Work

Slow archaeology in practice: negotiating institutional pressure and experiential engagement at Comana

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Archaeology is increasingly shaped by institutional pressures that privilege speed, monumentality and tourist appeal. At Comana, Türkiye, the Covid-19 pandemic created an opportunity to adopt a slower, more deliberate pace of investigation. Here, the author reflects on how practices adopted during this period promoted a deeper engagement with ritual landscapes through embodied interaction with the land and local community. This experience is used to support the argument that slowing down can resist institutional pressures and renew the discipline’s capacity for thoughtful, contextually grounded understanding; slow archaeology could be seen as a form of best practice under conditions of institutional acceleration.

Source: Antiquity

DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2026.10422

Author: Deniz Burcu Erciyas

Institution: Middle East Technical University

Language: English

Topic: Archaeology and Cultural Heritage

Subfield: Cultural Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,550

Funders: Fondation Max van Berchem, Anadolu Üniversitesi, Koç Üniversitesi