I’m a freelance archaeological illustrator, specialising in finds and reconstruction illustrations for excavation projects, museums and for publication. I was site illustrator for the Çatalhöyük Research Project in Turkey for almost ten years, and now work on Amerindian sites in the Caribbean (the islands of Carriacou, Grenada, Mustique, Nevis and St. Kitts), prehistoric sites on the Pacific island of Palau, and Mesolithic sites along the Danube in Serbia, including revisiting the excavations at Lepenski Vir.
Comics & Archaeology
I began working with comics in archaeology as part of my interest in the use of narrative in archaeological visualisation. As part of public archaeology and outreach work in the West Indies, I produced a comic entitled Archaeology in the Caribbean, which is used in schools, local businesses and museums on islands like Carriacou, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis. Since then I’ve produced numerous comics for archaeological excavation projects, sites and museums – clients include CADW, the Grenada National Museum, the Princes Regeneration Trust and The Museum of London. I’ve given papers and presentations on the use of comics in archaeology to Visualisation in Archaeology conference, the Society for American Archaeology, the American Anthropological Association, the Comics Forum UK conference and York University. In 2015 I will have a paper on the use of comics in archaeology – in the form of a comic – published in the journal Advances in Archaeological Practice. I’m very interested in talking with anyone who also uses comics in archaeology.
more posts on comics & archaeology…
Comics & Medicine
In 2010 I co-wrote and illustrated a graphic novel about Autism/Asperger Syndrome called Something Different About Dad. I presented a paper on the project at the second Comics and Medicine conference in Chicago. I’m currently working on a second medicine-related graphic novel, One of Those People, dealing with issues surrounding dependence and anti-depressants.
john g. swogger 
I’m currently trying to discern my great-great grandmother’s tattoos through her photos…(she was the last living Palauan to have traditional Palau tattoos and was also featured at the 2004 Pacific Arts Festival) and it’s very difficult to discern her marks.
Would you happen to know any expert that can help?
I don’t know anyone in particular who knows about Palauan tattoos, but you could try an email or letter to either the Bureau of Arts and Culture, or the Belau National Museum, both in Koror, Palau. I think there are some drawings of traditional tattoos in the Kramer volumes recently translated into English. The museum may also have some additional photographs or drawings in their files. I’ve never come across anyone on Palau who currently has traditional tattoos, but as interest has grown in other parts of the Pacific, I keep hoping that some Palauans will become interested, too. Maybe another place to ask would be among tattooists and tattoo-historians in places like Hawai’i or New Zealand, where there’s been a lot more interest and a lot more work done on reviving traditional styles, designs and use of traditional tools.
[…] January’s Comics Challenge comes from cartoonist, illustrator and archaeologist John Swogger. […]