Unethical Pasts, Uncertain Presents, and Potential Futures: The Evolution of Archaeological Representation in Video Games
Author(s): L. Meghan Dennis
Year: 2017
Summary
Since the late 1970s, archaeology and archaeologists have appeared within games presented on every major video game and console format. From the earliest depictions as treasure hunters within games such as the Atari 2600’s temple crawler, Quest for Quintana Roo, to more nuanced portrayals within PC gaming’s recent field school simulator, C14 Dating, changes to how the public privileges and disregards the reality of archaeological practice can be traced through how the discipline is represented in gaming media. By examining key moments in the development of the archaeological narrative within video games, and establishing connections to larger problems of representation of the field, issues of public perception and effective outreach can be addressed, with a goal of resituating ethical archaeological practice within the common conceptualization of the discipline.
Cite this Record
Unethical Pasts, Uncertain Presents, and Potential Futures: The Evolution of Archaeological Representation in Video Games. L. Meghan Dennis. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Fort Worth, TX. 2017 ( tDAR id: 435362)
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Keywords
General
Archaeogaming
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Archaeological Ethics
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digital archaeology
Geographic Keywords
United Kingdom
•
Western Europe
Temporal Keywords
Modern
Spatial Coverage
min long: -8.158; min lat: 49.955 ; max long: 1.749; max lat: 60.722 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 107