Archaeological Theory Research Articles

Can birdstones sing? Rethinking material-semiotic approaches in contemporary archaeological theory

ABSTRACT Birdstones are an enigmatic and diverse group of objects found across eastern North America with concentrations around the Great Lakes region. Via speculative interpretations of form, analogical comparison with other regions, and consideration of basic contextual information, archaeologists think of birdstones as parts of canoes, flutes, unspecified ceremonial assemblages, and, most frequently, atlatls. Discourse and debate about birdstones largely neglects issues of material vibrancy and semiotic process, including the processes by which archaeologists and others began to name and typify these objects in the late nineteenth century. This paper rethinks birdstones through a ‘more than representational’ approach that combines assemblage theory with Peircean semiotics. Although both lines of thought align with relational ontologies, non-representational critiques, and post-anthropocentrism, archaeologists rarely consider the two together. This approach helps us chart how birdstones emerged and evolved through a complicated set of human-nonhuman interactions that continue into the present.

Bloodletting in Ancient Central Mexico: Using Lithic Analyses to Detect Changes in Ritual Practices and Local Ontologies

Bloodletting was one of the most commonly shared ritual practices among ancient Mesoamerican societies. However, ethnohistoric accounts, epigraphic records, and the archaeological record demonstrate that (1) bloodletters were crafted out of different materials; (2) bloodletting was conducted using different techniques; (3) bloodletting was performed in different spaces; and (4) bloodletting could create various outcomes based on local ontologies. Consideration of these variables is crucial for the detection and interpretation of artifacts that may be linked to bloodletting rituals. Lithic analysts can detect obsidian artifacts that were likely used in bloodletting rituals through a suite of use-wear characteristics in addition to considerations of technological characteristics and archaeological contexts. Including high-magnification use-wear analysis is particularly valuable because it enables archaeologists to identify ritual activities associated with household spaces that may or may not exhibit specific features or contexts (e.g., burials and caches) that often overtly indicate ritual activities. Within the field, an increasing focus on archaeological methods, which is demonstrated here for obsidian artifacts, ultimately improves our abilities to form archaeological theories and evaluate changes to local ontologies over time. For example, comparing cases of ritual bloodletting from the village of Tetel (750–500 B.C.), small town of La Laguna (ca. 100 B.C.–A.D. 150), and the Tlajinga District of the large city of Teotihuacan (ca. A.D. 250–550) with chronologically contemporary and succeeding examples indicates that bloodletters and bloodletting ritual programs noticeably changed after the collapse of the Teotihuacan state and rise of temple institutions with ritual specialists.

Tipologi Makam dan Ornamen Nisan pada Kompleks Makam Sunan Ampel Surabaya

This study aims to determine (1) typology of the tomb of Sunan Ampel and (2) tombstone ornaments on the tomb of X in the tomb complex of Sunan Ampel. This study uses qualitative research methods through techniques (1) observation, (2) interviews, (3) and literature studies. Those data obtained are analyzed using archeological theory and the approach to artistic values. The results of this study are (1) typology of the tomb of Sunan Ampel, consisting of three elements: (a) sepulchre; (b) tombstone; and (b) the grave cupola, while (2) the tombstone ornaments on the tomb of X in the Sunan Ampel tomb complex are: (a) curly motifs, (b) vine decorations, and (c) stump decorations. Overall, it can be seen that the tomb complex of Sunan Ampel has the typology of tombs and tombstone ornaments that have characteristics and meanings in it.

Don’t Panic. It’s Just Theory

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook and Film ReviewsDon’t Panic. It’s Just Theory An Unauthorized Companion to American Archaeological Theory. By Lars Fogelin. Self-published, Academia.edu, 2019.Mark D. McCoyMark D. McCoyDepartment of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, PO Box 750336, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA ([email protected]). Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 61, Number 1February 2020 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/707046 Views: 167Total views on this site HistoryAccepted October 10, 2019 © 2020 by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

“Views from Somewhere”: Mapping Nineteenth-Century Cholera Narratives

Using ArcGIS, I map the ways in which primary and secondary sources describing an 1850s cholera epidemic in the Caribbean spatialize the epidemic. More specifically, I probe the scale at which varying narratives report the epidemic to consider whether it was understood as a broad, regional event, or at the level of specific colonies or islands. I draw upon post colonial and feminist critiques of the map, and keeping in view the situated nature of knowledge, create alternative maps of the epidemic. I approach the epidemic’s archival traces through the lens of archaeological theory, discussing them in relation to scale and movement.

СОЦІОІСТОРИЧНА ПРОБЛЕМАТИКА В РАДЯНСЬКІЙ АРХЕОЛОГІЇ 1940–1960-х РОКІВ: ВІД ЦІЛЬОВИХ ЗАВДАНЬ ДО ПРАКТИЧНОЇ РЕАЛІЗАЦІЇ

The article is dedicated to the main aim of the Soviet archaeology, which was also its feature – to study social development of ancient societies basing on archaeological sources. It was stated at the beginning of 1930s and after the WW2 a list of actual tasks was specified. In the late 1940’s – the early 1970’s they included studying of regularities and features of ancient (from primitive to feudal) societies development, reconstruction of concrete history of folks from the USSR territory, which had no written language, researches on handicrafts, swap and trade, studies of the mediaeval village history, examination of primitive society ideology, improvement of the typological method and archaeological theory, preparation of fundamental publications. All these tasks were practically realized in work of archaeological research institutions during above mentioned period, in particular, research fellows of central and republican archaeological research establishments worked on topics related to study of social and historical problems of ancient societies basing on archaeological data. As well these problems were discussed at methodological workshops of the Institute of archaeology AS USSR and its Leningrad branch, at All-Union meetings and conferences. Soviet archaeologists completed resumptive archaeological publications with historical conclusions and chapters or even separate volumes of fundamental books dedicated to history of particular folks, regions or periods in the 1950’s – the early 1970’s. This work on social and historical problematique determined Soviet archaeologists’ requirement for methodology development which was a cause of appearance of a new subdiscipline. The Soviet theoretical archaeology institutionalized in the early 1970s.

Who are we as historical beings? Shaping identities in light of the archaeogenetics ‘revolution’

There is a human fundamental need to know who we are and where we come from. In an age when myths, legends and family memories are starting to fade or become obsolete, science is brought in to fill the gaps and answer these questions. This article introduces a special theme section dedicated to critical reflections on the relationship between the disciplines of archaeology and archaeogenetics. It gives a summary of the ‘Can science accommodate multiple ontologies? The genetics revolution and archaeological theory’ workshop held in Cambridge 2018, followed by an introduction of the papers in this theme section. Lastly, I evaluate archaeogenetic narratives in terms of their target audience, knowledge obtained (or not) and future directions.

Introduction to Economic Archaeology

The Economic Archaeology formed in late 20th century and is defined as an essential subdiscipline of the archaeological research. It is a study of the relationships between past populations and their natural and cultural resources, encompassing production, distribution, consumption, and stratification. Economic relations are one fundamental key for understanding the workings and transitions of past societies and for grappling with how and why those societies varied. The aim is to recreate economic strategies and models of communities in natural and cultural environment by analyzing various communities with sophisticated structure through economical and archaeological theories and methods. This article aims to introduce goals and issues of economic archaeology as well as methodological possibilities to exam and enable to understand the histories and consequences of past economic strategies that have been employed. Moreover, this article describes the main formation stages of economic archaeology, considering the issues addressed by scientists during certain periods, and presents risks for this particular study of archaeological research.

Os artefatos arqueológicos podem jogar?

Destaca a utilização de elementos arqueológicos no campo digital e a influência dos jogos eletrônicos no tocante à teoria arqueológica. Analisa os estudos acerca da cultura material em espaços imateriais, elucidando o que seriam os pixels e de que forma eles estão inseridos na vida humana e, por conseguinte, na Arqueologia. Tem por objetivo compreender as variadas formas que o patrimônio arqueológico se apresenta em contextos palpáveis e não palpáveis. O estudo de caso pauta-se em um jogo arqueológico desenvolvido pelo Laboratório de Arqueologia Romana Provincial da Universidade de São Paulo intitulado “O Último Banquete em Herculano”. Finaliza com uma reflexão sobre a aplicação da teoria ciberarqueológica no contexto do jogo arqueológico apresentado como estudo de caso.

The ‘Early Iron Age’ and ‘Gojoseon Period’ in the Korean Archeology

한국고고학의 시대구분에서 청동기시대와 삼국시대의 사이를 메우는 것은 초기철기시대와 원삼국 시대이다. 고고학계의 지지도가 높은 이 시대명과 관련하여 많은 연구자들은 김원용이 『한국고고학개설』을 저술하면서 창안한 것으로 이해한다. 그런데 연구사를 따져보면 ‘초기철기시대’와 ‘원삼국시대’ 라는 시대구분명은 일제강점기에 구사된 ‘금석병용기’에서 분화된 용어이다. 일제강점기 일본고고학에서는 죠몬시대를 잇는 야요이시대를 ‘금석병용기’라고도 했는데 이 시대 명을 한반도에도 그대로 적용시켰다. 아직 청동기시대를 인지하지 못했던 당시의 연구자들은 이 금석 병용기를 전후기로 나누어 전기는 ‘한반도가 중국문화의 영향을 조금 받던 시기’라 설명하였고 후기는 ‘중국의 영향을 본격적으로 받는 시기’라고 하였다. 야만의 신석기시대가 중국 문화의 전래로 인해 비로소 문명화의 길을 걷는다는 이해이다. 전기는 만주지역과 한반도 북부에 주조철기 등이 부분적으로 출현하는 시기이고 후자는 낙랑군의 설치로 완전한 식민 지배가 이루어지는 시대라고 하였다. 해방 후 김원용은 그 전기를 초기철기시대라 하였고 후기를 김해기로 고쳤다가 원삼국시대로 바꾸었다. 지금까지 초기철기시대와 원삼국시대의 시대구분명을 둘러싼 논쟁이 여러 차례 있었지만 그 때마다 해방 이후의 연구사만을 취급하였기 때문에 이러한 근본적인 문제가 드러나지 않았다. 당연히 그 대안도 모색될 수 없었다. 일찍이 김원용은 해방 후 우리 스스로 확보한 자료가 부족한 상황에서 개설서를 쓰는 한계를 토로한 바 있다. 그리고 이후 자료가 늘어나면 그 내용을 합리적으로 수정하라고 후학들에게 요구하였다. 이제 초기철기시대와 관련하여 방대한 신자료가 확보되어 청동기시대와의 구분도 애매해진 실정이다. 더 이상 일본 관학자들이 일본열도의 문화변동을 설명하는 과정에 붙여서 고안한 초기철기시대와 그 연대에 집착할 이유가 없는 것이다. 해방 후 북한학계의 주도로 금석병용기에서 분리시킨 청동기시대를 포함하여 중국 정사 (正史)에도 기록된 ‘고조선’을 한국고고학의 시대구분명으로 어떻게 산입할 지 진지하게 고민할 때가 되었다.It is the early iron age and the Proto-Three Kingdoms Period that fill the gap between the bronze age and the three kingdom period in the period of Korean archaeological period. There has been a lot of controversy over the validity of the name of the division in the period, but the support is still high. There are many researchers who misunderstood that Kim Won Yong invented the early iron age and the Proto-Three Kingdoms Period through the ‘Korean archaeological theory’ but the actual situation is not so. The origin of the name of this period was actually the period of ‘aeneolithicl’ used during the Japanese colonial period, and Kim Won Yong played a role of changing its name. The aeneolithicl of the Japanese colonial period was a term describing the Korean peninsula at the same time as the Yayoi period of the Japanese archipelago. It is said that the Korean Peninsula was affected by Chinese culture a little while, and the latter was called‘ the time of full influx of China’. Electricity was believed to be due to the partial emergence of Cast iron in the Manchurian region and the northern part of the Korean peninsula, while the latter was due to the installation of Lelang County. It is an evaluation that reveals the essence of the gaze that Japanese researchers looked at our culture at that time. Until now, in the debate over the period between the early Iron Age and the First Three Kingdoms period, only the researchers after liberation were treated, and the flow since the Japanese colonial period was added, and there was no treatment. The time period divisions of these two periods became the reasons that the implications and the alternatives were not revealed. In the early days, Kim Won Yong expressed his limitations and sadness in the situation of lacking the data that we secured after liberation, and requested the followers to revise the contents after the data was increased. Numerous new data related to the early Iron Age are now available. Furthermore, there is no reason for Japanese scholars of Japanese colonial period to adhere to the division of time on the Korean Peninsula, which was set in the process of explaining the cultural changes of the Japanese archipelago. It is time to seriously consider how to incorporate ‘Gojoseon’, which was also recorded in Chinese official history, including the Bronze Age, into the period of Korean archeology.

Artefak Rijang Situs Gua Pawon

Goa Pawon is a prehistoric site that very important to discover the growth of ancient society in the world. Not only found humans remains in Goa Pawon, but we also found so many artefacts and ecofact remains, one of the artefacts is a tool from chert. This research is intended to discover the variety type of chert tools and to uncover what is the function of every type of chert tools that used to sustain human life in Goa Pawon. Data collecting method used for this research is bibliography study, observation, and interview. All the finding then collected and analyzed. Research method used for this research is typology analysis method, and function analysis method. Typology theory, functional theory and behavior archaeology theory is use by the researcher to be the basic idea about the type and function of rijang that used by the humans of Goa Pawon. The findings of chert artefacts in Goa Pawon is split into two category, waste category and tools category. Waste category has flakes, debitage, and core. Tool category has edge scrapper, notched scrapper, end scrapper, danticulated scrapper, high-back scrapper, lancipan dan multi tools. All the tools in this site have so many form and made typical adjusted to what is for. Tendency for rijang is used to process animals, for example is pointer that was function to make a hole on animal bone and animal tooth and made to be a jewelry, and notched scrapper that used to dredge a molusca, Pelecypoda type.

The Invention of Prehistory and the Rediscovery of Europe: Exploring the Intellectual Roots of Gordon Childe’s ‘Neolithic Revolution’ (1936)

This article re-examines the ‘neolithic revolution’—Gordon Childe’s great contribution to prehistoric archaeology. Childe first articulated his model of three revolutions in history—neolithic, urban and industrial—in 1936. Many authors have sought to understand it in the light of subsequent archaeological theory; here I proceed differently. A broader appreciation of the context in which Childe operated, in Britain and the rest of Europe, is necessary if we are to grasp fully the content of his model and the theoretical strands that influenced it. This article aims to elucidate the Neolithic as a historical construct and Childe’s archaeology as a continuation of his politics. The facts are viewed from four perspectives: (a) personal, with biographical information about the young Gordon Childe; (b) institutional, through a description of the 1920s research landscape in London; (c) ideological, through an attempt to retrace the European Weltanschauung; and (d) conceptual, with a discussion of the ‘neolithic revolution’. Childe’s love-hate relationship with Germany and Austria heavily influenced his model, which is essentially a grand synthesis between the Kulturkreislehre (of Grabner) and the Dreistufenlehre (probably of Karl Bucher, through its critique by the Functionalists in London). The model’s revolutionary structure comes from dialectical materialism. All three main building blocks of the ‘neolithic revolution’—diffusionist, evolutionist and Marxist—ultimately derive from the great nineteenth century German historical tradition. An anti-fascist his entire life, Childe tried to rescue German ideas in face of the impending catastrophe—Hitler’s arrival to power, and the destruction of Central European intellectual traditions.

Going Against Whose Grain? Archaeological Theory and Southeast Asia's Premodern States

Southeast Asia is a paradox to Western scholars. Few are familiar with its history, yet Southeast Asia has been a veritable intellectual resource extraction zone for twentieth- and twenty-first-century social thought: imagined communities, galactic polities, agricultural involution and the moral economy of peasants all emanate from work done in Southeast Asia. The region's archaeological record is equally paradoxical: late Pleistocene ‘Hobbit’ hominins disrupt models of human origins, the world's largest Buddhist monument of Borobudur now sits in a wholly Muslim land mass in central Java, and the world's largest premodern city of Angkor is located in Cambodia, a country that remains resolutely rural. So we should not be surprised that Scott'sAgainst the Grain: A deep history of the earliest statesdraws from a career in Southeast Asian studies to study human history (the entire Anthropocene). This essay concentrates on how Scott believes early Mesopotamian states became legible.

Archaeological Stratigraphy, Flat Ontology and Thin Description. A Note on (Inter)Disciplinary Dialogue

Over the last decades, some archaeologists have adopted the approaches from philosophy and anthropology that may loosely be denoted by the term new materialism. The key assumptions are that archaeological investigation, regardless of the theoretical stance applied, has always been burdened by the modern mode of thinking and dichotomies such as nature/culture or subject/object, wherefrom stems the anthropocentric approach to the study of objects, primarily in respect to humans. It is suggested that the reality consists of a plethora of diverse elements, all deserving equal attention and all their existences being of equal relevance. Objects, animals, plants, all have the potential to act in a network of equal actors. A researcher must therefore respect the flat ontology, where none of the actors has primacy.
 The paper problematizes some of the (un)intentional implications of the ontological turn for the theory and practice of archaeology. First of all, the proposed flattening destabilizes the key disciplinary distinction – study of the human past through its material remains. The downplaying of the importance of human actions in the formation of networks of mutually equal actors at the same time downplays the human responsibility. In this way, various forms of inequality among humans as research priorities and the potential of social engagement of archaeology are neglected. Similar critique of new materialism is raised in the fields of philosophy and anthropology as well. This brings about the issue of interdisciplinary transfers of thin descriptions – selective adoption of concepts whose full implications remain neglected.

On provenance studies of New Zealand obsidians: A pXRF‐based geochemical reference dataset and a review of analytical methods

ABSTRACTSince the introduction of portable X‐ray fluorescence (pXRF) technology to obsidian provenance research, the volume of published studies has increased exponentially. This proliferation of data creates unprecedented analytic opportunities for the development of higher level archaeological theory but, at the same time, presents methodological challenges. Here, it is argued that rigorous analytic procedures are required to keep pXRF‐based provenance studies in line with the best scientific practice; specifically, the generation of accurate compositional data, the compilation of comprehensive reference databases for robust source characterisation and the development of appropriate methods for artefact assignment are essential components of a reliable protocol. To these ends, a reference dataset for New Zealand obsidians containing over 1500 samples is reported in this paper, previous source assignment methods are reviewed and a selection of multivariate approaches are evaluated.

The Anti-Anthropocentrism in the Recent Theoretical Archaeology

It has been widely acknowledged that archaeology is the study of humans and their culture through the material remains of the past, and we have never doubted the validity of the proposition until now. However, in the theoretical suggestions of the recent archaeological studies, the arguments against the proposition are easily seen. For example, some argue that what we want to know are not the human beings and their culture, but the relationships in which humans and non-humans interact with each other or the things themselves that humans left behind. By the 21st century, archaeological theory had moved away from anti-anthropocentrism and turned into things and concentrated on the relational thinking that human and non-human, nature and culture, and materials and concepts were already associated with each other in an existential way. Thus the role and weight of human beings have been reduced, and archaeology has already had the trends of anti-anthropocentrism. In fact, it was from the early 1990’s when the theoretical archaeology became interested in the importance of things and began to show anti-anthropocentrism tendencies. However, it is Bruno Latour s Actor-Network-Theory(ANT) that played a crucial role in the transition to anti-anthropocentrism, which seems to have greatly changed the nature of theoretical archaeology. Some archaeologists, who have recently embraced the philosophy of ‘Speculative Realism’, even argue the need to speculate on the object itself left behind or left after humans. One can see that there is a degree of difference between the recent claims of theoretical archaeology, depending on how much they have tendency to the antianthropocentrism.

Telling stories about the past – theory and method in Australian Archaeology

In this article, we present a brief examination of the overall lack of concern with archaeological theory in Australian archaeology and consider the privileging of ‘doing’ archaeology, i.e. conducting fieldwork, collecting data and dates, over developing interpretation and deeper understanding. This article also introduces a small collection of papers that derive from the AusTAG session held at the 2016 Australian Archaeological Association conference in Terrigal, NSW, one of a handful of AusTAG sessions that have taken place in Australia since 2012. The papers featured in this section reflect a sense of growth and potential of theory and high-level interpretation in Australian archaeology. The refreshing aspect of this particular collection is the way these authors have been able to ground often quite complex theoretical ideas in the practices of archaeology. We look with anticipation towards the future of Australian archaeology, one which we hope continues to develop in interesting, innovative, and theoretically informed directions.

Relational Identities and Other-Than-Human Agency in Archaeology

Relational Identities and Other-Than-Human Agency in Archaeology

Sonic transmissions

At the end of last December, Staš Vrenko, Slovenian artist and explorer of sound matter, displayed a system of unique sound machines entitled Loops in Transmission that could be seen, heard and used at Osmo/za. We hear the whirring of machines produced by electromathematical processes. But Vrenko is not interested in what we hear but in what sonicity is produced by the media machines that we handle every day. Half-way between sonic art and DIY engineering, Vrenko’s piece uses the support of media and archaeological theory to open the exploration of events in the media-technological time and their implicitly sonic nature. By doing so, it also explores the sound ontology of media environment. These are also the emphases tackled in this review.

Off-Lining to Tape Is Not Archiving: Why We Need Real Archiving to Support Media Archaeology and Ensure Our Visual Effects Legacy Thrives

This paper examines digital asset archiving and preservation practice in the visual effects (VFX) industry. The authors briefly summarize media archaeology theory and provide an overview of how VFX studios presently archive project assets and records, based on case study and interview research conducted with expert VFX practitioners from leading international studios. In addition, the authors propose that current practice could be improved by adopting archival science methods, including digital preservation practices. Doing so will support media archaeology studies of digital cultures over time and ensure that the legacy of VFX creative and technical production thrives for future generations.