Archaeologies of the Contemporary Past turns what is usually seen as a method for investigating the distant past onto the present. In doing so, it reveals fresh ways of looking at both ourselves and modern society as well as the discipline of archaeology. The contributions to this volume represent the most recent research in this area. From different theoretical perspectives a variety of contexts are examined; Art Deco and landfills, miner strikes and college fraternities and an abandoned council house as well as mass graves are all investigated. In the light of developments since the 1980s, the authors variously engage the positive insights an archaeology of the contemporary past provides. This new archaeology gives a crucial understanding of the experience of modernity and the communities it continues to affect. Such approaches challenge the decisions and boundaries of archaeological practice where the distinction between the subject and object of study is unsettled.
Moreover they challenge the 'taken for granted' of recent experience, bringing to light that which has been left hidden and unsaid, thereby serving as a critical intervention for re-describing and contesting the exclusions and inclusions of experience that shape modern life. Margaret Cox, Mercedes Doretti, Luis Fondebrider, David Hart, Ian Hodder, Jean-Pierre Legendre, Teresita Majewski, Laurent Olivier, Bill Rathje, Mike Schiffer, Greg Stevenson, Laurie Wilkie and the Lu