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Key research themes
1. How does video and digital media reshape archaeological field documentation and interpretative narratives?
This theme explores the deployment of video recording and digital technologies, specifically wearable camcorders and slow-motion videography, in capturing the nuanced, dynamic processes of archaeological fieldwork. It also delves into how these media impact reflexive methodologies by preserving multi-vocality, interactivity, and spontaneity, facilitating richer, situated interpretations of archaeological practice beyond static textual documentation.
Key finding: This paper demonstrates that wearable camcorder video recording in archaeological fieldwork captures ongoing interpretation processes with audiovisual fidelity, enabling reflexive methodologies that shift traditional... Read more
Key finding: By introducing slow-motion videography, this study provides archaeologists with a methodological innovation to analyze rapid and dynamic processes during experimental reconstructions, such as flint-knapping, facilitating... Read more
Key finding: This paper evidences how recent advances in digital tools reorganize archaeological labor workflows in the field, enhancing efficiency and redefining roles, notably by managing and redistributing data, providing digital... Read more
Key finding: The work articulates a conceptual framework linking archaeology’s material and temporal investigations with media archaeology’s focus on technological artifacts and processual media temporality. It advocates for integrating... Read more
2. What roles do film and multimedia play in constructing and communicating archaeological narratives and heritage experiences?
This theme investigates how cinematic and multimedia forms—from documentary film and experimental narrative to heritage-related visualizations and immersive 3D reconstructions—create layered, multi-sensorial storytelling approaches that shape public perceptions and ethical considerations of archaeological pasts. It emphasizes the increasing interlinking of film tourism, Archéocinema, and virtual heritage in both physical and digital cultural landscapes.
Key finding: This work elaborates on the methodological experimentation with alternative narrative forms such as creative nonfiction, drama, and hypermedia in archaeology, arguing that these approaches can more effectively evoke... Read more
Key finding: The article demonstrates how advanced 3D visualization technologies, including LiDAR scanning and photogrammetry, enable films and television series to produce immersive virtual reconstructions of archaeological urban sites.... Read more
Key finding: This critical review establishes that film tourism and Archéocinema function synergistically as promotional tools that influence tourist destination image and experience, merging physical and virtual realms. It underscores... Read more
Key finding: The article argues that Herzog’s film articulates an 'anachronic temporality' that refuses straightforward cinematic immersion in prehistoric origins, instead foregrounding cinematic showing ('monstration') as an act... Read more
3. How do cinematic representations influence public perceptions of archaeology and archaeologists, and what are the implications for discipline-media relations?
This theme addresses the diverse portrayals of archaeology and archaeologists in film and media—ranging from adventure and action archetypes to documentary and historiographic modes—and their impact on shaping societal understandings, ethics, and the professional identity of archaeology. It considers critical debates around authenticity, ethical filmmaking, public outreach, and the discipline’s negotiation with media industries.
Key finding: The article surveys historical and contemporary cinematic depictions of archaeology, identifying persistent tropes such as the adventurous archaeologist in Western, action, and sci-fi genres and the marginalization of... Read more
Key finding: This volume critically examines the breadth of archaeology-media interactions across multiple platforms, underscoring issues of representation, accountability, and multivocality. It aggregates diverse perspectives reflecting... Read more
Key finding: The review critiques the current state of archaeological documentary filmmaking guidance, highlighting its limited engagement with ethical considerations and diversity of narrative forms. It stresses the need for... Read more
Key finding: The article analyzes the political and social dimensions of archaeological time travel as mediated by cinema and reenactment, interpreting time travel narratives as expressions of contemporary societal aspirations and... Read more
Key finding: This work foregrounds the technological materiality and historical specificity of film apparatus and archives, proposing that understanding the medium’s operative and technical infrastructures is crucial for critically... Read more