Somehow in the churn of the last couple of years I missed posting about a new (old) book chapter that came out in 2022: Public Archaeology and Engagement in the Origins of Doha and Qatar Project (ODQ). This was...
Somehow in the churn of the last couple of years I missed posting about a new (old) book chapter that came out in 2022:
Public Archaeology and Engagement in the Origins of Doha and Qatar Project (ODQ).
This was a project under the PI Robert Carter that ran from 2012 – 2015, wherein we excavated in Doha and Fuwairit, did a bunch of building recording, oral histories, in person and online outreach, and historical research. The project webpage/blog has a bunch of resources.
The chapter gives the background of the project and discusses how critical public outreach became over the duration. We:
worked with multiple stakeholders, trained members of the government, gave public lectures in schools and other venues, designed educational materials, opened access to research as it was carried out through digital media, appeared in documentaries, museum exhibitions, and magazines, and opened the research and publication remit to local stakeholders who have indelibly shaped them (pg 94-95).
While we had some open days, we also filmed short excavation explainers that were translated with Arabic subtitles to try to demonstrate archaeological excavation.
We also had a fantastic interactive historical GIS created by the very talented Michal Michalski. Unfortunately a lot of that work was lost when UCL shut down their Qatar campus with their IT services as a casualty.
We also found that the local schools were completely lacking in teaching local history and archaeology, so we made some resources and conducted school visit. I particularly enjoyed our implementation of building elevations as colouring exercises for children.
The bulk of the work was written in 2015, and perhaps shows some of the problems of publishing about digital work, particularly in books that can have long delays. As I said though, I’m still happy about the work we did in Doha, and the small community we were able to create around archaeology in the region.
Morgan, C., Carter, R., Aziz, F. A., & Al Thani, M. (2022). Public Archaeology and Engagement in the Origins of Doha and Qatar Project. In A. Badran, S. Abu-Khafajah, & S. Elliott (Eds.), Community Heritage in the Arab Region: Values and Practices (pp. 91–108). Springer International Publishing.
