Here and Now: Towards an Experiential Archaeological Fieldwork

Abstract

This article is not about the archaeological past per se: It is about the archaeological presence, the here and the now and the experiential aspects of archaeological fieldwork. It introduces the concept of an ‘experiential archaeological fieldwork’ as a means to provoke bodily sensory awareness and the embodiment of the experienced (archaeological) landscape through a vivid sensorial experimentation. At the same time, the experiential fieldwork aspires to re-negotiate the ontology of the archaeological field project, as a social, intellectual, and physical act. The project I present here was practiced in the mountainous landscapes of Lake Plastiras (central Greece), as part of the Neolithic project in the area.

Acknowledgments

I am truly grateful to the team of the 2022 Neolithic Lake Plastiras project, who participated in the creation of something truly unique – you are living proof that Archaeology still has much more to give. I would like to thank Archaeology Professors Nena Galanidou from the University of Crete and Stella Souvatzi from the University of Thessaly, for urging their students to participate in our project, and Maria Vaiopoulou, the Directress of the Karditsa Ephorate of Antiquities for our excellent collaboration. Many thanks are indebted to Panagiotis Nanos, a writer, art enthusiast, and Mayor of the Municipality of Lake Plastiras, for the material and moral support he provided throughout the course of the project. I would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers of this article for their valuable comments. Last but not least, I wish to thank Nina Kyparissi for her constant support as the co-directress of this project and for always having an open mind to new ideas in Archaeology.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

¹ A discussion around the fields of phenomenology and embodied cognition could perhaps explore the broader theoretical grounds of the experiential fieldwork, although this is not in the scope of this paper. This paper presents the theoretical framework (as well as the practice itself) of a novel approach to archaeological fieldwork, without extending the discussion to broader theoretical schemes. A (purely) theoretical follow-up paper is perhaps the best place to elaborate on this subject.

² The term ‘field project’ here, encompasses not just the archaeologically oriented tasks and locales, but the entire spatiotemporal landscape, including the living space that the participants inhabit during an archaeological project.

³ e.g. supervisor vs. subordinate, tutor vs. student, male vs. female vs. other, older vs. younger, educated vs. uneducated, experienced vs. inexperienced, and so on.

⁴ This refers to the experimental project as a whole and not to the methodology and/or the results of the archaeological dig.

⁵ e.g. using detailed notes, photography, or video recordings during the synaesthetic performances.

⁶ I use the term ‘predesigned’ instead of ‘prescheduled’ here because it refers to my designing of the project before it commenced. The other participants of the project (archaeology students) had no information as to what the activities were or where and when they would take place. However, it would be very interesting to see how re-visiting students would experience the project in the following years, perhaps even getting the chance to design and prepare their own synaesthetic performances for the team.

⁷ The team comprised of five females (archaeology students) and five males (two archaeology students, two professional workers, and myself).

⁸ Unfortunately, professional archaeology workers Vangelis Sideris and Sakis Kokkalis participated in the project only during the excavation, since immediately after work they were returning to their village outside the city of Karditsa, some 50 km away from Lake Plastiras.

⁹ The site has been radiocarbon dated at ca 7,900 years bp – end of Early, beginning of Middle Neolithic in Thessaly (Apostolikas 2014). An analytical account of the excavation will be presented elsewhere. This happens for two reasons: first, because this is an ongoing excavation and the results would only be partial and fragmented, and secondly (and most importantly), because this article is not about the results of the archaeological practice: it is about the performance of the practice itself.

¹⁰ Rock ‘n’ Roll from the 50s, Psychedelic Rock from the 60s, Classic, Progressive, and Folk Rock from the 70s and the 80s, Reggae, Afrobeat, Funk, Soul, Blues, Jazz, deep Electronic, and contemporary alternative Greek music were the genres we would most often select.

¹¹ All the team members (even those experiencing excavation for the first time) took turns engaging in every task associated with the excavation: trowelling, brushing, digging with small and large pick-axes, shovelling, pushing the wheelbarrow, measuring, photographing, drawing, keeping notes on the field journal. Professional field workers did not engage in tasks such as keeping notes on the excavation journal or taking photographs, although this is a very interesting prospect for the project and it will be explored in the future (if they wish to do so, that is). Needless to say, all the team members were strongly encouraged to express their queries, opinions, or thoughts at any time and on any subject during the excavation.

¹² An observation based on my 18 years of experience as a full-time field archaeologist.

¹³ Also holder of a Sommelier Diploma.

¹⁴ In order of tasting: 1) Assyrtiko Wild Ferment, 2020, Gaia Estate, Santorini (PDO), 2) Cuvèe Monsignori, 2019, Argyros Estate, Assyrtiko, Santorini (PDO), 3) Karydas Estate, 2018, Xinomavro, Naoussa (PDO), 4) Karydas Estate, 2016, Xinomavro, Naoussa (PDO).

¹⁵ Although this discrimination between ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ senses is somewhat reminiscent of a Cartesian scheme, I use it here to denote the engagement of the sensorium in its entire spectrum.

¹⁶ Images from the various performances of the team are not included, since I chose not to document our project using photography (or video). This would naturally put me (or the photographer) in the position of an ‘observer’ (and the team in that of the ‘observed’), thus alienating the impulsive and intuitive character of the experiential fieldwork.

¹⁷ Links to a video and an audio recording from the excavation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0rW4OmHefE (musical piece: ‘Crystals’ from Rick Wakeman’s ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’. A&M Records, 1974). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO1Zfwe9oyE (musical piece: a mix of Kruder and Dorfmeister’s ‘A Mother’, !K7 Music, 1996).

¹⁸ For critical reviews on the subjective nature of phenomenological approaches in archaeology, see Brück (2005), Fleming (2006).