Blog of the NATHIST -ICOM Anthropocene working group
The Anthropocene is a proposed epoque in the Earth’s geological time scale, occurring just after the Holocene, which began 11,000 years before present. The validity of this proposal is still debated within the stratigraphic community, which have authority over naming scales in the planet’s geological sequence.
The Anthropocene has gained considerable interest in the Earth System Sciences and in the Humanities since the 2000. Its appeal stems in part from the fact that it renews perspectives on the deep human-caused ecological changes in which we are now.
Because the Anthropocene highlights the socio-natural relationships of the present in the perspective of geological time, it is an interdisciplinary concept with a great heuristic potential. As a multi-faceted concept, the Anthropocene opens new ways for Natural History Museums to think about exhibitions, collections and the production of new offers for the audience.
The NATHIST-ICOM Anthropocene working group has been created as a vehicle for the NATHIST community to share experiences and practices around the topic of the Anthropocene. In particular, this blog has the goal of sharing news on the use of the Anthropocene concept in Museums of Natural History.
