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Connie Lamb - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Metal, Nomads and Culture Contact: The Middle East and North Africa
Comparative Civilizations Review, 2013Co-Authors: Connie LambAbstract:Anfinset, Nils, Metal, Nomads and Culture Contact: The Middle East and North Africa. London: Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2010.The regions of both northeast Africa and the southern Levant witnessed a number of major cultural changes from 5000 BC to ca. 3000 BC.The premise of this book is that these changes must be seen in a context of the following important factors: 1) widespread changes in animal husbandry and agriCulture, 2) expanding exchange and interaction over vast areas, and 3) the later emergence of metallurgy. In the study of civilizations, there seems to be a relationship between the development of social complexity and the introduction of metallurgy.Over time, various modes of living advanced which initiated constant communication across enormous areas between different regions where ideas diffused and commodities were exchanged. The author proposes that pastoral nomads acted as the dynamic component of diffusion and cultural change between different modes of subsistence. Settled village societies had created economic surplus which made it possible to procure metal ore from nomads.These settled societies acted in turn as middlemen because of their position as a supply and demand zone to the larger formative societies in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The author bases his conclusions on archaeological sites and materials. The author, Nils Anfinset, is a Research Fellow at the Department of Archaeology, University of Bergen in Norway. His research interests include political archaeology and cultural heritage in the late Neolithic and Bronze Age, and he has conducted research in Norway, Nepal, Tanzania, Syria and the West Bank. He has taught at the University of Bergen, the University of Oslo, and Birzeit University (Palestine). This book is amazing in its scope and depth. The author covers a broad geographical area and over two millennia at the same time. Its documentation is stunning with 26 pages of references.He deftly intertwines all the literature on a particular topic with objectivity. The book reads like one large literature review so in this respect it is somewhat tedious but the author's extensive knowledge of the literature is impressive. The conclusions at the end of each section, chapter and book itself are very valuable in providing the reader with effective summaries. In some cases I wish the concluding remarks had been provided at the beginning of the chapter as an introduction.The time coverage and chronology included in this book are:During the last phase, there occurs a large increase in complexityThe book is organized by topic and is meant to build up to the conclusion, but in doing so, the author many times refers to later chapters, which is a little disruptive. The first chapter is an introduction and the second a discussion of perspectives and approaches. Anfinset then provides the setting by discussing the areas of the southern Levant and Northeast Africa for the 5th and 4th Millennia. …
Alistair Paterson - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Considering Colonialism and Capitalism in Australian Historical Archaeology: Two Case Studies of Culture Contact from the Pastoral Domain
The Archaeology of Capitalism in Colonial Contexts, 2011Co-Authors: Alistair PatersonAbstract:As a result of British colonization in 1788, Australia was transformed from a continent of hunter-gatherers to a capitalist settler nation with social, economic, physical, environmental, and material cultural aspects of this radical transition. Colonization and colonialism by settlers (mainly British) are important topics for investigation in archaeological studies of colonial Australia while capitalism has been a less significant research priority. One key colonial enterprise was the pastoral industry, which involved sheep and cattle raising in many parts of Australia. Pastoral stations were sometimes the primary setting for the shift from Aboriginal to farming country. Two regional studies – one from the southwestern Lake Eyre Basin in Central Australia and the other from the coastal Pilbara in Western Australia – demonstrate how archaeology can interpret and measure these significant changes in landscape and society. The evidence operates on different scales, from a broad scale detecting how people used landscape to the scale of site, artifact, and individual agency. Particular attention in this research was directed in these regional studies toward the evidence for cross-cultural Contacts and changes in Aboriginal society that resulted from European colonization; a further question explored how Europeans adjusted to their “frontier” regions (remembering that their frontiers were Aboriginal homelands) through studies of the spatial and temporal organization of archaeological sites and artifacts. The main temporal focus for this discussion is the first stage of pastoralism and Culture Contact (ca. 1860–1900). In both regions, the network of early pastoral sites was transformed by Australian Federation in 1900: many early settlements lay abandoned and others were part of economically more successful enterprises. This research suggests how, in these regions at least, archaeological sites provide evidence of early pastoralism and aspects of Aboriginal history, and that the colonial pastoral program required access to indigenous labor and knowledge.
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The Lost Legions: Culture Contact in Colonial Australia
2008Co-Authors: Alistair Paterson, Claire Smith, Dorothy Lippert, Joe Watkins, H. Martin Wobst, Larry J. ZimmermanAbstract:problematic. But critiques such as these are not new and many researchers have attempted to grapple with the complexities inherent in these relationships over the last decade and more. Smith and Waterton provide good advice to embrace the fact that ‘community interaction is contested, fraught and dissonant’ and to pay attention to ‘honesty, dialogue, recognition of power, a holistic and integrated approach and a critical regard for the political and social context of community engagement’ (pp.142143), but one is left wanting more. Now that most heritage professionals are at least cognisant of many of the issues that Smith and Waterton analyse what I imagine most want to know are practical steps they can take, real life examples they can borrow from, tangible ways that they can achieve ‘critically and politically aware engagement’ under real time and funding pressures, and ways to cope with the stresses that community work ultimately brings to bear. It is for this reason that I hope that Smith and Waterton consider a second volume in which they turn their attention to addressing the issues that they bring to the fore in this book.
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Early Pastoral Landscapes and Culture Contact in Central Australia
Historical Archaeology, 2005Co-Authors: Alistair PatersonAbstract:The arrival of British pastoralists throughout central Australia from the 1850s marked the introduction of wool production, predominantly for industrialized Britain. Pastoral industries were both capitalist and colonizing enterprises. Archaeological research and historical documents from pastoral station managers reveal how indigenous people were involved in the workings of Strangways Springs Station in northern South Australia (1860–1900). Research reveals differential Aboriginal involvement in the pastoral industry, indicated by two phases in the development of the pastoral station. Changes in pastoral work practice over time influenced cultural interaction.
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The texture of agency: an example of Culture-Contact in central Australia
Archaeology in Oceania, 2003Co-Authors: Alistair PatersonAbstract:A regional historical archaeological analysis of Strangways Springs Station, northern South Australia, reveals the evidence for interaction in the period 1850-1900 between Aboriginal people and neWly arrived European pastoralists. The evidence from campsites and worksites demonstrates differential Aboriginal involvement in the nineteenth century pastoral domain. The nature of cultural interaction changed as the pastoralists adapted and transformed their economic and social behaviour in response to the harsh Lake Eyre Basin environment and to economic and tech nical parameters related to the fledgling pastoral industry. The case study shows that archaeological and historical evidence each pro vide different perspectives on past Culture Contact and human agency.
Charles R. Ewen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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From colonist to creole: Archaeological patterns of Spanish colonization in the new world
Historical Archaeology, 2000Co-Authors: Charles R. EwenAbstract:Creolization theory has recently been adopted and adapted by archaeologists as a useful tool for the study of Culture Contact and Culture change. Another term, acculturation, has a much longer history and appears to examine the same phenomena. An examination of how this approach was applied in the study of the development of a Hispanic creole Culture demonstrates its utility regardless of the terminology used.
Stephen W Silliman - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Culture Contact or colonialism challenges in the archaeology of native north america
American Antiquity, 2005Co-Authors: Stephen W SillimanAbstract:What has frequently been termed “Contact-period” archaeology has assumed a prominent role in North American archaeology in the last two decades. This article examines the conceptual foundation of archaeological “Culture Contact” studies by sharpening the terminological and interpretive distinction between “Contact” and “colonialism.” The conflation of these two terms, and thereby realms of historical experience, has proven detrimental to archaeologists’ attempts to understand indigenous and colonial histories. In light of this predicament, the article tackles three problems with treating colonialism as Culture Contact: (1) emphasizing short-term encounters rather than long-term entanglements, which ignores the process and heterogeneous forms of colonialism and the multifaceted ways that indigenous people experienced them; (2) downplaying the severity of interaction and the radically different levels of political power, which does little to reveal how Native people negotiated complex social terrain but does much to distance “Contact” studies from what should be a related research focus in the archaeology of African enslavement and diaspora; and (3) privileging predefined cultural traits over creative or creolized cultural products, which loses sight of the ways that social agents lived their daily lives and that material Culture can reveal, as much as hide, the subtleties of cultural change and continuity. Lo que frecuentemente se denomina arqueologia del “periodo de Contacto” ha adquirido en los ultimos 20 anos un papel prominente en la arqueologia norteamericana. Este trabajo examina el legado conceptual de los estudios arqueologicos sobre el Contacto cultural y aclara la importante distincion terminologica e interpretativa entre “Contacto” y “colonialismo.” La tendencia a confundir ambos conceptos, y por lo tanto el mundo de las experiencias historicas, ha perjudicado el intento arqueologico por comprender tanto la historia indigena como la colonial. Bajo semejante predicamento, este articulo aborda tres problemas que se generan al equiparar colonialismo con Contacto cultural: (1) poner enfasis en los encuentros de poca duracion—en vez de las relaciones prolongadas—lo que ignora las formas y los procesos heterogeneos del colonialismo, asi como las multiples dimensiones de las experiencias indigenas, (2) poner menor atencion a la intensidad de la interaccion y a los grados de poder politico tan diferentes, lo que no permite apreciar como la gente autoctona negocio en contextos sociales complejos, promoviendo ademas un distanciamiento entre los estudios de “Contacto” y las investigaciones afines sobre la arqueologia de la esclavitud y diasporas africanas; y (3) privilegiar rasgos culturales predefinidos sobre formas culturales novedosas o criollas, lo que impide apreciar las formas en las que agentes sociales vivieron sus quehaceres cotidianos, olvidando a la vez que la cultura material puede revelar, asi como ocultar, las sutilezas del cambio cultural y de la continuidad.
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Agency, Practical Politics and the Archaeology of Culture Contact
Journal of Social Archaeology, 2001Co-Authors: Stephen W SillimanAbstract:I use this paper to intersect the trajectory of the agency concept in archaeology. On a theoretical front, I summarize briefly the state of ‘agency’ in archaeology and its deployment in theories of...
Louisa Campbell - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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A study in Culture Contact: the distribution, function and social meanings of Roman pottery from non-Roman contexts in southern Scotland
2011Co-Authors: Louisa CampbellAbstract:This thesis incorporates a reassessment of Roman pottery from non-Roman contexts in southern Scotland to investigate the complex processes of interaction between Romans and provincial societies. Modern theoretical constructs form the interpretive framework for the discussion to explore how Roman objects functioned in their new social settings. A detailed database has identified a total of 168 sites containing c. 1766 Roman pottery sherds and other objects, while Roman non-ceramic objects have been recovered from an additional 234 sites. The insertion of this data into the ArchGIS program has produced detailed distribution maps to graphically display material spreads and facilitate the identification of material foci. A lack of clearly definable central nodes suggests that the concept of elite access to and control over incoming Roman exotica may be inadequate explanations for the complex and multifarious processes by which the material Culture of Empire moved through provincial communities. The hillfort at Traprain Law, East Lothian, is often used to epitomise elite restriction of prestige goods (Hunter 2009) and a detailed study of the Roman ceramics from Traprain is used as a case study (see Chapter 9) to determine the viability of this model. The incorporation of robust and demonstrably appropriate social theories is suggested as an effective means of investigating these processes in a region that conventional wisdom has traditionally deemed to be marginal. The concept of Romanisation is critically deconstructed in favour of a more nuanced approach to the issue of Culture Contact. Modern postcolonial approaches, most of which have been applied predominantly to Mediterranean colonial situations, are tested against the data to determine their suitability in the context of the aggressive territorial expansionist policies of Rome in northern Britain. These paradigms consider the different ways in which Roman and frontier societies may have experienced the same events and how these communities selectively adopted, adapted or reused foreign material Culture. The effects of the conquest are shown to have been differently experienced in Scotland compared to other parts of the Empire and the research proposes methods of recognising the active participation of local people in past events. Rather than viewing northern societies as passive recipients of the imposition of oppressive Roman cultural values, an attempt is made to strip away widespread Romanocentric biases inherent in traditional approaches to the subject. The research adopts a bottom-up approach to the material remains to determine the demonstrable realities of interaction between Romans and northerners, the chronologically restricted and geographically variable extent of Contact over time and the role of material Culture in negotiating such Contact as well as potential resultant cultural transformations. A detailed contextual analysis of Roman pottery from non-Roman contexts has confirmed the variable character of Contact across time and space. The study further recognises the potentially lengthy curation of culturally significant objects and traces material biographies to determine alternative social functions of Roman objects in their new cultural settings through their contexts of deposition. Roman objects are confirmed as being appropriated into local ritual and ideological practices, having been subjected to culturally specific physical and symbolic redefinition and structured votive deposition. The research also confirms the heterogeneous, inter and intra regionally variable character of local Contact with the Empire and serves as model against which the data from other frontier regions can be tested.
