scholarly journals The Archaeological Record Speaks: Bridging Anthropology and Linguistics

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Balari ◽  
Antonio Benítez-Burraco ◽  
Marta Camps ◽  
Víctor M. Longa ◽  
Guillermo Lorenzo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Collaborative Approach ◽  
Evolutionary Anthropology ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
And Linguistics

This paper examines the origins of language, as treated within Evolutionary Anthropology, under the light offered by a biolinguistic approach. This perspective is presented first. Next we discuss how genetic, anatomical, and archaeological data, which are traditionally taken as evidence for the presence of language, are circumstantial as such from this perspective. We conclude by discussing ways in which to address these central issues, in an attempt to develop a collaborative approach to them.

Escaping the Confines of Normative Thought: A Reevaluation of Puebloan Prehistory

1979 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda S. Cordell ◽  
Fred Plog
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Organizational Strategies ◽  
Evolutionary Anthropology ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Broad Scope ◽  
Protohistoric Period ◽  
Status Differentiation ◽  
Social Organizational

Our recent efforts in preparing syntheses of Puebloan prehistory suggest that most of the standard, normative generalizations are empirically false and that the conceptual framework traditionally employed to organize the archaeological data is inadequate and inappropriate. We show that the patterned variability manifest in the archaeological record is obscured by normative treatment. An approach to southwestern prehistory that is at once more faithful to the data and to processual, evolutionary anthropology is provided by describing the variable strategies that prehistoric groups used to cope with the continually changing natural and social environments in which they lived. We argue that some aspects of demographic, productive, and social organizational strategies are appropriate for treatment in syntheses of broad scope. We trace these strategies as they seem to have occurred in the northern Southwest from about A.D. 1 to the protohistoric period. In so doing, we find that successful strategies were those that facilitated the articulation of diversity. At some times productive specialization, organized redistributive exchange, and status differentiation were among the more important strategies.

scholarly journals Cultural Transform di Situs Benteng Putri Hijau

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (27) ◽  
pp. 165-178
Author(s):  
Stanov Purnawibowo
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Transformation ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
The Past

AbstractArchaeology not only describing about the past, but also present. The form of cultural transformation process which describe the process of archaeological record disposition in the post-depositoanal factors, one of example form describe from present. Cultural transformation of archaeological record was found in Benteng Putri Hijau site. Precipitation position of archaeological data and stratigraphy can give information about cultural transformation data and contexts remain found in archaeological deposition.

Abandonment and Post-Abandonment Behavior at a Rural Central American House-Site

1972 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick W. Lange ◽  
Charles R. Rydberg
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Central American ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Archaeological Investigation ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
House Site ◽  
American House

AbstractExamination of a recently abandoned modern rural house-site in northern Costa Rica was undertaken in an attempt to gain insights into the absence of comparable sites from the Precolumbian archaeological record. The site was thoroughly described, a number of hypotheses based on artifactual evidence were advanced, and the former occupants were then interviewed. Abandonment and post-abandonment behavior by the occupants and others stongly influenced the material culture remains and potential archaeological data. The site had been subjected to a number of alterations and artifacts found were of the lowest retentive priority. A number of problems relevant to archaeological investigation at such sites were elucidated.

scholarly journals Bringing linguistic research into legal scholarship and practice

2020 ◽  
pp. 1037969X2096283
Author(s):  
Alexandra Grey ◽  
Laura Smith-Khan
Keyword(s):  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Research Area ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Collaborative Approach ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Legal Scholarship ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
And Linguistics

This article suggests a cohesive articulation of the shared basis upon which the interdisciplinary research field of law and linguistics is developing, organising the research around the familiar three branches of the state: legislature, executive and judiciary, thus providing a map oriented towards non-linguists and legal practitioners. It also invites interdisciplinary scholars to critically reflect on future directions for this research area. This effort to redress the lack of recognition within the law of relevant linguistic research is part of our pursuit of an alternative and more collaborative approach to legal scholarship and law reform addressing issues of communicative barriers and linguistic injustice.

Smudge Pits and Hide Smoking: The Use of Analogy in Archaeological Reasoning

1967 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lewis R. Binford
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Behavioral Context ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractIt is argued that as a scientist one does not justifiably employ analogies to ethnographic observations for the "interpretation" of archaeological data. Instead, analogies should be documented and used as the basis for offering a postulate as to the relationship between archaeological forms and their behavioral context in the past. Such a postulate should then serve as the foundation of a series of deductively drawn hypotheses which, on testing, can refute or tend to confirm the postulate offered. Analogy should serve to provoke new questions about order in the archaeological record and should serve to prompt more searching investigations rather than being viewed as a means for offering "interpretations" which then serve as the "data" for synthesis. This argument is made demonstratively through the presentation of formal data on a class of archaeological features, "smudge pits," and the documentation of their positive analogy with pits as facilities used in smoking hides.

scholarly journals More Perspectives on the Late Prehistoric Site of Qiryat Ata

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 307-319
Author(s):  
Amir Golani
Keyword(s):  
Future Research ◽  
Late Prehistoric ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
History Of

In a recent SAAC article, Eliot Braun (2012) has published a critique of my excavations at the late prehistoric site of Qiryat Ata. Reexamination of a site’s stratigraphy and reinterpretation of archaeological data are welcome, if their purpose is to truly enhance our understanding of the history of the site and thus gain a better understanding of the archaeological periods of its occupation. Such a reevaluation should be based on factual evidence, exacting analysis and the realization that even the same data can and is open to different interpretation. Reexamination of the data would strive to offer accurate and useful conclusions that could substantially augment our perception of the archaeological record and be a catalyst for future research and fruitful collegial discussion among scholars.The purpose of the following is to address the claims and allegations raised by Braun in his article. While some points of Braun’s critique may have their merit and provide a future basis for discussion, examination of his major points shows them to be basically unfounded.

The Materiality of Shabtis: Figurines over Four Millennia

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn E. Howley
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Background ◽  
Significant Part ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Human Response ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Egyptian History

Miniature human figurines have inspired many theoretical advances in archaeological literature, centred around universal human reactions to the material affect of their form. However, confirmation that ancient audiences had such reactions to figurines can be difficult to access in the archaeological record. Egyptian shabtis, a type of funerary figurine, allow such reactions to be accessed by the archaeologist due to their widespread use throughout a long period of Egyptian history and their continuing popularity in other cultures since ancient times: evidence consists of a broad range of textual, artistic and archaeological data from many different cultures over a period of roughly 4000 years. This evidence confirms not only that ancient Egyptian craftsmen responded to and sought to maximize the material affect of the shabtis, but that a significant part of the human response to miniature human figurines is indeed conditioned by their material qualities, independent of the figurines’ original religious function and the cultural background of the viewer.

E Groups and the Rise of Complexity in the Southeastern Maya Lowlands

Maya E Groups ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlen F. Chase ◽  
Diane Z. Chase
Keyword(s):  
Political Organization ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
The West ◽  
Small Communities ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
The North ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Size And Structure

How the ancient Maya used E Groups needs to be derived from the archaeological record. Research undertaken in the southeast Petén of Guatemala has revealed a concentration of over 150 E Groups in the area defined by Ceibal on the west, Caracol on the east, Esquipulas on the south, and the Central Petén lakes on the north. Excavated E Groups from Cenote, Uaxactún, Caracol, and Ixtonton can be used to help organize and understand these archaeological data and to show that the E Group structural assemblage is generally early within this region, dating primarily to the Late Preclassic Period (350 BCE-0 CE) and constituting the founding architecture for an unusual number of small communities in the southeast Petén. The size and structure of the eastern platform in these E Groups also appears to serve as a proxy for broader socio-political organization. Data from Caracol also suggests the importance of these architectural assemblages for temporal ritual associated with the 8th and 9th baktun cycles. Tenth cycle ritual use of these assemblages can also be seen at sites such as Ucanal, Seibal, and possibly Yaxha. Thus, E Groups can be linked to both the rise and denouement of Maya civilization.

Archaeological data, subcultures and social dynamics

Antiquity ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 69 (264) ◽  
pp. 586-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith J. Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Repeated Event

The archaeological record is dominated by the repeated object and the repeated event, so we search for patterns that explain the regular in general terms. But human societies are not like that; the mass is actually made up of individuals, and the engine of change more often at the margin than at the centre.

scholarly journals The empirical case against the ‘demographic turn’ in Palaeolithic archaeology

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1698) ◽  
pp. 20150242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Collard ◽  
Krist Vaesen ◽  
Richard Cosgrove ◽  
Wil Roebroeks
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Cultural Complexity ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Major Transitions ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Competing Hypotheses ◽  
Palaeolithic Archaeology

Recently, it has become commonplace to interpret major transitions and other patterns in the Palaeolithic archaeological record in terms of population size. Increases in cultural complexity are claimed to result from increases in population size; decreases in cultural complexity are suggested to be due to decreases in population size; and periods of no change are attributed to low numbers or frequent extirpation. In this paper, we argue that this approach is not defensible. We show that the available empirical evidence does not support the idea that cultural complexity in hunter–gatherers is governed by population size. Instead, ethnographic and archaeological data suggest that hunter–gatherer cultural complexity is most strongly influenced by environmental factors. Because all hominins were hunter–gatherers until the Holocene, this means using population size to interpret patterns in the Palaeolithic archaeological record is problematic. In future, the population size hypothesis should be viewed as one of several competing hypotheses and its predictions formally tested alongside those of its competitors. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Major transitions in human evolution’.

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