In October 2019, our class was offered the opportunity to conduct an archaeological excavation on campus. Suddenly, the premise supporting the course rationale was tested; it moved beyond the classroom and out into the world. We were tasked with discovering: just how do principles of art relate to and interact within archaeological practices? Our immersion into the archaeological process was fast and immediate; we conducted an initial pedestrian survey, mapped the site, conducted botanical and soil sampling, and finished by opening a .5 by .5 meter excavation unit in the span of one day. In order to do this, we momentarily reversed the course title to "Principles of Archaeology in Artistic Practice" because, just as we were making real art in class, we were determined to do real archaeology in the field. We chose the Community Garden in front of Pupin Hall as our location, for numerous factors, not the least of which is its mysterious presence. Many of the artifacts we found are quotidian, and this is exactly the kind of material evidence championed by Contemporary Archaeology: the archaeology of the present, the archaeology of the self, the archaeology of us. -- J.B.

Kristian Woerner

Kristian Woerner