The Good, the Bad, and the
BeardedPopular Images of archaeologists and how we
see ourselves…Or, are archaeologists
their own worst enemies?Larry J. ZimmermanIndiana University-Purdue University
Indianapolis
With apologies (and thanks!) to all holders of copyrights on images and materials in this PowerPoint, which is meant only for academic uses.
If you are an archaeologist or an archaeology student, you realize that just about everyone has a different image of you!
About a zillion of these types of panels are showing up on Facebook.
It takes very special qualities to devote one's life to problems with no attainable solutions and to poking around in dead people's garbage: Words like 'masochistic', 'nosy,' and 'completely batty' spring to mind. Paul Bahn. 1989. Bluff Your Way in Archaeology. Ravette Books, West Sussex.
Notice Paul’s beard; it’s important later.
On Being an Archaeologist
Archaeology is one of most exciting things you can do out of bed!
Just about every archaeologist you talk
to
Still…
It seems as if everyone either wants to be an archaeologist or hates us!
4th Naked Archaeologist Calendar“RUINED” (Reading University Archaeology Society)
Apparently so…
I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it.
Garrison KeillorSo just what are some images of archaeologists?
Maybe we should follow Garrison Keillor’s approach:
Who really ought to grow a beard!!!
How some First Nations (and other Indigenous people) see us
…but with a shovel
Oh, and notice that the devil has a beard (it’s important later)
Reality leaves a lot to the imagination. John Lennon
Had beard, but was not an archaeologist yet was very good at imagining!
Neither man nor woman can be worth anything until they have discovered that they
are fools. Lord Melbourne
From Laura Croft, Tomb Raider, storyboard
Caricature of Harrison Ford
Reality is what won't go away when you stop believing in
it.
Phillip K Dick
Sci Fi author of "What the Dead Men Say“ and "Precious Artifact" who knew some things about archaeology and also had a beard!
How we’d like to see ourselves (male archaeologists)
I’m not sure who it is, but I’ve heard that this is a painting a real archaeologist had done of himself!
The reality (men)
Hmm, at least the beer part seems right!
Unfortunately, as with Indy, we may not age all that well…
and there always seems to be someone new on the motorcycle ahead of you.
By the way, there is a real Indiana Jones, and
he really is an archaeologist
James “Rick” Jones, State Archaeologist of Indiana, retired Notice how closely
his hat resembles the fedora Indy wears, and the beard (important later).
Larry Z’s archaeologist self-image
Paul Walker, a buff Paul Walker, a buff young archaeologist young archaeologist in Michael Crichton’s in Michael Crichton’s “Timeline” (November “Timeline” (November 2003)2003)
Or maybe this?
Okay, so just how many male archaeologists do you know that don’t have sexist fantasies?
The reality…
You laugh, but at least there is a Larry Z Archaeology Action Figure. Is there
one of you??? In case you are wondering, This was made by one of Heather Burke’s and Claire Smith’s classes at Flinders U.
An image is not simply a trademark, a design, a slogan or an easily remembered picture. It is a studiously crafted personality profile of an individual, institution, corporation, product or service. Daniel J. Boorstin
Historian & Librarian of Congress (1975-87)
Note bow tie: studiously crafted historian image
An archaeo-dominatrix, perhaps?
Sir M. W. F. Petrie
Gerard Fowke
A.V. Kidder
Notice anything similar about these famous archaeologists?
L. J. Zimmerman
J.W. IvesGeorge Nicholas
Did I mention that the Zimmerman action figure you saw earlier has
a beard!!!
Beard
No beard, so not really Larry, in spite of what the name tag says!
At the age of sixteen I went to evening classes in the local museum at Nuneaton…. Firstly I was struck by the number of beards in the audience. David Miles, Chief Archaeologist at English Heritage
What’s this thing archaeologists seem to have
for beards?
And I thought you all had
long beards with bits of
detritus to be excavated
at the end of each month.
Petethedig, online at British
Archaeological Jobs Resources Message
Board
I was working as an archaeologist and we all had beards, even the women. Steven Erikson, 2002
ARCHAEOLOGISTS' BEARDS: A Simplified Typology
Fig. 1 - The Flowing Heather: A largely abandoned type, now only found among older archaeologists. Often accompanied with a pipe, brogue shoes and a six pack of Harp.
Fig. 2 - The Hayden: A streamlined version of fig. 1. Cheek pieces have been removed to cut down on drag. All remaining hair is kept short to diminish the stink of burnt hair on re-entry to the earth's atomosphere.
Fig. 3 - The Minimalist: Very contemporary. The load bearing capacity of the beard has been completely reduced in an ill judged attempt at irony.
Fig 4 - The Full Brazilian: I'm not ashamed to admit I sport one these myself. Posted by Conor McHale, 17 June 2011
Peter Young, once of Archaeology magazine
What’s the deal about archaeologists, trowels, and beer?
Don’t trowel drunk!
Janet Levy
Scientology founder and science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard on an expedition in the MediterraneanGraham
Hancock
Anybody can be an archaeologist, no training necessary!
Even a high school kid thrown into the past…
The lucky devil…. Why don’t I ever find anything like this?
Even Captain Jean-Luc “Make it so!” Picard•near-professional pursuit of archeology•studied the Iconian culture since his cadet days. •addressed the Federation Archeological Council as keynote speaker on his oft-studied Tagus III ruins in 2367 With his striking resemblance to that Kennewick guy……studied by that
archaeologist, Jim Chatters, with a profound resemblance to Indiana Jones…
…but with a beard!
To take by the beard; to seize, pluck, or pull the beard of (a man), in anger or contempt. 2. To oppose to the gills; to set at defiance.
To be bearded has another meaning…
On the serious side…
But the faces of archaeology are changing, and they might even be less male and less
bearded.
Yes, these are all real archaeologists!
Of course women have been in archaeology for decades, but it was
rarely easy
Alice Beck Kehoe had to fight to go to a field school
Dame Kathleen Kenyon, preeminent excavator of Jericho
Maria Reiche helped define Peruvian archaeology and unraveled the mysteries of Nazca
On the very serious side, as these trends accelerate, how will both the academy and
private sector adapt?It’s more than just promotion, tenure, and salary, but changes in perspective on:
•Methodology•Ideas about significance in cultural heritage•Theoretical perspectives
The past is not simply the past, but a prism through which
the subject filters his own changing self-image.
Doris
Kearns Goodwin
Historian, so needs a bow tie
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