Defining Moments: Dramatic Archaeologies of the Twentieth-Century

Product Description The shape of this collection of essays has emerged over time from an original session from the Theoretical Archaeology Group conference held at Cardiff in 1999. A few years later the original theme evolved through the then fledgling Contemporary and Historical Archaeology in Theory organisation, with its own series of books and conferences. This seemed an obvious home for 'Defining Moments' and the present volume appears after a decade-long gestation. Contents:1) 11.15 hrs, 24 June 2008 Drama and the moment (John Schofield); 2) 12.30 hrs, 12 December 1991 Marconi's first transatlantic wireless message (Cassie Newland); 3) 11.40 hrs, 14 April 1912 The case of the RMS Titanic (David Miles); 4) 1 July 1916 The Battle of the Somme and the machine gun myth (Paul Cornish); 5) 11 August 1921 ? The discovery of insulin (E M Tansey); 6) 2 October 1925 From Ally Pally to Big Brother: Television makes viewers of us all (Martin Brown); 7) 1 June 1935 The introduction of compulsory driving tests in the United Kingdom: The neglected role of the state in motoring (John Beech) 80 Commentary: Visions of the twentieth century (Cornelius Holtorf) 9) 16/17 May 1943 Operation Chastise: The raid on the German dams (Richard Morris) 10) 11.30 hrs, 29 May 1953 Because it's there: The ascent of Everest (Paul Graves-Brown); 11) 22.28:34 hrs (Moscow Time), 4 October 1957 The Space Age begins: The launch of Sputnik I, Earth's first artificial satellite (Greg Fewer) 12) 11 February 1966 Proclamation 43 (Martin Hall); 13) March 1993 The Library of Babel: Origins of the World Wide Web (Paul Graves-Brown); 14) 0053 Hrs, 12 October 1998 The Murder of Matthew Wayne Shepard: An archaeologist's personal defining moment (Thomas Dowson); 15) 00.00:00, 1 January 2000 'Three, two, one ?': The material legacy of global millennium celebrations (Rodney Harrison); 16) n.d. Conservation and the British (Graham Fairclough). About the Author John Schofield teaches Cultural Heritage Management and Archaeology at the University of York, where he is Head of the Archaeology Department. Prior to his appointment at York in 2010 John worked for English Heritage where he coordinated research and heritage protection activities for modern military sites in England. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists and has published extensively on heritage as well as conflict and contemporary archaeology.