As a “sensible” person (not a “sensitive”), I want to make sense of space, especially haunted space. As an archaeologist, this sensibility MUST come before the “dig”! All excavations are destructive. They alter spatial symmetry, and change past fields of experience. Besides, all spaces have multiple “sensugraphies” of being, emotions, and actions on the surface that must be unearthed before the sub-surface is exposed. Each act of excavation is a performance. The resonating qualities of that performance determines the extent and content of past material remains that are recoverable in any one particular layered space.
Occupying a space as an archaeologist, rather than a resident, involves moral responsibilities. It also demands a sensitivity to multiple cultural issues and different (often conflicting) social behaviors. This sensitivity is space-specific to particular layers of uncertainty, loss, and decay. And it is NOT culturally (or socially) bound to what is technologically-current, politically-correct, nor is it framed by a contemporarily-perceived reality. Certainly, it is not tied to popularity or entertainment TV! Space and place are “timeless” because actual time unfolds. It is NOT linear! Space is unboarded by actual physical constraints because space is symmetrical (multiple presences occurring simultaneously).
This is an archaeology of space and place that becomes a field of resonance within particular layers of the past, each layer with its own set of behaviors and actions. All of this fieldwork is a surface excavation. It is non-evasive. Since there is no physical penetration, there is no potential destruction. The cultural destruction of actual reality comes with non-resonating acts in particular spaces. These acts are contemporary probes which lack “depth” (both cultural/social and moral) because they assume a 21st c. stance toward the unearthing of past presence and interactive behavior.
This “fieldwork” also lacks a sensitive knowledge to what actually occurred in particular spaces because it too frequently involves technological (not human) intervention! It also makes demands through commands without being relative to specific past social situations. This type of “fieldwork” (usually termed a “ghost hunt”) produces NEW layers of (contemporary) presence, without recovering past historical, “dead” ones!
These contemporary “hunts” are not archaeological endeavors, nor are they science. They are also not culturally sensitive (for the most part). They also lack a contextual process because the field acts are NOT reiterative. They cannot be repeated again (with the SAME results) at a different time. They remain “hunts”, not excavations!
A “ghost excavation” is a specific structured process that is context-sensitive. It is sensible. It works with interactive past presence, through a layered cultural uncertainty. Each layer of history and/or cultural occupation requires a different contextual cognitive strategy, participatory acts, and performances that “target” specific situations, activities, emotional expressions, and particular individuals. It is also morally-focused. The fieldwork does not involve demands and commands. It respects ALL human behavior and social expressions. The fieldwork requires a particular kind of investigator, and a specific type of personality. If you can commit to this type of archaeological work, please join us; or support our efforts in the field!
