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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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TL;DR: This paper argued for decentring ethnicity in buildings research through treating buildings as "asseas" and argued that the concept of ethnicity is a prevailing explanatory device in studies of colonial architecture, and that decenting ethnicity in building research is a good idea.
Abstract: The concept of ethnicity is a prevailing explanatory device in studies of colonial architecture. This paper argues for decentring ethnicity in buildings research through treating buildings as ‘asse...
9 citations
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28 Nov 2016
TL;DR: In this article, the results of phytolith and faecal spherulite analysis from three sites in the Semirech'ye region of south-eastern Kazakhstan, dating from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age (3rd to 1st millennia BC), were presented.
Abstract: This thesis presents the results of phytolith and faecal spherulite analysis from three sites in the Semirech’ye region of south-eastern Kazakhstan, dating from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age (3rd to 1st millennia BC). The primary aim of the research is to generate new data relating to the exploitation of plant resources that can inform on changing land use and subsistence strategies over time. The research is placed in the context of the current understanding of the archaeological and palaeoclimatic record for the region, and aims to offer new insights into the transitional period from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age, around the turn of the 1st millennium BC. During this period both the archaeological and palaeoclimatic records point to significant changes in material culture, social organisation, and climate, and this thesis proposes resilience theory as a theoretical model with which to integrate these multi-level data and conceptualise human-environment interactions in the Semirech’ye region and the wider Eurasian steppe zone.
9 citations
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01 Jan 2004TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on Nubia and the Middle Nile region, focusing on exceptionally early large-scale polities for which we also have historical records, notably: Kerma during the second millennium BC, the Kushite state centred on Napata and then Meroe, and the medieval Nubian kingdoms.
Abstract: The archaeology of Nubia and the Middle Nile occupies a special place in sub-Saharan Africa in being concerned with exceptionally early large-scale polities for which we also have historical records, notably: Kerma during the second millennium BC, the Kushite state centred on Napata and then Meroe, and the medieval Nubian kingdoms. The historical sources include not only a range of external sources dating back to the Pharaonic period, but also indigenous texts from the Kushite-Meroitic period and latterly medieval Old Nubian and Arabic documents. It is also a region which has seen considerable, if unevenly distributed, archaeological research, the foundations of which were laid in the nineteenth century. This availability of diverse historical sources and relatively abundant archaeological data thus provides us with opportunities for considering the interplay of archaeology and history over a much greater period than is possible elsewhere in Africa (Andren 1998: 77-8). However, ‘historical archaeologists’ in this region share some of the problems encountered by those working on more recent periods elsewhere on the continent, both in the prominence of external sources in the framing of the region’s history, and the often uncritical assimilation of historical narrative and traditional culture-history. The unusual history of the development of research in the region, with its strong relationship with Egyptology and its related sub-disciplines (e.g. Coptic Studies) is also significant. With its very close relationship to philology, the discipline represents a very specific form of ‘historical archaeology’, if also being noted for its introspection and relative isolation from other fields of archaeology (O’Connor 1990).
9 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, a case study from ancient Italy involves potentially marginalized people who moved into agriculturally challenging lands in Daunia (one of the most drought-prone areas of the Mediterranean) during the Roman conquest.
Abstract: This article approaches the agency of displaced people through material evidence from the distant past. It seeks to construct a narrative of displacement where the key players include human as well as non-human agents—namely, the environment into which people move, and the socio-political and environmental context of displacement. Our case-study from ancient Italy involves potentially marginalized people who moved into agriculturally challenging lands in Daunia (one of the most drought-prone areas of the Mediterranean) during the Roman conquest (late fourth-early second centuries BCE). We discuss how the interplay between socio-political and environmental forces may have shaped the agency of subaltern social groups on the move, and the outcomes of this process. Ultimately, this analysis can contribute towards a framework for the archaeological study of marginality and mobility/displacement—while addressing potential limitations in evidence and methods.
9 citations