Archaeogaming

On March 22, 2019, I announced that I would be stepping away from this blog and from the archaeogaming Twitter account in order to finish my archaeology PhD at the University of York and could then turn my attention to the archaeology of digital things, of which games play (ahem) an important part.

I received several applications from an incredibly diverse group of people, and I am happy to announce that Kaitlyn Kingsland has been given the key to archaeogaming. She is a PhD student in the Department of History at the University of South Florida concentrating on 3D applications for archaeology and the ancient world. She is supervised by Dr. Davide Tanasi, a digital archaeologist who founded the Institute for Digital Exploration (IDEx). Kingsland’s other interests include digital cultural heritage, virtual heritage, and digital games, and she has written on how we can use digital games to understand changes in contemporary culture over time. Kingsland’s current favorite game is Horizon Zero Dawn, which teaches players (albeit inadvertently) about landscape archaeology and humanity’s impact on the environment. She is supported by her cohort at USF, many of whom are active archaeogamers themselves, as well as the anthropology gaming lab at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and a local gaming group, plus enthusiastic faculty who also play critically. Kingsland brings with her a number of ideas new to this blog, and will include posts on board and tabletop gaming as well as new and exciting Open Access ventures. You can follow Kingsland via her personal Twitter, the Archaeogaming Twitter, and can always drop her a line through the archaeogaming email address.

I am confident that the archaeogaming collective and community of practice will continue to thrive and support each other for generations to come, and I am delighted to leave the site in such good hands. Thank you, everyone, for your support and encouragement since 2013. You can continue to reach me via my York email, but I will likely be slow to reply. If you play No Man’s Sky on PS4, you can find me at Kynes’ Rest in the Euclid Galaxy. I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon.

—Andrew Reinhard, Archaeogaming