Study Notes on 'Three Rooms: Archaeology and Performance' by Michael Shanks

Departments: Classics and Social and Cultural Anthropology, Stanford University, USA
Abstract Summary:
- The article intertwines archaeology from three different historical contexts:
1. Greek city of Corinth
2. Nineteenth-century Wales
3. Contemporary London.
- Aims to explore how archaeologists construct narratives around remnants of the past and alternative methods of engaging with archaeological empirics.
- Connects archaeology with a broader theme of modernity, emphasizing themes of power and performativity in relation to agency and community.

Project Origins:
1. First Origin: A project focused on early Greek city-states.
- Previous works aimed to develop an archaeological interpretation based on ceramic design, production, and consumption.
- Emphasis on artifact lifecycles - both at a macro and micro level.
- Critiques traditional categories like rank, social class, trade, which limit understanding of archaeological material to long-standing metanarratives related to ancient imperialisms or cultural florescences.
1. Second Origin: Over ten years of collaboration with the arts company ‘Brith Gof’.
- Explores the intersection of archaeology with performance, addressing documentation challenges following performances or social practices.
- Discussions on performativity in social practices examined through recent developments in performance studies.

Core Questions:
1. Performance as a metaphor for social and cultural processes, linked to the role of social actors.
2. Shared concerns in archaeology and performance regarding documentation (how events are recorded).
3. Archaeology conceptualized as performance, using remains of the past to represent and restore behaviors.
Concept of Performance:
- Often linked to heightened experience and identity.
- Performance and performativity viewed within a contested cultural field—with ambiguity and inconsistencies.
- Performance understood through concepts of mimetic (representing) and eidetic (mental imagery):
- Eidetic: Refers to vivid mental imagery that isn't merely memory; raises questions of realism and simulation in the context of experience and knowledge.
- Irony in performance: Lack of a singular script, highlighting discrepancies between original intent and actualized performance.

The integration of materials from the three rooms exemplifies how identity and agency are handled relative to institutional structures and cultural imagination.
Performative moments recognized as crucial to understanding sociocultural changes, including references to the Greek city-state.

Narratives constructed around time, tradition, and modernity—each room symbolizes themes of mystery and discovery.
Nineteenth-Century Wales: Embodies modern-traditional distinctions; highlights rural traditions under scrutiny.
Contemporary London: References the trope of modernist detective fiction; explores internal and civil values in urban contexts.
Each room juxtaposed to create opportunities for alternative narratives.

Each room serves distinct contexts, but displays shared themes of archaeological interest, particularly performative remnants.
Employs parataxis (juxtaposition without hierarchy) and katachresis (an improvised connection) to encourage synthesis rather than layered explicit interpretation.
Goal: Manifest essential characteristics of the overlapped conglomerations of people, events, and artifacts.

A Bedroom (Lletherneuadd-uchaf, Wales; March 1869):
- Dimensions: 12 ft x 8 ft, dark interior indicating neglect and atmosphere of mystery.
- Description includes a girl lying on a bed (Sarah Jacob), adorned with items portraying cultural practices and local rituals surrounding her fasting fame.
- Associated visits from various people inquiring about her condition lead to heightened public interest and documentation.
A Dining Room (Perachora, Corinth):
- Rectangular foundational area (17 ft x 30 ft) possibly serving as a temple; reveals various archaeological remnants linked to dining practices associated with cult activities.
- Evidence found suggests rich social and ritual practices in the context of dining in ancient Greek culture.
A Garret (East End of London, 1980):
- Description of a disheveled room belonging to David Rodinsky, who vanished under mysterious circumstances, encapsulates the intersection of urban mythos and cultural narratives.

Health and Medical Misunderstanding:
- Timeline of Sarah Jacob’s health problems leading up to her refusal of food, with descriptions of her condition invoking medical discourses of hysteria, religious beliefs, and psychological perspectives.
- Series of medical visits highlight varying interpretations of her health and the community's fascination with her story.

Transition of property values amid urban redevelopment in the 1980s leads to critiques from cultural critics about the heritage industry's rise and loss of community identity.
Heritage Center: The site becomes a marker of past events and living memories within the urban fabric of London’s evolving narrative.

Ethical and Philosophical Questions:
- The interrelation of truth, cultural representation, and the role of performative acts in historical narratives.
- Questions raised regarding cultural practices, community identity, and complex interactions of narratives in terms of agency, power, and representation.

Cited various works and publications relevant to the theoretical underpinnings of the discussed content:
- Shanks, M. (1991). Experiencing the Past: On the Character of Archaeology.
- Gumbrecht, H.U. (1997). In 1926: Living at the Edge of Time.
- Numerous other academic works referenced for concepts of performance, archaeology, and cultural history.

Shanks urges the significance of approaching archaeology as a performative practice that continuously reconstructs narratives, thus challenging conventional methodologies.