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The Archaeology of Ethnicity: Constructing Identities in the Past and Present
01 Jan 1997-
TL;DR: Sian Jones as mentioned in this paper argues for a fundamentally different view of ethnicity, as a complex dynamic form of identification, requiring radical changes in archaeological analysis and interpretation, and presents a comprehensive and critical synthesis of recent theories of ethnicity in the human sciences.
Abstract: The question of ethnicity is highly controversial in contemporary archaeology. Indigenous and nationalist claims to territory, often rely on reconstructions of the past based on the traditional identification of 'cultures' from archaeological remains. Sian Jones responds to the need for a reassessment of the ways in which social groups are identified in the archaeological record, with a comprehensive and critical synthesis of recent theories of ethnicity in the human sciences. In doing so, she argues for a fundamentally different view of ethnicity, as a complex dynamic form of identification, requiring radical changes in archaeological analysis and interpretation.
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01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: In this paper, a critic of the traditional culture-historical interpretation is made, stressing its limits and pro-blems and the links between national politics and archaeological development, and an alternative inter- pretation is based in the review of the Early Middle Age cemeteries of the oriental part of the Duero basin, stressing the importance of contextual studies and introducing new archaeological views from excavation of other Spanish regions, over all the area of Madrid.
Abstract: SUMMARY The study of the Early Middle Age cemeteries in Europe has had a very long path since the beginning of Archaeology as science related to the XIXth nationalism. These cemeteries were used then to establish national identities and to invent traditions, in Hobsbawns words, for a new bourgeoisie that, for the first time in History, achieved the control of power and economy. Ethnicity played an important role in establishing these national identities, linking the present peoples to the past Volks and being the center of the interpretation of historical change from a culture-historical and diffusionist approach. Although in Spain nationalism had a different development comparing to other European countries, the so called "Visigothic" burials were important in the establish- ment of Archaeology and the interpretation of the Early Middle Age under the paradigm of ethnicity and diffusionism. Although this vision has been clarified after World War II in European historiography, is still hegemonic in Spanish academy. In this paper it will be presented an interpretation of the so called "visigothic" burials in order to suggest new ways of analysis of the role of ethnicity in the conformation of this archaeological record. For this purpose, a critic of the traditional culture-historical interpretation is made, stressing its limits and pro- blems and the links between national politics and archaeological development. The alternative inter- pretation is based in the review of the Early Middle Age cemeteries of the oriental part of the Duero basin, stressing the importance of contextual studies and introducing new archaeological views from the excavation of other Spanish regions, over all the area of Madrid. In conclusion, ethnicity is analyzed as one more factor of framing social relations and identities in a historical moment were important changes in settlement pattern and economy are occurring and the social stratification and hierarchy are in constant dispute and construction.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a call to integrate history and archaeology more closely and, in particular, to think about methods for exploring interdisciplinarity is proposed, through the conceptual frameworks of hybridity and bricolage.
Abstract: This article considers the discipline of historical archaeology as it reaches its 50-year milestone. A call to integrate history and archaeology more closely and, in particular, to think about methods for exploring interdisciplinarity is proposed. Through the conceptual frameworks of hybridity and bricolage a material approach is discussed and suggestions offered for ways to integrate history and archaeology, and consider “Capital H History.” With an Australian settler/colonial focus, the article ponders the relationships, similarities, and schisms between historical archaeology and indigenous or community archaeology through a discussion of early European contact sites, artifacts, and conceptual categories. It is argued that the study of the past emerges from the intersection between words and things. Here, in the realm of the tangible and intangible, where images, artifacts, and ephemera all provide evidence of the past—a synthesized history is possible.
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01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: A presente reflexao tem por objetivo discutir o ensino de Historia Antiga no Brasil e propor novas possibilidades de se pensar a Historia greco-romana a partir da teoria pos-colonial.
Abstract: Resumo: Nas ultimas duas decadas os Estudos Classicos no Brasil tem encarado muitas mudancas. Embora haja um aumento nos estudos de grego e latim em diferentes universidades publicas brasileiras, melhorando sensivelmente a qualidade das pesquisas sobre a historia greco-romana no pais, o estudo da cultura material e Arqueologia ainda estao legadas a um segundo plano. Nesse sentido, a presente reflexao tem por objetivo discutir o ensino de Historia Antiga no Brasil e propor novas possibilidades de se pensar a Historia greco-romana a partir da teoria pos-colonial.
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TL;DR: In this paper, an ethnoarchaeological study of a Palikur village was conducted in the French Guiana coast, where the village of Maillard was abruptly abandoned in 1990.
Abstract: "Amazonia and the Guianas possess exceptional potential for ethnoarchaeological studies because of the precolumbian heritage of modern-day Amerindian people. Surprisingly, minimal scholarship of this nature has been conducted in the South American lowlands. On the French Guiana coast, Maillard, a small Palikur village, was abruptly abandoned in 1990. I initiated an ethnoarchaeological study to pinpoint important differences between the interpretation of archaeological and ethnographic data. I recorded the topography of features and remains, compiled an inventory of artifacts and the contents of discard areas, inventoried the cultivated trees present, and described the characteristics of the surroundings. After analyzing the data using classical methods of archaeological inference to obtain a complete reconstruction of the village and the customs of its inhabitants, I invited the chief into his now-abandoned village to describe the settlement as it was while inhabited. In the twenty years since, I have made several visits to track the natural degradation of the site. This ethnoarchaeological approach shows that archaeologists dealing with field data can make many mistakes. Conversely, ethnographic accounts are distorted by the cultural rules and interdictions of interviewees. This experiment suggests the need for prudence in our interpretations and hypotheses, especially in the tropical lowlands, where archaeological preservation is particularly poor." (source editeur)
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01 Jan 2019TL;DR: In this paper, two primary social theories that will be discussed here are practice theory and embodiment theory, a theoretical perspective stemming from several authors, address the relationship between social structure and the individual.
Abstract: While Chapter 1 addressed the anthropological significance of examining day-to-day events, Chapter 2 will focus on the theoretical perspectives that support the Bioarchaeology of the Everyday. The two primary social theories that will be discussed here are practice theory and embodiment theory. Practice theory, a theoretical perspective stemming from several authors, addresses the relationship between social structure and the individual. Common between these theorists is the centrality and importance of daily experience. Embodiment, the argument that biosocial events in an individual’s life impact their skeletal system, is central to the notion that everyday experiences can be assessed through the examination of bone. If a person is engaging in physically strenuous forms of activity, as a product of both social and biological influences, their skeletal frame will adapt to this stress. Additionally, as discussed in Chapter 4, atomic traces of foods consumed, present in skeletal remains, reflect a biosocial process. When human skeletons are viewed as artifacts of social lives and meaningful action, their potential contribution to the archaeological and anthropological story becomes apparent. I have also included sections on the anthropology and archaeology of food and labor to provide a framework for these theoretical points as well as introduce the reader to these broad topics. Each of these approaches provides a distinct contribution to examining ancient day-to-day life via human skeletal remains.
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