Book•
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
More filters
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: In this article, two serendipitous occurrences occurred during a comparative study among the archaeological ruins of a handful of diverse, nineteenth-century boomtown saloons in northern Nevada's Virginia City.
Abstract: Two serendipitous occurrences occurred during a comparative study among the archaeological ruins of a handful of diverse, nineteenth-century boomtown saloons in northern Nevada’s Virginia City. The first involved an experiment to retrieve DNA from a tobacco pipestem recovered from one of these establishments; the pipestem is associated with late nineteenth-century stratigraphic deposits from an African American saloon. The DNA profile indicates that a woman used the pipe, evoking questions about gender roles in Virginia City’s saloons. The second incident involved an examination of an image from a Near Eastern cylinder seal from the third millennium BC. The image depicted men and women taking part in communal drinking and presents some of the earliest recorded forms of drinking in ancient Mesopotamia. Other, second millennium BC documentation from that region describe laws associated with women and drinking houses in urban centers such as Babylon. This influenced interpretations about the various levels of interaction between men and women in public drinking over the course of literate history. These events — one based on scientific methods and the other based on a text-aided approach to archaeology — induced a gender-based research agenda that complements studies of the antiquity of public drinking houses. This paper describes that agenda, presents case studies that represent different points on the timeline of public drinking, and advocates an archaeological approach that fuses scientific and humanistic research methods.
19 citations
TL;DR: The authors show that the appearance of maize (Zea mays) agriculture, alongside with a few other materials, has come to be bound up with documenting the arrival of Northern Iroquoian-speaking communities.
Abstract: Archaeological accounts of the spread of agriculture tend to favor either (im)migration/demic diffusion or in situ development/stimulus diffusion. Having moved away from the early twentieth-century's community-wide migration model for Iroquoian origins in the Lower Great Lakes region and southern Ontario in particular, orthodox archaeological belief over the past half-century had come to place Northern Iroquoian speakers in the area since at least 2,000 years ago and likely much earlier. In what appear to be modified versions of the older migrationist arguments, contemporary thought within archaeology once more seems to allow that wholesale relocations were responsible for bringing farming into the region. It has been suggested, for example, that Northern Iroquoian speakers entered southern Ontario as recently as the early or middle centuries of the first millennium A.D. In this paper, I recount the routes this debate has taken and show that the appearance of maize (Zea mays) agriculture, alongside a few other materials, has come to be bound up with documenting the arrival of Northern Iroquoian-speaking communities. I conclude by reiterating the cautions advised by a number of researchers for how we read past ethnicity from archaeological materials and the role this plays in contemporary political discourse between First Nations and others.
19 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provided a copy of the thesis from the UHI Research Database with the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement, or without prior permission from the author.
Abstract: General rights and useage policy Copyright,IP and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the UHI Research Database are retained by the author, users must recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement, or without prior permission from the author.
19 citations
25 Jul 2013
TL;DR: This article examined the shifting structure of social organization through an investigation of mortuary behaviors and ritual practices in the Middle and Late Bronze Age (1700-1400 BC) of the Eurasian steppe.
Abstract: While it has recently become clear that pastoral groups have varied economies, social systems, and mobilities, current models of interaction have not integrated the variable lifeways of pastoral communities. In the case of north central Eurasia, scholars have focused their attention on sweeping changes that occurred in patterns of settlement and social institutions from the Middle (2100-1700 BC) to Late Bronze Age (1700-1400 BC). Efforts to understand this transition have resulted in models that cover broad expanses of steppe and oversimplify the existing data. In order to construct more convincing models of interaction for the Bronze Age, we must begin with comprehensive datasets of local communities. The research presented here confronts issues of social and biological variation and their role in structuring connectivity and relationships in prehistory.
To critically examine theories of interaction associated with posited social and economic developments during the Bronze Age, this dissertation investigates the shifting structure of social organization through an investigation of mortuary behaviors and ritual practices. Through a change in perspective, we re-focus on smaller micro-regional discussions of integration and interaction, addressing the relationship between the local community and the global through comparative analyses of two pastoral communities that span the Middle to Late Bronze Age. These periods are marked by a shift from aggregated to dispersed populations, broader spheres of interaction, and new forms of mortuary ritual. This research draws upon statistical analyses of mortuary remains, dietary reconstruction via stable isotopic analyses, and biodistance of dentition to develop a robust picture of changing social identities and organization. The results reveal that subsistence regimes stayed relatively uniform while inequality shifted drastically, evidenced by changes in kin centered wealth and identity signaling. This expands our understandings of social complexities of pastoral societies and adds to the growing body of literature on gender roles, status, and kinship. The Eurasian steppe is a pertinent location for the study of pastoral interactions, but few studies have examined the detailed nature of social and biological communities, or interplay between them. This project is important given that studies of pastoralist societies have infrequently contributed to comparative analyses of complex societies.
19 citations
TL;DR: A preliminary survey explores the actions of some of these scholars and discusses their motives and their legacy, in order to interrogate the involvement of archaeologists and anthropologists in the current day politics of the Middle East.
Abstract: Between c. 1850 and the end of World War II several key figures of Near Eastern archaeology worked as spies, informers and intelligence operatives for their respective governments. They lent their expert knowledge of Middle Eastern culture, traditions, geography, language and history to the political needs of their governments, creating a lasting legacy. This preliminary survey explores the actions of some of these scholars and discusses their motives and their legacy, in order to interrogate the involvement of archaeologists and anthropologists in the current day politics of the Middle East.
19 citations