Story Of Archaeology Research Articles

Negotiating Heritage through Education and Archaeology: Colonialism, National Identity, and Resistance in Belize

If true historical scholarship is about linking the present to the past and impelling the reader to take action in the here and now, then Alicia Ebbitt McGill's book—a culmination of over 15 years of ethnographic research in Crooked Tree and Biscayne, two Kriol communities of north-central Belize—more than delivers. McGill argues that archaeology and education are intersecting and interconnected institutions through which both official heritage and vernacular heritage (which in McGill's conceptualization comprises local, tangible, and intangible cultural components that are shared by the community) are negotiated and contested. Alongside her deep understanding of the Crooked Tree and Biscayne communities, McGill also engages with British imperial archival sources, providing us with a glimpse into the past that is always in relation to the concerns of the present. In taking on the question of archaeology in Belize, McGill adds to conversations in public history around Maya archaeology begun in recent years by scholars such as Christina Bueno and Patricia A. McAnany on Mexico and Central America.There is a clear logic to the way that the book is organized. While chapter 1 lays out the main thrusts of the book, the rest is organized in chapter pairs. The first pair (chapters 2 and 3) focuses on education, looking at its historical development and linkages to heritage practices as well as its present issues and concerns. The second pair (chapters 4 and 5) picks up the story of archaeology by both giving a long view of this institution in Belize from colonial times to the present and examining current community negotiations and resistance around heritage practices connected to archaeology. The extremely vital concluding chapter is the author's reflection on both her field experiences and her engagement with the communities' youths.McGill's work is full of insights. One of her most illuminating arguments is that even as Belizean heritage practices continue to prioritize Maya history and archaeology, there is a simultaneous lack of initiative to understand the histories of other ethnic groups, particularly Kriol communities. Part of the reason for this failure, according to McGill, is the “thingification” of archaeology, whereby artifacts and ruins become the proofs of heritage. She makes powerful use of the drawings made by students in the schools that she studies, in which Maya heritage was repeatedly signified by the presence of “old things” (p. 103). The danger of orienting archaeology toward artifacts becomes clear in her interviews; even teachers often do not realize that Kriol communities have a tangible history that could form part of heritage preservation. Kriol children in these communities appear to be more familiar with the nation's Maya heritage than their own local history. Second, McGill highlights how official agendas, whether in the colonial or the postindependence period, were supported and bulwarked by the twin pillars of education and archaeology. At the same time, McGill's book, despite showing the constraints and limitations within which Belizean archaeology has developed and continues to operate, is a book that gives hope. In particular, McGill is able to show the vibrancy of Belizean youth and students and the dedicated and often independent-minded teachers whose commitment to community can overcome the systemic problems with heritage practices in Belize.As a historian, I was fascinated by McGill's unique methodology and her ability to connect the past with the present. I did feel, however, that McGill's purpose was somewhat hindered by the structure of the book, with separate chapter pairs respectively addressing education and archaeology. I wondered whether her points about the interconnectedness of these two institutions would not have been better served by more thematic chapter divisions, so that each chapter could examine the intersection between archaeology and education more germanely. I also felt that McGill could have more deeply engaged the institutionalization of Belizean archaeology and the overwhelming presence of US universities and institutions in current Maya archaeology. This would also have tied in nicely with the author's discussion of tourism and heritage practices.Overall, I found McGill's book timely and important. It is one of those rare pieces of scholarship that compels the reader to get up and take action. As such, not only will it be of interest to historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists of Belize and the Maya region, but it would also be immensely helpful for policymakers on the ground involved in shaping education policies and heritage practices.

In Conversation with the Ancestors: Indigenizing Archaeological Narratives at Acadia National Park, Maine

In North America, Indigenous pasts are publicly understood through narratives constructed by archaeologists who bring Western ideologies to bear on their inquiries. The resulting Eurocentric presentations of Indigenous pasts shape public perceptions of Indigenous peoples and influence Indigenous perceptions of self and of archaeology. In this paper we confront Eurocentric narratives of Indigenous pasts, specifically Wabanaki pasts, by centering an archaeological story on relationality between contemporary and past Indigenous peoples. We focus on legacy archaeological collections and eroding heritage sites in Acadia National Park, Maine. We present the “Red Paint People” myth as an example of how Indigenous pasts become distorted through archaeological narratives influenced by Western ideologies and offer a framework for indigenizing archaeological narratives constructed previously through Western lenses, using Indigenous language and community engagement to carry out the study.

Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology by Eric H. Cline

<i>Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology</i> by Eric H. Cline

Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology

Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology

Estimations of sizes of fish from subfossil bones with a logarithmic regression model

Measurements of bones of ancient fish from archaeological excavations allow estimates of the sizes of the original fish, which may add important aspects to the archaeological story. Currently, these estimates are calculated using regression models derived from data collected from samples of recent fish of different sizes. The linear and power regression models which are in common use have some drawbacks. In this preliminary report, we propose four criteria for selection of the most appropriate available regression analyses, and recommend the use of a logarithmic regression model.

Decolonizing the Past and Present of the Western Hemisphere (The Americas)

Until very recently, archaeologists argued that the first people to enter the Western Hemisphere walked across the Bering Land Bridge from Siberia after 13,200 calBP, bringing with them fluted Clovis tools. However, there are many problematic areas of this archaeological story: one being that fluted Clovis tools have never been found outside of the Western Hemisphere, another being that in North and South America there are published reports of hundreds of pre-13,200 calBP sites which meet or exceed archaeological standards for dating, stratigraphy, and cultural artifacts. The field of Pleistocene archaeological studies in the Americas has historically been described as a battleground littered with academic causalities. Archaeologists have only recently conceded that Indigenous people were present in the Western Hemisphere a few 1000 years prior to Clovis. This is, however, the same scenario as the Clovis First hypothesis regarding diminishing the time frames of initial migrations; it is just a few 1000 years earlier than Clovis. This scenario reproduces and maintains archaeological power and control over the Indigenous past. Contrary to the traditional discussions of First People in the Western Hemisphere, my research questions are not about where the first people came from and when. I argue that the first people and their descendants are indigenous to the continents of the Western Hemisphere and have been so for thousands of years, this is where they are from. I argue that there is a vast body of evidence for much earlier migrations which is ignored a priori mainly due to embedded “nonfactual” colonially constructed histories which erased an ancient Indigenous presence. I further argue that archaeological discussions which diminish an ancient Indigenous presence in the Western Hemisphere rupture contemporary people’s connections to their ancestral past. I discuss the history of American Anthropology to support my argument that this academic battle is not just about archaeological sites or material remains. The argument reflects an ongoing colonial practice of erasure and denies Indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere a place in ancient world history.

Scramble for the Past. A Story of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire, 1753–1914. Edited by Zainab Bahrani, Zeynep Çelik, and Edhem Eldem. Istanbul: SALT, 2011. Pp. 519. $73.49 (paperback).

Previous article No AccessBook ReviewScramble for the Past. A Story of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire, 1753–1914. Edited by Zainab Bahrani, Zeynep Çelik, and Edhem Eldem. Istanbul: SALT, 2011. Pp. 519. $73.49 (paperback).Karen L. WilsonKaren L. WilsonThe Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Near Eastern Studies Volume 73, Number 2October 2014 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/677279 Views: 263Total views on this site © 2014 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse a book review in this section, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Review: Osman Hamdi Bey and the Americans: Archaeology, Diplomacy, Art; Scramble for the Past: A Story of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire, 1753–1914; and Artamonoff: Picturing Byzantine Istanbul, 1930–1947

Osman Hamdi Bey and the Americans: Archaeology, Diplomacy, Art Pera Museum, Istanbul 15 October 2011–8 January 2012 Scramble for the Past: A Story of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire, 1753–1914 SALT Galata, Istanbul 22 November 2011–11 March 2012 Artamonoff: Picturing Byzantine Istanbul, 1930–1947 Koc University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations, Istanbul 25 June–10 November 2013 Three exhibitions that examine ways of looking at the ancient and Byzantine past from the eighteenth to the early twentieth century were recently on display in Istanbul. These exhibitions reevaluated the changing discourses and practices of archaeology as both a scholarly enterprise and a popular endeavor, particularly in relation to the late Ottoman and early Turkish contexts. They explored how contemporaries looked at, understood, and wrote about the culture, art, and architecture of the past from their various and varying perspectives. The exhibition Scramble for the Past: A Story of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire, 1753–1914 at SALT Galata was curated by Zainab Bahrani, Zeynep Celik, and Edhem Eldem (Figure 1). It revolved around a double narrative of an apparently conventional historical account of the birth and development of “modern archaeology” from the founding of the British Museum in 1753 to the establishment of the Ottoman Pious Foundations Museum in 1914 alongside a contested story about some historically renowned archaeological sites that once dotted the former Ottoman lands. As its provocative title Scramble for the Past suggests, rather than presenting a celebratory narrative of archaeological practice, the exhibition put forward a critical interpretation of the history of archaeology. The seemingly neutral time line, highlighting the major dates in the long march of archaeology alongside significant historical political events, constituted a backdrop on the walls and literally encircled the main body of display, which focused on certain archaeological sites within the framework of eight different themes. True to the exploratory and interdisciplinary cultural mission of SALT, the sites were presented through their various historical representations in different media from written texts to oil paintings, from drawings to photographs and films, together with some original artifacts, among which were also dispersed commissioned installations on the nature of archaeology by artists Mark Dion …

Review: Scramble for the Past: A Story of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire, 1753–1914, by Zainab Bahrani, Zeynep Çelik, and Edhem Eldem, eds.

Zainab Bahrani, Zeynep Celik, and Edhem Eldem, eds.. Scramble for the Past: A Story of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire, 1753–1914 Istanbul: SALT, 2011, 519 pp., 178 illus. $58.99 (paper). ISBN 9789944731270 This admirable, innovative volume offers a unique panorama of archaeology and the traffic in antiquities generated in Ottoman lands during the essential formative period of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. While it does not discuss Ottoman Egypt and Palestine (whose inclusion might have doubled the page count), Scramble for the Past engages strategically with archaeology and its institutions in modern-day Turkey, as well as Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Greece. The book’s editors and contributors analyze activities by English, French, German, and Austrian scholars and archaeologists at home and abroad. Further, and crucially, they break new ground by considering the motivations of the Ottoman peoples and government, rescuing them from the more common role of largely passive or picturesque backdrop for Western narratives of discovery. In their introductory essay, “Archaeology and Empire,” the editors state as their goal to challenge the view that “scientific archaeology” constitutes “a purely disinterested realm of scholarship” (25). Instead, this volume provides an impressive roster of the often buried and less than purely scientific or objective interests that motivated Western archaeological discovery in this portion of the world. Two particular themes recur throughout. First is the centrality of imperialism, the seemingly never-absent tie between scientific and political activities. Perhaps the most striking example occurs in Shawn Malley’s essay, “The Layard Enterprise.” Malley presents Austen Henry Layard, …

Radha Dalal. Review of "Ottoman Painting: Reflections of Western Art from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic" by Wendy M.K. Shaw and "Scramble for the Past: A Story of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire, 1753–1914" by Zainab Bahrani, Zeynep Çelik, and Edhem Eldem.

Radha Dalal. Review of "Ottoman Painting: Reflections of Western Art from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic" by Wendy M.K. Shaw and "Scramble for the Past: A Story of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire, 1753–1914" by Zainab Bahrani, Zeynep Çelik, and Edhem Eldem.

The uncreated man. A story of archaeology and imagination

AbstractWhat is the place of imagination in archaeology? This paper works with a set of materials from the deep archive of the South African archaeologist John Goodwin (1900–59) to explore the relationship between archaeology and imagination. The first half of the paper focuses on a short story written by Goodwin, describing the accidental creation and subsequent ‘uncreation’ of an indigenous person of the Cape (described in the story as a ‘Hottentot’) by the gods on Olympus. The second half of the paper describes two encounters in life between Goodwin and indigenous people of the Cape (the first with the so-called ‘Tweerivieren Bushmen’, exhibited in life at the Empire Exhibition of 1936; the second with the human remains from Oakhurst Cave). Encounters in life, in death and in imagination, the terms of these three episodes double and repeat one another in the different forms of writing to which they give rise (the imagined world of the short story, and the ‘bare description’ of Goodwin's archaeological texts). At the centre of each is the haunted figure of the ‘Bushman’/‘Hottentot’, a being whose status is figured as a kind of ‘death-in-life’. In my telling, forms of actual and epistemic violence are never far from these events. Looking, showing and telling are described as activities which range across a set of characteristic sites: the body, the archive and the grave. In so doing, they summon their counterparts, the categories of the unspeakable and the untellable.

Linguistics for Archaeologists: Principles, Methods and the Case of the Incas

Like archaeologists, linguists and geneticists too use the data and methods of their disciplines to open up their own windows onto our past. These disparate visions of human prehistory cry out to be reconciled into a coherent holistic scenario, yet progress has long been frustrated by interdisciplinary disputes and misunderstandings (not least about Indo-European). In this article, a comparative-historical linguist sets out, to his intended audience of archaeologists, the core principles and methods of his discipline that are of relevance to theirs. They are first exemplified for the better-known languages of Europe, before being put into practice in a lesser-known case-study. This turns to the New World, setting its greatest indigenous ‘Empire’, that of the Incas, alongside its greatest surviving language family today, Quechua. Most Andean archaeologists assume a straightforward association between these two. The linguistic evidence, however, exposes this as nothing but a popular myth, and writes instead a wholly new script for the prehistory of the Andes — which now awaits an archaeological story to match.

The Incorporation of the Native American Past: Cultural Extermination, Archaeological Protection, and the Antiquities Act of 1906

In the late nineteenth century, while advocates garnered support for a law protecting America's archaeological resources, the U.S. government was seeking to dispossess Native Americans of traditional lands and eradicate native languages and cultural practices. That the government should safeguard Indian heritage in one way while simultaneously enacting policies of cultural obliteration deserves close scrutiny and provides insight into the ways in which archaeology is drawn into complex sociopolitical developments. Focusing on the American Southwest, this article argues that the Antiquities Act was fundamentally linked to the process of incorporating Native Americans into the web of national politics and markets. Whereas government programs such as boarding schools and missions sought to integrate living indigenous communities, the Antiquities Act served to place the Native American past under the explicit control of the American government and its agents of science. This story of archaeology is vital, because it helps explain the contemporary environment in which debates continue about the ownership and management of heritage.

Looking beneath the surface: the story of archaeology in New Jersey

For more than ten thousand years, humans have lived in New Jersey. From Summit to Cape May, from Trenton to the Jersey Shore, the state is a treasure trove of archaeological artifacts, revealing much about those who occupied the region prior to European settlement. As a rule, only the most durable of human creations-items of stone and pottery-survive the ravages of time. To complicate matters, the onslaught of our own culture and the indiscriminate looting of sites by greedy collectors have further diminished the cultural materials left behind. The task of the archaeologist is to gather and interpret these scraps for the benefit of science and the public. But digging up relics is a trivial pursuit if the only outcome is a collection of artifacts, however attractive or valuable they may be. Understanding what those relics mean in human terms is crucial. In Looking beneath the Surface, R. Alan Mounier looks at the human past of New Jersey. With particular focus on the ancient past and native cultures, the author tells the story of archaeology in the state as it has unfolded, and as it continues to unfold. New investigations and discoveries continually change our views and interpretations of the past. In jargon-free language, Mounier provides an in-depth introduction offering information to understand general archaeological practices as well as research in New Jersey. Subsequent chapters describe artifact types, archaeological settlements, and burial practices in detail. He concludes with vignettes of twenty-one archaeological investigations throughout the state to illustrate the variability of sites and the accomplishments of dedicated archaeologists, both professional and amateur.

Book Reviews: Northwest Carving Traditions, The Lost Cities of the Mayas: The Life, Art, and Discoveries of Frederick Catherwood, Tutankhamun: The Eternal Splendor of the Boy Pharaoh, Clovis Revisited: New Perspectives on Paleoindian Adaptations from Black-water Draw, New Mexico, Native Visions: Evolution in Northwest Coast Art from the Eighteenth through the Twentieth Century, Handbook of the North American Indians, Volume

Book Reviews: Northwest Carving Traditions, The Lost Cities of the Mayas: The Life, Art, and Discoveries of Frederick Catherwood, Tutankhamun: The Eternal Splendor of the Boy Pharaoh, Clovis Revisited: New Perspectives on Paleoindian Adaptations from Black-water Draw, New Mexico, Native Visions: Evolution in Northwest Coast Art from the Eighteenth through the Twentieth Century, Handbook of the North American Indians, Volume

Grasshopper Pueblo: A Story of Archaeology and Ancient Life. Jefferson Reid and Stephanie Whittlesey. 1999. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson. $29.95 (cloth), ISBN 0-8165-1913-7. xiv + 186 pp. $15.05 (paper), ISBN 0-8165-1914-5.

Grasshopper Pueblo: A Story of Archaeology and Ancient Life. Jefferson Reid and Stephanie Whittlesey. 1999. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson. 15.05 (paper), ISBN 0-8165-1914-5. - Volume 67 Issue 1

Grasshopper Pueblo. A Story of Archaeology and Ancient Life, by Jefferson Reid and Stephanie Whittlesey. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1999

Grasshopper Pueblo field school closed after the 1992 summer season. Its closing marked the end of a 30-year period of survey, excavation and analysis of archaeological sites and materials as well as student education. From 1963-1992, hundreds of students were trained in the field methods and analytical models and techniques of the New Archaeology as practiced at the University of Arizona under the direction of Raymond Thompson (1963-1965), William Longacre (1966-1978), and J. Jefferson Reid (1979-1992). By the end of the 1992 summer season, Grasshopper Pueblo was, perhaps, the most thoroughly studied archaeological site in the American Southwest. As the authors note, "Although large pueblos of the American Southwest have attracted archaeologists for more than a century ... Ancient life at these special places will never be understood with as much detail as we have for Grasshopper Pueblo". Much of the detail is reported in the many published papers, nine doctoral dissertations, and two masters' theses cited by the authors, and more reports are likely to follow. As a training ground for archaeologists, Grasshopper is probably comparable in impor­tance to the Chaco Canyon field schools and excavations of the 1920s- 194Os.

A settlement pattern study in northeast China: results and potential contributions of western theory and methods to Chinese archaeology

Chinese scholarship well illustrates how research attitudes direct the spirit of research, and the tenor of the archaeological story which results. What happens when non-Chinese theory, approaches and field methods are brought to bear in a Chinese regional study?

The Greek Stones Speak: The Story of Archaeology in Greek Lands. Paul MacKendrick

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsThe Greek Stones Speak: The Story of Archaeology in Greek Lands. Paul MacKendrick Ann Konrad KnudsenAnn Konrad Knudsen Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Classical Philology Volume 60, Number 1Jan., 1965 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/364954 Copyright 1965 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Paul MacKendrick, The Mute Stones Speak: the Story of Archaeology in Italy. London: Methuen, 1962. Pp. xiii + 369, 171 illustrations. £I 15s.

Paul MacKendrick, The Mute Stones Speak: the Story of Archaeology in Italy. London: Methuen, 1962. Pp. xiii + 369, 171 illustrations. £I 15s.