OGS Crawford’s Feet: Movements through the Archaeological Site and Archive
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2019-06-29

Print 2.114 in the Crawford archive is something of an oddity, a pair of feet intrude into the bottom of the frame. Is this a deliberate step into the sightlines of the camera? Or is the intrusion unintentional? What can this photograph tell us about movement and photography? Archaeological photography has, in recent times, been characterised as embodying themes of absence and stillness. In this paper, I invert this formulation, and argue instead that Crawford’s photography is infused with motion and presence. Using Print 2.114 as a springboard into this discussion, I demonstrate that by attending to the serial and temporal relationships between photographs, and the agency of the camera, it is possible to reflect upon Crawford’s movements around the excavation site. In doing so I argue that archaeological photography must be understood as a fully embodied ecology of practices that extends far beyond the simple press of a shutter.

Beth Hodgett (Birkbeck, University of London & Pitt Rivers Museum)

Tag Deva 2018
Session: Archaeological Movements in Theory and Practice