# Christopher Witmore

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Christopher_Witmore
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Christopher_Witmore.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Witmore
> Source revision: 1312388181
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

**Christopher Witmore** (born February 17, 1974, [Laurinburg, NC](/source/Laurinburg,_NC)) is an academic and Professor of Archaeology and Classics at [Texas Tech University](/source/Texas_Tech_University).[1] His research focuses on landscapes in Greece over the long term, archaeological theory, thing studies; contemporary archaeology and the Anthropocene; and the relationships between humans, technology, and the environment.[2][3]

## Education

Witmore earned his BA in archaeology, classics, and geography from the [University of North Carolina at Greensboro](/source/University_of_North_Carolina_at_Greensboro) in 1996, a MA in [Landscape Archaeology](/source/Landscape_Archaeology) at the [University of Sheffield](/source/University_of_Sheffield) in 1998, and a PhD from [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University) in 2005.

## Career

Witmore is co-editor of the Routledge Archaeological Orientations series and sits on the Editorial Board of the *[Journal of Contemporary Archaeology](/source/Journal_of_Contemporary_Archaeology)*.[4][5] From 2006 to 2009, he was a postdoctoral research fellow with the [Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World](/source/Joukowsky_Institute_for_Archaeology_and_the_Ancient_World) at [Brown University](/source/Brown_University).[6] In 2009 he joined the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at [Texas Tech University](/source/Texas_Tech_University) where he is the President's Excellence in Research Professor of [archaeology](/source/Archaeology) and the head of [classics](/source/Classics).

Witmore also held a research fellowship at the [National Humanities Center](/source/National_Humanities_Center) from 2014 to 2015.[7] In 2017 he was a Senior Research Fellow with the [Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters](/source/Centre_for_Advanced_Study_at_the_Norwegian_Academy_of_Science_and_Letters).[8][9]

He teaches at Texas Tech University courses on archaeology, landscape, Classics, the history of technology, and the theory and philosophy of archaeology.[10]

## Research and authorship

Witmore is "known for blending in-depth engagements alongside objects with longstanding and pressing questions of human and nonhuman existence. Witmore is among a few influential archaeologists who have been instrumental in reorienting the field from an exclusive focus on a distant past, to a field of interventions into the present, past, and future."[11] He has written over 90 articles on the philosophy of [archaeology](/source/Archaeology), new materialisms, [archaeological theory](/source/Archaeological_theory), [landscape archaeology](/source/Landscape_archaeology), [classical archaeology](/source/Classical_archaeology), and [contemporary archaeology](/source/Contemporary_archaeology).[8] He has published five books on these topics including *Old Lands: A Chorography of the Eastern Peloponnese*, which seeks to renew and transform the ancient genre of [chorography](/source/Chorography).[12][13] *Old Lands*, according to the American Philosopher [Levi Bryant](/source/Levi_Bryant) is a book that "defies categorization, it is part history, part travel diary, part reflection on the present, and part theoretical reflection on archaeology and how archaeology ought to be conducted."[14] Witmore also co-authored the 2012 book *Archaeology: The Discipline of Things* along with [Bjørnar Olsen](/source/Bj%C3%B8rnar_Olsen) and [Michael Shanks (archaeologist)](/source/Michael_Shanks_(archaeologist)), which according to [Michael Brian Schiffer](/source/Michael_Brian_Schiffer) "exhorts the reader to embrace the materiality of archaeology by recognizing how every step in the discipline's scientific processes involves interaction with myriad physical artifacts, ranging from the camel-hair brush to profile drawings to virtual reality imaging."[15] More recently, Witmore co-authored *Objects Untimely: Object-Oriented Philosophy and Archaeology* with the object-oriented philosopher [Graham Harman](/source/Graham_Harman).[16] According to the philosopher [Jon Cogburn](/source/Jon_Cogburn), "*Objects Untimely* develops a radical object-oriented theory of archaeology while simultaneously providing a novel account of time's dependence upon objects."[17]

Witmore is also known for writing "the founding manifesto of [symmetrical archaeology](/source/Symmetrical_archaeology)."[18][19][20] Symmetrical archaeology recasts "archaeology as the study of things and not the study of the past or past peoples."[21] As Witmore puts it, "archaeology is the study of things with an aim to understand pasts and their relevance for life."[22]

## Selected publications

- Symmetrical Archaeology: Excerpts of a Manifesto. C. Witmore *World Archaeology* 39(4): 546-62 (2007)
- *Archaeology: The Discipline of Things* C. Witmore (with B. Olsen, M. Shanks, and T. Webmoor) (2012)
- *Archaeology in the Making: Conversations through a Discipline* C. Witmore (co-edited with B. Rathje and M. Shanks) (2013)
- Archaeology and the New Materialisms. C. Witmore *The Journal of Contemporary Archaeology* 1(2): 203-24 (2014)
- Archaeology, symmetry, and the ontology of things. A response to critics. B. Olsen (with C. Witmore) *Archaeological Dialogues* 22(2): 187-197 (2015)
- *Old Lands: A Chorography of the Eastern Peloponnese* C. Witmore (2020)
- *Objects Untimely: Object-oriented philosophy and archaeology* C. Witmore (with G. Harman) (2023)
- Anthropoiesis revisited: Hominization through the incorporation of nonhumans. C. Witmore *The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Archaeology* Oxford University Press: 1215-233 (2024)

## See also

- [Archaeological theory](/source/Archaeological_theory)
- [Chorography](/source/Chorography)
- [Metamedia](/source/Metamedia)
- [Ian Hodder](/source/Ian_Hodder)
- [Michael Shanks (archaeologist)](/source/Michael_Shanks_(archaeologist))
- [Bjørnar Olsen](/source/Bj%C3%B8rnar_Olsen)
- [Graham Harman](/source/Graham_Harman)

## References

1. ["Christopher Witmore"](https://www.depts.ttu.edu/classic_modern/classics/people/Witmore.php). *Texas Tech University*. Retrieved 14 February 2024.

1. ["For the Pages: Chris Witmore"](https://radio.kttz.org/blogs/2020-01-24/for-the-pages-chris-witmore). *National Public Radio*. 24 January 2020. Retrieved 2023-07-10.

1. ["AIA Lecturer: Christopher L. Witmore"](https://www.archaeological.org/lecturer/christopher-l-witmore/). *Archaeological Institute of America*. Retrieved 2024-01-24.

1. ["Archaeological Orientations"](https://www.routledge.com/Archaeological-Orientations/book-series/ARCHOR). *Routledge*. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

1. ["Editorial Board, Journal of Contemporary Archaeology"](https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JCA/about/editorialTeam). *Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, Equinox Publishers*. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

1. ["Christopher Witmore"](https://www.brown.edu/academics/archaeology/people/former-postdoctoral-fellow/christopher-witmore). *Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown University*. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

1. ["Christopher Witmore (NHC Fellow, 2014–15)"](https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/fellow/christopher-l-witmore-2014-2015/). *National Humanities Center*. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

1. ["Witmore CV"](https://www.depts.ttu.edu/classic_modern/other/CV/WitmoreCV7Oct2022.pdf). Retrieved 2 January 2023.

1. ["After Discourse Things, Archaeology, and Heritage in the 21st Century"](https://cas-nor.no/group/30). *Centre for Advanced Study*. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

1. ["Archaeology Program"](https://www.depts.ttu.edu/classic_modern/classics/undergrad/archaeology.php). *Department of Classical & Modern Languages & Literatures – Texas Tech University*. Retrieved 2 January 2023.

1. ["Polity Press Authors"](https://www.politybooks.com/authorbio?author_slug=christopher-witmore). *Polity Press*. Retrieved 7 October 2023.

1. ["Old Lands"](https://www.routledge.com/Old-Lands-A-Chorography-of-the-Eastern-Peloponnese/Witmore/p/book/9780815363446). *Routledge*. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

1. ["Between the Covers, Fall 2020: Fellows Discuss Their Recent Publications"](https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/between-the-covers-fall-2020-fellows-discuss-their-recent-publications/#witmore). *National Humanities Center*. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2024.

1. ["Critics' Reviews of Old Lands"](https://www.routledge.com/Old-Lands-A-Chorography-of-the-Eastern-Peloponnese/Witmore/p/book/9780815363446). *Routledge*. Retrieved 7 October 2023.

1. Olsen, Bjørnar (November 2012). [*Reviews*](https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520274174/archaeology#reviews). University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-27417-4. Retrieved 7 October 2023.

1. ["Christopher Witmore"](https://ttu.academia.edu/ChristopherWitmore/Books). *academia.edu*. Retrieved 2 January 2023.

1. ["Reviews"](https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=objects-untimely-object-oriented-philosophy-and-archaeology--9781509556540). *Polity Press*. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

1. Harris & Cipolla 2017, p. 136

1. Zakaitis 2011, p. 12

1. Witmore 2007

1. Govier 2022, p. 188

1. Witmore 2019

## Sources

- Govier, E. (2022). "Pre-critical archaeology. Speculative realism and symmetrical archaeology". *Archaeological Dialogues*. **29** (2): 188–199. [doi:10.1017/S1380203822000241](https://doi.org/10.1017/S1380203822000241). [S2CID 252504900](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:252504900)
- Harris, O.J. & Cipolla, C.N. (2017). *Archaeological theory in the new millennium: introducing current perspectives*. London: Routledge.
- Witmore, C. (2007). "Symmetrical Archaeology: Excerpts of a Manifesto". *World Archaeology*. **34** (9): 546–62. [doi:10.1080/00438240701679411](https://doi.org/10.1080/00438240701679411). [S2CID 144287010](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:144287010)
- Witmore, C. (2019). "Symmetrical archaeology". *Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology*. New York: Springer.
- Witmore, C.; Caraher, W.; González-Ruibal, A.; Hanink, J. (2021). "Reviewing Christopher Witmore's Old Lands: A Chorography of the Eastern Peloponnese". *Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology*. **34** (1): 109–31. London: Routledge, 2020. [doi:10.1558/jma.43204](https://doi.org/10.1558/jma.43204). [S2CID 237733196](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:237733196)
- Zakaitis, J. (October 2011). "Interview: Jonas Zakaitis talks with Christopher Witmore". *The Federal*. '***(2): 11–20.***

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Christopher Witmore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Witmore) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Witmore?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.