Archaeology in the Anthropocene: Long-term perspectives on cultural collapse and archaeology’s relevance for post-anthropocene worlds

Date: 21 – 23 May 2025; preparatory online meeting on 9 May, 16:00 – 17:00 (link will be provided after registration closes)

Location: Van Steenis building, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC Leiden, room E0.03B

Credits: 3 EC

The breakdown of cultures and its explanations are a key topic of archaeology, as it mostly investigates cultures that no longer exist. But the fascination with collapse goes back much further to the earliest written records and persists in religious beliefs, artistic fiction and scientific research. However, explanations of collapse – although always claiming now to reveal the “real” reason – have changed over time. For long, moral failure or an assumed law of history/nature seemed to explain the course of empires. In the era of imperialism and the Cold War, conflict and/or migration seemed suitable reasons for civilisational collapse; with growing environmental awareness they were superseded by over-exploitation of resources, catastrophes and, finally, climate change. All in all, it’s in the eye of the beholder and a reflection of the Zeitgeist, what caused a society to fail – and what kind of (hi)story we tell about it. This is the narratological core of all history, including archaeology.

Today, as the societies of the Global North, we consider ourselves to be living in the endtimes of our world as we know it, for good reasons. This endtime has already been given a name: the anthropocene. And the narrative about the dooming end of our world typically is dark, dystopian, apocalyptic. In this workshop, we will explore what we as archaeologists, as experts of societal collapse and civilisational breakdown, have to say to the farewell of our own societies and what we can contribute to the wellfare of the planet in a future that we don’t know yet.

To this end the workshop aims to untangle the opaque package called “the future”. We will explore the narrative connections and psychological interactions between the pasts, presents, and futures and back from the futures to the presents and the pasts. We will sort out different kinds of futures – the determined and the open futures, the certain and the unknown, the near, middle and far futures – and will have a look at the methods by which we can approach them. Finally, we will explore alternative narratives about futures and participants will join to develop their own narratives about the times to come – not the least drawing on our capacity as archaeologists. Feel invited to contribute to a better world…

Organiser: Prof. Dr. Thomas Meier (thomas.meier@zaw.uni-heidelberg.de), VU Amsterdam and Heidelberg University in collaboration with the Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University.

Preliminary schedule

Day 1: Archaeological imaginations of cultural collapse
10:00 – 10:30 Welcome and opening remarks
10:30 – 11:00 Participants introducing themselves
11:00 – 11:30 Introducing the afternoon: How do archaeologists narrate the collapse of cultures?
11:30 – 12:00 Coffee break
12:00 – 12:45 Moral failure
12:45 – 13:30 The law of history/nature
13:30 – 14:30 Lunch break
14:30 – 15:15 War and migration
15:15 – 16:00 Over-exploitation of resources
16:00 – 16:30 Coffee break
16:30 – 17:15 Climate change
17:15 – 18:00 Conclusion of day 1

Day 2: Untangling the future
10:00 – 10:15 Welcome and introducing Days 2 and 3
10:15 – 11:00 Speed dating: How do you imagine the future?
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 12:15 Past – present – future
12:15 – 13:00 Apres coup – avant coup
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 15:30 Walk the line – Look at today from the future
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee break
16:00 – 16:45 L’avenir – le futur
16:45 – 17:30 Three futures – near, middle and far
17:30 – 18:00 Conclusion of day 2

Day 3: Other futures
10:00 – 10:45 Slow hope
10:45 – 11:30 Radical hope
11:30 – 13:00 World Café (with coffee): How do you imagine the future
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 14:30 Evaluation of World Café
14:30 – 15:30 Debate: Does archaeology have anything to contribute to the future?
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee break
16:00 – 17:00 Concluding remarks and evaluation of the workshop

About credits: Each participant will prepare and teach one slot of the workshop. Details and guidance are provided in the preliminary online meeting on 9 May.

Registration: You can register for this course until the 8th of May.

For questions please contact Myrthe Sassen (secretary@archonline.nl).