Series: One World Archaeology

Twenty-two papers from part of the Southampton World Archaeological Congress (1986) treat different aspects of the theme: in the first section, general theoretical and philosophical questions relating to objectivity in archaeological interpretation are pursued. The second section deals with the relationship between cultural identity and material culture: R M Rowlett (pp 219-30) in 'Detecting political units in archaeology - an Iron Age example' suggests in relation to La Tène Ia Marnians that certain cultural distributions reflect inter-tribal raiding of graves. The third section treats the genesis, maintenance, and disappearance of ethnicity and cultural variation.

Informed by developments in historical archaeology and by postcolonial scholarship, the case-studies in this volume look at the colonists of the British Empire. Beginning with the early English colonisation of Ireland and Virginia, the contributors examine the interplay of objects and identity in Scotland and Wales, regional England, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Cyprus, and Sri Lanka. The evidence drawn upon includes vernacular architecture, landscapes and objects of everyday life. The papers demonstrate that Britishness has never been a fixed identity, and that material culture can challenge historical and contemporary understandings of Britishness. Includes

Papers from the World Archaeological Congress held in Southampton, 1986 on various aspects of the social and ethical responsibility of the archaeologist in the modern world. The points of reference are non-British except in the paper by Jane Hubert (131-66, 'A proper place for the dead: a critical review of the "reburial" issue') which mentions the Jewish cemetery in York and some actual or 'token' reburials that have taken place in England.

A further volume from the World Archaeological Congress (Southampton 1986). The papers focus on the way European historical thinking has permeated attitudes to peoples round the world. The editors' Introduction (1-26) describes the thrust and structure of the book. M Rowlands (29-40) in 'A question of complexity' takes issue with the fact that, in Western discourse, complexity defined in terms of differentiation has been accepted as a metaphor for social inequality, and this has constrained the analysis of long term social transformations. In 'Discourse and power: the genre of the Cambridge inaugural lecture' C Tilley (41-62) studies the 'power effect' discernible in the lectures, with special reference to the last four (by D Garrod, J G D Clark, G Daniel, and C Renfrew) seen in the light of Foucault's contribution to analysis of discourse. In 'The limits of dominance' D Miller (63-79) focuses on the nature of resistance as a contribution to the dynamics of social transformations. The next section, Political economy and ideology: historical transformations, leads with Barbara Bender (83-95) on 'The roots of inequality', arguing that social differentiation was occurring well before the inception of farming: the practice of cave art is cited as an example. J A Hall (96-107), in 'Towards a theory of social evolution: on state systems and ideological shells', gives an account of the role of political and ideological factors in the rise of capitalism, contrasting Imperial China with Imperial Rome. Kristian Kristiansen (211-14) writes on 'Value, ranking and consumption in the European Bronze Age', discussing how ritual hoarding is distinct from burial ritual by different forms of value. Susan Kus (140-54) in 'Sensuous human activity and the state: towards an archaeology of bread and circuses' discusses to what degree the state will 'buy' its members' consent. Simon Mays, in 'Marxist perspectives on social organization in the central European Early Bronze Age' (215-26) finds no evidence for the existence of exploiation in the Hainburg cemetery of Lower Austria, and suggests social status did not depend on rank, and nor did nourishment. Other papers in this section deal with Central America and Sri Lanka. The third section, European expansion, colonialism and resistance, contains Jonathan Friedman (246-60) on 'Culture, identity and world process' and several papers on African, Oriental, South American and Subcontinental themes.

Peter Ucko's foreword explains the upheavals before the 1986 World Archaeological Congress that led to the papers in this volume, 'one of the first introspective analyses of the practice of medieval archaeology'. Following the conference itself four further papers were commissioned, making 18 papers in all, and striking 'a real blow for the overdue emancipation of studies in medieval archaeology'. The editors' preface gives further details of the circumstances surrounding the medieval session and point to its strong emphasis on Eastern Europe. Four of the papers are abstracted here as having particular relevance to British archaeology. They come under the heading Objectives of medieval archaeology: David Austin (pp 9-42) leads with 'The "proper study" of medieval archaeology', arguing the necessity for this subject to free itself from documentary history and from anglocentric and evolutionary preoccupations. A higher level of debate should be attempted, and compartmentation and isolation be rejected; nor should we continue to follow in the wake of historians' changing fashions. Two elements of a shared agenda with historians are offered: the study of ethnicity and the role of the nation state in Europe; and the study of the history of landscape as the physical representation of human success or failure in reaching an accommodation with nature, and also as a metaphor for social power relations and structures of belief. The same author with Julian Thomas (43-78) contributes 'The "proper study" of medieval archaeology: a case study', in which it is argued that medieval archaeologists should listen to their material and present it as a parallel to the documentary text. An analysis of Dartmoor longhouses in their landscape illustrates how a deeper understanding can be attained of patterns of discourse of the inhabitants, and of the relationships between households and between farm and land. Such details cannot be learnt from documents, but it will be necessary to convince historians of the worth of this kind of approach. Timothy C Champion (79-95) in 'Medieval archaeology and the tyranny of the historical record' explains how Europe, though not a distinct geographical unit, has long expressed a cultural, social, and political superiority over the rest of the world. The notions of 'progress' and of European domination are still carefully passed on in the teaching of the past in educational institutions including museums; and the emphasis on the classical origins of Europe is strong. The effects of these perspectives on archaeology are demonstrated. The tyranny of the historical record needs to be broken by asserting the equal value of the archaeological evidence and by exploring the differences between European and other societies. Martin Gojda (96-109) provides 'A comparative study of Czech and British medieval rural settlement archaeology: towards whole landscapes'. He explains that Czech settlement history has only recently entered the province of archaeology, but is increasingly seen as part of a wider landscape history, here summarized and compared with the much more developed discipline in Britain (for instance, air photography has only recently begun in Czechslovakia). An objective that is common to both countries is to understand the transition from dispersed to nucleated, and from irregular to planned settlements. Remaining papers deal with Hungary, Scandinavia, Poland, Latvia, SW France, Czechoslovakia, Lübeck, Prague and Kiev.

The volume brings together a number of specialist disciplines, including archaeology, to examine social and physical exclusion from society including the causes and consequences of social exclusion, stigma, marginality, dangerousness and ritual power of the `other' in society. Case studies include investigations of skeletal remains, infanticide, leprosy, and funerary practices and are drawn from a wide range of locations. The book includes ethnographic material from the present and the past, and discusses information about disease, disability and social behaviour drawn from documentary evidence, archaeological material and myth. Contributions include

The book explores the interactions of human cultures with natural hazards and revisits some famous catastrophes as well as less well known but equally catastrophic events, and explores theoretical issues and the role played by catastrophic natural events in generating cultural change. Case studies cover a wide range of generally non-British data both chronologically and geographically. Includes

International in scope, this volume examines the importance of social constructions of the past in terms of the power relations they reflect, establish and/or reinforce. The `Introduction' by George Clement Bond & Angela Gilliam (1-22) provides a précis of the topics and approaches dealt with in the volume as a whole. These include contributions from historians and anthropologists on concerns including post-colonial discourse and the dynamics of subjugation and domination, particularly forms of subjugated knowledge. There are fourteen papers, many of them exclusively concerned with foreign material, grouped into three sections.The first of the three sections is entitled the representation of ethnicity, and begins with `Ethnicity and representation' by Leith Mullings (25-8). This explores the represenation of inequality and rebellion in historical interpretations and texts. There follow papers concerning specific case studies from the Americas.The social construction of antiquity is next examined. `The construction of antiquity and the egalitarian principle: social constructions of the past in the present' by William A Shack (113-18) calls for indigenous and disenfranchised scholars and peoples to be able to contribute to historical narrative and constructions of the past. Martin Bernal considers `The image of Ancient Greece as a tool for colonialism and European hegemony' (119-28), whilst Michael Rowlands discusses `The politics of identity in archaeology' (129-43). There follow texts concerning the USA and India, and the final section is on the scholarship of inequality as manifest in South Africa. IH

Collection of papers from archaeologists, anthropologists and museum practitioners providing a survey of the current state of repatriation in terms of policy, practice and theory. Using case studies and a wide geographical focus, the volume examines perceptions of the dead; collecting and reburial; specific case histories; museums and repatriation; and implications and effects of repatriation. Includes