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Investigating Archaeological Cultures

Material Culture, Variability, and Transmission

  • Book
  • © 2011

Overview

Editors:
  1. Benjamin W. Roberts

    1. Dept. Prehistory & Europe, British Museum, London, United Kingdom

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Marc Vander Linden

    1. , School of Archaeology and Ancient Histor, Leicester University, Leicester, United Kingdom

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • International collection of contributors

  • Comprehensive guide to studying cultural transmission

  • Detailed case studies apply the theories

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (17 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
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  2. Investigating Archaeological Cultures: Material Culture, Variability, and Transmission

    • Benjamin W. Roberts, Marc Vander Linden
    Pages 1-21

  3. A Tale of Two Countries: Contrasting Archaeological Culture History in British and French Archaeology

    • Marc Vander Linden, Benjamin W. Roberts
    Pages 23-40

  4. Thoughts in Circles: Kulturkreislehre as a Hidden Paradigm in Past and Present Archaeological Interpretations

    • Katharina C. Rebay-Salisbury
    Pages 41-59

  5. Cultural Innovation from an Americanist Perspective

    • Michael J. O’Brien
    Pages 61-75

  6. Culture in the Lower Palaeolithic: Technological Variability in Middle Pleistocene Europe

    • Hannah Fluck
    Pages 77-95

  7. Techno-Modes, Techno-Facies and Palaeo-Cultures: Change and Continuity in the Pleistocene of Southeast, Central and North Asia

    • Ryan J. Rabett
    Pages 97-135

  8. Ancient Technology and Archaeological Cultures: Understanding the Earliest Metallurgy in Eurasia

    • Benjamin W. Roberts
    Pages 137-150

  9. “Culture”, Innovation and Interaction Across Southern Iran from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age (c. 6500–3000 bc)

    • Cameron A. Petrie
    Pages 151-182

  10. Culture, Tradition and the Settlement Burials of the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) Culture

    • Daniela Hofmann, Penny Bickle
    Pages 183-200

  11. Constructing Social and Cultural Identities in the Bronze Age

    • Kristian Kristiansen
    Pages 201-210

  12. Fine if I Do, Fine if I Don’t. Dynamics of Technical Knowledge in Sub-Saharan Africa

    • Olivier P. Gosselain
    Pages 211-227

  13. The Transmission of Technological Skills in the Palaeolithic: Insights from Metapopulation Ecology

    • Terry Hopkinson
    Pages 229-244

  14. Steps Towards Operationalising an Evolutionary Archaeological Definition of Culture

    • Felix Riede
    Pages 245-270

  15. Archaeology and Cartography: In Search of the Prehistoric Cultures in the Neolithic Near East

    • Olivier Aurenche, Stefan K. Kozlowski
    Pages 271-287

  16. To Tame a Land: Archaeological Cultures and the Spread of the Neolithic in Western Europe

    • Marc Vander Linden
    Pages 289-319

  17. Are ‘Cultures’ Inherited? Multidisciplinary Perspectives on the Origins and Migrations of Austronesian-Speaking Peoples Prior to 1000 bc

    • Peter Bellwood, Geoffrey Chambers, Malcolm Ross, Hsiao-chun Hung
    Pages 321-354

  18. What Role for Language Prehistory in Redefining Archaeological “Culture”? A Case Study on New Horizons in the Andes

    • David Beresford-Jones, Paul Heggarty
    Pages 355-386

  19. Back Matter

    Pages 387-393
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Keywords

About this book

Defining "culture" is an important step in undertaking archaeological research.  Any thorough study of a particular culture first has to determine what that culture contains-- what particular time period, geographic region, and group of people make up that culture.  The study of archaeology has many accepted definitions of particular cultures, but recently these accepted definitions have come into question.  As archaeologists struggle to define cultures, they also seek to define the components of culture. 

This volume brings together 21 international case studies to explore the meaning of "culture" for regions around the globe and periods from the Paleolithic to the Bronze Age and beyond.  Taking lessons and overarching themes from these studies, the contributors draw important conclusions about cultural transmission, technology development, and cultural development.

The result is a comprehensive model for approaching the study of culture, broken down into regions (Russia, Continental Europe, North America, Britain, and Africa), materials (Lithics, Ceramics, Metals) and time periods.  This work will be valuable to all archaeologists and cultural anthropologists, particularly those studying material culture.

Reviews

"This excellent volume.... more than archives its stated aim of 're-igniting the debate concerning the analysis of archaeological cultures'.... this thought-provoking volume contains a broad range of interesting ideas and case studies" (Stephen Shennan, European Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 16, 2013)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Dept. Prehistory & Europe, British Museum, London, United Kingdom

    Benjamin W. Roberts

  • , School of Archaeology and Ancient Histor, Leicester University, Leicester, United Kingdom

    Marc Vander Linden

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Investigating Archaeological Cultures

  • Book Subtitle: Material Culture, Variability, and Transmission

  • Editors: Benjamin W. Roberts, Marc Vander Linden

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6970-5

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4419-6969-9Published: 21 June 2011

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4939-0013-8Published: 27 November 2014

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4419-6970-5Published: 04 June 2011

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: VIII, 393

  • Number of Illustrations: 49 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Archaeology, Cultural Heritage

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