ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a relatively new area of interest in social archaeologies, the archaeologies of contemporary worlds. The archaeology of the contemporary past is a natural extension of historical archaeology. The archaeological analysis of contemporary landscapes can capture identity- making by communities that might not be captured in historical records. Archaeologists have developed nuanced interpretations of ancient landscapes in terms of the social, cultural, and religious systems of past societies. One strand in archaeology of the contemporary past is the material remains of recent conflicts, particularly in terms of human rights and the protection of cultural property. The archaeologists have extended the boundaries of the discipline to encompass outer space. The key aim of space archaeology is to investigate material culture assemblages in order to understand the interaction of technology and human behaviour in off-Earth environments. Human material is present on the moon, Mars, Venus, Titan, two asteroids and a comet, and in orbit around most celestial bodies.
