Chapman University Digital Commons

Title

A Method for Space Archaeology Research: the International Space Station Archaeological Project

Authors

Justin St. P. Walsh, Chapman UniversityFollow
Alice C. Gorman, Flinders UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-24-2021

Abstract

How does a ‘space culture’ emerge and evolve, and how can archaeologists study such a phenomenon? The International Space Station Archaeological Project seeks to analyse the social and cultural context of an assemblage relating to the human presence in space. Drawing on concepts from contemporary archaeology, the project pursues a unique perspective beyond sociological or ethnographical approaches. Semiotic analysis of material culture and proxemic analysis of embodied space can be achieved using NASA's archives of documentation, images, video and audio media. Here, the authors set out a method for the study of this evidence. Understanding how individuals and groups use material culture in space stations, from discrete objects to contextual relationships, promises to reveal intersections of identity, nationality and community.

Comments

This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Antiquity, volume 95, no. 383, in 2021 following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2021.114.

The Creative Commons license below applies only to this version of the article.

Recommended Citation

Walsh, Justin St P., and Alice C. Gorman. “A Method for Space Archaeology Research: the International Space Station Archaeological Project.” Antiquity 95, no. 383 (2021): 1331–43. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2021.114

Peer Reviewed

1

Copyright

The authors. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.