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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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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The south central Andes is known as a region of enduring multiethnic diversity, yet it is also the cradle of one the South America’s first successful expansive-state societies, suggesting social structures that encouraged the maintenance of separate identities among coexistent ethnic groups may explain this apparent contradiction.
Abstract: The south central Andes is known as a region of enduring multiethnic diversity, yet it is also the cradle of one the South America’s first successful expansive-state societies. Social structures that encouraged the maintenance of separate identities among coexistent ethnic groups may explain this apparent contradiction. Although the early expansion of the Tiwanaku state (A.D. 600–1000) is often interpreted according to a centralized model derived from Old World precedents, recent archaeological research suggests a reappraisal of the socio-political organization of Tiwanaku civilization, both for the diversity of social entities within its core region and for the multiple agencies behind its wider program of agropastoral colonization. Tiwanaku’s sociopolitical pluralism in both its homeland and colonies tempers some of archaeology’s global assumptions about the predominant role of centralized institutions in archaic states.

37 citations

01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: Schrader et al. as mentioned in this paper employed a bioarchaeological perspective to explore how quotidian acts are altered during and as a consequence of sociopolitical change in Ancient Nubia, finding a distinct increase in activity (entheseal remodeling, osteoarthritis) between the New Kingdom Tombos and Napatan Tombos populations.
Abstract: Schrader, Sarah A. Ph.D., Purdue University, August 2013. Bioarchaeology of the Everyday: Analysis of Activity Patterns and Diet in the Nile Valley. Major Professor: Michele Buzon. By employing a bioarchaeological perspective, this dissertation addresses how quotidian acts are altered during and as a consequence of sociopolitical change. Specifically, variation in day-to-day activities associated with the transition from the New Kingdom to the Napatan Periods in Ancient Nubia is explored. The focal site of the dissertation, Tombos, is located at the Third Cataract and was continuously inhabited throughout this instance of sociopolitical transition. An additional nine skeletal samples from Egypt and Nubia were also examined to investigate comparative variation in activity and diet throughout the Nile Valley. The methods of entheseal remodeling and osteoarthritis were used to broadly infer levels of manual labor. Stable isotope analysis of bone collagen and carbonate were examined to better understand dietary patterns. The theoretical perspectives of embodiment, structuration, and social identity were applied to illustrate the significance of quotidian action and further theoretical notions of the skeleton. A distinct increase in activity (entheseal remodeling, osteoarthritis) was found between the New Kingdom Tombos and Napatan Tombos populations. This suggests that despite having social, political, and economic authority during

37 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The concept of entanglement in contact encounters emphasizes the power and agency of individuals, particularly Indigenous leaders, to confront colonial and capitalist hegemonic forces as discussed by the authors, and presents a necessary comparison of scale, a link between the situated actions of individuals and the broader patterns of history.
Abstract: The concept of `entanglement' in contact encounters emphasizes the power and agency of individuals, particularly Indigenous leaders, to confront colonial and capitalist hegemonic forces. Consequently, entanglement presents a necessary comparison of scale, a link between the situated actions of individuals and the broader patterns of history. While the former is theoretically complex, the latter is often contrasted as a static and stagnant essentialization. Naively invoked, long-term structured history simply replaces normative `culture' as a backdrop for individual agency with `identity', a modern-sounding recreation of a simplified model of history. That historical trends can cross generations is clear, but their source is likely to include the non-discursive aesthetics in the structure of agency-structure models. Rather than static, such capacities are inertial, changing only with the substantial consensus of many individuals. Northern Tsimshian post-contact archaeology has evidence of both strategic ac...

37 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors make the more radical claim that modernity represents the ground of the possibility of archaeology, and suggest that the discipline can aspire to a Council of Modernity position by embracing considerations of meaning, ethics, politics, and rhetoric.
Abstract: It is widely acknowledged that the practice of archaeology emerged in the modern period. However, this article makes the more radical claim that modernity represents the ground of the possibility of archaeology. Archaeology is deeply connected with modes of thought, forms of organization, and social practices that are distinctively modern. So ironically, archaeology studies past worlds through an intellectual apparatus that is thoroughly embedded in the present. In this essay, the various strands of archaeologyOs debt to modernity are investigated, and it is suggested that the discipline can aspire to a OcountermodernO position by embracing considerations of meaning, ethics, politics, and rhetoric.

37 citations

01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the archaeological remains in the Etruscan bridge complex, found during the excavations at San Giovenale in 1959-1963 and 1999.
Abstract: This thesis discusses the archaeological remains in the Etruscan bridge complex, found during the excavations at San Giovenale in 1959–1963, and 1999. The aim has been to reach a holistic perspecti ...

37 citations