Beyond metaphor: archaeology as a social and artistic practice

ABSTRACT

This article summarises recent work on the engagement between art and archaeology, but seeks to embed this in a longer history of archaeology as a metaphor for other cultural and social practices, and at the same time to compare the ways in which archaeologists and other practitioners operate within the field of cultural production.

KEYWORDS:

• Archaeology
• art
• knowledge
• cultural production
• agency
• material turn

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to Martin Westwood for the invitation to contribute and for the opportunity to host one of the conferences at the British School at Rome (BSR). The influence of the BSR on many of the artists mentioned here and involved in the events is testimony to its role in bringing disciplines together in a genuinely interdisciplinary conversation, and this article, whatever its limitations, was inspired by the vitality of that encounter.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author

Notes on contributor

Christopher Smith is Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews and has been Director of the British School at Rome since 2009. He is particularly interested in intersections between different kinds of evidence and methodology, specifically in Italian history.