Modelling Communities: Social Transformation of Early Kaushi, Taiwan

Summary

This paper presents the modelling of different communities within two sites, Saqacengalj

and Aumagan, which exemplifies the early developments of the Kaushi people. In the

light of Ingold’s ‘wayfaring theory’ (Ingold, 2012), this research argues that interpersonal

relationships are not entirely based on social identities, and social relations should also be

investigated, regardless of their hierarchical status, but through intimate human

interaction. Therefore, this research models human agency from a ‘meshworked’

perspective, and demonstrates how social interactions and relations are influenced

through agents walking around a settlement. This bottom-up approach allows the

examination of the allocated social relations as opposed to the delegated social identity,

and benefits from understanding how different communities interacted. This paper not

only highlights the methodological approach of the model, but also presents the changes

in settlement pattern as well as the social transformation of early Kaushi people.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Archaeology of Cultural Fluidity in Taiwan

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14331