Ivonne Dutra Leivas is doctoral student at Grasca – graduate school in contract archaeology.
Research
My PhD project, aims to investigate how public archaeology responds to the needs of school education, and how archaeologists can improve the methods of mediation to facilitate a better understanding of archaeological material as a source of knowledge. The focus here is on archaeological finds of personal items such as buttons, pipes, gambling pieces, combs, images of saints, and utensils. Items small enough to be grasped in the palm of a hand. These items are easy to recognize from our contemporary everyday life and can therefore contribute to dialogues about people in the past and present, enhancing understanding of time, culture and humanity. By making a thorough analysis of these items in relation to current theoretical approaches of materiality and developing adequate archaeo-didactics, the objective is to create a bridge between academia and the public.
