| People and Things: A Behavioral Approach to Material Culture 2008 Edition Contributor(s): Skibo, James M. (Author), Schiffer, Michael Brian (Author) |
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ISBN: 0387765247 ISBN-13: 9780387765242 Publisher: Springer OUR PRICE: $52.24 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: March 2008 Annotation: The core of archaeology is the relationship between people and things. Left without informants and, in many cases, textual data, archaeologists strive to reconstruct past life through the window of artifacts: things made, used, and modified by individuals while participating in the activities of everyday life. According to behavioral archaeologists, our ability to understand the relationship between people and things in the present is the foundation for archaeological reconstruction of the past. This comprehensive text provides an explanation of Behavioral Archaeology by the founders of the theory. Twenty years in the making, this work will be an essential tool for new scholars as well as experienced members of the field. It offers a clear overview of the theory of Behavioral Archaeology, updated with responses to criticism, and demonstrates its application in six diverse case studies. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Anthropology - Cultural & Social - Social Science | Archaeology - Science | Life Sciences - General |
| Dewey: 306 |
| LCCN: 2008920067 |
| Series: Manuals in Archaeological Method, Theory and Technique |
| Physical Information: 0.5" H x 6.14" W x 9.21" (0.97 lbs) 170 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The study of the human-made world, whether it is called artifacts, material culture, or technology, has burgeoned across the academy. Archaeologists have for cen- ries led the way, and today offer investigators myriad programs and conceptual frameworks for engaging the things, ordinary and extraordinary, of everyday life. This book is an attempt by practitioners of one program - Behavioral Archaeology - to furnish between two covers some of our basic principles, heuristic tools, and illustrative case studies. Our greater purpose, however, is to engage the ideas of two competing programs - agency/practice and evolution - in hopes of initiating a dialog. We are convinced that there is enough overlap in goals, interests, and conceptions among these programs to warrant guarded optimism that a more encompassing, more coherent framework for studying the material world can result from a concerted effort to forge a higher-level synthesis. However, in engaging agency/ practice and evolution in Chap. 2, we are not reticent to point out conflicts between Behavioral Archaeology and these programs. This book will appeal to archaeologists and anthropologists as well as historians, sociologists, and philosophers of technology. Those who study science-technology- society interactions may also encounter useful ideas. Finally, this book is suitable for upper-division and graduate courses on anthropological theory, archaeological theory, and the study of technology. |