Mike Pitts on the Plinth

[Sparky]

Excellent post

[BAJR Host]

we collect things we do... and put them in boxes... stones in boxes... little stones.. heee heee.. bwahhh ha ha ha ha..

then I look at my desk which has neatly bagged and labled stone (pot boilers) er... ah... bggr.. me too!

Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.
Mohandas Gandhi

[RedEarth]

I liked Charlie Brooker's take on it (I think it was him) who pointed out that many of the 'acts' (I'll call them that as it seems appropriate, maybe 'turns' is better - anyone remember Vic Reeves' 'Novelty Island? That sort of thing) ran out of steam after about 20 minutes when they realised that their idea couldn't sustain a whole hour. That must be quite gutting in the circumstances!

[Curator Kid]

Yawn. The Dog Blanket woman was more amusing. [xx(]

"I'm a time traveller. I point and laugh at archaeologists."

[srd123]

Ha, worked for me - but then I'm currently trying to write a conclusion to a paper concerning one of the sites that one of his lumps of flint came from - so that's given me a couple of nice sound bites to bounce off, and also to demonstrate the relevance of the site (well if it's one of the ten that made it on to the plinth then it must be important, must'nt it?)

Seriously through, once I'd worked out that the dog blanket woman wasn't MP all dolled up for a night out in the smoke I soon tired of watching the whole thing. Trying to deliver an 'engaging' lecture at stupid o'clock, in the dark, with little idea if there is an audience out there, up on a plinth, knowing that the whole archaeological community is ready to "do a bone-kickers" on you if you don't represent them in the way that they think that they should be represented, etc, was one helluva challenge - one that I certainly would have run away from screaming! Thus, I'm not surprised that it wasn't the event of the decade! But given these handicaps I thought that, in the bits that I saw, he did an OK job.

I liked the comment (above) about "putting archaeology on a plinth". Of course, there's trying to get people to engage with archaeology and there's trying to get people to engage with archaeology. One being just telling people what happened in the past and trying to make it relevant to their lives today; the other being trying to get people to engage with the archaeological process - that is, not so much focusing on the past, but rather demonstrating that archaeology can be a creative journey of discovery - something that you can "do" rather than just "look at". MP went for the former, which in my book is a a major challenge as it requires being able to convey a feeling of awe and reverence about the past. The latter, on the other hand, just needs you to tell people how much fun can be had doing archaeology - all the places it takes you, the people you meet, the "adventures" that you can have, and all that comes before you even start to indulge in interpreting the past. I mean, take a book like Pryor's "Sea Henge" - for an archaeology book I think it was an extremely strong seller. I don't think that this was so much because it had better quality 'archaeology' in it (although it was well written), but rather that it told two stories: first the story of the past, and second Pryor's autobiographical story of his life and exploits as an archaeologist. We came for the human interest, we stayed for the archaeology? Well, let's face it, archaeology really has little to do with the past - it's just another way of trying to comprehend the modern worlds around us by bouncing our understandings off of a few scraggy flints and empty holes. :-)

[danhull@britarch.ac.uk]

You can now vote on which of the stone objects Mike Pitts took to the Plinth you think was most significant in telling the human story in Britain:

http://www.britarch.ac.uk/news/090729-plinth

Alternatively, does anyone have suggestions for different stone objects he could have picked?

[RedEarth]

quote:Originally posted by danhull@britarch.ac.uk

You can now vote on which of the stone objects Mike Pitts took to the Plinth you think was most significant in telling the human story in Britain:

http://www.britarch.ac.uk/news/090729-plinth

Alternatively, does anyone have suggestions for different stone objects he could have picked?

Perhaps a memorial carved in stone to all the archaeological units that have gone under in the last year...

[BAJR Host]

just want to say to srd123 that was a brilliant post, neatly summing up the struggle of archaeology today, to find the tools to engage, and to be in itself engaging...

you are right... it took cahonies of steel to get up there and do that.. as we are a vicious lot .. but he did.. it may not have been to my taste, but then thats art

If your writing is anything like what you put into that post... no worries for you!

What would people have done on the plinth?

my idea was four archaeologists standing in each corner.. one field archaeologist, one academic one science based and one specialist . each holding a giant P45 up to the sky.



Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.
Mohandas Gandhi

[oldgirl]

quote:Originally posted by BAJR Host



What would people have done on the plinth?

my idea was four archaeologists standing in each corner.. one field archaeologist, one academic one science based and one specialist . each holding a giant P45 up to the sky.

And facing away from each other? B)

[achingknees]

Ah,so glad to find out each piece was stone - I have still to watch the last half, but will certainly do it. Rock of ages

Thanks for info on his blog - will look at that too.

Just reminded me of the treasure exhibition at the BM (PAS themed) a couple of years ago. Shiny, shiny show stuff, gold and silver, all over the shop then right at the centre of the exhibition...a flint handaxe from Happisburgh.

I did an event for the archaeology festival thingy last weekend....involved searching out some neolithic goodies from the archive stores, things weird and wonderful, each artefact being carefully curated originally (often by myself) but given some extra packaging etc for their little sojourn. These were taken to the venue, carefully unwrapped, displayed and discussed (to the extent of venoration!)with the public. They were carefully wrapped again, brought home and placed back in store. Artefact worship!?

Mike just did a big, public show and tell. Was it picked up by the media?