Ethnography/Ethnoarchaeology (Other Keyword)
201-225 (325 Records)
This is an abstract from the "The State of the Art in Medieval European Archaeology: New Discoveries, Future Directions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Presents recent findings of the Mosfell Archaeological Project (MAP) in Iceland’s Mosfell Valley (Mosfellsdalur). Reviews excavations at Leiruvogur Bay at the coastal mouth of the valley and at Hrísbrú, the farmstead of the Mosfell chieftains. These two Viking Age sites formed a 10th century...
Movement, Intersubjectivity, and Sensory Archaeology– Insights from Western Ireland (2018)
Movement is fundamental to bodily perception and to the formation of the archaeological record. Histories of movement shape our perceptual apparatus and generate embodied knowledge. This recursive constitution of bodies, movements, and materials simultaneously defines the challenge and opportunity of phenomenological approaches within sensory archaeology. Explicitly or not, most researchers use their own bodily experiences of movement as analogies for making inferences about the material and...
Multiple Ways of Understanding Peru’s Changing Climate: Bridging Ethnographic, Archaeological, and Other Scientific Perspectives in Student Learning (2018)
This paper discusses the importance of combining ethnographic, archaeological, and "hard" scientific knowledge when teaching about climate change. Archaeology courses that discuss climate change typically bring together data from the physical sciences, such as from ice or lake cores, with archaeological evidence of social change, such as shifting settlement patterns or food strategies. Though an understanding of these links is critical to scientific literacy and knowledge about the past, we...
Music Instruments in the Chajul Murals (2023)
This is an abstract from the "The Maya Wall Paintings of Chajul (Guatemala)" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this discussion the locations of murals in the three houses restored at Chajul are pinpointed, and the placement of musicians and instruments in those murals identified. The authors introduce music archaeology, and explain why its methods are necessary for identification and interpretive purposes; setting up a focus on the three...
My Grandfather’s Castanhal: Plants, Community, Territory, and Memory in the Brazilian Amazon (2018)
In contemporary Gurupá, a rural municipality in the Brazilian Amazon, life is largely shaped by movement of, and among, plants. Plants here are mobile, but spend most of their lives stationary. In this paper, I examine the relationship between people and plants – as living, but nonetheless spatially rooted elements of the landscape – in these agroextractivist communities. I explore the significance of planting and plant life in regulating territorial use and notions of rights, access, and...
The Mystical Past and the Lucrative Present: New Age Archaeological Tourism in the Andes (2018)
The last two decades in the south central Andes have witnessed the rapid growth of "Turismo Mistico" or New Age Tourism to archaeological sites and monuments in the south central Andes. Using the Cusco Valley of Peru as a case study, this paper analyzes textual, visual, experiential, and ethnographic data in order to assess the economic and socio-political impact this industry has on the communities in which it thrives. In particular, I explore the implications New Age Tourism has on local and...
Narratives in Clay and Pigment: Cultural Knowledge and Social Practices in the Sierra Mixe, Oaxaca (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The artistic expressions of the Ayuujk (Mixe) peoples are little known in Mexican archaeological research. In this presentation I discuss the possible narratives behind the presence of plastic art and rock art, unprecedent in Mesoamérica, located in the context of a subterranean landscape in the Sierra Mixe of Oaxaca. In particular I will focus on the...
Na’nilkad béé na’niltin: The Early Navajo Pastoral Landscape Project (Phase 1) – Experimental Ethnoarchaeology on the Navajo Nation (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Nat’aah Nahane’ Bina’ji O’hoo’ah: Diné Archaeologists & Navajo Archaeology in the 21st Century" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The non-coerced adoption of sheep by Diné (Navajo) communities in northwest New Mexico during the 17th century and the subsequent rise of an intensely pastoral lifeway stand out as unique developments among Native societies in the American Southwest. By applying a three-phase research design...
Negotiating the Centrality of Regional Identity in Real Time: Punjabi, Bengali, and NWFP-Ness among Partition Refugees in Delhi (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Seeing Migrant and Diaspora Communities Archaeologically: Beyond the Cultural Fixity/Fluidity Binary" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeologists understand the limitations of viewing cultural categories as deterministic of material use and preference. Nonetheless, it is challenging to avoid such assumptions when trying to understand material patterns associated with moments of migration. This paper considers how...
Negotiating with the Lord of Wild Animals: Maya Ritual Practices and the Distinctive Life-Histories of Animal Bones (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters: A Cross-Cultural Perspective" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In various contemporary Maya communities, hunting involves careful negotiations among various active agents – human and other-than-human – involved in the hunt. A pivotal actor in these negotiations is the deity known as the Lord of Wild Animals, the supernatural gamekeeper of the wild species in the forest....
Niche Construction and Cultural Complexity in Small-Scale Societies (2019)
This is an abstract from the "The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis and Human Origins: Archaeological Perspectives" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Identifying the factors that influence variation in cultural complexity among groups is an important task for archaeologists. In this paper, I argue that niche construction may be one of these factors. I begin by showing that empirical work on the drivers of technological complexity in small-scale...
A Nineteenth-Century Furnace in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Tonalá and Tlaquepaque are the main centers of traditional glassblowing in Mexico today. While there are records of one glass furnace in the sixteenth century in Jalisco, the industry did not take root in the area until the early nineteenth century. The analysis of archaeological glass from colonial Mexico City shows that glassmakers followed the tradition...
Northern Iroquoian Conflict: From Coercive Adoption to Community Destruction in a Matter of Decades (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Beyond “Barbarians”: Dimensions of Military Organization at the Bleeding Edge of the Premodern State" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Although the cause of the enmity between the Huron-Wendat and the Haudenosaunee is unknown, it commenced in the late 1400s and intensified in the early to mid-1500s, impacting the north shore of Lake Ontario, eastern Ontario, the Ottawa Valley, and central New York. This is demonstrated...
Nuestras Voces: Representation and Visibility of Latinx Women Archaeologists in the United States (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In recent years, there has been an increase in social justice movements, from Black Lives Matter to #metoo. As Maria Franklin and colleagues have stated, when these movements took center stage in our nation, they forced us to reflect on our very discipline and the inequalities present within, which in turn has led to several collaborations and research...
Oakley Cabin: Revisited (2018)
This presentation will give an overview of the past and present investigations of this African American archaeological site in the heart of Montgomery County, Maryland. Particular attention will be given to Oakley Cabin's historical context as a "geography of resistance."
Objects of Adaptation: The Role of Play Objects in Adaptation to Environmental Change in the North Atlantic Islands (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology and Landscape Learning for a Climate-Changing World" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. We present a comparative analysis of Norse and Thule play objects and practices (i.e., toys and games) in the North Atlantic islands, focusing on their role in enculturation and information transmission between generations. When considered together with environmental records, this information offers insights into processes...
Of Foragers and Farmers: The Influence of Population Interaction on Faunal Diversity and Abundances in Zooarchaeological Assemblages (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Zooarchaeological measures of faunal diversity are commonly used to assess prehistoric diet breadth, paleoenvironmental conditions, hunting technology, and economic orientation. In addition, hunter-gatherers are usually assumed to have more diverse faunal assemblages in comparison to food producers. Ethnoarchaeological data from central African neighboring...
Old Methods and Theories in the Ethnographic Present: Why We Need An Archaeological Sensibility in the 21st Century (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology Out-of-the-Box: Investigating the Edge of the Discipline" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeologists often look to sociocultural anthropology for either ethnographic data that support interpretations of the ancient past or for the latest "cutting edge" theory that can be directly grafted onto a data set. In essence, archaeologists excel at mining the ethnographic literature for analogies or new social...
On the Neolithic Edge: Predicting Crop Adoption by Paleolithic Foragers of Taiwan (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology on the Edge(s): Transitions, Boundaries, Changes, and Causes" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The adoption of agricultural crops by intensified foragers occurred throughout Southeast Asia, resulting in mixed and low-level economies. Behavioral ecology provides models for evolutionary decision-making for mixed forager-gardener economies. The Paleolithic to Neolithic transition in Taiwan is represented by a...
The Original Cultural Resource Managers of America: Going Beyond Integrating Native Perspectives in Cultural Resource Management (2018)
The perspectives of Native Americans within the field of archaeology can no longer be tossed aside. Native Americans have placed special cultural significance on archaeological resources long before 1492. The relationship between Archaeology and Native Americans is well-known to be a tumultuous one. The integration of Native American perspectives on the management of resources significant to tribes has been a continuum of paternalism and racial segregation. Archaeologists are in a rare position...
Our Personal and Professional Journeys to a Sacred Unity: Archaeology, Social Justice and the Protection of Apache Sacred Sites (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Social Justice in Native North American Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. ‘TRUST-ship’ in Archaeology—Our definition of a practice that supports meaningful interaction between people and organizations who TRUST one another. Building trust with communities and individuals in society is a basic tool that anthropologists use in conducting research or gathering data for projects. Actions that support the...
Parents, Infants and Material Culture (2018)
A study of over 50 U.S. parents of infants that included interviews and the recording of toys and living spaces shows that material culture does provide clues to both parental beliefs and behaviors, but, not surprisingly, the reflection is imperfect. The material presence of infants is considerable, but even in relatively affluent households much of it is often second hand and gifted, so may not directly reflect the espoused beliefs of parents. This is especially true of objects reflecting...
A Pattern of Islands: Ethnography, Remote Sensing, and Community Archaeology in Kosrae and Pohnpei, Micronesia (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Knowledge of navigation and island living among indigenous people of the western Pacific Ocean retain lifeways, legends, and oral history about their migrations in the region. Western enlightenment theories of Pacific migration persist in describing this migration as a wave or diffusion of peoples seeking new lands. However, among islanders, it is...
Paying Homage to the Past: Identity, Memory and Place in the American South (2018)
Recent archaeological approaches to identity emphasize landscapes as dynamic arenas in which identities are communicated, generated, and negotiated. Focusing on several Cherokee heritage sites in Georgia and North Carolina, this paper examines the role of historical memory within place-based identity construction. Spatial expressions of identity within the landscape at each of these sites are examined throughout multiple periods of occupation. I trace distinctions in the ways in which Cherokees...
Performative Informality Hurts Everyone: Getting to the Root of Intersectional Inequalities in Archaeology (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Presidential Session: What Is at Stake? The Impacts of Inequity and Harassment on the Practice of Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This presentation will discuss subtle forms of intersectional inequality that arise when academic communities are conceptualized as friendship-based and egalitarian, rejecting explicit hierarchy. I have described this as "performative informality" and argued that it stems from a...