Ethnographies of Archaeological Practice
Cultural Encounters, Material Transformations
WORLDS
OF ARCHAEOLOGY SERIES
 ALTAMIRA
PRESS
April 2006
216 pages, 20 b/w illustrations
ISBN 0-7591-0845-5 Paberback
ISBN 0-7591-0844-7 Hardback
Description of Book
Ethnographic perspectives are often used by archaeologists
to study cultures both past and present - but
what happens when the ethnographic gaze is turned
back to look at archaeological practices themselves?
That is the question posed by this book, challenging
our ideas about relationships between subject
and object, observer and observed, explainers
and explained.
This book explores the production of archaeological
knowledge from a range of ethnographic perspectives.
Fieldwork spans large parts of the world, with
sites in Turkey, the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil,
Italy, Germany, the USA and the United Kingdom
being covered. Chapters focus on excavation, inscription,
heritage management, student training digs and
many other aspects of archaeological practice.
These experimental ethnographic studies are situated
on the intersection of archaeology and anthropology,
questioning basic tenets of both disciplines and
moving towards a more holistic study of the past.
Shorter Description of Book
This book challenges the conventional outward-looking
direction of the anthropological and archaeological
gaze. In order to fully understand forms of cultural
production in the past, it argues, we also need
to investigate - through turning the ethnographic
perspective back onto ourselves - how knowledge
of the past is produced by archaeologists in the
present.
Contributors
Contributors: Thomas Yarrow (Cambridge, UK); David
Van Reybrouck and Dirk Jacobs (Katholieke Universiteit
Leuven, Universite Libre de Bruxelles and Katholieke
Universiteit Brussel, Belgium); Charles Goodwin
(UCLA, Berkeley, USA); Blythe E. Roveland (St.
John's University, New York, USA); Jonathan Bateman
(Council for British Archaeology, York, UK); Cornelius
Holtorf (University of Lund, Sweden); John Carman
(Birmingham University, UK); Oguz Erdur (Columbia
University, USA); Michael Wilmore (University
of Adelaide, Australia); Angela McClanahan (University
of Manchester, UK); Hakon Karlsson and Anders
Gustafsson (Gothenborg University and National
Heritage Board, Gothenburg University, Sweden);
Denise Maria Cavalcante Gomes (Universidad de
Sao Paolo, Brazil); Timoteo Rodriguez (UCLA Berkeley,
USA); Lisa Breglia (Wesleyan University, USA).
Editor: Matt Edgeworth is an archaeologist and
social anthropologist whose main research focuses
on the interface between the two disciplines.
He is currently working freelance for archaeological
units in the United Kingdom, directing excavation
and other fieldwork projects
(more details in Marketing Questionnaire)
Table of Contents
Forward by Heather Burke and Alejandro Haber
Preface and Acknowledgments
1. Multiple Origins, Development and Potential
of Ethnographies of Archaeology by Matt Edgeworth.
2. Sites of Knowledge: Different Ways of Knowing
an Archaeological Excavation by Thomas Yarrow
3. The Mutual Constitution of Natural and Social
Identities During Archaeological Fieldwork by
David Van Reybrouck and Dirk Jacobs.
4. A Linguistic Anthropologist's Interest in Archaeological
Practice by Charles Goodwin
5. Reflecting Upon Archaeological Practice: Multiple
Visions of a Late Paleolithic Site in Germany
by Blythe E. Roveland
6. Pictures, Ideas, and Things: The Production
and Currency of Archaeological Images by Jonathan
Bateman
7. Studying Archaeological Fieldwork in the Field:
Views from Monte Polizzo by Cornelius Holtorf
8. Digging the Dirt: Excavation as a Social Practice
by John Carman
9. Realisafiction: A Day of Work at Everybody-Knows-Land
by Oguz Erdur
10. Landscapes of Disciplinary Power: An Ethnography
of Excavation and Survey at Leskernick by Michael
Wilmore
11. Histories, Identity and Ownership: An Ethnographic
Case Study in Archaeological Heritage Management
in the Orkney Islands by Angela McClanahan
12. Among Totem-Poles and Clan Power in Tanum,
Sweden by Hakon Karlsson and Anders Gustafsson
13. Amazonian Archaeology and Local Identities
by Denise Maria Cavalcante Gomes
14. Conjunctures in the Making of an Ancient Maya
Archaeological Site by Timoteo Rodriguez
15. Complicit Agendas: Ethnography of Archaeology
as Ethical Research Practice by Lisa Breglia
Author Biographies
Index
Endorsements
"Ethnographies of Archaeological Practice
shows the best results of how and why the daily
life of archaeology works. Here are the questions
asked, the range of methods used, the best investigators'
work, and the results. The book tells us what
should be done next and provides a model of how
to do a more effective archaeology using ethnographic
examination of archaeological work." Mark
Leone, University of Maryland
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