Documentary Educational Resources - Subject / Archaeology / Fieldwork / All Films

On Behalf of the Living

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 09:47:44 GMT

On Behalf of the Living
Buy Now: $320.00

On Behalf of the Living unfolds on two levels: an exploration of humanity’s preoccupation with life after death and the story of one anthropologist’s experiment—taking his lifelong “participatory” research on a Papua New Guinea island to its logical, if counter-intuitive, conclusion.

The film is composed of three strands. The first includes footage that Ton Otto filmed with his parents in the Netherlands, where discussions of faith, God, and eternity are argued out ‘en famille’. The second strand takes place on Baluan Island, where Christian Suhr documents Ton’s reunion with his adoptive family. Before long, the two find themselves entangled in complex disputes —both spiritual and personal. The third strand, in a different register altogether, consists of a series of dialogues between Ton and Christian, one-on-one. Through alternating first-person perspectives, they interrogate and challenge each other with rare directness, questioning the very viability of their experiment—and even the anthropological project as a whole. This strand functions as a Greek Chorus, providing a check on the ideas and insights emerging from the main storyline. While probing the realm of the ancestors, the film’s primary source and frame of reference remain the lived experiences of the people—mostly family—that it embraces with its lens.

Writing about his motivation for making the film, Ton writes that he was interested in confronting “one of the great mysteries of human life: its ending. What happens after our biological demise? What kinds of afterlife are imaginable? How do we continue to relate to our dead loved ones? Being an anthropologist by profession I was driven to immerse myself in different cultural worlds, not only to discover alternative beliefs and practices but also to challenge my own ideas about the continuities and discontinuities between the living and the dead.”

"On Behalf of the Living is a stunning film. It is about Papua New Guinea, and the Netherlands and Denmark, but even more, it is about the nature of human life and death. Terrence Malick-like in its scope, it is also the best film of any kind about religion I have seen in a long time…It is a major piece of work."
— Prof. Joel Robbins, Cambridge University, UK

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Ethnografilm, France, 2024

NAFA Int'l Ethnographic Film Festival, Denmark, 2023

Int'l Festival of Ethnological Film, Macedonia, 2023

Ethnofest - Athens Ethnographic Film Festival. Greece, 2023

European Society for Oceanists, France, 2022

Visit Fieldwork to see additional products in this category.

Unearthed

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 17:57:45 GMT

Unearthed
Buy Now: $295.00

Archaeology is generally seen as an innocuous, innocent, and objective academic pursuit in Western culture. Archaeologists, after all, excavate into the earth to unearth the remnants of past human activities and lives. In doing so, offering objective evidence for how the world was—so that we might better situate ourselves now and into our future.

But there is more to the story. Caught up with the colonial project in the Americas, Archaeology has propagated harmful narratives and played a major role in the erasure of Native people, their loss of sovereignty, and communal traumas. That is not to say the field of Archaeology does not hold great benefit for Native Communities—there is no doubt it does. The question becomes: who is the archaeological research for, how is it done, and for what ends?

In recent decades, Native-led research, Native scholars, Native archaeologists, and their associates have begun a revolution to decolonize archaeology and the future looks bright. Unearthed offers a look into this complexity as it is unfolding today, and a deeper view into the rich material culture excavated from Cache Cave. The materials shared here are shared with the collaboration and consent of the Tejon Indian Tribe.

"Visually captivating and with tremendous heart, Unearthed succeeds in portraying how Indigenous peoples’ struggles are ongoing and increasingly intersect in positive ways with archaeology and senses of place, both to reawaken and rejuvenate venerable cultural traditions." – Edward Jolie (Oglala Lakota/Hodulgee Muscogee), University of Arizona

Selected Screenings & Awards

Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) Film Festival, UK, 2023

Society for Visual Anthropology Film & Media Festival, USA, 2022

Santa Barbara International Film Festival, USA, 2022

Poppy Jasper International Film Festival, USA, 2022

Durango Independent Film Festival, USA, 2022

Red National International Film Festival, USA, 2022

Ashland Independent Film Festival, USA, 2022

San Diego International Film Festival, USA, 2021

Mammoth Lakes International Film Festival (Premiere), USA, 2021

Visit Fieldwork to see additional products in this category.

In Pursuit of Lost Time

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 12:44:00 GMT

In Pursuit of Lost Time
Buy Now: $320.00

This is a documentary about the shipwreck excavations along the Agean-Mediterranean coasts and the foundation of Nautical Archaeology in Turkey, after the initial discovery of the shipwrecks by the sponge divers of Bodrum.

In excavating a shipwreck, underwater archaeologists travel back in time. Preserved in these ships is the knowledge of ancient civilizations and cultures. The institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) has fully excavated four shipwrecks in Turkey since the 1960's, including the 3,300 year old Canaanite wreck which was brought to the surface at Uluburun. Excavation of this ship took 11 years between 1982 - 1993.

The film depicts the passion & adventures of modern underwater archaeologists during 1996 - 1998 including an excavation directed by Dr. Freiderick M Hocker to the 1100 year old Byzantine shipwreck in Bozburun. We also see historical underwater footage shot in the 1960's.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Best Film on Excavations, ICRONOS, International Archaeological Film Festival of Bordeaux France, 2000

Screened Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2001

3rd Archaeology Film Biennal, Toulouse, France 2001

3rd Istanbul International Archaeology Film Festival, Turkey, 2000

Bodrum International Environmental Film Festival, Turkey, 1999

4th Boston Turkish Festival, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, TACS

Visit Fieldwork to see additional products in this category.

Mount Nemrud

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:50:00 GMT

Mount Nemrud
Buy Now: $320.00

Located in one of the most remote areas of Eastern Turkey and considered the eighth wonder of the ancient world, Mount Nemrud has been shrouded in mystery for more than 2000 years. At 7,700 feet above sea level and containing a 150-foot high tumulus flanked by colossal statues, the Mount Nemrud sanctuary has become synonymous with absolute grandeur.

Widely believed to house the undisturbed tomb of its builder, Mount Nemrud has puzzled researchers for more than a century. Antiochus, a self proclaimed King and God, ruled over Kommagene, a small buffer kingdom situated between the Roman and Parthian Empires during 162 BC and 72 AD. Ambitious and determined to protect his kingdom against his powerful neighbors, he initiated a cultural and religious reform that culminated in the building of Mount Nemrud, his greatest achievement.

Theresa Goell was the first American female archaeologist to lead a dig in Eastern Turkey. Despite her rapidly deteriorating hearing, she became the head of the most extensive and long-term excavation of Mount Nemrud. She spent more than 30 years working to elevate the sanctuary to its rightful place among the great monuments of the ancient world.

Many of the unearthed artifacts and historical information are a result of her tenacious work; for example, The Lion Horoscope is one of archaeology's great finds. Initially excavated by the Germans in 1882, it was re-excavated and studied by Goell in the 1950's. It is the oldest known Greek calendrical horoscope in the world and believed to represent either the date of Antiochus' ascension to the throne or the foundation date of the sanctuary.

Through the use of on-site interviews with world renowned scholars, 3-D computer animations, and battle reinactments, the film makers journey back in time to recreate history. Incorporating rare archival footage of excavations, and memoirs of dedicated archaeologists such as Otto Puchstein and Theresa Goell, Mount Nemrud: The Throne of the Gods is a valuable tool for educators to inform and excite students from young to old who are eager to learn more about the history and achievements of the ancient world.

Visit Fieldwork to see additional products in this category.

Roots of African Culture

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 08:59:00 GMT

Roots of African Culture
Buy Now: $295.00

"This is very important for us. Not only to engage and for the reconstruction of the historical past, but also for our national heritage." — Professor Yonah Seleti

Historical revisionism and propaganda were important elements of apartheid ideology, proclaiming that black peoples were not the owners of Southern Africa by stating that the whites arrived in the same areas at nearly the same time. Today, a crucial objective of South African education is to erase this interpretation as presented in earlier textbooks, and to give their students a genuine history of their country.

Roots of African Culture, a video produced by the University of Natal, is an indispensable pedagogical tool for this purpose. Recording the teaching process of Professors Jeff Guy, Leonard van Schalkwyk, Haskell Greenfield, and Yonah Seleti, this video depicts the entire process through which students are enabled to rediscover the history of Africa. Examples of falsified apartheid literature are juxtaposed against the fieldwork evidence that shows evidence of the first South African settlements, in existence well before the arrival of European populations in Natal area in 1652.

Under the supervision of experts, students participate in archaeological excavations in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, between "historic" Natal and the Zulu Kingdom, where African communities lived in the Iron Age. The entire process of excavation of a site is described and carried out. The process of "Carbon 14 dating" is explained.

Through this concrete and delightful academic experience students are finally able to affirm the existence of African farming communities during the 8th century.

Suitable for African Studies, archaeology, anthropology, history, and educational practice.

Visit Fieldwork to see additional products in this category.

A Search For Vanished People

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 07:45:00 GMT

A Search For Vanished People
Buy Now: $295.00

Pioneering archaeologist, Luther Cressman, pursued the evidence that describes the lifeways of the earliest people of the Northern Great Basin. Cressman explores the caves where he discovered basket fragments, sagebrush sandals and ancient weapons. Carbon dating verified that people had lived in the region during the last Ice Age, 13,000 years ago. This film shows Dr. Cressman's more than 40 years of research on western prehistory.

A Search For Vanished People is an important historical film about Native North Americans.

DER thanks Oregon Public Broadcasting for the opportunity to rescue these fine archival films from obscurity. This film is excellent for classroom use from 6th grade to adult.

Visit Fieldwork to see additional products in this category.

The Tree of Iron

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 08:57:00 GMT

The Tree of Iron
Buy Now: $320.00

Tree of Iron is one of the few films to document archaeological work on ancient civilizations in Africa. The film details the history and processes of African iron smelting and presents convincing evidence for early, complex indigenous technologies.

Tree of Iron is set in Tanzania, East Africa, on the western shores of Lake Victoria, where Haya people have lived for centuries. The film follows the work of Peter Schmidt, an archaeologist and historian who studies the ancient, 2000-year-old iron industrial sites of the region, as well as extensive oral traditions that illustrate the role of iron in agriculture, political power, and mythology.

The tree in the film's title refers to an enormous tree of great antiquity that is the symbolic center of Haya iron production. Linked to rich iron symbolism, a vibrant mythology, and to ancient iron forges and furnaces, the site of this iron tree produced the first evidence for ancient, sophisticated metalworking technology.

Schmidt works with African iron smelters who build and operate reconstructed versions of traditional furnaces to demonstrate the technological principles that ancient workers used to produce high carbon steel. It also illustrates the degradation of the environment caused by this ancient industry. The film's experimental and comparative approach takes the viewer through each of the technical steps involved in smelting, from charcoal production to furnace construction.

The 80 to 90-year-old Haya smelters are the primary actors in this remarkable process. Tree of Iron combines foci on archaeology, ethnography, and metallurgy to overturn faulty ideas about the history of technology in Africa and replace them with an emphasis on wonder and achievement.

"This important film deserves a wide audience...it is one of the very few films to document archaeological work in sub-Saharan Africa and the only one to examine ethnoarchaeological research and experimentation there.

Peter Schmidt has combined the talents of archaeologist, ethnologist and metallurgist in his quest to understand early African iron smelting. This entire project is an exemplary model of interdisciplinary archaeology, and we are fortunate not just to have a record of it on film, but to have a record of such high quality."
— Peter Allen, ARCHAEOLOGY

Visit Fieldwork to see additional products in this category.

Tikal

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 08:57:00 GMT

Tikal
Buy Now: $295.00

Tikal, the Mayan ceremonial center in the Peten lowlands of Guatemala, is famous for its monumental pyramids and stelae. Hidden in the jungle nearby are thousands of house mounds where, a millennium ago, worshippers and workers lived. This film focuses on the archaeology of one house mound excavated in 1960.

Tikal explores what we can learn from these domestic remains, particularly about the people who created and maintained this great intellectual and religious Mayan culture. This Special Edition DVD also features commentary by Karl Heider (26 min) and a narrated pictorial history (9 min) of Heider's career in archaeology and anthropology.

Visit Fieldwork to see additional products in this category.