Place as Material Culture

Objects, Geographies and the Construction of Time
1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4438-4261-7
Verlag: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 350 Seiten

The present book explores the complexity of the past, by analysing the relationships between place, territory, the material value of objects and landscapes, time and ritual, during archaeological investigations. It presents the archaeology of place as a series of interconnecting and interactive relationships. It is clear that things and places do not emerge without some form of agency, usually through the concept of material manipulation, coupled with elaboration, innovation and time. Depending on the raw material used and the process of manipulation and its relationship with the environment, materiality gains value.

How do we as modern humans work within the complexity of place, materiality, time, and ritual?

Traditional in archaeological discourse is the need to describe place, albeit in an empiricist and banal way. Discourse is sometimes followed by a more fruitful and interpretive account. However, these accounts tend to ignore human emotion that is bound-up in place, for example the ritualized and symbolic meanings that place holds. This book explores the significance of geography, place and the materiality that place holds, and challenges many of the tradition norms that in the past have trivialized landscape archaeology. The book is divided into 14 thought-provoking and crafted chapters and will be an ideal companion to anyone involved in the social sciences.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gheorghiu, Dragos

Nash, George

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Zeit: Philosophische, Psychologische, Soziale Aspekte
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Museumskunde, Materielle Kultur, Erinnerungskultur
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Umweltgeschichte & Umweltarchäologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie
• Geowissenschaften Geographie | Raumplanung Humangeographie

Über Autor(innen)

Professor Dragos Gheorghiu is an anthropologist and experimental archaeologist whose studies focus on the process of cognition and material culture, of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic societies of South Eastern Europe. His most recent research is concerned with the large scale reconstruction of prehistoric contexts as well as their virtual reconstruction and exploration using Augmented and Mixed Reality techniques.

Professor George Nash is a specialist in prehistoric and contemporary rock art, affiliated with the Department of Architecture at the University of Spiru Haret, Bucharest, and is a Senior Researcher at the Centre of Geosciences in Mação, Portugal. Professor Nash has undertaken a number of projects that look at spatial/temporal aspects of prehistoric landscapes and is co-editor of the book The Levantine Question, published in 2012.