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Uncanny Archaeologies

Unearthing Ancient Horrors in Film, Media, Literature and Culture

Uncanny Archaeologies cover

Uncanny Archaeologies

Unearthing Ancient Horrors in Film, Media, Literature and Culture

Description

An exploration of works that sit at the nexus of archaeology and horror, this collection brings together critical reflections on these 'uncanny archaeologies' as they appear across film, media, literature and 'real' spooky archaeology. With a global selection of authors drawing upon a wide variety of analytical concepts from posthumanism and 'weirding' to elements of mad studies, and the notion of 'archaeophobia', the collection promotes novel theoretical and conceptual frameworks for studying the works explored.

A treasure trove of themes from across archaeological horror, the essays in this volume include mainstays of the genre such as ancient curses, empty tombs, and ambulant mummies, as well as broader themes such as the underground, deep time, folk horror, time-slips, and the return of the dead. Interdisciplinary and multi modal, the essays cover a huge range of works: fiction by M.R. James, Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Conan Doyle; films and franchises including Tomb Raider and the Blair Witch Project; cultural phenomena such as Weird Tales, black metal, and Victorian occult sex magic; and 'real life' archaeological horrors from cursed objects to uncanny bodies, and magical treasure hunting. Lifting the lid on a popular new horror sub-genre, Uncanny Archaeology uncovers a field that is open, inclusive, and playful.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Ancient Horrors and Archaeological Receptions (Gabriel Moshenska, UCL Institute of Archaeology, UK)
2. Vicarious Ethnicity and Transgressive Knowledge in Lot No. 249 and The Horror at Red Hook (Daniel Renshaw, University of Reading, UK)
3. Prehistory Unleashed! The Evocation of Horror through Archaeology in the Works of Nigel Kneale (Kenneth Brophy, University of Glasgow, UK and Katy Soar, University of Winchester, UK)
4. 'Why have you disturbed our sleep; awakened us from our ancient slumber?' Archaeological Objects and Body Horror (Jessica O'Neill, themuseumguide.com, UK)
5. Antiquarianism, Ontography, and the Uncanny in Two Ghost Stories by M.R. James (Tom Sparrow, Slippery Rock University, USA)
6. Buried in Darkness: Black Metal's Archaeology of Horror (João Sequeira, Minho University, Portugal and Tânia Casimiro, University of Stirling, UK)
7. Becoming-Ruin: An EcoGothic Theory of Apocalypse and Phantasm (Mia X. Pérez, The Graduate Center, CUNY, USA)
8. Raiding the Dead: Archaeological Horrors within the Tomb Raider Franchise (Freya Fenton, Independent researcher, UK)
9. An Archaeology of Sex Magic: The British Museum's Secretum in the British Occult Revival (Helen Wickstead, Kingston University, UK)
10. Pulp Archaeology: Western Raiders and Ancient Curses in the pages of Weird Tales (Emilio Rodríguez-Álvarez, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain)
11. When archaeological Sites Become Horror: the Narrative of Gunung Padang in Gerbang Neraka (Hasrianti, Directorate of Scientific Collection Management, Indonesia, Laila Abdul Jalil, Directorate of Scientific Collection Management, Indonesia and Syahruddin Mansyur, Research Center for Environmental Archaeology, Maritime Archaeology, and Cultural Sustainability, Indonesia)
12. Native American Tropes and the Real Horrors of Archaeology (Solène Mallet Gauthier, University of Alberta, Canada)
13. Cosmic Horror and Archaeology: Monsters, UFOs and Encounters with the Past (Vesa-Pekka Herva, University of Oulu, Finland and Antti Lahelma, University of Helsinki, Finland)
14. Ghost-hunting with Semtex: the Materiality of the Supernatural in the Works of Robert Westall (Gabriel Moshenska, UCL Institute of Archaeology, UK)
15. Burkittsville, Maryland and the Curse of the Blair Witch (Rebecca Stone Gordon, Independent researcher, USA)
16. 'Inspired by a true story': the Archaeology Behind the Franklin Expedition and AMC's The Terror (Stephanie Halmhofer and Solène Mallet Gauthier, University of Alberta, Canada)
17. M.R. James and his Warnings to the Archaeologically Curious (Martyn Barber, Independent researcher, UK)
18. From the Further Side of Experience: Ancient Egypt and the Numinous in the work of Algernon Blackwood (Lawrence Webb, University of Southampton, UK)
19. 'Cursed' Objects of Pompeii (Christine A. Downton, Leicester University, UK)
20. Occult archaeology and the Landscape: Tales from Insular Greece (Stelios Lekakis, Newcastle University, UK)
21. The Weird World of Ancient Curse Tablets (Stuart McKie, Exeter University, UK)
Bibliography
Index

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 04 Feb 2027
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Pages 272
ISBN 9781350602793
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations 30 bw illus
Series Bloomsbury Spectres, Hauntings and Horrors
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Gabriel Moshenska

Gabriel Moshenska is an Associate Professor in Pub…

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