Framing the past

Situating the Archaeological in Photographs

Bibliographic Data

ID2170276
AuthorsJ A Baird (0000-0002-4705-0289, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume26
Issue2
Pages165-186
Publication date2017-04-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Latin American Cultural Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1356-9325 • E-ISSN: 1469-9575
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13569325.2017.1309315
OpenAlexW2601759678
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited48

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