The Bioarchaeology Of Space And Place

Author : Gabriel D. Wrobel
Publisher : Springer Science & Business
ISBN 13 : 1493904795
Total Pages : 299 pages
Book Rating : 4.92/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Bioarchaeology of Space and Place written by Gabriel D. Wrobel and published by Springer Science & Business. This book was released on 2014-04-16 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bioarchaeology of Space and Place investigates variations in social identity among the ancient Maya by focusing on individuals and small groups identified archaeologically by their inclusion in specific, discrete mortuary contexts or by unusual mortuary treatments. Utilizing archaeological, biological and taphonomic data from these contexts, the studies employ a variety of methodological approaches to reconstruct aspects of individuals’ life-course and mortuary pathways. Following this, specific mortuary behaviors are discussed in relation to their local or regional cultural setting using relevant archaeological, ethnohistoric, and/or ethnographic data in an effort to interpret their meaning within the broader social, political and economic contexts in which they were carried out. This volume covers a number of topics that are currently being debated in Maya archaeology, including identification and discussion of the role and extent of human sacrifice in Maya culture, the use of ancestors for maintaining political power, the mortuary use of caves by both elites and non-elites, ethnic distinctions within urban areas and the extent of movement of people between communities. Importantly, the papers in this volume attempt to test and move beyond static, dichotic categories that are often employed in mortuary studies in an effort to better understand the complex ways in which the Maya conceptualized and manipulated social identity. This type of nuanced case-study approach that incorporates historical, archaeological and theoretical contextualization is becoming increasingly important in the field of bioarchaeology, providing valuable sources of data where small, diverse samples impede populational approaches.

Author : University of Calgary. Archaeological Association. Conference
Publisher : UNM Press
ISBN 13 : 9780826340221
Total Pages : 434 pages
Book Rating : 4.29/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Space and Spatial Analysis in Archaeology written by University of Calgary. Archaeological Association. Conference and published by UNM Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The archaeology of space and place is examined in this selection of papers from the 34th annual Chacmool Archaeological Conference.

Author : Pamela L. Geller
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319409956
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Bioarchaeology of Socio-Sexual Lives written by Pamela L. Geller and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-07-28 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume uses bioarchaeological remains to examine the complexities and diversity of past socio-sexual lives. This book does not begin with the presumption that certain aspects of sex, gender, and sexuality are universal and longstanding. Rather, the case studies within—extend from Neolithic Europe to pre-Columbian Mesoamerica to the nineteenth-century United States—highlight the importance of culturally and historically contextualizing socio-sexual beliefs and practices. The Bioarchaeology of Socio-Sexual Lives highlights a major shortcoming in many scholarly and popular presentations of past socio-sexual lives. They reveal little about the ancient or historic group under study and much about Western society’s modern state of heteronormative affairs. To interrogate commonsensical thinking about socio-sexual identities and interactions, this volume draws from critical feminist and queer studies. Reciprocally, bioarchaeological studies extend social theorizing about sex, gender, and sexuality that emphasizes the modern, conceptual, and discursive. Ultimately, The Bioarchaeology of Socio-Sexual Lives invites readers to think more deeply about humanity’s diversity, the naturalization of culture, and the past’s presentation in mass-media communications.

Author : Vera Tiesler
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000586324
Total Pages : 1055 pages
Book Rating : 4.29/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology written by Vera Tiesler and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-05-23 with total page 1055 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together a range of contributors with different and hybrid academic backgrounds to explore, through bioarchaeology, the past human experience in the territories that span Mesoamerica. This handbook provides systematic bioarchaeological coverage of skeletal research in the ancient Mesoamericas. It offers an integrated collection of engrained, bioculturally embedded explorations of relevant and timely topics, such as population shifts, lifestyles, body concepts, beauty, gender, health, foodways, social inequality, and violence. The additional treatment of new methodologies, local cultural settings, and theoretic frames rounds out the scope of this handbook. The selection of 36 chapter contributions invites readers to engage with the human condition in ancient and not-so-ancient Mesoamerica and beyond. The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology is addressed to an audience of Mesoamericanists, students, and researchers in bioarchaeology and related fields. It serves as a comprehensive reference for courses on Mesoamerica, bioarchaeology, and Native American studies.

Author : Megan A. Perry
Publisher : University Press of Florida
ISBN 13 : 0813063558
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.53/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Bioarchaeology and Behavior written by Megan A. Perry and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2018-02-19 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While mortuary ruins have long fascinated archaeologists and art historians interested in the cultures of the Near East and eastern Mediterranean, the human skeletal remains contained in the tombs of this region have garnered less attention. In Bioarchaeology and Behavior, Megan Perry presents a collection of essays that aim a spotlight on the investigation of the ancient inhabitants of the circum-Mediterranean area. Composed of eight diverse papers, this volume synthesizes recent research on human skeletal remains and their archaeological and historical contexts in this region. Utilizing an environmental, social, and political framework, the contributors present scholarly case studies on such topics as the region’s mortuary archaeology, genetic investigations of migration patterns, and the ancient populations’ health, disease, and diet. Other key anthropological issues addressed in this volume include the effects of the domestication of plants and animals, the rise of state-level formations, and the role of religion in society. Ultimately, this collection will provide anthropologists, archaeologists, and bioarchaeologists with an important foundation for future research in the Near East and eastern Mediterranean.

Author : Scott R. Hutson
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351029568
Total Pages : 983 pages
Book Rating : 4.68/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Maya World written by Scott R. Hutson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-06-17 with total page 983 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Maya World brings together over 60 authors, representing the fields of archaeology, art history, epigraphy, geography, and ethnography, who explore cutting-edge research on every major facet of the ancient Maya and all sub-regions within the Maya world. The Maya world, which covers Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador, contains over a hundred ancient sites that are open to tourism, eight of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and many thousands more that have been dug or await investigation. In addition to captivating the lay public, the ancient Maya have attracted scores of major interdisciplinary research expeditions and hundreds of smaller projects going back to the 19th century, making them one of the best-known ancient cultures. The Maya World explores their renowned writing system, towering stone pyramids, exquisitely painted murals, and elaborate funerary tombs as well as their creative agricultural strategies, complex social, economic, and political relationships, widespread interactions with other societies, and remarkable cultural resilience in the face of historical ruptures. This is an invaluable reference volume for scholars of the ancient Maya, including archaeologists, historians, and anthropologists.

Author : Jaqueline Rossignol
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1489924507
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Space, Time, and Archaeological Landscapes written by Jaqueline Rossignol and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last 20 years have witnessed a proliferation of new approaches in archaeolog ical data recovery, analysis, and theory building that incorporate both new forms of information and new methods for investigating them. The growing importance of survey has meant an expansion of the spatial realm of traditional archaeological data recovery and analysis from its traditional focus on specific locations on the landscape-archaeological sites-to the incorporation of data both on-site and off-site from across extensive regions. Evolving survey methods have led to experiments with nonsite and distributional data recovery as well as the critical evaluation of the definition and role of archaeological sites in data recovery and analysis. In both survey and excavation, the geomorphological analysis of land scapes has become increasingly important in the analysis of archaeological ma terials. Ethnoarchaeology-the use of ethnography to sharpen archaeological understanding of cultural and natural formation processes-has concentrated study on the formation processes underlying the content and structure of archae ological deposits. These actualistic studies consider patterns of deposition at the site level and the material results of human organization at the regional scale. Ethnoarchaeological approaches have also affected research in theoretical ways by expanding investigation into the nature and organization of systems of land use per se, thus providing direction for further study of the material results of those systems.

Author : Cathy Willermet
Publisher : University Press of Florida
ISBN 13 : 0813052378
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.73/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Bioarchaeology of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica written by Cathy Willermet and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2018-09-03 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume offers a novel interdisciplinary view of the migration, mobility, ethnicity, and social identities of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican peoples. In studies that combine bioarchaeology, ethnohistory, isotope data, and dental morphology, contributors demonstrate the challenges and rewards of such integrative work when applied to large regional questions of population history. The essays in this volume are the results of fieldwork in Honduras, Belize, and a variety of sites in Mexico. One chapter uses dental health data and burial rituals to investigate the social status of sacrificial victims during the Late Classic period. Another analyzes skeletal remains from multiple research perspectives to explore the immigrant makeup of the multiethnic city of Copan. Contributors also use strontium and oxygen isotope data from tooth enamel and dental morphological traits to test hypotheses about migration, and they incorporate ethnohistorical sources in an examination of ancient Maya understandings of belonging and otherness. Revealing how complementary fields of study can together create a better understanding of the complex forces that impact population movements, this volume provides an inspiring picture of the exciting collaborative work currently under way among researchers in the region. A volume in the series Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Past: Local, Regional, and Global Perspectives, edited by Clark Spencer Larsen

Author : Alexandra Livarda
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 1785708317
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Bioarchaeology of Ritual and Religion written by Alexandra Livarda and published by . This book was released on 2017-12-21 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bioarchaeology of Ritual and Religion is the first volume dedicated to exploring ritual and religious practice in past societies from a variety of ‘environmental’ remains. Building on recent debates surrounding, for instance, performance, materiality and the false dichotomy between ritualistic and secular behavior, this book investigates notions of ritual and religion through the lens of perishable material culture. Research centering on bioarchaeological evidence and drawing on methods from archaeological science has traditionally focused on functional questions surrounding environment and economy. However, recent years have seen an increased recognition of the under-exploited potential for scientific data to provide detailed information relating to ritual and religious practice. This volume explores the diverse roles of plant, animal, and other organic remains in ritual and religion, as foods, offerings, sensory or healing mediums, grave goods, and worked artifacts. It also provides insights into how archaeological science can shed light on the reconstruction of ritual processes and the framing of rituals. The 14 papers showcase current and new approaches in the investigation of bioarchaeological evidence for elucidating complex social issues and worldviews. The case studies are intentionally broad, encompassing a range of sub-disciplines of bioarchaeology including archaeobotany, anthracology, palynology, micromorphology, geoarchaeology, zooarchaeology (including avian and worked bone studies), archaeomalacology, and organic residue analysis. The temporal and geographical coverage is equally wide, extending across Europe from the Mediterranean and Aegean to the Baltic and North Atlantic regions, and from the Mesolithic to the medieval period. The volume also includes a discursive paper by Prof. Brian Hayden, who suggests a different interpretative framework of archaeological contexts and rituals.

Author : Andrea Cucina
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319108581
Total Pages : 168 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Archaeology and Bioarchaeology of Population Movement among the Prehispanic Maya written by Andrea Cucina and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-11-17 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Archaeological evidence - i.e. presence of exogenous, foreign material objects (pottery, obsidian and so on) - is used to make inferences on ancient trade, while population movement can only be assessed when the biological component of an ancient community is analyzed (i.e. the human skeletal remains). But the exchange of goods or the presence of foreign architectural patterns does not necessarily imply genetic admixture between groups, while at the same time humans can migrate for reasons that may not be related only to trading. The Prehispanic Maya were a complex, highly stratified society. During the Classic period, city-states governed over large regions, establishing complex ties of alliance and commerce with the region’s minor centers and their allies, against other city-states within and outside the Maya realm. The fall of the political system during the Classic period (the Maya collapse) led to hypothetical invasions of leading groups from the Gulf of Mexico into the northern Maya lowland at the onset of the Postclassic. However, it is still unclear whether this collapse was already underway when this movement of people started. The whole picture of population dynamics in Maya Prehispanic times, during the Classic and the Postclassic, can slowly emerge only when all the pieces of the puzzle are put together in a holistic and multidisciplinary fashion. The contributions of this volume bring together contributions from archaeology, archaeometry, paleodemography and bioarchaeology. They provide an initial account of the dynamic qualities behind large–scale ancient population dynamics, and at the same time represent novel multidisciplinary points of departure towards an integrated reconstruction and understanding of Prehispanic population dynamics in the Maya region.