Wicked Problems For Archaeologists

'Wicked Problems' are those problems facing the planet and its inhabitants, present and future, which are hard (if not impossible) to resolve and for which bold, creative, and messy solutions are typically required. The adjective 'wicked' describes the mischievous and even evil quality of these problems, where proposed solutions often turn out to be worse than the symptoms. This wide-ranging and innovative book encourages readers to think about archaeology in an entirely new way, as fresh, relevant, and future-oriented. It examines some of the novel ways that archaeology (alongside cultural heritage practice) can contribute to resolving some of the world's most wicked problems, or global challenges as they are sometimes known. With chapters covering climate change, environmental pollution, health and wellbeing, social injustice, and conflict, the book uses many and diverse examples to explain how, through studying the past and present through an archaeological lens, in ways that are creative, ambitious, and both inter- and transdisciplinary, significant 'small wins' can be achieved. Through these small wins, archaeologists can help to mitigate some of those most pressing of wicked problems, contributing therefore to a safer, healthier, and more stable world.

Can archaeologists help solve the 'Wicked Problems' that the world faces, such as climate change, conflict resolution, and social injustice? This book suggests that they can, but that it requires them to think about archaeology in an entirely new way.

This book discusses a number of ways in which out-of-school science education can uniquely engage learners with ‘wicked’ global problems such as biodiversity loss and climate change. The idea for the volume originated in discussions among members of the ESERA special interest group on "Science Education in Out-of-School contexts". It emerged from these discussions that out-of-school institutions and experiences offer opportunities for critical engagement in wicked problems that go far beyond what is possible solely in the science classroom. The book opens with a principled discussion of the nature of wicked problems and what addressing them involves. This introduction clarifies key terms and ideas to create a coherent backdrop for the rest of the book. Subsequent chapters discuss the challenges of designing educational experiences to address wicked problems, as well as the teaching and learning that takes place. The authors offer perspectives across a range of out-of-school environments such as science centres, natural history museums, botanical gardens, geological sites, and local communities. The book concludes with a chapter that synthesises the findings from the various contributions and points to the messages for educators. Finally, the editors outline an exciting research agenda to build knowledge of education addressing wicked problems. The intended audience of the book includes teachers, educators/facilitators, teacher educators, curriculum developers, and early career researchers as well as established researchers.

Making the List: Mount St. Helens as a Traditional Cultural Property, a Case Study in Tribal/Government Cooperation - Richard H. McClure and Nathaniel D. Reynolds Metal and Prestige in the Greater Lower Columbia River Region, Northwestern North America - H. Kory Cooper, Kenneth M. Ames, Loren G. Davis Archaeological Feature Preservation in Active Fluvial Environments: An Experimental Case Study from the Snoqualmie River, King County, Washington State - J. Tait Elder, Patrick Reed, Alexander E. Stevenson, and M. Shane Sparks Seals and Sea Lions in the Columbia River: An Evaluation and Summary of Research - Deward E. Walker Jr. The 67th Annual Northwest Anthropological Conference Abstracts Journal of Northwest Anthropology List of Reviewers, 2012–2015

“This book exhorts the reader to embrace the materiality of archaeology by recognizing how every step in the discipline’s scientific processes involves interaction with myriad physical artifacts, ranging from the camel-hair brush to profile drawings to virtual reality imaging. At the same time, the reader is taken on a phenomenological journey into various pasts, immersed in the lives of peoples from other times, compelled to engage their senses with the sights, smells, and noises of the publics and places whose remains they study. This is a refreshingly original and provocative look at the meaning of the material culture that lies at the foundation of the archaeological discipline.”—Michael Brian Schiffer, author of The Material Life of Human Beings “This volume is a radical call to fundamentally rethink the ontology, profession, and practice of archaeology. The authors present a closely reasoned, epistemologically sound argument for why archaeology should be considered the discipline of things, rather than its more commonplace definition as the study of the human past through material traces. All scholars and students of archaeology will need to read and contemplate this thought-provoking book.”—Wendy Ashmore, Professor of Anthropology, UC Riverside "A broad, illuminating, and well-researched overview of theoretical problems pertaining to archaeology. The authors make a calm defense of the role of objects against tedious claims of 'fetishism.'"—Graham Harman, author of The Quadruple Object

Toxic Heritage addresses the heritage value of contamination and toxic sites and provides the first in-depth examination of toxic heritage as a global issue. Bringing together case studies, visual essays, and substantive chapters written by leading scholars from around the world, the volume provides a critical framing of the globally expanding field of toxic heritage. Authors from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and methodologies examine toxic heritage as both a material phenomenon and a concept. Organized into five thematic sections, the book explores the meaning and significance of toxic heritage, politics, narratives, affected communities, and activist approaches and interventions. It identifies critical issues and highlights areas of emerging research on the intersections of environmental harm with formal and informal memory practices, while also highlighting the resilience, advocacy, and creativity of communities, scholars, and heritage professionals in responding to the current environmental crises. Toxic Heritage is useful and relevant to scholars and students working across a range of disciplines, including heritage studies, environmental science, archaeology, anthropology, and geography.

From the co-author of the viral New York Times bestseller This is How You Lose the Time War. Gods and lawyers battle for the soul of the world in the action-packed second volume of Max Gladstone's Craft Wars, an epic fantasy like no other. A deadly force has been unleashed into the world. With apocalypse on the horizon, a girl and a god have joined in order to turn back the coming end. Young, brash, and desperate, they are willing to destroy anything and everything that stands between them and their goals. The structures of the Craft are theirs to overturn, with billions of lives in the balance. And it is all Tara Abernathy’s fault. The battle for the world of the Craft is heating up. A dead god will rise. A mountain will fall. Ancient fire will be stolen. And while Tara races to stop Dawn’s plans, the end draws ever closer, skittering across the stars to swallow the world. The Craft Wars enter their second stage in Wicked Problems. Also Available by Max Gladstone: The Craft Sequence 1. Three Parts Dead 2. Two Serpents Rise 3. Full Fathom Five 4. Last First Snow 5. Four Roads Cross 6. Ruin of Angels The Craft Wars 1. Dead Country 2. Wicked Problems Last Exit Empress of Forever This is How You Lose the Time War (with Amal El-Mohtar) At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

An ode to systems engineers—whose invisible work undergirds our life—and an exploration of the wicked problems they tackle. Our world is filled with pernicious problems. How, for example, did novice pilots learn to fly without taking to the air and risking their lives? How should cities process mountains of waste without polluting the environment? Challenges that tangle personal, public, and planetary aspects—often occurring in health care, infrastructure, business, and policy—are known as wicked problems, and they are not going away anytime soon. In linked chapters focusing on key facets of systems engineering—efficiency, vagueness, vulnerability, safety, maintenance, and resilience—engineer Guru Madhavan illuminates how wicked problems have emerged throughout history and how best to address them in the future. He examines best-known tragedies and lesser-known tales, from the efficient design of battleships to a volcano eruption that curtailed global commerce, and how maintenance of our sanitation systems constitutes tikkun olam, or repair of our world. Braided throughout is the uplifting tale of Edwin Link, an unsung hero who revolutionized aviation with his flight trainer. In Link’s story, Madhavan uncovers a model mindset to engage with wickedness. An homage to society’s innovators and maintainers, Wicked Problems offers a refreshing vision for readers of all backgrounds to build a better future and demonstrates how engineering is a cultural choice—one that requires us to restlessly find ways to transform society, but perhaps more critically, to care for the creations that already exist.