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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.
Citations
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Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: In this paper, the importance of old objects used for their practical and magical values in strategies of mortuary remembrance for early Anglo-Saxon communities has been highlighted, arguing that the very lack of a known history or biography may have contributed to the meaning these Roman objects held in early medieval societies.
Abstract: Objects, like people, have social histories In early Anglo-Saxon graves, there is evidence of the occasional re-use of Roman objects, which were probably discovered on nearby abandoned Roman settlements, while disturbing old graves or when uncovering hoards To date, studies of this re-use have emphasised either its practical aspects or its magical significance This paper develops on these interpretations, stressing the importance of old objects used for their practical and magical values in strategies of mortuary remembrance for early Anglo-Saxon communities In particular it is argued that the very lack of a known history or biography may have contributed to the meaning these Roman objects held in early medieval societies

37 citations

01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: Simpson et al. as mentioned in this paper used space syntax theory to evaluate how architectural spaces reflect networks of social interaction at the level of household, neighborhood, and settlement, and found that houses were often accessed by individuals outside the immediate household group: extended family, friends, visitors, guests, business associates, and any other individuals who may have had cause to enter the house and interact with the inhabitants and their domestic spaces.
Abstract: Author(s): Simpson, Bethany Lynn | Advisor(s): Wendrich, Willemina z | Abstract: My doctoral thesis examines how physical architectural remains preserve ancient concepts of spatial organization and reflect neighborhood social organization. I document the architecture of Karanis, Egypt, a small Greco-Roman town of the Egyptian Fayum (250 B.C.E. to the first half of the seventh century C.E.). Through functional architectural analysis and space syntax analysis, I quantify and compare how private space and social control varied from individual private properties and local neighborhood interactions to the larger system of settlement-wide public access. Previous scholars have suggested that as a Roman province, housing in Greco-Roman Egypt was defiantly conservative of native practices, insular, and isolated from Roman tradition. My research challenges this assumption through the use of space syntax theory to evaluate how architectural spaces reflect networks of social interaction at the level of household, neighborhood, and settlement. Space syntax theory offers a quantifiable method to measure relative values of accessibility and privacy. This study therefore demonstrates that instead of remaining resistant to cultural interaction and change, the inhabitants of Karanis were heavily invested in maintaining complex social networks that transcended binary conceptions of "private" versus "public" designations of space. The results prove that houses were often accessed by individuals from outside the immediate household group: extended family, friends, visitors, guests, business associates, and any other individuals who may have had cause to enter the house and interact with the inhabitants and their domestic spaces. The creation of local pathways and shortcuts through neighboring properties facilitated movement and provided alternative routes to the public street system. Because access to privately-owned land had to be granted by the owner, the use of these alternate routes required negotiation and interpersonal agreements which created and reinforced social ties between neighbors. Thus the architecture of Karanis was designed to foster varying degrees communal interaction, and adaptations over time show that private property owners strove to balance their own needs and rights to privacy with the essential social role of maintaining good relationships with their neighbors.This study therefore provides important insight into the negotiation of interpersonal agreements relationships as reflected in architectural space, on global and local scales: far from being resistant to socio-cultural change, ancient Karanis was highly adaptive cultural environment. The site is therefore potentially comparable to other Hellenistic and provincial Roman towns across Europe and the Near East, and provides rich insight into their temporal development from foundation and into Late Antiquity.

37 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Traci Ardren1
TL;DR: In the past decade, a vast literature on the study of gender in the prehispanic New World has emerged as mentioned in this paper, with a focus on the intersection of gender and the body.
Abstract: In the past ten years archaeologists have produced a vast literature on the study of gender in the prehispanic New World. This review defines key con- cepts, identifies three major themes within this tradition—gender in native cosmologies, intersections of gender and the body, and studies of work and spe- cialization—and explores the significant contributions of engendered archaeology to the broader field. Final suggestions for linkages with queer studies and indigenous feminism point the way to where this field might develop productive new avenues of research.

36 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper explored the role of cultural neuro-phenomenology in the maintenance or alteration of state-level religious systems in the Classic Maya state religious system and found that it may both help us better understand past religious experience as well as to interpret the maintenance and alteration of past religious systems.
Abstract: While there is growing agreement within anthropology and archaeology that notions of ‘experience’ can contribute to our interpretations of the past, this article suggests that there is a need to incorporate insight gathered from the fields of cultural phenomenology and cultural neuro-phenomenology into general anthropological understandings of cross-cultural religious experience. Specifically, this article explores the insight offered by cultural neuro-phenomenology into the relationships between religious symbolism, ritual, power, religious belief, and individual religious experience. In assessing the role that belief, as instantiated through ritually-induced religious experience, plays in the maintenance or alteration of state-level religious systems, this article will outline the ways in which this insight may both help us better to understand past religious experience as well as to interpret the maintenance and alteration of past religious systems. To demonstrate the potential of this approach, this article will conclude with a brief discussion of the fall of the Classic Maya state religious system.

36 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Paul Lane1
01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: The trajectories of pastoralism in the Ewaso Basin from its initial appearance some 4000 years ago until the early twentieth century, by which time new systems of land use and tenure had been established within the context of British colonial rule as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Drawing on a range of archaeological, paleoenvironmental, linguistic, eth- nographic, and historical data, this chapter outlines what is currently known about the trajectories of pastoralism in the Ewaso Basin from its initial appearance some 4000 years ago until the early twentieth century, by which time new systems of land use and tenure had been established within the context of British colonial rule. Overall, the evi- dence indicates that many different groups have occupied parts of this area at different times in the past, and that these have encompassed both hunter- gatherer and pastoralist communities and speakers of various Nilotic, Cushitic, and Bantu languages, among others. There is also good evidence to suggest that the boundaries between different "eth- nic," "subsistence," and even linguistic groups have been fairly fluid and that cultural intermixing as well as interaction through exchange and other social mechanisms was common. Additionally, at least four broad phases of pastoralist practices can be identi- fied for the period prior to the twentieth century. These phases entailed different forms and levels of mobility, including population migration and seasonal movements, and had diverse environmental consequences, some of which appear to have enhanced biodiver- sity and ecological resilience whereas others initiated significant changes to the structure of the vegetation mosaic and may have even resulted in localized rangeland degradation.

36 citations