The tools and techniques of archaeology were designed for the study of past people and societies, but for more than a century a growing number of archaeologists have turned these same tools to the study of the modern world. This book offers an overview of these pioneering practices through a specifically pedagogical lens, fostering an appreciation of the diversity and distinctiveness of contemporary archaeology and providing an evidence base for course proposals and curriculum design. Although research in the field is well established and vibrant, making critical contributions to wider debates around issues such as homelessness, migration and the refugee crisis, and legacies of war and conflict, the teaching of contemporary archaeology in universities has until recently been relatively limited in comparison. This selection of carefully curated case studies from as far afield as Orkney, Iran and the USA is intended as a resource and an inspiration for both teachers and students, presenting a set of tools and practices to borrow, modify and apply in new contexts. It demonstrates how interdisciplinarity, practical work and radical pedagogies are of value not only for archaeology, but also for fields such as history, geography and anthropology, and suggests new ways in which we can examine our 20th- and 21st-century existence and shape our collective future.

The tools and techniques of archaeology were designed for the study of past people and societies, but for more than a century a growing number of archaeologists have turned these same tools to the study of the modern world. This book offers an overview of these pioneering practices through a specifically pedagogical lens, fostering an appreciation of the diversity and distinctiveness of contemporary archaeology and providing an evidence base for course proposals and curriculum design. Although research in the field is well established and vibrant, making critical contributions to wider debates around issues such as homelessness, migration and the refugee crisis, and legacies of war and conflict, the teaching of contemporary archaeology in universities has until recently been relatively limited in comparison. This selection of carefully curated case studies from as far afield as Orkney, Iran and the USA is intended as a resource and an inspiration for both teachers and students, presenting a set of tools and practices to borrow, modify and apply in new contexts. It demonstrates how interdisciplinarity, practical work and radical pedagogies are of value not only for archaeology, but also for fields such as history, geography and anthropology, and suggests new ways in which we can examine our 20th- and 21st-century existence and shape our collective future.

History and archaeology education is highly valued among modern societies that seek to educate their youth about the past. Yet these areas have been_for the most part_slow to employ the latest advances in education theory and practice. Former classroom teacher and science education specialist M. Elaine Davis presents an informed and useful text that demonstrates the importance of contemporary learning theory and educational research to the development of effective programs in both formal and informal history and archaeology education. Chapters cover teaching and history education theory, and apply this to various case studies and program examples. This text will prove a much-valued tool for school teachers, museum educators, archaeologists, and historians_challenging and aiding educators to assess and improve their respective programs.

An Archaeology of the Contemporary Era approaches the contemporary age, between the late nineteenth and twenty-first centuries, as an archaeological period defined by specific material processes. It reflects on the theory and practice of the archaeology of the contemporary past from epistemological, political, ethical and aesthetic viewpoints, and characterises the present based on archaeological traces from the spatial, temporal and material excesses that define it. The materiality of our era, the book argues, and particularly its ruins and rubbish, reveals something profound, original and disturbing about humanity. This is the first attempt at describing the contemporary era from an archaeological point of view. Global in scope, the book brings together case studies from every continent and considers sources from peripheral and rarely considered traditions, meanwhile engaging in an interdisciplinary dialogue with philosophy, anthropology, history and geography. An Archaeology of the Contemporary Era will be essential reading for students and practitioners of the archaeology of the contemporary past, historical archaeology and archaeological theory. It will also be of interest to anybody concerned with globalisation, modernity and the Anthropocene.

It has been clear for many years that the ways in which archaeology is practised have been a direct product of a particular set of social, cultural, and historical circumstances - archaeology is always carried out in the present. More recently, however, many have begun to consider how archaeological techniques might be used to reflect more directly on the contemporary world itself: how we might undertake archaeologies of, as well as in the present. This Handbook is the first comprehensive survey of an exciting and rapidly expanding sub-field and provides an authoritative overview of the newly emerging focus on the archaeology of the present and recent past. In addition to detailed archaeological case studies, it includes essays by scholars working on the relationships of different disciplines to the archaeology of the contemporary world, including anthropology, psychology, philosophy, historical geography, science and technology studies, communications and media, ethnoarchaeology, forensic archaeology, sociology, film, performance, and contemporary art. This volume seeks to explore the boundaries of an emerging sub-discipline, to develop a tool-kit of concepts and methods which are applicable to this new field, and to suggest important future trajectories for research. It makes a significant intervention by drawing together scholars working on a broad range of themes, approaches, methods, and case studies from diverse contexts in different parts of the world, which have not previously been considered collectively.

Pedagogy and Practice in Heritage Studies presents teaching strategies for helping students think critically about the meanings of the past today. In these pragmatic case studies, experienced teachers discuss ways to integrate the values of heritage studies into archaeology curricula, illustrating how the two fields enrich each other and how perspectives drawn from teaching public archaeology invite such engagement. The contributors argue for encouraging empathy, which can lead to awareness of the continuity between past and present; for reflecting on contemporary cultural norms; and for engagement with current issues of social and climate justice. These practical examples model ways to introduce diverse perspectives on history in pre-college, undergraduate, and graduate contexts while frankly assessing the challenges and pitfalls of these approaches. Emphasizing the importance of heritage studies principles and active learning in archaeological education, this handbook and its companion, History and Approaches to Heritage Studies, provide tools to equip archaeologists and heritage professionals with collaborative, community-based, and activist approaches to the past. Contributors: Susan J. Bender | Richard Effland | Ricardo J. Elia | Frances Hayashida | A. Gwynn Henderson | Elizabeth Kryder-Reid | Meredith Anderson Langlitz | Nicolas Laracuente | Shereen Lerner | Alicia Ebbitt McGill | Lewis C. "Skip" Messenger, Jr. | Phyllis Mauch Messenger | Amalia Pérez-Juez | Thomas Pluckhahn | Charles S. White Volumes in the series Cultural Heritage Studies, edited by Paul A. Shackel

With the right methods, studying the ancient world can be as engaging as it is informative. The teaching activities in this book are designed in a cookbook format so that educators can replicate these teaching "recipes” (including materials, budget, preparation time, study level) in classes of ancient art, archaeology, social studies, and history.