Dr. Allison Mickel is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of Global Studies at Lehigh University, and has worked extensively on the politics of labor, especially in the field of archaeology. She earned her MA and PhD in Archaeology from Stanford University, and her major publications include the book Why Those Who Shovel Are Silent : A History of Local Archaeological Knowledge and Labor, published in 2021, and the article Legend of the Locked Doors: The Sexualization of Archaeological Site Workers in the Middle East, published in 2023. She has worked on excavations in Kenya, Jordan, and Turkey. Her current work is focused on collaborating with two private companies in Jordan to advocate both for local expertise and fair labor conditions at archaeological sites.
Listen in, as Dr. Mickel discusses the realm of knowledge-keeping, exploitation of local site workers, and their relations to colonial labor practices.
Interested in more information? Check out these publications from Dr. Mickel.
Mickel, Allison. Why Those Who Shovel Are Silent: A History of Local Archaeological Knowledge and Labor. University Press of Colorado, 2021.
Mickel, Allison, Anthony Sinclair, and Tom Brughmans. “Knowledge Networks.” In The Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Network Research, edited by Tom Brughmans, Barbara J. Mills, Jessica Munson, and Matthew A. Peeples, 392–412. Oxford University Press, 2023.
Mickel, Allison. “Legend of the Locked Doors: The Sexualization of Archaeological Site Workers in the Middle East.” American Anthropologist 125.1 (2023): 77–88.
Mickel, Allison. “Active Archaeology in the Middle East.” Forum Kritische Archäologie 12 (2023): 44–48.
Mickel, Allison. “Purification in Practice and Dialogue.” Forum Kritische Archäologie 12 (2023): 122–127.
Mickel, Allison, and Nylah Byrd. Cultivating Trust, Producing Knowledge: The Management of Archaeological Labour and the Making of a Discipline. History of the Human Sciences 35. 2 (2021): 3–28. doi:10.1177/09526951211015855.
Looking for a transcript of this episode? Click here.
Left: Cover image for Why Those Who Shovel are Silent (Mickel, 2021).
Right: Allison Mickel interviewing Hiiseyin Veli Yasli, a former site worker at Catalhoyiik and expert in mudbric construction. Photograph by Tunc ilada (Mickel, Bennison-Chapman, and Filipowicz 2020, fig. 4).
Academic Publications
Cline, Eric H.“Invisible Excavators: The Quftis of Megiddo, 1925-1939.” Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 2022.
Irving, S. “A Tale of Two Yusifs: Recovering Arab Agency in Palestine Exploration Fund Excavations, 1890-1924.” Palestine Exploration Quarterly 149.3 (2017): 223–236.
Quirke, S. Hidden Hands: Egyptian Workforces in Petrie Excavation Archives 1880–1924. Bloomsbury, 2010.
Roland, J. “Documenting the Qufti Archaeological Workforce.” Egyptian Archaeology 44(2014): 10–12.
Open Access Resources
Çatalhöyük Research Project. n.d. “Bringing Çatalhöyük to life.” Çatalhöyük Research Project.
Cradic, Melissa. Archaeological Laborers of 20th-Century Palestine. ASOR 11, no. 6 (June), 2023.
Hochbein, Kelly. 2019. “Allison Mickel Examines the Limiting Labor Practices of Modern Archaeological Excavations.” Lehigh University.
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