Foundations of Social Archaeology
Foundations of Social Archaeology

Author: Vere Gordon Childe

Publisher: Rowman Altamira

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 9780759105935

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V. Gordon Childe is probably the most widely read early archaeologist of the 20th century and one of the world's most renowned prehistorians. A thorough understanding of the evolution of Childe's theoretical perspective is crucial to an understanding of the foundations of social archaeology. For the first time, a diverse collection of Childe's writings have been brought together in one volume. These fourteen essays, from his earliest seminal work in 1935 to his reflective essay 'Retrospect' written in 1958 shortly before his death, document the progression of this dynamic thinker. Essays such as 'Archaeology and Anthropology' show the evolution of Childe's theories from a conception of the past as a trait-list conceptualization of culture to an understanding of the profound importance of social relations in transforming human history. His understanding of history evolved from a static notion into a dynamic conception that openly embraced social interaction and all that it entailed, a transformation that marked the earliest strains of social archaeology. The introduction by prominent anthropologists Thomas Patterson and Charles Orser places Childe's work in a larger context and explores Childe's ongoing value to modern readers. This volume will be of interest to archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians of social archaeology.

Foundations of Social Inequality
Foundations of Social Inequality

Author: T. Douglas Price

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-06-29

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 1489912894

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In this authoritative volume, leading researchers offer diverse theoretical perspectives and a wide-range of information on the beginnings and nature of social inequality in past human societies. Their illuminating work investigates the role of status differentiation in traditional archaeological debates and major societal transitions. This volume features numerous case studies from the Old and New World spanning foraging societies to agricultural groups and complex states. Diachronic in view and archaeological in focus, this book will be of significant interest to archaeologists, anthropologists, and students.

Social Theory in Archaeology
Social Theory in Archaeology

Author: Michael B. Schiffer

Publisher:

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13:

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Since the debut of the New Archaeology in the 1960s, approaches to the science of interpreting the material past have proliferated. Seeking to find common ground in an increasingly fractious and polarized discipline, a group of archaeological theorists representing various schools of thought gathered in a roundtable during the fall of 1997. As organizer, Michael Schiffer sought to build bridges that might begin to span the conceptual chasms that have formed in archaeology during the past few decades. Many participants in the roundtable accepted the challenge of building bridges, but some rejected the premise that bridge building is desirable or feasible. Even so, every chapter in the resulting volume contributes something provocative or significant to the enterprise of constructing social theory in archaeology and setting the agenda for future social-theoretic research. With contributions from every major school of thought, whether informed by evolutionary theory, feminism, chaos theory, behavioralism, or post-processualism, this volume serves as both handbook to an array of theoretical approaches and as a useful look at each school's response to criticism.

The Foundations of Research and Regional Survey in the Tsaghkahovit Plain, Armenia
The Foundations of Research and Regional Survey in the Tsaghkahovit Plain, Armenia

Author: Adam T. Smith

Publisher: Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 548

ISBN-13:

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Until recently, the South Caucasus was a virtual /terra/ /incognita/ on Western archaeological maps of southwest Asia. The conspicuous absence of marked places, of site names, toponyms, and topography gave the impression of a region distant, unknown, and vacant. The Joint American-Armenian Project for the Archaeology and Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian Societies (Project ArAGATS) was founded in 1998 to explore this terrain. Our investigations were guided by two overarching goals: to illuminate the social and political transformations central to the regions unique (pre)history and to explore the broader intellectual implications of collaboration between the rich archaeological traditions of Armenia (former U.S.S.R.) and the United States. This volume provides the first encompassing report on the ongoing studies of Project ArAGATS, detailing the general context of contemporary archaeological research in the South Caucasus as well as the specific context of our regional investigations in the Tsaghkahovit Plain of central Armenia. The book opens with detailed examinations of the history of archaeology in the South Caucasus, the theoretical problems that currently orient archaeological research, and a comprehensive reevaluation of the material bases for regional chronology and periodization. The work then provides the complete results of our regional investigations in the Tsaghkahovit Plain, including the findings of the first systematic pedestrian survey ever conducted in the Caucasus. Thanks to the results presented in this volume, and Project ArAGATSs ongoing excavations in the area, the Tsaghkahovit Plain is today the best known archaeological region in the South Caucasus. The present volume thus provides archaeologists with both an orientation to the prehistory of the South Caucasus and the complete findings of the first phase of Project ArAGATSs field investigations.

Social Complexity and Complex Systems in Archaeology
Social Complexity and Complex Systems in Archaeology

Author: Dries Daems

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-02-22

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 1000344738

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Social Complexity and Complex Systems in Archaeology turns to complex systems thinking in search of a suitable framework to explore social complexity in Archaeology. Social complexity in archaeology is commonly related to properties of complex societies such as states, as opposed to so-called simple societies such as tribes or chiefdoms. These conceptualisations of complexity are ultimately rooted in Eurocentric perspectives with problematic implications for the field of archaeology. This book provides an in-depth conceptualisation of social complexity as the core concept in archaeological and interdisciplinary studies of the past, integrating approaches from complex systems thinking, archaeological theory, social practice theory, and sustainability and resilience science. The book covers a long-term perspective of social change and stability, tracing the full cycle of complexity trajectories, from emergence and development to collapse, regeneration and transformation of communities and societies. It offers a broad vision on social complexity as a core concept for the present and future development of archaeology. This book is intended to be a valuable resource for students and scholars in the field of archaeology and related disciplines such as history, anthropology, sociology, as well as the natural sciences studying human-environment interactions in the past.

Agent-Based Modeling for Archaeology
Agent-Based Modeling for Archaeology

Author: Iza Romanowska

Publisher: SFI Press

Published: 2021-08-02

Total Pages: 442

ISBN-13: 1947864386

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To fully understand not only the past, but also the trajectories, of human societies, we need a more dynamic view of human social systems. Agent-based modeling (ABM), which can create fine-scale models of behavior over time and space, may reveal important, general patterns of human activity. Agent-Based Modeling for Archaeology is the first ABM textbook designed for researchers studying the human past. Appropriate for scholars from archaeology, the digital humanities, and other social sciences, this book offers novices and more experienced ABM researchers a modular approach to learning ABM and using it effectively. Readers will find the necessary background, discussion of modeling techniques and traps, references, and algorithms to use ABM in their own work. They will also find engaging examples of how other scholars have applied ABM, ranging from the study of the intercontinental migration pathways of early hominins, to the weather–crop–population cycles of the American Southwest, to the trade networks of Ancient Rome. This textbook provides the foundations needed to simulate the complexity of past human societies, offering researchers a richer understanding of the past—and likely future—of our species.

The Social Foundations of Prehistoric Britain
The Social Foundations of Prehistoric Britain

Author: Richard Bradley

Publisher: Longman Publishing Group

Published: 1984

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13:

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" . . . a stimulting book which no serious student of British Prehistory can afford to ignore." Archaeological Review " It is essential reading for all scholars. Personally I found the first half of the book so authoritative and stimulating that it was impossible not to read it in a single sitting." The London Archaeologist " A stimulating personal essay . . . throws light on major features of the British archaeological record." New Books on Archaeology

Archaeology as Political Action
Archaeology as Political Action

Author: Randall H. McGuire

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2008-04-03

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 0520254910

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“It is rare to read an archaeological book that has the capacity to inspire, as this one has.”—Mark P. Leone, author of The Archaeology of Liberty in an American Capital “Archaeology as Political Action is a highly original work that will be important for archaeologists and others concerned with processes of social change in the world today and, more importantly, with making a difference.”—Thomas C. Patterson, coeditor of Foundations of Social Archaeology “This powerful statement by a leading archaeological thinker has profound implications for rigorous archaeological interpretation, community collaboration, and political intervention.”—Stephen W. Silliman, coeditor of Historical Archaeology

The Archaeology of Tribal Societies
The Archaeology of Tribal Societies

Author: William A. Parkinson

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2002-03-01

Total Pages: 446

ISBN-13: 1789201713

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Anthropological archaeologists have long attempted to develop models that will let them better understand the evolution of human social organization. In our search to understand how chiefdoms and states evolve, and how those societies differ from egalitarian 'bands', we have neglected to develop models that will aid the understanding of the wide range of variability that exists between them. This volume attempts to fill this gap by exploring social organization in tribal - or 'autonomous village' - societies from several different ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and archaeological contexts - from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period in the Near East to the contemporary Jivaro of Amazonia.