New Materialisms Ancient Urbanisms

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New Materialisms Ancient Urbanisms

Author : Susan M. Alt
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351008471
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis New Materialisms Ancient Urbanisms by : Susan M. Alt

Download or read book New Materialisms Ancient Urbanisms written by Susan M. Alt and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-08-05 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The future of humanity is urban, and knowledge of urbanism’s deep past is critical for us all to navigate that future. The time has come for archaeologists to rethink this global phenomenon by asking what urbanism is and, more to the point, was. Can we truly understand ancient urbanism by only asking after the human element, or are the properties and qualities of landscapes, materials, and atmospheres equally causal? The nine authors of New Materialisms Ancient Urbanisms seek less anthropocentric answers to questions about the historical relationships between urbanism and humanity in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. They analyze the movements and flows of materials, things, phenomena, and beings—human and otherwise—as these were assembled to produce the kinds of complex, dense, and stratified relationships that we today label urban. In so doing, the book emerges as a work of both theory and historical anthropology. It breaks new ground in the archaeology of urbanism, building on the latest ‘New Materialist’, ‘relational-ontological’, and ‘realist’ trends in social theory. This book challenges a new generation of students to think outside the box, and provides scholars of urbanism, archaeology, and anthropology with a fresh perspective on the development of urban society.

Intercultural Urbanism

Author : Dean Saitta
Publisher : Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN 13 : 1786994127
Total Pages : 253 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (869 download)

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Book Synopsis Intercultural Urbanism by : Dean Saitta

Download or read book Intercultural Urbanism written by Dean Saitta and published by Zed Books Ltd.. This book was released on 2020-07-23 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cities today are paradoxical. They are engines of innovation and opportunity, but they are also plagued by significant income inequality and segregation by ethnicity, race, and class. These inequalities and segregations are often reinforced by the urban built environment: the planning of space and the design of architecture. This condition threatens attainment of wider social and economic prosperity. In this innovative new study, Dean Saitta explores questions of urban sustainability by taking an intercultural, trans-historical approach to city planning. Saitta uses a largely untapped body of knowledge—the archaeology of cities in the ancient world—to generate ideas about how public space, housing, and civic architecture might be better designed to promote inclusion and community, while also making our cities more environmentally sustainable. By integrating this knowledge with knowledge generated by evolutionary studies and urban ethnography (including a detailed look at Denver, Colorado, one of America’s most desirable and fastest growing ‘destination cities’ but one that is also experiencing significant spatial segregation and gentrification), Saitta’s book offers an invaluable new perspective for urban studies scholars and urban planning professionals.”

Revelation and Material Religion in the Roman East

Author : Nathan Leach
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1003800416
Total Pages : 357 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (38 download)

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Book Synopsis Revelation and Material Religion in the Roman East by : Nathan Leach

Download or read book Revelation and Material Religion in the Roman East written by Nathan Leach and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-11-30 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays from a diverse group of internationally recognized scholars builds on the work of Steven J. Friesen to analyze the material and ideological dimensions of John’s Apocalypse and the religious landscape of the Roman East. Readers will gain new perspectives on the interpretation of John’s Apocalypse, the religion of Hellenistic cities in the Roman Empire, and the political and economic forces that shaped life in the Eastern Mediterranean. The chapters in this volume examine texts and material culture through carefully localized analysis that attends to ideological and socioeconomic contexts, expanding upon aspects of Friesen’s research and methodology while also forging new directions. The book brings together a diverse and international set of experts including emerging voices in the fields of biblical studies, Roman social history, and classical archeology, and each essay presents fresh, critically informed analysis of key sites and texts from the periods of Christian origins and Roman imperial rule. Revelation and Material Religion in the Roman East is of interest to students and scholars working on Christian origins, ancient Judaism, Roman religion, classical archeology, and the social history of the Roman Empire, as well as material religion in the ancient Mediterranean more broadly. It is also suitable for religious practitioners within Christian contexts.

First Cities

Author : Dean Saitta
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 1009338757
Total Pages : 94 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis First Cities by : Dean Saitta

Download or read book First Cities written by Dean Saitta and published by . This book was released on 2024-02-26 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Element describes and synthesizes archaeological knowledge of humankind's first cities for the purpose of strengthening a comparative understanding of urbanism across space and time. Case studies are drawn from ancient Mesopotamia, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. They cover over 9000 years of city building. Cases exemplify the 'deep history' of urbanism in the classic heartlands of civilization, as well as lesser-known urban phenomena in other areas and time periods. The Element discusses the relevance of this knowledge to a number of contemporary urban challenges around food security, service provision, housing, ethnic co-existence, governance, and sustainability. This study seeks to enrich scholarly debates about the urban condition, and inspire new ideas for urban policy, planning, and placemaking in the twenty first century.

The Historical Turn in Southeastern Archaeology

Author : Robbie Ethridge
Publisher : University Press of Florida
ISBN 13 : 1683401905
Total Pages : 259 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (834 download)

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Book Synopsis The Historical Turn in Southeastern Archaeology by : Robbie Ethridge

Download or read book The Historical Turn in Southeastern Archaeology written by Robbie Ethridge and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2020-11-03 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume uses case studies to capture the recent emphasis on history in archaeological reconstructions of America’s deep past. Previously, archaeologists studying “prehistoric” America focused on long-term evolutionary change, imagining ancient societies like living organisms slowly adapting to environmental challenges. Contributors to this volume demonstrate how today’s researchers are incorporating a new awareness that the precolonial era was also shaped by people responding to historical trends and forces. Essays in this volume delve into sites across what is now the United States Southeast—the St. Johns River Valley, the Gulf Coast, Greater Cahokia, Fort Ancient, the southern Appalachians, and the Savannah River Valley. Prominent scholars of the region highlight the complex interplay of events, human decision-making, movements, and structural elements that combined to shape native societies. The research in this volume represents a profound shift in thinking about precolonial and colonial history and begins to erase the false divide between ancient and contemporary America. Contributors: Susan M. Alt | Robin Beck | Eric E. Bowne | Robert A. Cook | Robbie Ethridge | Jon Bernard Marcoux | Timothy R. Pauketat | Thomas J. Pluckhahn | Asa R. Randall | Christopher B. Rodning | Kenneth E. Sassaman | Lynne P. Sullivan | Victor D. Thompson | Neill J. Wallis | John E. Worth A volume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series

After Dark

Author : Nancy Gonlin
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
ISBN 13 : 1646422600
Total Pages : 313 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (464 download)

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Book Synopsis After Dark by : Nancy Gonlin

Download or read book After Dark written by Nancy Gonlin and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2022-08-15 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After Dark explores the experience of nighttime within ancient urban settings. Contributors present material evidence related to how ancient people manipulated and confronted darkness and night in urban landscapes, advancing our knowledge of the archaeology of cities, the archaeology of darkness and night, and lychnology (the study of ancient lighting devices). Sensory archaeology focuses on the sensual experience of the nocturnal environment—the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feel of an ancient city—and the multi-faceted stimuli that diverse urban populations experienced in the dark. Contributors investigate night work—for example, standing guard or pursuing nocturnal trades—and nightlife, such as gambling at Chaco Canyon. They also examine how urban architecture, infrastructure, and the corresponding lighting were inextricably involved in enabling nighttime pursuits and signaling social status. The subjects of the night, darkness, and illumination taken together form a comprehensive framework for analyzing city life. After Dark embraces night as a conceptual lens through which to view the material and visual cultures of the ancient world and, in doing so, demonstrates a wealth of activities, behaviors, and beliefs that took place between dusk and dawn. This perspective greatly enriches the understanding of urban life and its evolution and has much to offer archaeologists in deepening an examination of complexity and inequality. This volume will be of interest to any scholar or student of the past who is interested in urban activities and the significance of the night in urban settings. Contributors: Susan M. Alt, J. Antonio Ochatoma Cabrera, Martha Cabrera Romero, Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, Kirby Farrah, Nancy Gonlin, Anna Guengerich, Christopher Hernandez, John Janusek, Kristin V. Landau, Maggie L. Popkin, Monica L. Smith, Meghan E. Strong, Susan Toby Evans, Robert S. Weiner

Cahokian Dispersions

Author : Melissa R. Baltus
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 9811973652
Total Pages : 162 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (119 download)

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Book Synopsis Cahokian Dispersions by : Melissa R. Baltus

Download or read book Cahokian Dispersions written by Melissa R. Baltus and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-12-14 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the possibility and role of a Cahokian diaspora to understand cultural influence, complexity, historicity, and movements in the Mississippian Southeast. Collectively the chapters trace how the movements of Cahokian and American Bottom materials, substances, persons, and non-human bodies converged in the creation of Cahokian identities both within and outside of the Cahokia homeland through archaeological case studies that demonstrate the ways in which population movements foment social change. Drawing initial inspiration from theories of diaspora, the book explores the dynamic movements of human populations by critically engaging with the ways people materially construct or deconstruct their social identities in relation to others within the context of physical movement. This book is of interest to students and researchers of archaeology, anthropology, sociology of migration and diaspora studies. Previously published in Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory Volume 27, issue 1, March 2020

The Rural Landscapes of Archaic Cyprus

Author : Catherine Kearns
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 100908156X
Total Pages : 375 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis The Rural Landscapes of Archaic Cyprus by : Catherine Kearns

Download or read book The Rural Landscapes of Archaic Cyprus written by Catherine Kearns and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-12-15 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ninth to the fifth centuries BCE saw a series of significant historical transformations across Cyprus, especially in the growth of towns and in developments in the countryside. In this book, Catherine Kearns argues that changing patterns of urban and rural sedentism drove social changes as diverse communities cultivated new landscape practices. Climatic changes fostered uneven relationships between people, resources like land, copper, and wood, and increasingly important places like rural sanctuaries and cemeteries. Bringing together a range of archaeological, textual, and scientific evidence, the book examines landscapes, environmental history, and rural practices to argue for their collective instrumentality in the processes driving Iron Age political formations. It suggests how rural households managed the countryside, interacted with the remains of earlier generations, and created gathering spaces alongside the development of urban authorities. Offering new insights into landscape archaeologies, Dr Kearns contributes to current debates about society's relationships with changing environments.

From House Societies to States

Author : Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
Publisher : Oxbow Books
ISBN 13 : 1789258642
Total Pages : 313 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (892 download)

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Book Synopsis From House Societies to States by : Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia

Download or read book From House Societies to States written by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2022-11-30 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The organization and characteristics of early and ancient states have become the focus of a renewed interest from archaeologists, ancient historians and anthropologists in recent years. On the one hand, neo-evolutionary schemas of political transformation find it difficult to define some of their most basic concepts, such as chiefdom, complex chiefdom and state, not to mention the transition between them. On the other hand, teleological interpretations based on linear dynamics, from less to increasingly more complex political structures, in successive steps, impose biased and too rigid views on the available evidence. In fact, recent research stresses the existence of other forms of socio-political organization, less vertically integrated and more heterarchical, that proved highly successful and resilient in the long term in tying together social groups. What is more, such forms quite often represented the basic blocks on which states were built and that managed to survive once states collapsed. Finally, nomadic, maritime and mountain populations provide fascinating examples of societies that experienced alternative forms of political organization, sometimes on a seasonal basis. In other cases, their consideration as marginal populations that cultivated specialized skills ensured them a certain degree of autonomy when living either within or at the borders of states. This book explores such small-scale socio-political organizations, their potential and the historical trajectories they stimulated. A selection of historical case studies from different regions of the world may help rethink current concepts and views about the emergence and organization of political complexity and the mechanisms that prevented, occasionally, the emergence of solid polities. They may also cast some light over trajectories of historical transformation, still poorly understood as are the limits of effective state power. This book explores the importance of comparative research and long-term historical perspectives to avoid simplistic interpretations, based on the characteristics of modern Western states abusively used retrospectively.

Early Mesoamerican Cities

Author : Michael Love
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108982778
Total Pages : 317 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (89 download)

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Book Synopsis Early Mesoamerican Cities by : Michael Love

Download or read book Early Mesoamerican Cities written by Michael Love and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-01-06 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Urbanization is a phenomenon that brings into focus a range of topics of broad interest to scholars. It is one of the central, enduring interests of anthropological archaeology. Because urbanization is a transformational process, it changes the relationships between social and cultural variables such as demography, economy, politics, and ideology. As one of a handful of cases in the ancient world where cities developed independently, Mesoamerica should play a major role in the global, comparative analysis of first-generation cities and urbanism in general. Yet most research focuses on later manifestations of urbanism in Mesoamerica, thereby perpetuating the fallacy that Mesoamerican cities developed relatively late in comparison to urban centers in the rest of the world. This volume presents new data, case studies, and models for approaching the subject of early Mesoamerican cities. It demonstrates how the study of urbanism in Mesoamerica, and all ancient civilizations, is entering a new and dynamic phase of scholarship.

Ancient Egyptian Society

Author : Danielle Candelora
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000636259
Total Pages : 410 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (6 download)

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Book Synopsis Ancient Egyptian Society by : Danielle Candelora

Download or read book Ancient Egyptian Society written by Danielle Candelora and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-08-31 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume challenges assumptions about—and highlights new approaches to—the study of ancient Egyptian society by tackling various thematic social issues through structured individual case studies. The reader will be presented with questions about the relevance of the past in the present. The chapters encourage an understanding of Egypt in its own terms through the lens of power, people, and place, offering a more nuanced understanding of the way Egyptian society was organized and illustrating the benefits of new approaches to topics in need of a critical re-examination. By re-evaluating traditional, long-held beliefs about a monolithic, unchanging ancient Egyptian society, this volume writes a new narrative—one unchecked assumption at a time. Ancient Egyptian Society: Challenging Assumptions, Exploring Approaches is intended for anyone studying ancient Egypt or ancient societies more broadly, including undergraduate and graduate students, Egyptologists, and scholars in adjacent fields.

Ancient Western Asia Beyond the Paradigm of Collapse and Regeneration (1200-900 BCE)

Author : Maria Grazia Masetti-Rouault
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 1479834637
Total Pages : 660 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (798 download)

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Book Synopsis Ancient Western Asia Beyond the Paradigm of Collapse and Regeneration (1200-900 BCE) by : Maria Grazia Masetti-Rouault

Download or read book Ancient Western Asia Beyond the Paradigm of Collapse and Regeneration (1200-900 BCE) written by Maria Grazia Masetti-Rouault and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2024-05-07 with total page 660 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New results and interpretations challenging the notion of a uniform, macroregional collapse throughout the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean Ancient Western Asia Beyond the Paradigm of Collapse and Regeneration (1200–900 BCE) presents select essays originating in a two-year research collaboration between New York University and Paris Sciences et Lettres. The contributions here offer new results and interpretations of the processes and outcomes of the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age in three broad regions: Anatolia, northern Mesopotamia, and the Levant. Together, these challenge the notion of a uniform, macroregional collapse throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, followed by the regeneration of political powers. Current research on newly discovered or reinterpreted textual and material evidence from Western Asia instead suggests that this transition was characterized by a diversity of local responses emerging from diverse environmental settings and culture complexes, as evident in the case studies collected here in history, archaeology, and art history. The editors avoid particularism by adopting a regional organization, with the aim of identifying and tracing similar processes and outcomes emerging locally across the three regions. Ultimately, this volume reimagines the Late Bronze–Iron Age transition as the emergence of a set of recursive processes and outcomes nested firmly in the local cultural interactions of western Asia before the beginning of the new, unifying era of Assyrian imperialism.

Urban Public Space in Colonial Transformations

Author : Monika Baumanova
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031146972
Total Pages : 179 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (311 download)

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Book Synopsis Urban Public Space in Colonial Transformations by : Monika Baumanova

Download or read book Urban Public Space in Colonial Transformations written by Monika Baumanova and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-09-21 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers an interdisciplinary perspective on the precolonial to colonial transition in an urban context, by focusing on the changing distribution, character and role of public spaces and buildings. The volume focuses on three case study regions: East African coast, North-West Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula. The regions are selected to provide a novel perspective on the socio-spatial impact of colonialism on the public life of urban settlements, driven by different political forces, in different geographical contexts and time periods. The three study areas are also linked by sharing several features of urban lifestyle such as the role of trade and the influence of religion, Islam in particular. The intertwined influence of socio-spatial urban characteristics on public life is presented on a range of case studies selected from Africa and southern Europe. The approaches are rooted in archaeological thinking on the built environment as material culture and incorporate critical interpretation of ethnographies and historical accounts on both the precolonial and colonial eras. This volume is of interest to archaeologists and researchers working in urban history, anthropology, and heritage.

Reconsidering Mississippian Communities and Households

Author : Elizabeth Watts Malouchos
Publisher : University Alabama Press
ISBN 13 : 0817320881
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (173 download)

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Book Synopsis Reconsidering Mississippian Communities and Households by : Elizabeth Watts Malouchos

Download or read book Reconsidering Mississippian Communities and Households written by Elizabeth Watts Malouchos and published by University Alabama Press. This book was released on 2021-04-20 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the archaeology of Mississippian communities and households using new data and advances in method and theory Published in 1995, Mississippian Communities and Households, edited by J. Daniel Rogers and Bruce D. Smith, was a foundational text that advanced southeastern archaeology in significant ways and brought household-level archaeology to the forefront of the field. Reconsidering Mississippian Communitiesand Households revisits and builds on what has been learned in the years since the Rogers and Smith volume, advancing the field further with the diverse perspectives of current social theory and methods and big data as applied to communities in Native America from the AD 900s to 1700s and from northeast Florida to southwest Arkansas. Watts Malouchos and Betzenhauser bring together scholars researching diverse Mississippian Southeast and Midwest sites to investigate aspects of community and household construction, maintenance, and dissolution. Thirteen original case studies prove that community can be enacted and expressed in various ways, including in feasting, pottery styles, war and conflict, and mortuary treatments.

The Archaeology of Knowledge Traditions of the Indian Ocean World

Author : Himanshu Prabha Ray
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000220737
Total Pages : 300 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (2 download)

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Book Synopsis The Archaeology of Knowledge Traditions of the Indian Ocean World by : Himanshu Prabha Ray

Download or read book The Archaeology of Knowledge Traditions of the Indian Ocean World written by Himanshu Prabha Ray and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2020-11-18 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines knowledge traditions that held together the fluid and overlapping maritime worlds of the Indian Ocean in the premodern period, as evident in the material and archaeological record. It breaks new ground by shifting the focus from studying cross-pollination of ideas from textual sources to identifying this exchange of ideas in archaeological and historical documentation. The themes covered in the book include conceptualization of the seas and maritime landscapes in Sanskrit, Arabic and Chinese narratives; materiality of knowledge production as indicated in the archaeological record of communities where writing on stone first appears; and anchoring the coasts, not only through an understanding of littoral shrines and ritual landscapes, but also by an analysis of religious imagery on coins, more so at the time of the introduction of new religions such as Islam in the Indian Ocean around the eighth century. This volume will be of great interest to researchers and scholars of archaeology, anthropology, museum and heritage studies, Indian Ocean studies, maritime studies, South and Southeast Asian studies, religious studies and cultural studies.

Hinterlands to Cities

Author : Matthew C. Pailes
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
ISBN 13 : 0932839665
Total Pages : 229 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (328 download)

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Book Synopsis Hinterlands to Cities by : Matthew C. Pailes

Download or read book Hinterlands to Cities written by Matthew C. Pailes and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2022-03-14 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This approachable book in the SAA Press Current Perspectives Series is a comprehensive synthesis of Northwest Mexico from the US border to the Mesoamerican frontier. Filling a vital gap in the regional literature, it serves as an essential reference not only for those interested in the specific history of this area of Mexico but western North America writ large. A period-by-period review of approximately 14,000 years reveals the dynamic connections that knitted together societies inhabiting the Sea of Cortez coast, the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts, and the Sierra Madre Occidental. Networks of interaction spanned these diverse ecological, topographical, and cultural terrains in the millennia following the demise of the megafauna. The authors provide a fresh perspective that refutes depictions of the Northwest as a simple filter or conduit of happenings to the north or south, and they highlight the role local motivations and dynamics played in facilitating continental-scale processes.

The Archaeology of Religion

Author : Sharon R. Steadman
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1003806929
Total Pages : 485 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (38 download)

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Book Synopsis The Archaeology of Religion by : Sharon R. Steadman

Download or read book The Archaeology of Religion written by Sharon R. Steadman and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-12-06 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The new and updated edition of The Archaeology of Religion explores how archaeology interprets past religions, offering insights into how archaeologists seek out the religious, ritual, and symbolic meaning behind what they discover in their research. The book includes case studies from around the world, from the study of Upper Palaeolithic and hunter-gatherer religions to religious structures and practices in complex societies of the Americas, Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China. Steadman also includes chapters on the origins and development of key contemporary religions—Judaism, Christianity, Islam, among others—to provide an historical and comparative context. Three main themes are threaded throughout the book. These main themes involve the intersection between cultural and religious structures (“religion reflects culture”), including the importance of environment in shaping a culture’s religion, the role religion can sometimes play as a method of social control, and the role religion can sometimes play as a key component in revitalizing a culture. Updated with new discoveries and theories and with two new chapters (Hunter-Gatherer Religions; and Cultures in East Asia) and with new sections on Neolithic Western Asia, the book remains an ideal introduction for courses that include a significant component on past cultures and their religions.