We have just restarted RISS – an archaeological journal, run by archeology students at the University of Bergen, Norway. We would very much like you to contribute to our next edition, which is due to be published in January 2022! Since RISS has been basically dead for some years, we, the new editorial staff, like to think of ourselves as the rebirth of RISS. Therefore, our theme for the next edition of RISS is «rebirth»!
The concept of rebirth is about something being born anew. A broad understanding of the term can encompass a change in form, a transformation or a transition from one stage to another. Rebirth and recreation are aspects of life that have influenced and inspired people throughout the ages. Therefore, archaeologists often study phenomena, objects and actions as results of, or in light of, rebirth. For example, the production of stone tools, ceramics and metal objects can be interpreted as processes where raw materials are born again as finished objects. Similarly, the study of prehistoric and historic power structures and political systems can also be studied as acts of rebirth, in that power is often transferred on the basis of ideas being brought back from past times. Last, but not least, archaeology in itself can be described as a science based around the notion of rebirth. When an object or a building is being (re)discovered or taken out of the ground, it is in a way reborn; it has its own history from when it was in use, and it is given a new significance as an object of research.
In the next edition of RISS we would like to explore this broad understanding of rebirth in archaeology. Contributions from all time periods, places in the world and research areas are welcome. We would like to have articles about all manners of things archaeological, both research and fieldwork. However, we would like to link them all together through this notion of rebirth as something imperative in the science of archaeology.
If you would like to contribute to the next edition of RISS, please send us your contribution by December 1st 2021 to rissred@gmail.com.