1st Edition

The Routledge Handbook of Archaeology and Plastics

604 Pages 144 Color & 14 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

604 Pages 144 Color & 14 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

604 Pages 144 Color & 14 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

The Routledge Handbook of Archaeology and Plastics investigates the archaeology of the contemporary world through the lens of its most distinguishing and problematic material. Plastics are ubiquitous and have been so for nearly three generations since they became widely used in the early 1950s. Plastics will persist for millennia, their legacies as toxic heritage being felt deep into the... Read more

Chapter 1           Archaeology and Plastics: An Introduction (Geneviève Godin, Þóra Pétursdóttir, Estelle Praet and John Schofield)

 

Section 1            Frameworks

 

Chapter 2           Early Plastics (Cassie Newland)

 

Chapter 3           Stratigraphy of Plastics (Matt Edgeworth)

 

Chapter 4           Plastics in Sedimentary Processes and Rocks: The Fossilisation of the Plastic Age (Nelson Rangel-Buitrago, William Neal and Kathleen Nicoll)

 

Chapter 5           Plastic and Presentism: The Time of Disposability (Gay Hawkins)

 

Chapter 6           Curating Plastics (Rupert Cole, Isabelle Held, Susan Lambert and Helen Peavitt)

 

Chapter 7           Classification for the Plastic Age (Anna S. Agbe-Davies and J. Eric Deetz)

 

Section 2            Perspectives

 

Chapter 8           In Small Plastic Things Forgotten: The Contradictions and Consequences of Biopower (Pamela L. Geller)

 

Chapter 9           Unsustainable Horizons: Plastic Material Culture in Forensic Archaeology (Anna S. Chaussée and Karl S. Harrison)

 

Chapter 10         Ephemeral Archaeology?: Queering the Cultural and Political Implications of Historicising Plastic Pollution (Vanbasten de Araújo and Nicole Seymour)

 

Chapter 11         A ‘Plastic' Archaeology for an Anthropocene of Plastics: Reflections from the South (Ezequiel Gilardenghi)

 

Chapter 12         ‘Self-Insulated, … Rotproof and Fireproof?' The Poetry of Plastics in Architecture: From the House of the Future to the Grenfell Tower Disaster (Alexander Davidson)

 

Chapter 13         Understanding the Use of Plastics in Design: Materials, Manufacturing Processes, and Relational Connections (Louise Dennis)

 

Chapter 14         Contemporary Art, Archaeology, and Plastics (Antonia Thomas)

 

Section 3            Production

 

Chapter 15  The Archaeology of Oil Production (William Caraher)

 

Chapter 16         Additives And Afterlives: Plastic Production and Consumption in Ruby, Arizona (Haeden Stewart)

 

Chapter 17         The Industrial Archaeology of Plastic Production (Michael Nevell)

 

Chapter 18         Plastics and the Great Depression in North East England: 1929-1939 (David Petts)

 

Chapter 19         Pulsing Threads, Plastic Lines (Christine Finn)

 

Section 4            Use

 

Chapter 20         From Transformative Potential to Existential Crisis: The Practice of Art/Archaeology in the Plastic Age (Emma Bryning)    

 

Chapter 21         Remembering the Building Blocks of Socialism: The Material and Mediatised (N)ostalgia of East German Plastic Construction Toys (Samuel Merrill)

 

Chapter 22         Vinyl Records in Archaeological Context: A Case Study from Northern California (Liam Thomas Maloney and E. Breck Parkman)

 

Chapter 23         Ritual Litter: Pagan Votive Offerings at Historic and Nature Sites in the UK (Debora Moretti and Sheriden Toso)

 

Chapter 24         Birds as Curators of Human Generated Debris (Dominique A. Potvin and Kathy A. Townsend)

 

Section 5            Waste

 

Chapter 25         Living on the Mounds of Plastic: The Material Culture and Daily Life of Garbage Collectors and Communities (Leila Papoli-Yazdi)

 

Chapter 26         An Underwater Archaeology of Plastic in Inland Waterways (Estelle Praet and Christophe Delaere)

 

Chapter 27         Islands of the Plastic Age: Cultural Heritage Perspectives on Submergence and Emergence in the Northern Pacific (Raveena M. Tamoria and John Schofield)

 

Chapter 28         Archaeology of a Cargo Spill: The Lingering Legacy of Lego (Tracey Williams and Andrew Turner)

 

Chapter 29         Plastics in Outer Space (Alice Gorman)

 

Chapter 30         The Flipflopi: The Recycled Plastic Boat on a Mission to ‘Close the Loop’ on Plastic Waste (Carinè Müller, Victor Béguerie and Rebecca Faber)

 

Section 6            Future Prospects

                                                                  

Chapter 31         The Substance of Dreams: Plastics and ‘the Future’ (Paul Graves-Brown)

 

Chapter 32         Life in Plastic, It's Fantastic (Cornelius Holtorf)

Index

Biography

Geneviève Godin is a contemporary archaeologist whose interests include queer theory, ecology and non-human agency.

Þóra Pétursdóttir is a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Oslo, Norway.

Estelle Praet  is an archaeologist specialised in Latin America and is currently research assistant at the British Museum.

John Schofield teaches cultural heritage management and contemporary archaeology in the Archaeology Department, University of York (UK).