SAA 2015: A Session Honoring Ruth Tringham

I’m extremely pleased to announce the session that I have organized for the 80th meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, April 15-19, 2015:

Lithics Cowgirl, Household Archaeologist, Digital Doyenne: A Session Dedicated to Ruth Tringham

Throughout her incredibly active, extraordinarily creative career as an archaeologist, Ruth Tringham has transformed experimental lithic technology, re-animated “faceless blobs” with her Neolithic narratives, and explored digital technology in archaeology from punch cards to virtual worlds. With field projects at Selevac and Opovo-Ugar Bajbuk, Serbia; Podgoritsa, Bulgaria; Çatalhöyük, Turkey; and the San Francisco Presidio, California, Tringham investigated fire and burning in household contexts, mudbrick architecture, senses of place, multimedia-driven fieldwork and embodied multisensorial interpretations of the past. Tringham taught at University College London, Harvard, and then at the University of California, Berkeley, fostering innovative pedagogical techniques and cultivating the careers of her students over 45 years of teaching. Her fearless, passionate, fun-loving approach to life fuels her research as well as her life outside of academia, as she is an accomplished singer, dramatist, kayaker and (would-be) bee-keeper. This session celebrates Tringham’s wide-ranging impact on lithics, household archaeology, feminist practice, and digital archaeology with presentations from her colleagues and students throughout the years.

Discussants:

Ruth Tringham
Ian Hodder
Julian Richards

Participants:

Margaret Conkey
Michael Shanks
Peter Biehl
Henrietta Moore
Mirjana Stevanovic
Lori Hager
Michael Ashley
Barbara Voytek
Colleen Morgan
Douglass Bailey
Angela Piccini
Steve Mills

Ian Hodder told me yesterday that he has been collecting good stories about Ruth–it should be a lot of fun!

Author: colleenmorgan

Dr. Colleen Morgan (ORCID 0000-0001-6907-5535) is the Lecturer in Digital Archaeology and Heritage in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York. She conducts research on digital media and archaeology, with a special focus on embodiment, avatars, genetics and bioarchaeology. She is interested in building archaeological narratives with emerging technology, including photography, video, mobile and locative devices. Through archaeological making she explores past lifeways and our current understanding of heritage, especially regarding issues of authority, authenticity, and identity. View all posts by colleenmorgan