1,721,069 research outputs found
Making things, being mobile: pottery as intertwined histories of humans and materials
No full textIn this essay, I question current models of central European Neolithic societies that are informed by concepts of sedentarism and cultural homogeneity. Based on pottery styles, they miss out two fundamental conditions of human life: the constant oscillation between movement and stasis and the on-going engagement with materials. Drawing on T. Ingold’s thoughts on the ‘making’ of things and P. Bourdieu’s habitus-theory, I argue that everyday human action like the making of a pot (1), unfolds in spatially and temporally bounded movements and mobilities and (2), emerges from an engagement of humans with their material and social landscapes. Hence, the features of pottery
vessels comprise histories of their becoming that intertwine the itineraries of geological materials and their human makers. Some vessels are made and used at the same place (‘local vessels’), others are transported over various distances (‘translocal vessels’). When humans and things are on the move, encounters with otherness can trigger creative processes, which might also become materialised in pottery (‘inbetween vessels’): the appropriation
of new materials, different techniques, styles etc. To follow the itineraries of
things thus offers an entry point to a deeper understanding of past peoples’ mobilities and the negotiation and transformation of temporarily stable cultural forms. I will develop my approach on the pottery of the Neolithic settlement of Hornstaad-Hörnle IA at Lake Constance (DE) (3918-3902 BC)
Mobility and Pottery Production, what for? Introductory remarks
No full textThis edited volume deals with the mobility of humans, materials and things. Pottery studies of ancient Europe and contemporary Africa are taken as examples to illustrate how pottery vessels were made in different ways. Whether they were used, sold, given away or passed on over generations, they participated in human practices and mobilities, ranging from everyday life to single long-term migration events. By studying the making and the mobility of pots, potters, pottery mongers and pottery users, the focus shifts from ideas of one-sided notions of stable ‘cultures’ to ideas of appropriations, transformations and thus the negotiation of cultural forms.
In the book’s first section, the relationship between anthropology and archaeology is illuminated and the disciplines’ different takes on ‘culture’, ‘practice’, ‘mobility’ and ‘things’ throughout major paradigmatic shifts are addressed. The second section unites empirical, object-centred archaeological case studies in which the examination of materials and pottery styles reveals that notions of fixed cultural entities are empirically untenable. The contributions in the third part argue from more actor-centred or symmetrical
perspectives. It can be shown how humans and things are intertwined through
practices and various rhythms of movement and mobility. Thus, they offer alternative ways to approach the (re)production, negotiation and transformation of cultural practices and their material forms
From “communities of practice” to “translocal communities”: A practice-theoretical approach to mobility and the sociospatial configurations of Neolithic groups
No full textThe paradigm of cultural history still has an influence on how forms of Neolithic social
cohabitation are imagined. Once established for the purpose of relative chronology, and
based on pottery, concepts of Neolithic cultures implied the existence of homogeneous, static
social units with more or less clear spatial-temporal boundaries. Even if their initially ethnic
interpretation has long been rejected, the prevention of any other social interpretations led
to a blind spot, which was filled unintentionally by top-down projections of premises onto
the past. Furthermore, I observe a lack of epistemological and theoretical reflections on
what determines different forms of social cohabitation and how they could be approached
archaeologically. How do things, social practice, and social formations relate to each other?
What can be inferred from the distribution and mobility of things regarding the social?
By taking mobility as an epistemological entry point to understanding forms of social
cohabitation, I will explore pottery production and distribution practices by drawing on
ceramics from precisely dendrochronologically dated Neolithic wetland sites on the northern
Alpine foreland (3920–3800 BCE). Inspired by Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of habitus and
social practice, I propose an inductive bottom-up approach to explore typical local pottery
production practices. Following Wenger, it is assumed that pottery was produced within
settlements in so-called communities of practice, leading to the (re)production of typical local
pottery styles. However, shifting to a supra-regional perspective, it can be shown that stylistic
and thus social and cultural diversity in settlements was not an exception but a reoccurring
phenomenon that suggests cross-regional entanglements, which were related to spatial
mobility between settlement groups with different pottery production practices. The material
and social histories of ceramic vessels correspond well with known settlement histories. From
a social archaeological perspective, both point to the residential mobility of individuals or
subgroups and can be understood as forms of horizontal social organisation of translocal
social groups and thus sociospatial configurations
Promoting bottom-up approaches to social archaeology
No full textTraditional ideas about Neolithic societies were shaped by questionable premises. The modern concept of the social and cultural coherence of residence groups and the ethnic interpretation of “archaeological cultures” fostered ideas of static and homogeneous social entities with fixed borders. Farming – as the core of the Neolithic way of life – was, in most archaeologists’ minds, associated with sedentariness rather than with mobility. Furthermore, the widespread use of evolutionist theoretical frameworks led to the assumption of a universally growing social hierarchisation in the course of prehistory. Ultimately, such “top-down” perspectives deprived individuals and groups of genuine agency and creativity. In recent years, a wide array of empirical data on social practices related to material culture and settlement dynamics, (inter)regional entanglements and spatial mobility based on stable isotope analysis, aDNA, and other factors were produced. Yet the question of possible inferences regarding social organisation has not been sufficiently addressed.
Therefore, the aim of this volume is to study social practices and configurations in Neolithic societies based on such results, mainly from bottom-up perspectives. The contributions assembled here discuss how data can be methodologically combined on the basis of corresponding theories, as well as the potential of such bottom-up approaches to infer models of social organisation that may do justice to the diversity and dynamism of Neolithic societies. This includes perspectives on mobility, social complexity, the importance of (political) interests, and kinship factors
Erhaltungszustand und Gefährdung der Siedlungsreste: Schlussfolgerungen
No full textSeedorf, Lobsigesee ist eine der wenigen jungneolithischen Moorsiedlungen im Drei-Seen-Land. Während am Bieler-, Neuenburger- und Murtensee zahlreiche neolithische Seeufersiedlungen belegt und diese Siedlungsräume somit gut bekannt sind, bietet die Fundstelle am Lobsigesee Einblicke in die damalige Lebenswelt im Hinterland, abseits der grossen Seen
Synthese zur Siedlungsgeschichte, Umwelt und Wirtschaft, Mobilität und Beziehungen
No full textSeedorf, Lobsigesee ist eine der wenigen jungneolithischen Moorsiedlungen im Drei-Seen-Land. Während am Bieler-, Neuenburger- und Murtensee zahlreiche neolithische Seeufersiedlungen belegt und diese Siedlungsräume somit gut bekannt sind, bietet die Fundstelle am Lobsigesee Einblicke in die damalige Lebenswelt im Hinterland, abseits der grossen Seen
Afterword: The pot and the archaeologist – changing each other in an (un-)happy marriage?
Full text linkMobility and Pottery Production: Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives
No full textFor many past and present societies, pottery forms an integral part of material culture and everyday practice. This makes it a promising case example to address human-thing-relations on a more general level, as well as social life itself. Humans organise their lives not only by engaging with materials and things but also by oscillating between movement and stasis. In these various rhythms of mobility – from daily subsistence-based movements to long-term migrations – things like ceramic vessels are crafted, but also act as consumer goods. From their production until their deposition as waste, grave-goods, collectibles etc. pottery vessels can move with their owners or be passed on and may thus shift between spatial, temporal, social, economic and cultural contexts.
This volume unites contributions addressing such phenomena from archaeological and anthropological perspectives. Evolved from an interdisciplinary workshop held at the Institute of Archaeological Sciences (University of Bern) in 2015, the aim is not to promote one single epistemic approach or any elaborated empirical findings but to trigger thoughts and foster discussions.
While the first part of the book contains introductory texts, the second part includes archaeological contributions that address mobility and social ties by focussing on variability in pottery production within, as well as between, settlements and regions. Taking a more object-centred perspective, they comprise attempts to think beyond established concepts of ‘archaeological cultures’ and chronological issues. The third part unites anthropological and archaeological texts that take more actor-centred perspectives of making, distributing and using pottery. These texts examine how humans and things are intertwined though practices and various rhythms of movement and mobility. Thereby it can be shown how cultural forms are reproduced but also transformed by humans and things, like pots, potters, pottery mongers and pottery users that are intermittently on the move
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