyses of movies and television shows about archaeological subjects, the topic of archaeological film has been characterized by reactions to these outside perspectives, rather than examinations of footage created by archaeologists. This can be understood to fall within several filmic genres, including expository, direct testimonial, impressionistic, and phenomenological films, each with their own purpose and expressive qualities. Footage taken on site can also be perceived as a form of surveillance, and can modify behaviour as a form of panopticon. Consequently, there are considerations regarding audience, distribution, and methods for evaluation, as these films are increasingly available on social media platforms. This paper explores the broad context for archaeological filmmaking and considers potential futures for the moving image in archaeology.

Pencils and Pixels: Drawing and Digital Media in Archaeological Field Recording

ABSTRACT Within the context of a growing emphasis on digital recording, what is the place of analog drawing in archaeological fieldwork? In this article, we situate the increased application of digital drawing methods by providing several historical examples of archaeological field drawing in British archaeology to demonstrate the connection between understanding the archaeological record and illustration. Given this background of analog archaeological recording, we then explore the current state of archaeological field drawing and the affordances of digital illustration for recording and interpreting the archaeological record, review literature in architecture and design regarding the cognitive function of analog and digital drawing, and discuss the possible future implications of born-digital or paperless archaeology.

Digital Media, Participatory Culture, and Difficult Heritage: Online Remediation and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

A diverse and changing array of digital media have been used to present heritage online. While websites have been created for online heritage outreach for nearly two decades, social media is employed increasingly to complement and in some cases replace the use of websites. These same social media are used by stakeholders as a form of participatory culture, to create communities and to discuss heritage independently of narratives offered by official institutions such as museums, memorials, and universities. With difficult or “dark” heritage—places of memory centering on deaths, disasters, and atrocities—these online representations and conversations can be deeply contested. Examining the websites and social media of difficult heritage, with an emphasis on the trans-Atlantic slave trade provides insights into the efficacy of online resources provided by official institutions, as well as the unofficial, participatory communities of stakeholders who use social media for collective memories.