Social Theory In Archaeology And Ancient History

Author : Geoff Emberling
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781107639911
Total Pages : 366 pages
Book Rating : 4.13/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Social Theory in Archaeology and Ancient History written by Geoff Emberling and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recently a new generation of archaeologists has recognized that large questions of development in societies are fundamentally important, thereby re-validating studying the rise of states, the origin of cities, and the collapse of civilizations. These essays demonstrate the importance of large historical questions in case studies of key civilizations.

Author : Geoff Emberling
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1316453553
Total Pages : 583 pages
Book Rating : 4.51/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Social Theory in Archaeology and Ancient History written by Geoff Emberling and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-11-24 with total page 583 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a time when archaeology has turned away from questions of the long-term and large scale, this collection of essays reflects on some of the big questions in archaeology and ancient history - how and why societies have grown in scale and complexity, how they have maintained and discarded aspects of their own cultural heritage, and how they have collapsed. In addressing these long-standing questions of broad interest and importance, the authors develop counter-narratives - new ways of understanding what used to be termed 'cultural evolution'. Encompassing the Middle East and Egypt, India, Southeast Asia, Australia, the American Southwest and Mesoamerica, the fourteen essays offer perspectives on long-term cultural trajectories; on cities, states and empires; on collapse; and on the relationship between archaeology and history. The book concludes with a commentary by one of the major voices in archaeological theory, Norman Yoffee.

Author : Michael Shanks
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Social Theory and Archaeology written by Michael Shanks and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Lynn Meskell
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 0470692863
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.68/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Companion to Social Archaeology written by Lynn Meskell and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-04-15 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Companion to Social Archaeology is the first scholarly work to explore the encounter of social theory and archaeology over the past two decades. Grouped into four sections - Knowledges, Identities, Places, and Politics - each of which is prefaced with a review essay that contextualizes the history and developments in social archaeology and related fields. Draws together newer trends that are challenging established ways of understanding the past. Includes contributions by leading scholars who instigated major theoretical trends.

Author : Dries Daems
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000344738
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.38/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Social Complexity and Complex Systems in Archaeology written by Dries Daems and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-02-22 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social Complexity and Complex Systems in Archaeology turns to complex systems thinking in search of a suitable framework to explore social complexity in Archaeology. Social complexity in archaeology is commonly related to properties of complex societies such as states, as opposed to so-called simple societies such as tribes or chiefdoms. These conceptualisations of complexity are ultimately rooted in Eurocentric perspectives with problematic implications for the field of archaeology. This book provides an in-depth conceptualisation of social complexity as the core concept in archaeological and interdisciplinary studies of the past, integrating approaches from complex systems thinking, archaeological theory, social practice theory, and sustainability and resilience science. The book covers a long-term perspective of social change and stability, tracing the full cycle of complexity trajectories, from emergence and development to collapse, regeneration and transformation of communities and societies. It offers a broad vision on social complexity as a core concept for the present and future development of archaeology. This book is intended to be a valuable resource for students and scholars in the field of archaeology and related disciplines such as history, anthropology, sociology, as well as the natural sciences studying human-environment interactions in the past.

Author : Ianir Milevski
Publisher : Equinox Publishing (UK)
ISBN 13 : 9781781796351
Total Pages : 158 pages
Book Rating : 4.51/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Framing Archaeology in the Near East written by Ianir Milevski and published by Equinox Publishing (UK). This book was released on 2017 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents a series of studies by scholars working in Middle Eastern archaeology who actively apply social theory to interpret their fieldwork. It aims to highlight the value of using social theory in the interpretation of field work in a region where, traditionally, such approaches have not played a major role. There are a number of factors that account for why social theory is often under-exploited by archaeologists in this part of the world. In many countries, where large numbers of the foreign archaeologists are involved, a division between those doing fieldwork and those undertaking archaeological interpretation can easily arise. Or, the lack of interest in social theory may stem from a legacy of positivism that overrides other approaches. There is also the fact that archaeology and anthropology often belong to separate academic departments and are considered two separate disciplines disconnected from each other. In some cases the centrality of historical paradigms has precluded the use of social theory. There are also divisions between universities and other research institutions, such as departments of antiquities, which is not conductive to interdisciplinary cooperation. This factor is especially debilitating in contexts of rapid destruction of sites and the exponential growth of salvage excavations and emergency surveys. The papers integrate a wide range of perspectives including 'New' or 'Processual' archaeology, Marxist, 'Post-Processual', evolutionist, cognitive, symbolic, and Cyber- archaeologies and touch on many topics including 3D representation, GIS, mapping and social theory, semiotics and linguistics, gender and bioarchaeology, social and technical identities, and modern historical modellingy and social practices in Middle Eastern archaeology.

Author : Michael B. Schiffer
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Social Theory in Archaeology written by Michael B. Schiffer and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the debut of the New Archaeology in the 1960s, approaches to the science of interpreting the material past have proliferated. Seeking to find common ground in an increasingly fractious and polarized discipline, a group of archaeological theorists representing various schools of thought gathered in a roundtable during the fall of 1997. As organizer, Michael Schiffer sought to build bridges that might begin to span the conceptual chasms that have formed in archaeology during the past few decades. Many participants in the roundtable accepted the challenge of building bridges, but some rejected the premise that bridge building is desirable or feasible. Even so, every chapter in the resulting volume contributes something provocative or significant to the enterprise of constructing social theory in archaeology and setting the agenda for future social-theoretic research. With contributions from every major school of thought, whether informed by evolutionary theory, feminism, chaos theory, behavioralism, or post-processualism, this volume serves as both handbook to an array of theoretical approaches and as a useful look at each school's response to criticism.

Author : Lisa Nevett
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
ISBN 13 : 0472122533
Total Pages : 338 pages
Book Rating : 4.30/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Theoretical Approaches to the Archaeology of Ancient Greece written by Lisa Nevett and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2017-03-06 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the modern world, objects and buildings speak eloquently about their creators. Status, gender identity, and cultural affiliations are just a few characteristics we can often infer about such material culture. But can we make similar deductions about the inhabitants of the first millennium BCE Greek world? Theoretical Approaches to the Archaeology of Ancient Greece offers a series of case studies exploring how a theoretical approach to the archaeology of this area provides insight into aspects of ancient society. An introductory section exploring the emergence and growth of theoretical approaches is followed by examinations of the potential insights these approaches provide. The authors probe some of the meanings attached to ancient objects, townscapes, and cemeteries, for those who created, and used, or inhabited them. The range of contexts stretches from the early Greek communities during the eighth and seventh centuries BCE, through Athens between the eighth and fifth centuries BCE, and on into present day Turkey and the Levant during the third and second centuries BCE. The authors examine a range of practices, from the creation of individual items such as ceramic vessels and figurines, through to the construction of civic buildings, monuments, and cemeteries. At the same time they interrogate a range of spheres, from craft production, through civic and religious practices, to funerary ritual.

Author : Eberhard W. Sauer
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134416199
Total Pages : 219 pages
Book Rating : 4.96/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Archaeology and Ancient History written by Eberhard W. Sauer and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-07-31 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of pieces from an international range of contributors explores in detail the separation of the human past into history and archaeology.

Author : Thomas E. Levy
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319656937
Total Pages : 238 pages
Book Rating : 4.39/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Cyber-Archaeology and Grand Narratives written by Thomas E. Levy and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-11-21 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume asks how the current Information Technology Revolution influences archaeological interpretations of techno-social change. Does cyber-archaeology provide a way to breathe new life into grand narratives of technological revolution and culture change, or does it further challenge these high-level theoretical explanations? Do digital recording methods have the potential to create large, regional-scale databases to ease investigation of high-level theoretical issues, or have they simply exposed deeper issues of archaeological practice that prevent this? In short, this volume cuts beyond platitudes about the revolutionary potential of the Information Technology Revolution and instead critically engages both its possibilities and limitations. The contributions to this volume are drawn from long-term regional studies employing a cyber-archaeology framework, primarily in the southern Levant, a region with rich archaeological data sets spanning the Paleolithic to the present day. As such, contributors are uniquely placed to comment on the interface between digital methods and grand narratives of long-term techno-social change. Cyber-Archaeology and Grand Narratives provides a much-needed challenge to current approaches, and a first step toward integrating innovative digital methods with archaeological theory.