Ending Archaeology

Catastrophes, from the COVID pandemic to the climate crisis, have come to
suffuse the global consciousness. For colonised people, however, catastrophe is
nothing new. This paper aims to trace the role of archaeology in the ongoing colonial catastrophe and to outline the challenges faced by decolonising archaeology, by using three examples from distinct locales: 1) the implication of archaeology in settler colonial displacement and neoliberal profiteering in Palestine; 2) its complicity in disaster capitalism and the reproduction of colonial subjectification in Sint Eustatius; 3) its role in the (re)capture of epistemic power by the Global North through the Anthropocene’s collapse narratives. The question we are left with is how do we move on from this realisation towards archaeologies which refute disaster and reaffirm life? Acknowledging abolition, I conclude that it is only through ending archaeology as we know it that we can pursue futures in communication with the histories that coloniality and capital have attempted to erase.