Rebooting Antiquity: How Holy Wars, Media Hype, and Digital Technologies Are Changing the Face of 21st Century Archaeology

Join the School of Art + Art History at the University of Florida and the Archaeologic Institute of America (AIA) Gainesville Society for Rebooting Antiquity: How Holy Wars, Media Hype, and Digital Technologies Are Changing the Face of 21st Century Archaeology with Neil Asher Silberman on March 22 at 6 pm in Fine Arts Buildings B, Room 103 (FAB 103). The lecture is free and open to the public.

Rebooting Antiquity: How Holy Wars, Media Hype, and Digital Technologies Are Changing the Face of 21st Century Archaeology

There’s a revolution happening today in the way we value, discover and imagine the past. On the negative side, ancient sites by the thousands—not only in the Middle East but all over the world—are being bulldozed, looted, vandalized, or blown up or merely vandalized. Feature films, bestsellers and specialized cable documentaries hopelessly muddle archaeological fiction and fact. Yet on the positive side, advanced satellite imagery and LIDAR sensors are uncovering complex civilizations in deserts and jungles where none were assumed ever to exist. Virtual reality environments and 3d digital reconstructions are now used both for scientific documentation and immersive museum experiences. And the sheer social reach of Facebook, Twitter and research-by-crowdsourcing is offering archaeologists unprecedented opportunities to engage the general public in their work. This illustrated lecture will highlight some recent discoveries and ongoing controversies in the Americas, Europe and Asia that exemplify the dramatic new directions that archaeology is taking in our globalized, internet age.

Room #

103

Address

400 SW 13TH ST GAINESVILLE
FL 32611

Phone

352-392-0207