Transcending Dualities and Forging Relationships: An Example from Staunton, Virginia

Summary

For archaeologists artifacts are data, objects to be measured, weighed, described, and interpreted.  They are items that can shed light on past political, economic, and social systems.  However, the objects we excavate in the field or study in museums also forge multiple connections and obligations in the present and into the future.   Considering objects in this way allows one not only to better understand the past, but also to more effectively engage the present. More effectively presenting the relationships swirling around artifacts that transcend the past/present, public/private, secular/religious, and general interest/academic dualities, will allow archaeologists to better articulate the relevance of our field beyond simply providing historical background for the present.  In this paper I will focus on one object, a nineteenth century mezuzah curated by a small town synagogue, and the relationships in which it was and is actively enmeshed and the apparent dichotomies which it transcends.    

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016   •
• Praxis and Value in Performing Archaeology: Heritage, Affect, and the Relevancy of Archaeological Research

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

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PaperId(s): 200