Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Convenors:
Akshika Goel, M.A. by Research (Sociology), IIT Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, 23n0526@iitb.ac.in
Mutharasu Anbalagan, PhD (Archaeology), IIT Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, 22d0718@iitb.ac.in
Nupur Tiwari, Early Career Researcher (independent), nupurtiwari05@gmail.com
What new perspectives can an ethnographic approach bring to archaeological fieldwork? How can we conceptualise fieldwork as not merely a technical act of excavation, but also an interpretative, embodied experience? These are among the central questions this session seeks to address. Grounded in the post-processual strand of archaeology, which challenges traditional notions of objectivity, this session calls for reflections on how archaeological practice is shaped by and contributes to broader social, institutional, and epistemological contexts. Ian Hodder’s documentation of the Çatalhöyük project—realising the idea of ‘multivocality’—and Gavin Lucas’ Critical Approaches to Fieldwork (2001) provide significant theoretical touchstones. In particular, Lucas’ question—What can we achieve and learn by charting and narrating the process of an excavation?—forms the basis of our exploration.
Through this session, we aim to delve into the implications of a reflexive approach on the day-to-day functioning of archaeological sites. We invite contributions that examine fieldwork as an embodied practice and explore how experientiality shapes the production of archaeological knowledge. Papers may address themes such as: The interplay of professional and gendered hierarchies within excavation teams. Institutional power dynamics and their influence on field practices. The relationship between financial, capital, or technical constraints and the production of archaeological knowledge. Interactions with, and the degree of involvement of, local communities in archaeological projects. This session also aims to highlight the often-overlooked forms of knowledge generated in and around excavation sites that do not always transition into formal textual narratives. By bringing these conversations to the forefront, we seek to question the boundaries of knowledge-making in archaeology. Contributions are welcome from scholars across disciplines and regions, including case studies, theoretical analyses, and personal reflections on field experiences. We hope this session will foster meaningful dialogues about the social construction of archaeological knowledge and encourage critical engagement with the practice of archaeology.
Papers:
Local Engagement with the Past: Perceptions, Practices and Archaeological Knowledge Production in the Mohane River Valley, Eastern India
Debajit Ghosh, Dept of Ancient Indian History Culture and Archaeology, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India; Project JRF (Archaeology), Dept of Applied Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, India
Anil Kumar, Professor & HOD, Dept of Ancient Indian History Culture & Archaeology, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, India
Sanjit Kumar Pal, Professor & HOD, Dept of Applied Geophysics, I Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, India
Subhendu Mondal, Dept of Applied Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, India
Anshumali, Professor, Dept of Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, India
Gaurav, Dept of Applied Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, India
The present paper elucidates the dynamics of local inhabitants’ perceptions towards their immediate archaeological sites, and how it adds multivocal layers to archaeological knowledge production. A qualitative approach has been adopted to analyse interactions with the villagers and their activities at select locations with archaeological footprints in the Mohane River Valley region, Jharkhand, eastern India. The paper further explores the varied experiences the local stakeholders have with the archaeological assemblages they encounter in their day-to-day journey. It attempts to understand the influence of local people’s beliefs, ideas, and actions in shaping the identity and preservation of the material evidence unearthed or lying on the surface of archaeological sites. Preliminary observations reflect their multifaceted perceptions towards the immediate past cultural edifices through appropriating bygone sculptural and architectural specimens within their present-day religious domain. It further fosters the continuity of local cultural traditions embodied in diverse beliefs, customs, and practices, leading to the preservation of archaeological sites, portraying their gradual transformation into present-day pilgrimage centres. Moreover, these dynamics nurture these locations’ socio-economic facets and reflect the inhabitants’ understanding of their past.
Fieldworkers and the Field: Ethnographic Perspectives on a University Department’s Archaeological Excavation
Akshika Goel, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Mumbai, India
This study presents an ethnographic study of the latest season of training excavation run by the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Madras, in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu for the 2025 batch of the master’s program, M.A. Ancient History and Archaeology. The impetus for this research comes from Ashish Avikunthak’s unique work Bureaucratic Archaeology (2022), in which he casts an ethnographic gaze on the workings of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to examine the complex formations of archaeology, bureaucracy and science. Similarly, I draw on qualitative research methods to explore the socio-political micro-practices and knowledge production at the excavation site. The research delves into two main strands of interrelated thought centring around the idea of field as a site and the act of fieldwork. The first strand explores gendered experiences in the field, questioning the supposed neutrality of students as professionalised subjects and demonstrating how gendered hierarchies shape fieldwork practices. The second strand builds on the perception of archaeology as an empirical science, highlighting the political implications of such a perception along with the interplay of data and interpretation in the field. This research then contributes to a broader understanding of archaeology as a socially embedded practice.
Plant Talk: Reflections on the Production of Botanical Knowledge at Brahmagiri, Karnataka
Jennifer T. Feng, University of Pennsylvania, USA
A central contention of historical ecology is that the natural and the social are not easily separated in a palimpsest landscape. This is nowhere more apparent than in the vegetal life surrounding an archaeological site. Many different ways of knowing plants, soils, and the landscape are revealed in the course of an archaeological project, and there are variable avenues through which these knowledges are shared. This paper presents a few vignettes centred on experiences with plants found at the site of Brahmagiri, in northern Karnataka, including acacia, tamarind, Senna auriculata, pigeon pea, and eucalyptus. In doing so, it seeks to understand how botanical knowledge is made not solely through laboratory analysis, but also relationally and experientially. Through these plant stories, it reflects on relationships, both friendships and hierarchies, within and between the communities that come together in archaeological projects.
Crafting a Civilisation: Indus Valley Civilisation and its Interpretive Becoming in the Early 1900s Colonial Archaeological Practise
Swati Chandra,
Dr Koumudi Patil
This paper provides a historiographical analysis of the archaeological methods and interpretations used during the initial excavations of the Indus Civilisation in the early 20th century (1920s-30s). The formation of archaeological knowledge involves both physical and mental practices. Utilising archival materials such as correspondence among archaeologists and preliminary notes on the operations of the archaeological survey, this paper investigates how archaeological understanding was shaped by the dynamics of power and politics between colonial and indigenous archaeologists. By examining the methods of archaeological interpretation that contributed to the conceptualisation of the Indus as a civilisation, the paper demonstrates that this civilisation was developed through the convergence and interaction of global perspectives and local insights. It further illustrates that archaeological knowledge is constructed in the present and is reliant on the discourses of the time. By recognising archaeology as a socially embedded phenomenon intertwined with the contexts in which it is conducted, the paper emphasises the necessity for continual reflective re-evaluation of past interpretations to understand the contexts through which contemporary meanings have emerged. This not only reveals the foundations upon which present interpretations are established but also serves as a history of the disciplinary practices along with its fundamental assumptions.
From the Field to Laboratory to Theory: A Tryst with Microliths of Central Narmada Basin, Madhya Pradesh, India
Nupur Tiwari, Early Career Researcher (Independent)
In the last couple of years, my inclination towards the intricate relationship between archaeological theory and practice made me reassess my doctoral fieldwork. Being a prehistorian, my prime motive in the field was to discover and document microlithic sites and assemblages, make collections, and in the lab, wash, count, typologically sort and analyse. It is an endless cycle of expecting, observing, assessing, learning and unlearning. A whirlpool of already established cultural periods, nomenclatures, types and typology, lithic analysis, and lithic drawings from thousands of sites is predetermined in your mind before the fieldwork. Whereas during lab work, your field notes are incomparable with the already formed archaeological record on microliths. I remember being in the field and questioning my knowledge; all the facts I had read suddenly became speckles, which seemed like a daunting task to reassemble. I realised that my expectations and experiences were opposite, and the anticipation came from the confined knowledge of the Indian microliths. Thus, the present paper will focus on the session’s theme on ‘how experientiality shapes the production of archaeological knowledge’, in a rendezvous with microliths of the central Narmada Basin and how it has changed my understanding of seeing the ‘micro’ in microliths.
From Looting to Excavation: Dialogues Between Public Narratives, Media, and Academic Discourse in Contemporary Chinese Archaeology
Yating Liao, Dept of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Canada
This paper explores the shifting dynamics between tomb looting, popular culture, media narratives, and academic archaeology in China, foregrounding how archaeological knowledge is produced, contested, and mediated across divergent discursive arenas. It traces a trajectory from the organised looting of the Tianma Qucun site in the 1980s to the rise of tomb-raiding fiction and screen adaptations in the 21st century, and their growing influence on public perceptions of the past. A recent controversy at the Sanxingdui site in 2021—in which a novelist known for tomb-looting stories was invited to comment on ongoing excavations—provoked strong resistance from archaeologists, revealing deep-seated concerns over disciplinary authority, representation, and legitimacy.
Through institutional responses and personal reflections from field archaeologists, the paper examines how media framings collapse distinctions between scientific fieldwork and fictionalised narratives, and how such framings shape public understandings of archaeology and heritage. Adopting a reflexive perspective, the study argues that archaeological practice is not merely technical, but fundamentally shaped by sociopolitical contexts and public discourse. By situating fieldwork within these contested narratives, the paper contributes to broader discussions on the social life of archaeology, and the ethical and epistemological challenges of practicing archaeology in contemporary China.