Rethinking Persistent Places: Relationships, Atmospheres, and Affects

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Rethinking Persistent Places: Relationships, Atmospheres, and Affects" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Persistent place is a term used by archaeologists to describe places that are used, occupied, or revisited by humans over a long period of time. Most studies see places as persistent due to the type, availability, and abundance of resources or because humans attribute these places meaning and importance. In this symposium, we question such approaches and instead concentrate on the relational and experiential qualities of persistent places and how relationships make such places meaningful, animate, affective, and ultimately attractive or beneficial over a long period of time. We especially encourage participants to consider relationships between nonhuman entities, phenomena, materials, objects, natural features, and entire landscapes in creating persistent places as well as the dynamic qualities and atmospheres that these relationships generate. Overall, the goal is to move beyond behavioral and anthropocentric perspectives to consider why persistent places draw, change, and ultimately shape humans and explore the ways in which such places are active participants in the creation of history and culture.