Reinvent, Reclaim, Redefine: Considerations of "Reuse" in Archaeological Contexts
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Reinvent, Reclaim, Redefine: Considerations of "Reuse" in Archaeological Contexts" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
Reuse is often seen as a sustainable behavior, invoking ideas of conservation or even renewal in contemporary contexts. As an ongoing practice, reuse also plays a role in archaeological contexts—where materials such as ceramic, metal, stone, and wood can be changed, reassembled, recontextualized with varying temporalities. These periods of reuse can complicate how we understand the past at multiple scales, from individual objects up to the reuse and repurpose of spaces. To navigate these practices, archaeologists use a variety of frameworks—object biographies, itineraries, palimpsests, etc.—to conceptualize these shifting uses. By placing various approaches to archaeological material reuse into conversation, it is possible to interrogate how these frameworks are used and how the various contexts, engagements, and power structures associated with reuse can be understood archaeologically.
Other Keywords
Historic •
Ideology •
Architecture •
Survey •
Use Wear •
Reuse •
Colonialism •
Landscape Archaeology •
Ceramic Analysis •
Memory
Geographic Keywords
Isle of Man (Country) •
Belize (Country) •
Kingdom of Sweden (Country) •
Kingdom of Norway (Country) •
French Republic (Country) •
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nort (Country) •
Ireland (Country) •
Kingdom of Belgium (Country) •
Bailiwick of Guernsey (Country) •
Faroe Islands (Country)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-7 of 7)
- Documents (7)
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Beyond Reuse: Reengagement and Interdiscursivity in the Pictish Built Environment (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Reinvent, Reclaim, Redefine: Considerations of "Reuse" in Archaeological Contexts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent archaeological work on the people known as the Picts of northern Britain (ca. 300–900 CE) has revealed that many of the Picts’ characteristic monuments and structures made use of materials previously made significant in prehistory. A portion of the Pictish “symbol stones”— a class of stone monuments...
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Composting the Past for the Future in the Bahamas: A Case Study of Contemporary Reuse and Transformation of Historic Spaces (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Reinvent, Reclaim, Redefine: Considerations of "Reuse" in Archaeological Contexts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Farmers and gardeners in the Bahamas have long practiced swidden agriculture to replenish the thin soil layers sitting atop limestone bedrock. These methods recycle the organic materials of the landscape to produce something new and generative. In similar fashion, the historical materials that dot the...
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The Material Culture of Back-to-Africa: Object Reinvention in the Development of Africa's First Republic (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Reinvent, Reclaim, Redefine: Considerations of "Reuse" in Archaeological Contexts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Nineteenth-century Black American and Caribbean settlers of the Back-to-Africa movement to Liberia brought with them a wide variety of objects for building new lives and landscapes for their emancipatory and civilizing mission in West Africa. The migrants arrived to lands already inhabited by people long...
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The Power of Reuse and Removal: A Case Study of the Indonesian Megaliths of Iowa City, Iowa (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Reinvent, Reclaim, Redefine: Considerations of "Reuse" in Archaeological Contexts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The co-opting of cultural heritage is one of the ways that archaeological materials are “reused.” This process references and reinforces power structures related to cultural identity through the control of archaeological material, narratives, and meanings. In some situations, the process includes the...
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Reuse, Rubble, and Relations to Place at Ancient Maya Cities (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Reinvent, Reclaim, Redefine: Considerations of "Reuse" in Archaeological Contexts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper traces histories of reused stone and space at ancient Maya cities. Space/Place theorists have documented the ways that physical spaces have layers of meaning tied to their history of use. In the Maya area, archaeologists have documented myriad ways in which Maya individuals have engaged with and...
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Reused Timber and Woodland Management in Western Suffolk (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Reinvent, Reclaim, Redefine: Considerations of "Reuse" in Archaeological Contexts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper investigates the social context of timber reuse in late medieval and early modern timber-framed buildings. The data for this survey are centered around the town of Bury St. Edmunds, a market town in western Suffolk surrounded by rural farmsteads and villages. In the mid-sixteenth century there...
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The Viking Great Army: Weighing Up Reuse (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Reinvent, Reclaim, Redefine: Considerations of "Reuse" in Archaeological Contexts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper focuses on reuse of material culture looted by the Viking Great Army when it raided England in the late ninth century CE. This material included gold, silver, and copper alloy, which was sometimes melted down to turn into other artifacts and also cut up for use in exchange in the form of...