Poetry And Archaeology: Public Art For An Expanded Audience

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Outreach and Education: Bringing it Home to the Public (General Sessions)" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Archaeological finds are poetic expression. Discovery, analysis, and interpretation engage our emotions in a rational and structured way, just as poetry can. However, it is seldom that we reach out to poets and ask that they process archaeological experiences through a lens of poetic expression as public art.

Catoctin SlaveSpeak is a collection of narrative poems in the voices of enslaved Africans who were imported to work at Catoctin Furnace. They are based on archaeological and forensic anthropological evidence resulting from excavations undertaken in the late 1970s. The author, a Native and African American poet spent many hours walking the earth, visiting the cemetery, studying archaeological and forensic evidence, engaging in quiet listening, and acknowledging intuitive knowing.

The resultant poetry provides a full story of archaeological and historic interpretation in poetic form. This artistic, emotional, and poetic enrichment is a model for a changing conversation to reach an expanded audience.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Outreach and Education: Bringing it Home to the Public (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2021

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology