Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract This article aims to contribute to an ethical and post-disciplinary reflection in indigenous and postcolonial archaeologies. Adopting the relational perspective of political ontology unravels the complexities behind the seemingly superficial conflicts over the interpretation of a piece of rock art and the failed implementation of the solar energy project in the Indigenous Community Amaicha del Valle. The juxtaposition of state-authorised and place-based narratives and political actions brings to the fore conflicting perspectives of heritage, rights and indigeneity. Through ethnohistorical and early archaeological accounts from the Calchaquí Valleys, the research reveals the epistemic disavowal of Indigenous histories and lifeworlds as the Argentine state established its national sovereignty and development models between the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. The case study also draws on archaeological ethnography to highlight generative spaces of knowledge and articulation across divergence and materiality, and that conflicting heritage ontologies can generate new cultural-political forms that diverge from the established consensus. PubDate: 2025-01-28 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-025-09522-2
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract This introduction to the special issue on ‘The Public Archaeology of Working Class Communities’ situates the articles included in this issue within the broader context of identity-based public and community archaeology efforts. Despite being part of the gender-race-class classical triad of identity, class has been repeatedly overlooked as it’s own area of focus within community engagement and public archaeology. This introduction calls for public archaeologists to more thoroughly consider their engagement strategies with working class communities in order to ensure our projects capture the intersectionality of our stakeholder and descendant populations. Finally, the articles in this issue are examined as case studies that are already highlighting some thematic trends within working class public engagements. PubDate: 2024-12-01 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09518-4
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract This paper seeks to make a methodological contribution to archaeological praxis of working-class communities, by illuminating how archaeologists engaged in oral history-based research with working-class communities may encounter authenticity as a methodological challenge. Drawing on my PhD research on football as cultural heritage, I will outline the authenticity problem I encountered in the field: the enforcement of hierarchies of authenticity by working-class football supporters in response to their experiences of marginalisation in the sport. In turn, I will not only show how these hierarchies of authenticity present obstacles to researchers looking to build relationships of trust with their subjects, but also indicate some solutions to this authenticity problem. Specifically, I will show how it is often useful to “fall into the trap of authenticity” as a researcher and use the interview setting to discursively construct yourself as authentic on your subject communities’ own terms. PubDate: 2024-12-01 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09513-9
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract The working classes have been overlooked as a population that could benefit from social-justice-oriented critical public archaeology approaches. The Anthracite Heritage Program sought to address this gap by targeting educational attainment among students in the historically working class, chronically underserved northeastern Pennsylvania region. Public archaeology initiatives to promote interest and knowledge about undergraduate education revealed that the archaeologists’ greatest contribution was our own (class-based) knowledge of the intricacies of university admissions, funding, and life in the United States. In this way, the project ended up serving underserved communities in the ways that they needed help the most: securing the knowledge to attain class mobility. PubDate: 2024-12-01 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09514-8
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract Eckley Miners’ Village in Luzerne County, PA is a living history museum that holds significance for many residents of the surrounding area. Preserving and interpreting the homes and buildings that once made up an anthracite coal mining patch town, the site retains ties to many in the area who either lived in Eckley or are related to people who lived in Eckley. However, since 2000 the population demographics of Luzerne County have changed drastically. As the population changes, the ways the public perceives the relevance and value of local history stand to change as well. Utilizing archaeology for new interpretations of local history, and as an outreach method, the Anthracite Heritage Program provides a case study of local history sites adapting to shifting population bases and working to incorporate non-descendant groups into the preservation of local histories. PubDate: 2024-12-01 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09515-7
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract The Pochury tribe of Nagaland, India, boasts a rich cultural heritage where tradition thrives. This study explores the ethnoarchaeological aspects of the Lüruri community, one of the sub-groups of the Pochury tribe, which is known for their traditional pot-making craft, practiced only by the womenfolk. The study discusses potential strategies for preserving and promoting this invaluable cultural heritage, ensuring its continued existence for future generations. By exploring the Pochury tribe's pot-making tradition, this paper aims to contribute to a broader understanding of the rich cultural heritage of Nagaland. It also highlights the cultural, social, and economic significance, and the need to study traditional pot making to understand its cultural heritage, technological patterns, and practices, as well as the changes it underwent over time due to modernization and globalization. This study contributes towards preserving Indigenous knowledge systems and the impact of socio-economic transformations on traditional crafts. PubDate: 2024-11-23 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09520-w
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract This paper presents a reflection on the process and results of an historical archaeological investigation of a South Australian colonial farm garden. It demonstrates how the researcher allowed the emotions evinced by the site’s history as a frontier site to contribute to the discussion of the research’s relevance for contemporary Australian society, related to themes of national identity and coming to terms with a colonial past. PubDate: 2024-10-27 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09516-6
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract This short piece offers a perspective on the current archaeological educational format, evaluating topics like access to field school and the cultural resources management (CRM) job market. From personal experiences, a similarity is shown between the gap in skills of what is learned in academia and what is applied in a job. The COVID-19 pandemic plays a critical role in accessing field school experiences and preparing undergraduate students for graduate studies. Solutions range in the smaller scale of mentor–mentee relationships where expectations and lack of expertise can be evaluated to prepare the graduate student for further educational paths or the job market. PubDate: 2024-10-23 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09517-5
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract A sacred landscape is the result of human actions and subsequent evolution, and it serves as a backdrop for mytho-historical re-enactments. While it may represent divinity and spirituality, sacred landscapes are more complex, dynamic landscapes built on an unrestrained and chaotic environment, which can be easily juxtaposed for a tourist destination. This paper investigates this ideology based on the study of two major holy towns, Vrindavan and Pushkar. Both sites, being integral parts of the Hindu pilgrimage, invite millions of pilgrims annually who are in search of spiritual essence and religiosity. However, along with pilgrimage these towns also tend to act as a destination for leisure tourism, leading to an inevitable contestation between the urban development process of these towns, where the spatial structure of the town is constantly evolving to cater the need of the pilgrims as well as the tourists. It can be evidently observed in both the towns that the spiritual construct that once bound the meanings associated with several spiritual activities have lost their significance over time. These towns are now heavily promoted as tourist destinations, which has altered the traveling patterns and have led to a widespread commodification and commercialization of culture and heritage, where new emerging economic buoyancy and changing urban structure have given these towns homogeneous character and have led to the formation of new building typologies, which dominate the skyline of these towns, ultimately resulting in the formation of numerous commodified sacred spaces with diminishing place-based memories and associations. Using a case study approach and a purposive survey method, the paper attempts to identify such contested areas that impede not only the spiritual experience of these cities but also the community's well-being, eventually proposing strategies to regenerate and reclaim these spaces in such sacred territories. PubDate: 2024-08-05 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09512-w
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract The place of local community vis-a-vis non-local agents (science, state, capital) in relationships with archaeological heritage is explored through an oblique reading of a singular case in northwestern Andean Argentina. While the conflicts of territorial interests can be predicted to grow alongside the evolution of the entangled relations within the territory, the Saujil situation shows a different picture. Heritage claiming is starred by local inhabitants consciously independent from non-local discourses and powers, albeit adopting actions that are locally seen as “officially” correct (cleaning the vegetation, signalling, guiding tourists). Delving one step deeper, this research asks not just for the particular contents of local knowledge (if local or non-local) but for the local ideas about what knowledge is. Within this local theoretical framework, the relationships with the ruins developed along the process of heritage claiming described so far can be seen within a territorialized bodily, concrete and intersubjective regime of care, a local theory of relatedness. PubDate: 2024-08-01 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09511-x
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract Late Neolithic long barrows are commonly found throughout Central and Northwestern Europe, within the Funnel Beaker Culture territory. The sites of this Culture are known from Bohemia covering a period between 3900 and 3400 BC. However, long barrows have not been detected in Bohemia for a long time. The main reason is that they are located in areas where they were affected by modern ploughing. A significant contribution to their recognition was the remote sensing of modern fields, especially aerial archaeology. Current research in Bohemia provided new evidence of dozens of long barrows of several types, significantly expanding our knowledge of this phenomenon in the southeastern margins of its distribution. A new type of long barrow has been identified in Bohemia using remote sensing and current excavation data. The characteristic parameters of the long barrows in Bohemia are an east-west orientation with the ceremonial place in the eastern front and the delineation of the perimeter by a palisade trough or a ditch. The mounds can be divided into at least two structural and chronological forms. The first is the narrow and sometimes extremely long mound with perimeter defined by a palisade trough dating to the 3900–3800 BC. The second type of barrow is enclosed by a trapezoidal ditch. Based on radiocarbon dating, these structures were constructed during the 3700–3600 BC. This type of monument is currently known exclusively from Bohemia. PubDate: 2024-08-01 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09489-6
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract During the first half of the 20th century, the lumber industry played an instrumental role in the economic development of the Témiscouata valley in eastern Québec, Canada. Considering the strong working-class lumber heritage in Témiscouata, a public archaeology approach was used as a tool to engage community in the documentation of their own history. Based on the results of a public archaeology programme led at a 1940s lumber camp site, this study explores how the archaeological experience acts as a “memory trigger” leading individuals to share personal stories and local knowledge. Ultimately, this research illustrates the importance of public archaeology for accessing and shaping collective memory. PubDate: 2024-07-10 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09508-6
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract Few archaeological studies of Pre-Columbian Maya peoples mention enslaved individuals. While ethnohistoric texts attest to the likelihood of Indigenous Maya enslavement practices before the arrival of Spanish conquistadores and friars, archaeologists are reluctant to consider such practices and peoples into interpretative frameworks because of their tremendous ambiguity in the archaeological record. This paper embraces and probes the ambiguity of the archaeological record to interrogate the possibility of hidden histories of captive and enslaved Maya individuals in general and captive and enslaved Maya women in particular during the Classic and Postclassic periods. It argues that such women cannot be found in particular types of artifacts or hieroglyphic texts but at the intersection of names and landscapes. PubDate: 2024-06-28 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09506-8
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract While ethnoarchaeological studies on megalith-building traditions in a few communities in India’s northeastern region have enriched our knowledge, a knowledge gap remains regarding how traditional societies mobilized the workforce for transporting and erecting stone monuments. This paper aims to fill this research gap with an ethnographically documented case of building a monolith in 2020 in Willong Khullen, a village inhabited by the Maram Nagas (an indigenous Tibeto-Burman ethnic community) in the Indian state of Manipur. After participating in the undertaking, I argue that traditional networks of support among sub-clans and clans in the village, as well as among neighboring and distant villages, may have ensured the free mobilization of workforce. The survey also revealed that work feasts and a grand feast, where the host expends maximum resources, are crucial for accessing social support networks, including the mobilization of labor participants. These feasts serve as a means of reciprocating the labor participants for their voluntary labor and time. The survey results support the claim of the high cost of such undertakings and supplement that feasts may have served similar functions in the past among other Naga communities in the region. PubDate: 2024-06-13 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09507-7
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract This study reveals the early results of diverse community archaeology activities taking place in a contemporary archaeological site, a cardboard hospital built in 1912 in the Vall Fosca (Catalan Pyrenees). This isolated valley, formerly used to breed cattle, had three hydroelectric power facilities erected in the twentieth century. In 2019, the Torre Capdella Town Council and the National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia initiated a project involving local communities. The main scope of this work is to comprehend the materiality of the working class and to provide new narratives about the people who built them and subsequently occupied part of the valley. PubDate: 2024-05-27 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09504-w
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract The UK’s housing crisis is at breaking point, caused primarily by deregulation, the diminished provision of public housing and the marketing of housing as property assets rather than homes. Yet the role of the heritage industry within these processes has been insufficiently analysed. This paper outlines multiple intersections between heritage and the housing crisis by examining the regeneration of one of London’s post-World War II public housing estates, the Aylesbury. It will illustrate how heritage methods and discourse have been instrumentalised by property developers and estate residents and discuss the implications this has for the heritage sector. PubDate: 2024-05-18 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09505-9
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract Earthen architecture, an enduring legacy of human ingenuity, has historically served as a source of durable and sustainable shelter across civilizations. Despite this significance, several of the world’s earthen architectural sites are now facing abandonment and obsolescence, as is the case of Ksar Khanguet Sidi Nadji in the Algerian Sahara. To address this critical situation, we propose a sustainable, eco-friendly, and cost-effective solution for the restoration of the urban fabric of the Ksar that takes into account the needs of its residents and its heritage value. Our approach utilizes the anastylosis method which implies that we reuse original on-site components as building materials whenever possible. We introduce new materials only when necessary, after subjecting them to rigorous testing and control. Additionally, we take into account the complex challenges of human, natural, and technical factors involved in the restoration process, offering a practical solution to restore and preserve the earthen heritage of the Ksar while benefiting its residents. PubDate: 2024-03-11 DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09501-z
Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)
