Field Walking and Walking the Field

Summary

While we have gradually accepted that archaeological survey is as integral to our research as the overly-valued practice of excavation, the emotional dimensions of survey where one connects with the landscapes and with its occupants are hardly discussed, especially in the case of long-term surveys. What does a heart-centered survey project look like? How does the intimacy that comes from field walking inform the archaeology? As well, we are all participants in the field of archaeology, and everyone has a personal trajectory; we are walking the field over the years. Some of us have chosen to do this with as much collaboration as possible, as a way to bring more to the process, to recognize that walking (through) the field is a social, personal, emotional and intimate process that should be validated and endorsed. In this presentation, I will address both sides of "the field" from a heart-centered perspective drawing, on one hand, from my own field walking survey project in the French Midi-Pyrénées and ,on the other hand, from the collaborative practices that have allowed me to walk through our disciplinary field.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Archaeologies of Heart: Exploring the Role of Emotion and Spirit in Archaeological Research and Practice

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14796