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Seeing the Past: Visual Media in Archaeology
Author(s) -
DYKE RUTH M. VAN
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.2006.108.2.370
Subject(s) - visual media , interpretation (philosophy) , representation (politics) , visual culture , reflexivity , digital media , archaeology , visual arts , art , history , sociology , computer science , anthropology , world wide web , politics , political science , law , programming language
As digital media become increasingly affordable and accessible, visual representation in archaeology is expanding across several dimensions. In this essay, I examine some emerging forms of visual media in archaeology, including online documentaries, maps and photographs, hypermedia, experimental films, and peripatetic video. Visual media offer powerful opportunities for engagement with the public. In addition, archaeologists are finding new ways to use the visual in interpretation, analysis, and critique. Experimental visual works often are self‐consciously reflexive, questioning and exposing the ways archaeological knowledge is constructed, represented, and disseminated.