Atari Excavation

Over the long weekend, I relaxed a bit and read Lucy Lippard’s newest book, Undermining: A Wild Ride through Land Use, Politics, and Art in the Changing West (The New Press 2013). The book is quite wonderful and thought provoking and brings together art and argument in visually appealing ways. Lippard’s book considers the political… Read More →

It’s only been a year since The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota published Punk Archaeology. Since that time I haven’t given it much thought. In fact, I’ve relied on the relentless enthusiasm and energy of Andrew Reinhard to carry the punk archaeology touch forward toward new frontiers. For some reason, I offered… Read More →

Writing was brutal this morning, but I think I’ve correctly assessed the edge of my understanding (but like a good archaeologist, I’m sure that I’ve over-dug into less helpful levels). The best stuff today comes at the end of the second paragraph. For those of you who don’t know what is going on, go and read… Read More →

For those of you who don’t know what this is, go and read this blog post. My typical blog is on hiatus this week as I work to catch up on some writing. Enjoy the fragments and fruits of my labor all week, fresh from the tips of my fingers, and thanks to everyone who has… Read More →

I’m taking a week off from blogging and dedicated my morning time to working on a book project. Here’s a more substantial explanation of what’s going on with my blog here, and here’s part 1 of my writing week labors. Archaeology and Trash (continued) More recent work on our interaction with trash continues to make… Read More →

For those of you who don’t know what this is, go and read this blog post. My typical blog is on hiatus this week as I work to catch up on some writing. Enjoy the fragments and fruits of my labor all week, fresh from the tips of my fingers: Introduction One of the nagging… Read More →

My first month back from sabbatical has been full of bad habits. I’m reading more than I’m writing. I’m using daily tasks (email, reading for class, blogging, grading, service, tilting at windmills) to hide from long term projects. And, while I’ve taken steps to keep my stress level manageable, I’ve slowly felt the icy tendrils… Read More →

Last week I kept going back to the most recent volume of the Journal of Contemporary Archaeology to read just one more contribution before getting back to work. I couldn’t help myself. The volume pairs scholars of contemporary archaeology, with an interest in the archaeology of the media, which media archaeologists, who are typically scholars who… Read More →

This last month has been pretty fun. I’ve been thinking a bit about object biographies, reading for a multibook review, and, believe it or not, still thinking about the Alamogordo Atari Expedition. While these things rattled around in my brain, I got to pondering the life history of the Atari games. As the final tally… Read More →

This past week, I’ve been twisting and tweaking an article documenting our work at the Alamogordo Atari Excavation. The article was primarily authored by Andrew Reinhard and represents a formal, (we hope) publishable report on our work over a few days in Alamogordo at what was probably the most publicized excavation of 2014. Here’s a… Read More →

This week, Andrew Reinhard, Richard Rothaus, and I met for a day to discuss a publication plan for the Atari Excavation project. While we all agreed that there is enough intellectual substance from this experience to warrant an edited volume, we also thought that the best way forward was to produce a traditional archaeological report… Read More →

I bought by tickets to Greece for next summer and I need to buy my tickets from Athens to Cyprus this week. After a year away from my work on Cyprus to focus on the Western Argolid Regional Project in Greece, I’m going to return to Polis-Chrysochous for a three-week study season starting May 5.… Read More →