Michael Shanks

About

Michael Shanks is a Professor of Classics at Stanford University, specializing in archaeological thought and practice. He has been a prominent figure in archaeology since the 1980s, pioneering new approaches to understanding and explaining Graeco-Roman antiquity and European prehistory. His work involves mobilizing remains of the past to instigate changes in archaeological methodology and engagement with antiquity, emphasizing long-term perspectives on design, creativity, innovation, and social change. Shanks has contributed significantly to the field through research collaborations and outreach that bridge sciences, humanities, and arts, mobilizing over $32 million in funding over the past 25 years. Currently, he is engaged in four interrelated projects: building scenarios of archaeological history through speculative fabulation, exploring border archaeology in northern England and Scotland, collaborating on performance design in theatre and archaeology, and mobilizing archaeology of arts practices to address climate change. His ongoing work also includes applied archaeology and design foresight, notably Project Athena, which focuses on innovation in learning and corporate culture change. Shanks's research reflects a deep commitment to exploring the intersections of archaeology with contemporary issues and creative practices.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Political Science
• Computer Security
• Sociology
• Social Science
• Psychology
• Archaeology
• Art
• Aesthetics
• Cognitive psychology

Selected publications

• Social Theory in Archaeology

  Elsevier eBooks · 2023 · 124 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Archaeological Imagination

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2020 · 64 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  DOI

• Defense Against the Dark Cars

  2020 · 39 citations

  As autonomous vehicles (AVs) become a reality on public roads, researchers and designers are beginning to see unexpected reactions from the public ranging from curiosity to vandalism. These behaviors are concerning, as AV platforms will need to know how to deal with people behaving unexpectedly or aggressively. We call this griefing of AVs, adopting the term from harassment in online gaming. We discuss several examples of griefing observed in on-road field studies using a Wizard-of-Oz driverless…

  DOI

• Our Manifesto: Next-Gen Design Thinking, Business Archaeology, and Future of Corporate Innovation

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Business Archaeology: Defining a New Foundational Discipline

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Christopher Witmore

  22 shared

• Timothy Webmoor

  Stanford University

  15 shared

• William L. Rathje

  12 shared

• Bjørnar Olsen

  UiT The Arctic University of Norway

  12 shared

• Christopher Tilley

  10 shared

• Mike Parker Pearson

  6 shared

• Connie Svabo

  6 shared

• Neera Jain

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  5 shared

Labs

• Michael Shanks LabPI

Similar researchers at Stanford University

• Krish Seetahh-17
• Jennifer Trimbleh-8