Towards a Prosthetic Archaeology

Abstract

Prosthetic archaeology is a theoretical proposal for a materially oriented digital practice. It is based on a critical approach to implementing the latest technologies in archaeology. Drawing from the philosophy of technology and prosthetic studies, this project offers a more critical and meaningful understanding of digital methods in archaeology. The main interpretative figure is the verb “to prostheticize.” Thus, prosthetic archaeology is not solely about prostheses — technological improvements understood as supplements. Rather, it is about the processes of “prostheticizing” archaeology, brought on by the digital turn in “the discipline of things.” A verbal understanding of this main category and its processual potential allows for a technological prosthesis to function as an active addition that does, makes, transforms, refers, evokes, (re)constructs, and generates meanings. The concept of prosthetic archaeology is illustrated with a discussion of the “Body Can’t Wait” advertising campaign organized in Paris, March 2018, where ancient and neoclassical sculptures were equipped with 3D-printed artificial limbs. Inspired by an advertising campaign that uses technology to raise social awareness and engage in current global problems, prosthetic archaeology may offer a prefigurative blueprint for a future, radical archaeology.