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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 2015
TL;DR: The question of Israel's origins is re-examined within the broader framework of early Israel's emergence in the late second millennium BCE by as mentioned in this paper, and it appears that while many individuals, families, and groups were involved in the process of India's ethnogenesis throughout the Iron Age, and that many of those who eventually became Israelites were of Canaanite origins, the first group was composed mainly of Shasu pastoralists.
Abstract: The question of Israel’s origins is reexamined within the broader framework of Israel’s emergence in the late second millennium BCE. Some methodological difficulties are outlined, and then the author's view of Israel's emergence as an ethnic group in the Iron Age is summarized. A more detailed discussion follows on the possible "origins" of the members of this group, and especially that of earliest Israel—the group that is mentioned in Merneptah's stele. It appears that while many individuals, families, and groups were involved in the process of Israel's ethnogenesis throughout the Iron Age, and that many of those who eventually became Israelites were of Canaanite origins, the first group was composed mainly of Shasu pastoralists. Other groups, probably including a small "Exodus" group that left Egypt, joined the process, and all were gradually assimilated into the growing Israel, accepting its history, practices and traditions, and contributing some of their own. Traditions and practices that were useful in the active process of Israel's boundary maintenance with other groups were gradually adopted by "all Israel." It appears that the story of the Exodus from Egypt was one such story.
8 citations
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: Kintigh et al. as mentioned in this paper present the Grand Challenge for Archaeology 2014: Grand Challenges for the Archaeology Forum, 2014, with a focus on the preservation of archaeological sites.
Abstract: Keith W. Kintigh, Jeffrey H. Altschul, Mary C. Beaudry, Robert D. Drennan, Ann P. Kinzig, Timothy Kohler, W. Fredrick Limp, Herbert D.G. Maschner, William K. Michener, Timothy R. Pauketat, Peter Peregrine, Jeremy A. Sabloff, Tony J. Wilkinson, Henry T. Wright, and Melinda A. Zeder. (2014). Forum: Grand Challenges for Archaeology. American Antiquity 79(1):5-24.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an analisis del desarrollo historico de la forma en which los resultados of las investigaciones arqueologicas han been empleados in el presente is presented.
Abstract: En Bolivia, el manejo de la arqueologia como un medio de fortalecimiento de identidades etnicas, surge como una demanda social con importantes antecedentes. En este articulo, se presenta un analisis del desarrollo historico de la forma en que los resultados de las investigaciones arqueologicas han sido empleados en el presente. Se observa que en la actualidad, a pesar de una relacion cada vez mas importante entre arqueologos y comunidades locales, la "arqueologia academica" falla en proporcionar los estimulos adecuados que le posibiliten un vinculo mas dinamico con el publico general. Para revertir esta realidad, se requiere de soluciones estructurales, que partan desde la base teorica de la praxis arqueologica y permitan generar un dialogo reciproco entre arqueologia y publico interesado, principalmente las comunidades indigenas, cuyo pasado y patrimonio cultural son estudiados por los proyectos de investigacion arqueologica.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors deconstruct the a priori, exclusionary, interconnected sex and gender assumptions that configure how we investigate the terms of engagement between materials and persons in these burial contexts.
Abstract: At the site of Hillside Farm, Bryher, on the Isles of Scilly, a materially rich single Iron Age inhumation was discovered containing the unsexable fragmented remains of one adult with a number of high-quality metal grave goods including an iron sword with a bronze scabbard and a bronze mirror. Swords and mirrors have long been considered high-status, oppositionally gendered grave goods that crosscut regional divisions in the pre-Roman British Iron Age (c. 800 B.C.–A.D. 43). Their combined presence within the burial of a single individual represents a touchstone within the ongoing unraveling of a long-held, interconnected set of reified binary sex and gender assumptions that have permeated discussions of British Iron Age mortuary contexts. In better recognizing this web of “binary binds,” we can deconstruct the a priori, exclusionary, interconnected sex and gender assumptions that configure how we investigate the terms of engagement between materials and persons in these burial contexts. Crucial to this analysis is an approach to patterning that (1) does not begin with a search for sex and gender as evidence of male and female dichotomies, (2) sees the potentiality for any component of a mortuary assemblage to have multiple points of significance, and (3) embraces data ambiguity. Developing such critical approaches will ultimately contribute to the deployment of more inclusive forms of analysis that do not reify sex and gender as the primary organizing principles within mortuary contexts, aiding scholars in avoiding assumptions that bind sex and gender analyses into artificially binary paradigms.
8 citations
01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: This paper reviewed some examples of architectural styles and features which were borrowed and transformed during the Medieval, Ottoman and British colonial periods in Cyprus (1191-1960) and found that different groups in different contexts can use the same styles.
Abstract: Archaeologists and art historians have often attempted to identify ethnic groups by means of specific stylistic traits in their art and architecture. Close contextual examination, however, reveals that different groups in different contexts can use the same styles. This article reviews some examples of architectural styles and features which were borrowed and transformed during the Medieval, Ottoman and British colonial periods in Cyprus (1191-1960). One building, the British colonial governor’s residence in Nicosia built in the 1930s, is particularly revealing in its deliberate use of styles normally associated with all the other ethnic groups of Cyprus.
8 citations