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“The Age of Innocence”: Personal Histories of the 1960s “Digging Circuit” in Britain

Cooper, A.; Yarrow, T.

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Authors

A. Cooper

T. Yarrow



Abstract

There is a substantial literature on the use of oral history in archaeology, but there has been little consideration of the kinds of oral history and memory produced by the practice of archaeology. Through the personal narratives of a range of people involved in excavation during the 1960s in Britain, this paper explores understandings of what has been described as an archaeological “sub-culture”. It examines the ideas and interests that motivated peoples’ engagement in the “digging circuit” at this time, and looks at how these were implicated in the archaeology that was produced. We argue that such accounts do not simply expose the “subjective” context in which archaeological knowledge of these sites emerged but constitute an explicit and vital challenge to established accounts of archaeology in Britain at this time.

Citation

Cooper, A., & Yarrow, T. (2012). “The Age of Innocence”: Personal Histories of the 1960s “Digging Circuit” in Britain. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 16(2), 300-318. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-012-0176-z

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2012-06
Deposit Date Oct 26, 2010
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal International Journal of Historical Archaeology
Print ISSN 1092-7697
Electronic ISSN 1573-7748
Publisher Springer
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 16
Issue 2
Pages 300-318
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-012-0176-z
Keywords Excavation, Memory, Sub-culture, Professionalization.

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The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com




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