An Archaeology of the Contemporary Era

The second edition of An Archaeology of the ContemporaryEra explores the period between the late nineteenth and twenty-first centuries and reflects on the archaeological theory and practice of the recent past.

This book argues that the materiality of our times, and particularly its ruins and rubbish, reveals something profound and disturbing about modern societies. It examines the political, ethical, aesthetic and epistemological foundations of contemporary archaeology and characterizes the excess of the contemporary period through its material traces. This book remains the first attempt at describing the contemporary era from an archaeological point of view. Global in scope, the book brings together case studies from every continent and considers sources from peripheral and rarely considered traditions, meanwhile engaging in interdisciplinary dialogue with philosophy, anthropology, history and geography. This new edition includes the latest developments in the field, both methodological and theoretical, and adds new and exciting case studies to engage students. It also covers some of the most pressing issues of the present, as they are being addressed by archaeologists, such as pandemics, the antiracist movement, the global rise of reactionary populism, the ecological crisis, and climate change.

An Archaeology of the Contemporary Era is essential reading for students and practitioners of the contemporary past, historical archaeology and archaeological theory. It will also be of interest to anybody concerned with globalisation, modernity and the Anthropocene.

Alfredo González-Ruibal is a researcher with the Institute of Heritage Sciences of the Spanish National Research Council. His research focuses on the archaeology of the contemporary past, and particularly on the dark side of modernity: war, dictatorship, predatory capitalism and colonialism. He has conducted fieldwork in Spain, Brazil, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea and Somaliland.