And heavens forbid, contemporary archaeology.
It now takes me far longer to get out of the house in the morning as I feel
obliged to map the distribution of plates and utensils on the breakfast table
to assess my socio economic status and check for hints about the gendered use
space. I then have to quantify the packaging from the breakfast cereal box,
analyse the imagery on the milk carton for evidence of the penetration of
global capitalism into my foodways, and capture the otherwise invisible
presence of my young son by recording the uneaten crusts of toast.To cap it all
I then have to reflect upon how my emotional attachment to my home and family
incorporates biases into my assessment. What a bummer. When I was young my
archaeology books used to show archaeologists opening up fabulously rich burial
chambers in pyramids. Where did we go wrong?