Abstract
Kimberly Wooten is an historical archaeologist with the California Department of Transportation’s Cultural Studies (Caltrans) Office in Sacramento, California. Dr. Dr. Maria Zolezzi Garibaldi is a fictional archaeologist with the California Department of Transportation & Interstellar Travel, specializing in ritualistic behavior in both human and non-human societies during the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Journey with us to the year 2167, where our intrepid archaeologist has made a fascinating discovery… a FOOB! Carefully cradled in its pale pink packaging, this breast prosthesis is thought to have had ritual purposes, and while the prostheses do not deteriorate over time, intact packaging has never been found before! This article uses humor and archaeology to discuss the author’s personal cancer experience and the association of the color pink with femininity and breast cancer. The author’s intention is to bring awareness and understanding to archaeologists working with disabilities on a daily basis.
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07 February 2022
Springer Nature’s version of this paper was updated in order to fix to typesetting lay-out.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Steve Hilton, as well as Stacey Camp, Jodi Barnes, and Sarah Surface-Evans for including my presentation in their conference sessions. Reviews by Laura Heath-Stout, Maria Smith, Carrie Reichardt, Jennifer Darcangelo, Alex Neeb, and Christina Baxter made this a much better document. A genuine thanks to my husband, Scott Baxter, and son, Inigo Baxter, who were my willing field crew for my FOOB excavations; my daughter, Sunday, for sharing her photography; and to Carol Sethre for her wonderful sense of humor and superb acting skills. My thanks are extended to my Caltrans co-workers for their support during my treatment and recovery, to the Cultural Studies Office for their support of the idea of Archaeology of the Color Pink, with a special acknowledgement to the ever-positive Julia Huddleson. Finally, to the individuals who were willing to share their stories with me—you are brave and your voices need to be heard. And Maria Octavina Jochamina Zolezzi Garibaldi? She was my maternal grandmother, and because Grandma Mary would have laughed out loud at the idea, I chose her name for my fictional archaeologist from the future.
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Wooten, K.J. Archaeology of the Color Pink. Int J Histor Archaeol 27, 33–50 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-021-00649-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-021-00649-w