Framing the past

Situating the Archaeological in Photographs

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2170276
AutoresJ A Baird (0000-0002-4705-0289, autor de correspondencia)
Año2017
Volumen26
Número2
Páginas165-186
Fecha de publicación2017-04-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Latin American Cultural Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1356-9325 • E-ISSN: 1469-9575
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13569325.2017.1309315
OpenAlexW2601759678
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas48

Archaeology continually reproduces its own images. Speaking archaeology's visual language is one way we prove membership in the discipline. Many aspects of this visual language have become so naturalized within archaeological representation as to be almost unquestionable: the cleaning of the site, the use of scale, and particular framings and perspectives. How, then, is the production of particular photographic images of archaeology related to the practice of archaeology? Does archaeology look a certain way (in photographs) or are archaeologists reproducing an archaeology according to the way it is thought it should look? Using examples of early photographs from Latin American archaeological expeditions, this article investigates not only photography as an applied technology for scientific recording, but also its power to situate archaeological knowledge. Drawing on recent reflective and critical developments in both the history of archaeology and visual anthropology, it uses five focal points – trace, objectivity and authenticity, sight/site, still lifes, and still lives – to argue that early-twentieth-century archaeological photographs of Latin America participated in the generation of an 'authentic' past rather than simply paid testament to it

Archaeology · Art · Ethnography · Framing (construction · Historical archaeology · Linguistics · Material culture · Objectivity (philosophy · Photography · Post-medieval archaeology · Representation (politics · Visual anthropology · Visual arts · Archaeological Research and Protection · History · Museums and Cultural Heritage · Philosophy · Photography and Visual Culture