TAG2024

Chris Tilley (1955-2024) was one of the most dynamic archaeological theorists our discipline has produced. From his co-authored works in the 1980s that defined the first wave of post-processual thought, via his transformative engagement with phenomenology to his later work with materiality, his impact on archaeological theory is unquantifiable. In memory of this, we seek to explore in this session how Tilley’s work from different eras reads in the light of contemporary concerns, whether political or theoretical. How does the work continue to inform our contemporary arguments? What more might we glean from returning to the questions he posed? How might our current interests in ontology connect to his analysis of metaphor? In this session we welcome papers from people interested in exploring the impact of Tilley’s work, and its intersection with the ongoing challenges we face today.

9:00am | Introduction: reflections on the world changing theory of Chris Tilley | Rachel Crellin and Oliver Harris 

9:10am | “A conceptual dreamwork”; post-humanism, autoethnography and the experience of stone  | Amber Sofia Roy

9:25am | Beyond the Human: Chris Tilley’s Phenomenology and a More-than-Human Reading of the Thames Foreshore   | Claire Harris, Lara Band, Helen Chittock, Tom Chivers & Lesley McFadyen 

9:40am | From models and maps to experience  | Alejandra Galmés Alba

9:55am | Phenomenology without the fluff: How such a long word can produce more inclusive community engagement with archaeology  | Brodhie Molloy

11:00am | The shock of the old  | Anna Collar & Stu Eve

11:15am | Loneliness and Ethical Responsibility: A Levinasian Phenomenological Approach to Archaeology  | Joel Santos 

11:30am | “On Wenlock Edge the woods in trouble;” Christopher Tilley, Phenomenology and the ‘Thinging’ of Palaeoecological Interpretation  | Ben Gearey

11:45am | (Extra)Ordinary Worlds: Chris Tilley’s landscape thinking from phenomenology to anthropology and beyond  | Jonathan Last

12:00pm | Enforcing Viking Age Boundaries: Chris Tilley’s Phenomenology and Unravelling the Social Construction of the Danelaw  | Alexander Thomas

12:15pm | Chris Tilley and phenomenology | Julian Thomas

12:30pm | Discussion |

Full paper abstracts available here:
https://tag2024.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/tag-2024-session-abstracts-1.pdf