Weaponised Pasts: The Evolution of Heritage-based Hostility on Social Media

Interpretations of the human past are routinely weaponised online to frame others as enemies. Without establishing how such heritage-based hostile narratives spread, and why some may be pervasive on social media, it has not been possible to determine ways of curtailing this phenomenon. Weaponised Pasts will address this long-standing issue through a novel approach–the first to combine public archaeology, cultural evolution and cognitive psychology. The team will study the evolution of heritage-based hostility both in ‘real-world’ social media environments and experimentally. Based on our results, we will provide recommendations for limiting the diffusion of heritage-based hostility online.