‘Deviants, punks and Pink Fairies’: counter-archaeologies for unreasonable people

Abstract

ABSTRACTLike any subject, archaeology has its traditions, its conventional practices and guiding principles that ensure it stays true to its original aims. That is why archaeologists still excavate, generating data, and publishing in the latest issues of long-established journals or in expensive monographs that only other archaeologists will read. Archaeologists employed by heritage agencies care for monuments and historic buildings, ensuring they survive, ‘for the benefit of future generations’. For many, this is how archaeology should remain. A similar cultural conservatism lingered in the UK from the end of the Second World War until, arguably, 26 November 1976 when, according to musician Phil Oakey, the Second World War finally came to an end. That was the day punk arrived with the thrashing of guitars and streams of abuse. But punk was about more than just the music. It was an ethos, a philosophy. Conventions were challenged and the old order gradually dismantled. Pre-1976 news footage now has the semblance of ancient history. This semi-autobiographical introduction to a collection of essays that promotes new thinking on counter-archaeologies wonders if that punk ethos could not have similar benefits for archaeology. Or perhaps it exists already, more than we care to realize.