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Can Visual Anthropology Be A Tool for Archaeological site management?
Archaeological site management is often a complex task involving many stakeholder groups that define the value of the location differently. Archaeologists may value a site for it's ability to tell us about the evolution of human cultures. However, people living on active archaeological sites may value the ground and buildings as living parts of their personal heritage. Around the world, archeological site managers find themselves torn between present day concerns and the desire to dig up the heritage of the world's cultures. On-Site Expeditions are travels to explore the research question "Can visual anthropology be a tool for archaeological site management?" If you want more information about donating to this project, please contact Maren Elwood
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THIS PROJECT IS PART OF
ON-SITE EXPEDITIONS  |
A Different Way To Explore The World
ON-SITE EXPEDITIONS is a field school for both university students and adults who want to learn about world heritage sites. Selected adults will join archaeologists and anthropologists on their research sites to experience what it's like to work on an active dig, to explore indigenous cultures and to learn more about world heritage. Graduate students, recommended by various universities, will be provided scholarships to attend six week hybrid field programs to learn both archaeological field work and visual anthropological techniques.
One of the locations for these expeditions will be the site in Peru called Saqsaywaman. The research on this site started in 2010 and continues to this day.
ON-SITE EXPEDITIONS is a field school for both university students and adults who want to learn about world heritage sites. Selected adults will join archaeologists and anthropologists on their research sites to experience what it's like to work on an active dig, to explore indigenous cultures and to learn more about world heritage. Graduate students, recommended by various universities, will be provided scholarships to attend six week hybrid field programs to learn both archaeological field work and visual anthropological techniques.
One of the locations for these expeditions will be the site in Peru called Saqsaywaman. The research on this site started in 2010 and continues to this day.
Details On Saqsaywaman Site
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WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE DESIRE TO KNOW ABOUT THE PAST CONFLICTS WITH PEOPLE LIVING ON AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE? That's the question Maren Elwood, a Visual Anthropologist, is attempting to answer. She is studying that exact phenomenon on what used to be the epicenter of the Incan Empire...Saqsaywaman, Peru.
HISTORY OF STUDY:
In 2010, Maren Elwood started a ethnographic film project as part of her Masters in Visual Anthropology program. This project initially started as a simple filming of a stakeholder's meeting on the archaeological site in Peru called Saqsaywaman. The original plan was to fly into Cusco and meet with the Ministry of Culture and the residents of the Quecha communities. The 5 communities find themselves living on an active archaeological site. The meeting was to discuss the problems that were arising because the Ministry of Culture wanted to relocate the residents so that serious excavations could begin outside the main Saqsaywaman complex.
That meeting never occurred. Instead, Maren Elwood and her small filming crew were asked to conduct ethnographic interviews within the Quecha communities. After filming the concerns the community members have, Maren was then to share that information with the Ministry of Culture.
The resulting research has become a longitudinal study of the role ethnographic film can play in solving conflicts on active archaeological sites.
This study has resulted in one award winning film "Stone & People" and is continuing as of 2016. Maren Elwood, as a Research Associate in the USC Department of Anthropology's Center For Visual Anthropology, has been conducting the study both in-situ and online since 2010.
In 2010, Maren Elwood started a ethnographic film project as part of her Masters in Visual Anthropology program. This project initially started as a simple filming of a stakeholder's meeting on the archaeological site in Peru called Saqsaywaman. The original plan was to fly into Cusco and meet with the Ministry of Culture and the residents of the Quecha communities. The 5 communities find themselves living on an active archaeological site. The meeting was to discuss the problems that were arising because the Ministry of Culture wanted to relocate the residents so that serious excavations could begin outside the main Saqsaywaman complex.
That meeting never occurred. Instead, Maren Elwood and her small filming crew were asked to conduct ethnographic interviews within the Quecha communities. After filming the concerns the community members have, Maren was then to share that information with the Ministry of Culture.
The resulting research has become a longitudinal study of the role ethnographic film can play in solving conflicts on active archaeological sites.
This study has resulted in one award winning film "Stone & People" and is continuing as of 2016. Maren Elwood, as a Research Associate in the USC Department of Anthropology's Center For Visual Anthropology, has been conducting the study both in-situ and online since 2010.
