Exploring the archaeology in (and of) video games.
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I am extraordinarily happy to announce that the Xbox Wire published its press release today about the April 26th excavation of the Atari Landfill (aka Atari Dump Site, E.T. Burial Ground, etc.) in Alamogordo, New Mexico. I’m part of the team of archaeologists referenced in the press release, and will be joined by archaeologists Richard Rothaus, Bill Caraher, and Lindsay […]
Below is a post that I was told to take down by Zenimax Online during the beta testing of Elder Scrolls Online earlier this year. I am reposting it now, but unfortunately the original images are no longer available. Hopefully the text is enough for now. I am looking forward to joining the full game soon for months of archaeogaming. […]
Historical Infiltration of Video Game Journalism Here’s a recent post from the Play the Past blog from March 27, 2014, by David R. Hussey, on history and video game journalism. Enjoy!
Archaeogaming is as much about exploring and conducting archaeology within gaming environments (virtual space) as it is about understanding the history of video games in the real world (meat space). The perfect, literal embodiment of archaeogaming was discussed for an hour in Austin as part of the 2014 South by Southwest festival. “Dumping the Alien: Unearthing the Atari Graveyard” featured […]
Today, March 7, 2014, at 3:00 Eastern (2:00 Austin time), producer Jonathan Chinn, and CEO of fuel Entertainment Mike Burns will be presenting, “Unearthing the Atari Graveyard: The Search for ET” at the South by Southwest Festival, at the Long Center, Dell Hall, 701 W. Riverside Drive. Official Hashtags: #etburial #sxsw Official Twitter for the project: https://twitter.com/ataridigdoc (@ataridigdoc) From the […]
Folks: I received a takedown notice (my first!) for my recent blog post on the archaeology of Elder Scrolls Online, researched while playing the beta. I thought I’d given appropriate credit, was favorably disposed towards the game, etc., but it appears that the post violated the EULA/TOS for the beta. Lesson learned. I’ve removed the post and deleted the images […]
Look out honey, ’cause I’m using technology! Ain’t got time to make no apology . . . . I’m the world’s forgotten boy, the one who’s searchin’, searchin’ to destroy —Iggy Pop I admit it: when I’m in-game, I am a baaaad archaeologist. Indiana Jones bad (especially when I’m playing him as my Lego alter ego). I don’t take notes. […]
This is the last of a 5-part series from guest-blogger, Dr. Dunstan Lowe, who teaches Classics at the University of Kent. “Always Already Ancient” was first published in print in […]
This is the fourth of a 5-part series from guest-blogger, Dr. Dunstan Lowe, who teaches Classics at the University of Kent. “Always Already Ancient” was first published in print in […]
This is the third of a 5-part series from guest-blogger, Dr. Dunstan Lowe, who teaches Classics at the University of Kent. “Always Already Ancient” was first published in print in […]
This is the second of a 5-part series from guest-blogger, Dr. Dunstan Lowe, who teaches Classics at the University of Kent. “Always Already Ancient” was first published in print in […]
This is the first of a 5-part series from guest-blogger, Dr. Dunstan Lowe, who teaches Classics at the University of Kent. In 2005 he realized that there was a huge, unexplored intersection between classical antiquity and gaming, and has been studying it ever since. Besides this piece, he wrote another on gaming for the book Classics For All: Reworking Antiquity […]
William Rathje would have been all over this. And maybe Fox Mulder. Picture this if you will: Somewhere in the southern desert of New Mexico, more than 150 miles south of Albuquerque, lies a secret dump-site filled with E.T. technology covered in meters of cement. Thirty years ago, a high-tech corporation had gone too far too fast and decided to […]
Inside the Dwemer ruins of Blackreach, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Image Bethesda Softworks LLC.
Let me begin at the beginning, a Level 1 n00b, but an archaeology “Master.” I was once a reluctant gamer who was dragged kicking and screaming into World of Warcraft […]
