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Soviet archaeological research in southern Turkmenistan revealed a
series of small Late Neolithic and Aeneolithic villages strung
along the streams that emerge from the Kopet Dag and water the
narrow foothill zone separating the mountains from the Kara Kum
desert. A commonly accepted premise of their work was that these
communities garnered their technological knowledge if not their
populations from regions to the south and west in present-day Iran.
Since 2010 we have reinvestigated one of these sites, the small
Late Neolithic (ca. 6200-5600 BCE) and early Aeneolithic (ca.
4800-4350 BCE) village of Monjukli Depe. Our research examines
microhistories of cultural techniques as a source of insights into
long-term and spatially extensive change as well as internal
variations and similarities in material practices. This volume
presents results of this work. A Bayesian modeling of 14C dates
demonstrates a long hiatus between the Neolithic and Aeneolithic
strata of the site as well as a hitherto unattested very early
Aeneolithic phase (“Meana Horizon”). A sequence of densely
built, well preserved Aeneolithic houses exhibits marked
similarities to earlier Neolithic architecture in the region.
Despite overall standardized plans, the houses reveal significant
variations in internal features and practices. Similar flexibility
within a set of common dispositions is evident in burial practices.
Very limited quantities of pottery offer a stark contrast to the
frequent occurrence of spindle whorls, indicating a substantial
production of thread, and to a large and varied assemblage of clay
tokens. A wide variety of fire installations attests to routinized
handling of fire, which did not prevent at least one building from
succumbing to a conflagration. Animal herding was heavily based on
sheep and goats, while cattle figured prominently in feasts. The
Meana tradition at Monjukli Depe exhibits significant structural
similarities to other early village societies in Western Asia and
will make this volume of interest to scholars working on similar
times and contexts.
Soviet archaeological research in southern Turkmenistan revealed a
series of small Late Neolithic and Aeneolithic villages strung
along the streams that emerge from the Kopet Dag and water the
narrow foothill zone separating the mountains from the Kara Kum
desert. A commonly accepted premise of their work was that these
communities garnered their technological knowledge if not their
populations from regions to the south and west in present-day Iran.
Since 2010 we have reinvestigated one of these sites, the small
Late Neolithic (ca. 6200-5600 BCE) and early Aeneolithic (ca.
4800-4350 BCE) village of Monjukli Depe. Our research examines
microhistories of cultural techniques as a source of insights into
long-term and spatially extensive change as well as internal
variations and similarities in material practices. This volume
presents results of this work. A Bayesian modeling of 14C dates
demonstrates a long hiatus between the Neolithic and Aeneolithic
strata of the site as well as a hitherto unattested very early
Aeneolithic phase ("Meana Horizon"). A sequence of densely built,
well preserved Aeneolithic houses exhibits marked similarities to
earlier Neolithic architecture in the region. Despite overall
standardized plans, the houses reveal significant variations in
internal features and practices. Similar flexibility within a set
of common dispositions is evident in burial practices. Very limited
quantities of pottery offer a stark contrast to the frequent
occurrence of spindle whorls, indicating a substantial production
of thread, and to a large and varied assemblage of clay tokens. A
wide variety of fire installations attests to routinized handling
of fire, which did not prevent at least one building from
succumbing to a conflagration. Animal herding was heavily based on
sheep and goats, while cattle figured prominently in feasts. The
Meana tradition at Monjukli Depe exhibits significant structural
similarities to other early village societies in Western Asia and
will make this volume of interest to scholars working on similar
times and contexts.
This handbook gathers original, authoritative articles from leading
archaeologists to compile the latest thinking about archaeological
theory. The authors provide a comprehensive picture of the
theoretical foundations by which archaeologists contextualize and
analyze their archaeological data. Student readers will also gain a
sense of the immense power that theory has for building
interpretations of the past, while recognizing the wonderful
archaeological traditions that created it. An extensive
bibliography is included. This volume is the single most important
reference for current information on contemporary archaeological
theories.
Archaeologists have often used the term ideology to vaguely refer
to a "realm of ideas." Scholars from Marx to Zizek have developed a
sharper concept, arguing that ideology works by representing--or
misrepresenting--power relations through concealment, enhancement,
or transformation of real social relations between groups."
Ideologies in Archaeology "examines the role of ideology in this
latter sense as it pertains to both the practice and the content of
archaeological studies. While ideas like reflexive archaeology and
multivocality have generated some recent interest, this book is the
first work to address in any detail the mutual relationship between
ideologies of the past and present ideological conditions producing
archaeological knowledge.
Contributors to this volume focus on elements of life in past
societies that "went without saying" and that concealed different
forms of power as obvious and unquestionable. From the use of
burial rites as political theater in Iron Age Germany to the
intersection of economics and elite power in Mississippian mound
building, the contributors uncover complex manipulations of power
that have often gone unrecognized. They show that Occam's
razor--the tendency to favor simpler explanations--is sometimes
just an excuse to avoid dealing with the historical world in its
full complexity.
Jean-Paul Demoule's concluding chapter echoes this sentiment and
moreover brings a continental European perspective to the preceding
case studies. In addition to situating this volume in a wider
history of archaeological currents, Demoule identifies the
institutional and cultural factors that may account for the current
direction in North American archaeology. He also offers a defense
of archaeology in an era of scientific relativism, which leads him
to reflect on the responsibilities of archaeologists.
Includes contributions by: Susan M. Alt, Bettina Arnold, Uzi
Baram, Reinhard Bernbeck, Matthew David Cochran, Jean-Paul Demoule,
Kurt A. Jordan, Susan Kus, Vicente Lull, Christopher N. Matthews,
Randall H. McGuire, Rafael Mico, Cristina Rihuete Herrada, Paul
Mullins, Sue Novinger, Susan Pollock, Victor Raharijaona, Roberto
Risch, Kathleen Sterling, Ruth M. Van Dyke, and LouAnn Wurst
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