Abstract

This chapter asks how archaeologists can approach civil unrest and what riots can tell us about the contemporary world that other kinds of events cannot. The first part of the chapter describes two riots, the ‘Bronze Night’ in Tallinn in April 2007 and the ‘Tesco Riot’ in Bristol in April 2011. These two very different events can be analysed in terms of their enrolments and implications as contemporary events and how they might be approached by archaeologists seeking to understand the world in a different way. The second part of the chapter looks to artistic engagements with the material conditions of these two riots to add to what can be understood through archaeological analysis. Finally, the chapter discusses how we might use existing theory to understand riots archaeologically and identify areas we perhaps need to work to understand better.