When I initially received the call for contributions to Orienting Archaeology towards Peace, I was unsure how I could contribute to the challenging question of how archaeology and the heritage sector might promote peace and justice. Almost immediately, the persistent question of archaeology’s contemporary relevance in a world characterized by ongoing crises, violence, and injustice came to mind. While I was conducting my PhD research, I observed the overthrow of an authoritarian regime, the subsequent hijacking of a revolution – first by conservative Islamic politi- cians and then by the military – and the rapid transformation of a once hopeful country into an even harsher yet stable dictatorship, all from the distant and strangely insulated microcosm of an excavation house in the Egyptian Nile Delta.
Johannes Jungfleisch (Thu,) studied this question.