Material Meanings: Critical Approaches to the Interpretation of Mat (Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry)

Material Meanings And Meaningful Materials: An Introduction / Elizabeth S. Chilton -- Of Paradigms And Ways Of Seeing: Artifact Variability As If People Mattered / Marcia-anne Dobres -- Social Dimensions Of Technical Choice In Kalinga Ceramic Traditions / Miriam T. Stark -- One Size Fits All: Typology And Alternatives For Ceramic Research / Elizabeth S. Chilton -- Testing Interpretative Assumptions Of Neutron Activation Analysis: Contemporary Pottery In Yucatán, 1964-1994 / Dean E. Arnold ... [et Al.] -- Formal And Technological Variability And The Social Relations Of Production: Crisoles From San José De Moro, Peru / Cathy Lynne Costin -- On Typologies, Selection, And Ethnoarchaeology In Ceramic Production Studies / Philip J. Arnold -- Style In Archaeology Or Archaeologists In Style / H. Martin Wobst -- An End Note: Reframing Materiality For Archaeology / Margaret W. Conkey. Edited By Elizabeth S. Chilton. Papers Originally Presented At The 1996 Meeting Of The Society For American Archaeology Held In New Orleans, La. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 142-174) And Index. With firm roots in antiquarianism, archaeology began as the study and collection of things. Even today objects take center stage in many areas of archaeological inquiry. But the past few decades have seen a proliferation of the ways anthropological archaeologists analyze raw materials, tools, techniques, finished products, and discarded objects. Material Meanings examines current approaches to material culture in the archaeological record from three ethnoarchaeology and technological traditions; materials science; and theoretical approaches to materiality. The focus of this book is not on artifacts themselves but on the social context in which things are produced and in which they are given meaning; the technical choices of an artifact producer within a larger technical system; and their interpretation by modern researchers. The chapters represent a broad range of theoretical perspectives, methods, and data sets. Several chapters consider methodological issues in reconstructing technical systems. Most contributions, however, apply this understanding to larger questions of social identity and ethnicity, emphasizing historical context or models of cultural process. Material Meanings examines current approaches to material culture in the archaeological record from three perspectives: ethnoarchaeology and technological traditions, materials science, and theoretical approaches to materiality. Its focus is not on artifacts themselves but on the social contexts in which they are produced and given meaning, the choices made by an artifact producer within a larger technical system, and the interpretation of artifacts by modern researchers