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Modern Material Culture
The Archaeology of Us
- 1st Edition - May 28, 1981
- Editors: Richard A. Gould, Michael B. Schiffer
- Language: English
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 1 - 4 8 3 2 - 9 9 2 0 - 4
Modern Material Culture: The Archaeology of Us presents the relationships between human behavior and materials to contemporary societies. This book discusses the various aspects of… Read more
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Request a sales quoteModern Material Culture: The Archaeology of Us presents the relationships between human behavior and materials to contemporary societies. This book discusses the various aspects of material behavior in contemporary human societies. Organized into three parts encompassing 21 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the theory and teaching of the material culture approach. This text then presents ethnographic case studies that posit various general statements about human behavior in relation to materials as varied as herbs, coins, fences, graffiti, and domestic architecture. Other chapters consider a variety of topics ranging from mortuary practices and beliefs to the reuse and recycling of goods in the U.S. This book discusses as well the experimental approaches to material culture studies. The final chapter deals with the artifacts of aboriginal Australian settlements. This book is a valuable resource for archeologists, anthropologists, and readers who are interested in human behavior in relation to materials.
List of Contributors
Preface
Method and Theory in Modern Material-Culture Studies
1 Archaeology's Relationship to the Present and the Past
2 The Modern Material-Culture Field School: Teaching Archaeology on the University Campus
Introduction
Teaching Archaeological Fieldwork
Course Design
The Projects
Discussion and Conclusions
3 The Use of Material Culture in Diachronic Anthropology
The Use of Material Culture in Diachronic Anthropology
Social Change within Isolated Agricultural Communities
Comparative Mennonite Architectural Change
Social versus Chronological Tim
Results: Quantitative Comparison of Change Trends
An Explanation and Discussion of Rapid Internal Diffusion in Isolated Agricultural Communities
Summary and Discussion
4 A Manifesto for Modern Material-Culture Studies
Early and Late Americana
5 Waste Not, Want Not: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Reuse in Tucson, Arizona
Preliminary Definitions
Background to the Reuse Project
The Reuse Project
Reuse Project Findings
Cross-Cultural Implications
Conclusions
6 Graffiti and Racial Insults: The Archaeology of Ethnic Relations in Hawaii
The Artifacts
Analysis of Content
Distribution of Sites
Graffiti Are Products of Liminal Spaces
Ethnographic Confirmation
Review and Summary
7 A Herbalist's Shop in Honolulu: Traditional Merchandising in a Modern Setting
Introduction
The Research
Goals
Analysis
Conclusion
8 Ideology and Material Culture
The Museum As ISA
Conclusions
9 Don't Fence Me In
10 The Cemetery and Culture Change: Archaeological Focus and Ethnographic Perspective
What Can Gravestones Tell Us about Community?
Why the Cemetery?
The Types of Data: Form and Substance
Pictures and Decorations
Size
Inscriptions
Geography
The Cemetery As a Model
Testing the Model Idea
The Quantitative Data
The Federal Period
The Civil War Period
The Industrial Expansion Period
The "Reform" Period
The "Lonely Crowd" Period
Concepts and Applications
"Miscellaneous" Observations
11 Pennies from Denver
The Data and Their Collection
Description and Analysis: Physical Attributes
Variation in Dates
Variation in Mint Location
Production, Distribution, Consumption
Decision-Making at the Mint
Measuring the "Need" for Pennies
Withdrawal from Circulation
Interpretive Models
Money as Ritual
Summary and Conclusion
12 The Raw and the Cooked: The Material Culture of a Modern Supermarket
Introduction
Methodology
Data Analysis
Discussion
13 The Community Store: A Dispersal Center for Material Goods in Rural America
Introduction
Methodolog
The Friendly Market
Discussion and Conclusions
14 A Microarchaeological View of Human Settlement Space and Function
The Goffman Model
The Field Study
Other Studies
Yellen's Study and Model
Redefinition of the Goffman Model
A General Model
Conclusions
15 The Archaeological Significance of Counting Houses: Ethnoarchaeological Evidence
Estimating Population from Domestic Structures
Mean Household Size through Time
The Significance of Counting Houses
Conclusion
Experimental Approaches
16 Experimentation with Modern Materials
17 A Simulative Experiment in Simple Product Manufacture
The Simulative Experiment
Summary of Observations
Discussion and Summary
18 Cumulative Graphs and Seriation
Traditional Technologies in the Present
19 Brandon Revisited: A New Look at an Old Technology
Brandon: The Setting
Fieldwork in Brandon
Flint Procurement
Manufacture
Discard
Production
The Principle of Archaisms
The End is Near!
20 Making Stone Vases: Contemporary Manufacture of Material-Culture Items in Upper Egypt
Ancient Egyptian Use of Alabaster
Geologic Sources of Alabaster
Alabaster-Working in Ancient Egypt
Contemporary Alabaster Technology
Socioeconomics and Organization of the Workshop
Concluding Comments
21 A Study of the Work of a Modern Tanner in Ethiopia and Its Relevance for Archaeological Interpretation
Introduction
Obsidian Scrapers and Ethiopian Tanners
Morphological Characteristics of Hide Scrapers
Analysis of Edge-Wear
The Chawa Homestead and Disposal of Obsidian Waste
Archaeological Evidence for Hide Scrapers in Ethiopia
Conclusion
References
Subject Index
- No. of pages: 347
- Language: English
- Edition: 1
- Published: May 28, 1981
- Imprint: Academic Press
- eBook ISBN: 9781483299204
RG
Richard A. Gould
Affiliations and expertise
University of Hawaii at Manoa, U.S.A.MS
Michael B. Schiffer
Affiliations and expertise
University of Arizona, Tucson, U.S.A.Read Modern Material Culture on ScienceDirect