Why Those Who Shovel Are Silent: A History of Local Archaeological Knowledge and Labor



Why Those Who Shovel Are Silent: A History of Local Archaeological Knowledge and Labor



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For more than 200 years, archaeological sites in the Middle East have been dug, sifted, sorted, and saved by local community members who, in turn, developed immense expertise in excavation and interpretation and had unparalleled insight into the research process and findings—but who have almost never participated in strategies for recording the excavation procedures or results. Their particular perspectives have therefore been missing from the archaeological record, creating an immense gap in knowledge about the ancient past and about how archaeological knowledge is created.  Why Those Who Shovel Are Silent is based on six years of in-depth ethnographic work with current and former site workers at two major Middle Eastern archaeological sites—Petra, Jordan, and Çatalhöyük, Turkey—combined with thorough archival research. Author Allison Mickel describes the nature of the knowledge that locally hired archaeological laborers exclusively possess about artifacts, excavation methods, and archaeological interpretation, showing that archaeological workers are experts about a wide range of topics in archaeology. At the same time, Mickel reveals a financial incentive for site workers to pretend to be less knowledgeable than they actually are, as they risk losing their jobs or demotion if they reveal their expertise.   Despite a recent proliferation of critical research examining the history and politics of archaeology, the topic of archaeological labor has not yet been substantially examined. Why Those Who Shovel Are Silent employs a range of advanced qualitative, quantitative, and visual approaches and offers recommendations for archaeologists to include more diverse expert perspectives and produce more nuanced knowledge about the past. It will appeal to archaeologists, science studies scholars, and anyone interested in challenging the concept of “unskilled” labor.

 

The Archaeology of Burning Man: The Rise and Fall of Black Rock City (Archaeologies of Landscape in the Americas Series)



The Archaeology of Burning Man: The Rise and Fall of Black Rock City (Archaeologies of Landscape in the Americas Series)



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Each August staff and volunteers begin to construct Black Rock City, a temporary city located in the hostile and haunting Black Rock Desert of northwestern Nevada. Every September nearly seventy thousand people occupy the city for Burning Man, an event that creates the sixth-largest population center in Nevada. By mid-September the infrastructure that supported the community is fully dismantled, and by October the land on which the city lay is scrubbed of evidence of its existence. The Archaeology of Burning Man examines this process of building, occupation, and destruction.For nearly a decade Carolyn L. White has employed archaeological methods to analyze the various aspects of life and community in and around Burning Man and Black Rock City. With a syncretic approach, this work in active-site archaeology provides both a theoretical basis and a practical demonstration of the potential of this new field to reexamine the most fundamental conceptions in the social sciences.

 

Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa



Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa



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How West African gold and trade across the Sahara were central to the medieval worldThe Sahara Desert was a thriving crossroads of exchange for West Africa, North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe in the medieval period. Fueling this exchange was West African gold, prized for its purity and used for minting currencies and adorning luxury objects such as jewelry, textiles, and religious objects. Caravans made the arduous journey by camel southward across the Sahara carrying goods for trade--glass vessels and beads, glazed ceramics, copper, books, and foodstuffs, including salt, which was obtained in the middle of the desert. Northward, the journey brought not only gold but also ivory, animal hides and leatherwork, spices, and captives from West Africa forced into slavery.Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time draws on the latest archaeological discoveries and art historical research to construct a compelling look at medieval trans-Saharan exchange and its legacy. Contributors from diverse disciplines present case studies that form a rich portrayal of a distant time. Topics include descriptions of key medieval cities around the Sahara networks of exchange that contributed to the circulation of gold, copper, and ivory and their associated art forms and medieval glass bead production in West Africa's forest region. The volume also reflects on Morocco's Gnawa material culture, associated with descendants of West African slaves, and movements of people across the Sahara today.Featuring a wealth of color images, this fascinating book demonstrates how the rootedness of place, culture, and tradition is closely tied to the circulation of people, objects, and ideas. These fragments in time offer irrefutable evidence of the key role that Africa played in medieval history and promote a new understanding of the past and the present.Published in association with the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern UniversityExhibition ScheduleBlock Museum of Art, Northwestern UniversityJanuary 26-July 21, 2019Aga Khan Museum, TorontoSeptember 21, 2019-February 23, 2020Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, DCApril 8-November 29, 2020

 

Time Team Guide to the Archaeological Sites of Britain & Ireland



Time Team Guide to the Archaeological Sites of Britain & Ireland



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Great Britain and Ireland are home to some of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. Stonehenge, Hadrian's Wall and Ironbridge are familiar to us all and each year thousands flock to witness their spectacular beauty. But what can these fascinating sites tell us about the lives and times of our ancestors?Now, Channel 4's perennially popular Time Team take us on an archaeological sight-seeing tour of Britain and Ireland. Region by region, they select the most interesting and important sites which are open to visitors, some familiar to all, others relatively unknown. Each is treated with the inimitable no-nonsense Time Team style. This book is like having Tony, Mick, Geo-Phys and the gang in the back seat of your car - sharing their specialist knowledge and fascinating historical insights wherever you travel in the British Isles...

 

Deciphering the Indus Script



Deciphering the Indus Script



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Of the writing systems of the ancient world which still await deciphering, the Indus script is the most important. It developed in the Indus or Harappan Civilization, which flourished c. 2500-1900 BC in and around modern Pakistan, collapsing before the earliest historical records of South Asia were composed. Nearly 4,000 samples of the writing survive, mainly on stamp seals and amulets, but no translations. Professor Parpola is the chief editor of the Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions. His ideas about the script, the linguistic affinity of the Harappan language, and the nature of the Indus religion are informed by a remarkable command of Aryan, Dravidian, and Mesopotamian sources, archaeological materials, and linguistic methodology. His fascinating study confirms that the Indus script was logo-syllabic, and that the Indus language belonged to the Dravidian family.

 

Swords of the Viking Age



Swords of the Viking Age



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This beautifully illustrated work fills a gap in the literature in English on the swords made and used in northern Europe during the Viking age, between the mid eighth and the mid eleventh centuries. Ewart Oakeshott outlines the significance and diversity of these ancient heirlooms co-author Ian Peirce, who handled hundreds of swords in his research for this book in museums across northern Europe, selects and describes sixty of the finest representative weapons. Where possible, full-length photographs are included, in addition to illustrations of detail an illustrated overview of blade types and construction, pattern-welding, inscription and handle forms and their classification prefaces the catalogue of examples which is the principal part of this work. IAN PEIRCE was a lecturer and museum consultant specialising in early swords EWART OAKESHOTT was renowned for his pioneer studies on a wide range of medieval swords.

 

Tutankhamun: The Story of Egyptology's Greatest Discovery



Tutankhamun: The Story of Egyptology's Greatest Discovery



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When Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon discovered the burial ground of King Tutankhamun on November 26, 1922, they found it in perfect condition, with all the richness of its contents still intact. Never before had an excavation uncovered such a perfectly preserved Egyptian tomb. Now, as the treasures of Tutankhamun once again travel the world on exhibition, this intriguing book brings to life the age of the Pharaohs as well as Carter and Carnarvon’s expedition, which revealed so much about ancient Egypt.  It draws on the personal archives of Carter himself, and contains a trove of beautiful facsimiles of his own papers, including diaries and notebooks. Photographs, drawings, and diagrams from the original expedition capture all the excitement and wonder that must have accompanied the first view of this remarkable discovery.