Archaeogaming

Call for papers: “Archaeology of the Near East and Video Games”

ASOR Annual Meeting
November 14–17, Denver, Colorado

The ASOR organization has approved a new session on the intersection of Archaeology of the Near East and Video Games, to be held at the ASOR Annual Meeting in November 2018 in Denver, Colorado. Since there has never been a session on this topic before, we are looking for engaging and diverse papers to really open up this field to a broader audience. Submit your abstracts here.

For centuries, the written word was the preferred medium for transferring archaeological academic knowledge to the broader public. With the advent of modern communication technology like radio, TV, and the internet the possibilities to interact with the audience were broadened. Video-games have since the 1980’s been a part of this new wave of telecommunication, but they remain underrepresented as a field of study in academic scholarship. In this session, we aim to correct this by offering a multidisciplinary discussion of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of archaeology and video gaming. Archaeogaming, as it is often called, is a systematizing framework that includes the use of archaeological methods within game worlds, the creation of video-games for, or about, archaeological practices, or the critical study of how archaeology is represented in video-games. Themes can include using archaeological tools and methods to conduct archaeological investigations into synthetic worlds, exploring heritage through play, and the use and ethics of virtual reality in digital spaces. In this session, we aim to present a diverse array of topics that sit on the intersection of the archaeology of the Near East and video games, opening up debate on the multifunctionality of this medium for research, education and heritage management.

The deadline for submissions is February 15, 2018.

For more information, please email the Chair of the Session, Tine Rassalle.