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Being Scioto Hopewell: Ritual Drama and Personhood in Cross-Cultural Perspective
By Christopher Carr. 2021
This book, in two volumes, breathes fresh air empirically, methodologically, and theoretically into understanding the rich ceremonial lives, the philosophical-religious…
knowledge, and the impressive material feats and labor organization that distinguish Hopewell Indians of central Ohio and neighboring regions during the first centuries CE. The first volume defines cross-culturally, for the first time, the “ritual drama” as a genre of social performance. It reconstructs and compares parts of 14 such dramas that Hopewellian and other Woodland-period peoples performed in their ceremonial centers to help the soul-like essences of their deceased make the journey to an afterlife. The second volume builds and critiques ten formal cross-cultural models of “personhood” and the “self” and infers the nature of Scioto Hopewell people’s ontology. Two facets of their ontology are found to have been instrumental in their creating the intercommunity alliances and cooperation and gathering the labor required to construct their huge, multicommunity ceremonial centers: a relational, collective concept of the self defined by the ethical quality of the relationships one has with other beings, and a concept of multiple soul-like essences that compose a human being and can be harnessed strategically to create familial-like ethical bonds of cooperation among individuals and communities. The archaeological reconstructions of Hopewellian ritual dramas and concepts of personhood and the self, and of Hopewell people’s strategic uses of these, are informed by three large surveys of historic Woodland and Plains Indians’ narratives, ideas, and rites about journeys to afterlives, the creatures who inhabit the cosmos, and the nature and functions of soul-like essences, coupled with rich contextual archaeological and bioarchaeological-taphonomic analyses. The bioarchaeological-taphonomic method of l’anthropologie de terrain, new to North American archaeology, is introduced and applied. In all, the research in this book vitalizes a vision of an anthropology committed to native logic and motivation and skeptical of the imposition of Western world views and categories onto native peoples.Archaeological 3D GIS
By Nicolò Dell’Unto, Giacomo Landeschi. 2022
Archaeological 3D GIS provides archaeologists with a guide to explore and understand the unprecedented opportunities for collecting, visualising, and analysing…
archaeological datasets in three dimensions. With platforms allowing archaeologists to link, query, and analyse in a virtual, georeferenced space information collected by different specialists, the book highlights how it is possible to re-think aspects of theory and practice which relate to GIS. It explores which questions can be addressed in such a new environment and how they are going to impact the way we interpret the past. By using material from several international case studies such as Pompeii, Çatalhöyük, as well as prehistoric and protohistoric sites in Southern Scandinavia, this book discusses the use of the third dimension in support of archaeological practice. This book will be essential for researchers and scholars who focus on archaeology and spatial analysis, and is designed and structured to serve as a textbook for GIS and digital archaeology courses.Archaeology: The Basics (The Basics)
By Brian M. Fagan, Nadia Durrani. 2022
Archaeology: The Basics, rewritten for this fourth edition, is a short, engaging book that takes the reader on a journey…
through the fascinating world of archaeology and archaeologists. Written in a non-technical style by two experienced archaeologists and writers about the past, the book begins by introducing archaeology as a unique way of studying the entire span of the human past from our origins some six million years ago to today. The authors stress that archaeology is a global study of human biological and cultural diversity. After a brief look at early archaeological discoveries, they introduce today’s multidisciplinary archaeology. Then they go on to describe the archaeological record, the archives of the past and the importance of contexts of time and space. How do we find archaeological sites and how do we explore them? Two chapters laced with examples examine these questions. Later chapters describe ancient technologies and how we study them, and the all-important subject of changing ancient environments and climate change. Zooarchaeology, flotation methods, and other ways of reconstructing ancient diet and subsistence lead us into the study of changing settlement patterns across the landscape. Next, they visit the people of the past, either as individuals or groups, calling on bioarchaeology to assist them. Two chapters discuss ancient culture change and the remarkable diversity of ancient societies, and they are followed by an exploration of the spiritual realm, the exploration of the intangible. The final chapter looks at the importance of archaeology in today’s world. Rich in numerous examples and contemporary thinking about archaeology, this book tries to answer an important question: What does archaeology tell us about ourselves? Archaeology: The Basics is essential reading for all those beginning to study archaeology and anyone who has ever questioned the past.Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art
By Sarah P. Morris. 1992
In a major revisionary approach to ancient Greek culture, Sarah Morris invokes as a paradigm the myths surrounding Daidalos to…
describe the profound influence of the Near East on Greece's artistic and literary origins.Handbook of Cultural Heritage Analysis
By Sebastiano D’Amico, Valentina Venuti. 2022
This Handbook covers non-invase techniques as well as digital technologies to study cultural heritage. It focuses on multidisciplinary approaches that…
help site managers to deal with their site form conservation to prevention. The book is conceived to foster exchanges of ideas and information and to update innovation on measurements suitable for cultural heritage across several disciplines. Contributions on measurements deriving from the large number of analytical methodologies and tools (spectroscopy, chemometrics, modeling, etc) are also of interest for the scientific community. Considering the tremendous amount of new interactive technologies which inevitably impact traditional arts, the final section of the Handbook focuses on the use of virtual reality systems in museums and archaeological sites. The Handbook will contribute to build an international network of cultural heritage scientists, architects, geophysicists, archaeologists, and soil scientists.Artifacts: How We Think and Write about Found Objects
By Crystal B. Lake. 2020
A literary history of the old, broken, rusty, dusty, and moldy stuff that people dug up in England during the…
long eighteenth century.In the eighteenth century, antiquaries—wary of the biases of philosophers, scientists, politicians, and historians—used old objects to establish what they claimed was a true account of history. But just what could these small, fragmentary, frequently unidentifiable things, whose origins were unknown and whose worth or meaning was not self-evident, tell people about the past?In Artifacts, Crystal B. Lake unearths the four kinds of old objects that were most frequently found and cataloged in Enlightenment-era England: coins, manuscripts, weapons, and grave goods. Following these prized objects as they made their way into popular culture, Lake develops new interpretations of works by Joseph Addison, John Dryden, Horace Walpole, Jonathan Swift, Tobias Smollett, Lord Byron, and Percy Bysshe Shelley, among others. Rereading these authors with the artifact in mind uncovers previously unrecognized allusions that unravel works we thought we knew well. In this new history of antiquarianism and, by extension, historiography, Lake reveals that artifacts rarely acted as agents of fact, as those who studied them would have claimed. Instead, she explains, artifacts are objects unlike any other. Fragmented and from another time or place, artifacts invite us to fill in their shapes and complete their histories with our imaginations. Composed of body as well as spirit and located in the present as well as the past, artifacts inspire speculative reconstructions that frequently contradict one another. Lake's history and theory of the artifact will be of particular importance to scholars of material culture and forms. This fascinating book provides curious readers with new ways of evaluating the relationships that exist between texts and objects.State of the Art in Ethiopian Church Forests and Restoration Options
By Thomas Schneider, Demel Teketay, Mengistie Kindu, Alemayehu Wassie, Mulugeta Lemenih, Thomas Knoke. 2022
This book, with contributions from leading academics - and including reviews and case studies from Ethiopian Church forests - provides a valuable reference…
for advanced students and researchers interested in forest and other natural resource management, ecology and ecosystem services as well as restoration options. The book addresses various aspects including a general overview of Ethiopian church forests, the present role and future challenges of church forests. It also discusses their structure and diversity in the context of sustainability and discusses restoration options for surrounding landscapes, under consideration of the circumstances of the land and the needs of surrounding communities. The intended readership includes natural resource professionals in general as well as forestry professionals in particular (practitioners, policymakers, educators and researchers). The book will provide the reader with a good foundation for understanding Ethiopian forest resources and restoration options of degraded landscape.Teotihuacan and Early Classic Mesoamerica: Multiscalar Perspectives on Power, Identity, and Interregional Relations
By Claudia García-Des Lauriers, Tatsuya Murakami. 2021
The Early Classic period in Mesoamerica has been characterized by the appearance of Teotihuacan-related material culture throughout the region. Teotihuacan,…
known for its monumental architecture and dense settlement, became an urban center around 100 BC and a regional state over the next few centuries, dominating much of the Basin of Mexico and beyond until its collapse around AD 650. Teotihuacan and Early Classic Mesoamerica explores the complex nature of Teotihuacan’s interactions with other regions from both central and peripheral vantage points. The volume offers a multiscalar view of power and identity, showing that the spread of Teotihuacan-related material culture may have resulted from direct and indirect state administration, colonization, emulation by local groups, economic transactions, single-event elite interactions, and various kinds of social and political alliances. The contributors explore questions concerning who interacted with whom; what kinds of materials and ideas were exchanged; what role interregional interactions played in the creation, transformation, and contestation of power and identity within the city and among local polities; and how interactions on different scales were articulated. The answers to these questions reveal an Early Classic Mesoamerican world engaged in complex economic exchanges, multidirectional movements of goods and ideas, and a range of material patterns that require local, regional, and macroregional contextualization. Focusing on the intersecting themes of identity and power, Teotihuacan and Early Classic Mesoamerica makes a strong contribution to the understanding of the role of this important metropolis in the Early Classic history of the region. The volume will be of interest to scholars and graduate students of Mesoamerican archaeology, the archaeology of interaction, and the archaeology of identity. Contributors: Sarah C. Clayton, Fiorella Fenoglio Limón, Agapi Filini, Julie Gazzola, Sergio Gómez-Chávez, Haley Holt Mehta, Carmen Pérez, Patricia Plunket, Juan Carlos Saint Charles Zetina, Yoko Sugiura, Gabriela Uruñuela, Gustavo Jaimes VencesContested Holdings: Museum Collections in Political, Epistemic and Artistic Processes of Return (Museums and Collections #14)
By Eva-Maria Troelenberg, Felicity Bodenstein, Damiana Oţoiu. 2022
Going beyond strictly legal and property-oriented aspects of the restitution debate, restitution is considered as part of a larger set…
of processes of return that affect museums and collections, as well as notions of heritage and object status. Covering a range of case studies and a global geography, the authors aim to historicize and bring depth to contemporary debates in relation to both the return of material culture and human remains. Defined as contested holdings, differing museum collections ranging from fine arts to physical anthropology provide connections between the treatment and conceptualization of collections that generally occupy separate realms in the museum world.Ancient Aztec Technology (Spotlight On The Maya, Aztec, And Inca Civilizations Ser.)
By Emily Jankowski Mahoney. 2017
Technology is guiding force in all civilizations. Readers discover the role technology played in ancient Aztec life through text designed…
to reflect essential social studies curriculum topics. Accessible text introduces readers to the technology used by ancient Aztecs, helping them make their own comparisons to the technology available to us today. Colorful photographs and historical images bring readers into the world of the ancient Aztec people. Primary sources are also included to enhance readers’ learning experience. What did the Aztec people use to make their tools and weapons? Readers will have fun finding out.Ancient Inca Technology (Spotlight on the Maya, Aztec, and Inca Civilizations)
By Ryan Nagelhout. 2017
The Inca Empire was a complex, highly developed society that ruled ancient Peru for centuries. The civilization grew strong thanks…
to important advances in technology. This information-rich title covers the Inca’s roads and communications systems, buildings, bridges, terrace farming, and tools. Readers will also learn about important scientific innovations such as calendars, Quipu, the Incas’ understanding of astronomy, and their medicinal practices. Written with age-appropriate language and accompanied by colorful images, this title brings Inca technology to life.Dr Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist, spends a lot of time looking at death. But now death has found her, with…
the news that her long-time friend Dan Golding has been killed in a house fire.Ruth's grief soon turns to suspicion of arson when she receives a desperate letter from Dan, sent the day before he died. He had made a ground-breaking discovery - and was petrified of the consequences. Ruth is compelled to travel north to investigate further, alongside DCI Harry Nelson who is also drawn into the case. But where Ruth goes, so does her young daughter, Kate. This time, the risks are even higher.(P)2013 Quercus Editions LtdComputational and Machine Learning Tools for Archaeological Site Modeling (Springer Theses)
By Maria Elena Castiello. 2022
This book describes a novel machine-learning based approach to answer some traditional archaeological problems, relating to archaeological site detection and…
site locational preferences. Institutional data collected from six Swiss regions (Zurich, Aargau, Grisons, Vaud, Geneva and Fribourg) have been analyzed with an original conceptual framework based on the Random Forest algorithm. It is shown how the algorithm can assist in the modelling process in connection with heterogeneous, incomplete archaeological datasets and related cultural heritage information. Moreover, an in-depth review of past and more recent works of quantitative methods for archaeological predictive modelling is provided. The book guides the readers to set up their own protocol for: i) dealing with uncertain data, ii) predicting archaeological site location, iii) establishing environmental features importance, iv) and suggest a model validation procedure. It addresses both academics and professionals in archaeology and cultural heritage management, and offers a source of inspiration for future research directions in the field of digital humanities and computational archaeology.Simulating Transitions to Agriculture in Prehistory (Computational Social Sciences)
By Salvador Pardo-Gordó, Sean Bergin. 2021
This book highlights new and innovative approaches to archaeological research using computational modeling while focusing on the Neolithic transition around…
the world.The transformative effect of the spread and adoption of agriculture in prehistory cannot be overstated. Consequently, archaeologists have often focused their research on this transition, hoping to understand both the ecological causes and impacts of this shift, as well as the social motivations and constraints involved. Given the complex interplay of socio-ecological factors, the answers to these types of questions cannot be found using traditional archaeological methods alone. Computational modeling techniques have emerged as an effective approach for better understanding prehistoric data sets and the linkages between social and ecological factors at play during periods of subsistence change. Such techniques include agent-based modeling, Bayesian modeling, GIS modeling of the prehistoric environment, and the modeling of small-scale agriculture. As more archaeological data sets aggregate regarding the transition to agriculture, researchers are often left with few ways to relate these sets to one another.Computational modeling techniques such as those described above represent a critical next step in providing archaeological analyses that are important for understanding human prehistory around the world. Given its scope, this book will appeal to the many interdisciplinary scientists and researchers whose work involves archaeology and computational social science.This book clarifies the advent of Liangzhu Culture and analyses the morphology, structure and internal social organization of grass-root settlements,…
medium-size settlements and the ancient city of Liangzhu, as well as the religious beliefs, ideology and power mechanisms represented by jade. Further, the book explains how the low-lying location and humid environment in the water-net plain area prompted the creation of man-made platforms or pillars, forming small and densely settled residential areas, and ultimately the water villages of southern China. Developments between man and nature accelerated the process of civilization, leading to the polarization of social classes and pyramid-shaped residential structures containing cities, towns and villages. Offering unique insights into the social vitality and structure of Liangzhu society, the book is one of the most important academic works on interpreting the origins of Liangzhu Civilization and investigating Chinese Civilization.Death and the Emperor: Roman Imperial Funerary Monuments from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius
By Penelope J. Davies. 2004
&“Bassett at last provides a path to understand better the specifically Aztec characteristics of the teteoh and their ritual &‘embodiments.&’&”…
—Ethnohistory Following their first contact in 1519, accounts of Aztecs identifying Spaniards as gods proliferated. But what exactly did the Aztecs mean by a &“god&” (teotl), and how could human beings become gods or take on godlike properties? This sophisticated, interdisciplinary study analyzes three concepts that are foundational to Aztec religion—teotl (god), teixiptla (localized embodiment of a god), and tlaquimilolli (sacred bundles containing precious objects)—to shed new light on the Aztec understanding of how spiritual beings take on form and agency in the material world. In The Fate of Earthly Things, Molly Bassett draws on ethnographic fieldwork, linguistic analyses, visual culture, and ritual studies to explore what ritual practices such as human sacrifice and the manufacture of deity embodiments (including humans who became gods), material effigies, and sacred bundles meant to the Aztecs. She analyzes the Aztec belief that wearing the flayed skin of a sacrificial victim during a sacred rite could transform a priest into an embodiment of a god or goddess, as well as how figurines and sacred bundles could become localized embodiments of gods. Without arguing for unbroken continuity between the Aztecs and modern speakers of Nahuatl, Bassett also describes contemporary rituals in which indigenous Mexicans who preserve costumbres (traditions) incorporate totiotzin (gods) made from paper into their daily lives. This research allows us to understand a religious imagination that found life in death and believed that deity embodiments became animate through the ritual binding of blood, skin, and bone.China and the World in the Liangzhu Era (Liangzhu Civilization)
By Minghui Chen. 2022
This book aims to portray ancient civilizations and the development of early states in China and the rest of the…
world during the Liangzhu period. From a global perspective, it describes the ancient Egyptian, Sumerian and Harappan civilizations, as well as lesser-known civilizations such as the Cyclades and Caral, underscoring the similarities and differences between their central settlements, capitals and material cultural remains. As for the national aspect, the book mainly explores the development process of east Asian civilization as represented by Chinese civilization and probes into the evolution of the Liangzhu, Dawenkou and Qujialing civilizations four to five thousand years ago in a search for the origins of Chinese civilization.This book examines the ways in which law can be used to structure the return of indigenous sacred cultural heritage to…
indigenous communities, referred to as repatriation in this volume. In particular, it aims at developing legal structures that align repatriation with contemporary international human rights standards. To do so, it gathers the most valuable lessons learned from different repatriation laws and frameworks adopted in the United States and Canada. In both countries, very different ways of approaching repatriation have been used for several decades, highlighting the context-dependent nature of repatriation. The volume is divided into four parts, looking first at international law, then at the national legal landscape in the United States, followed by Canada, before the different repatriation models are evaluated against the backdrop of human rights law standards. Emphasis is placed not only on repatriation-specific legislation but also on the legal context in which it was developed and operates. In turn, the fourth part develops various models on the basis of these experiences that can be aligned with contemporary indigenous and cultural rights. The book ends by considering the models’ suitability for international repatriation and the lessons that can be learned from them. The primary audience includes those addressing the legal hurdles to repatriation, be they researchers, policymakers, communities, or museums.Girl Archaeologist: Sisterhood in a Sexist Profession
By Alice Beck Kehoe. 2022
Girl Archaeologist recounts Alice Kehoe&’s life, begun in an era very different from the twenty-first century in which she retired…
as an honored elder archaeologist. She persisted against entrenched patriarchy in her childhood, at Harvard University, and as she did fieldwork with her husband in the northern plains. A senior male professor attempted to quash Kehoe&’s career by raping her. Her Harvard professors refused to allow her to write a dissertation in archaeology. Universities paid her less than her male counterparts. Her husband refused to participate in housework or childcare. Working in archaeology and in the histories of American First Nations, Kehoe published a series of groundbreaking books and articles. Although she was denied a conventional career, through her unconventional breadth of research and her empathy with First Nations people she gained a wide circle of collaborators and colleagues. Throughout her career Kehoe found and fostered a sisterhood of feminists—strong, bright women archaeologists, anthropologists, and ethnohistorians who have been essential to the field.Girl Archaeologist is the story of how one woman pursued a professional career in a male-dominated field during a time of great change in American middle-class expectations for women.