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The Intangible Elements of Culture in Ethnoarchaeological Research

  • Book
  • © 2016

Overview

  • Discuss the intangible element of human cultures

  • Highlights the role of ethnoarchaeology in the study of intengable heritage

  • Includes relevant case studies

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (26 chapters)

  1. Case Studies

Keywords

About this book

This volume focuses on the intangible elements of human cultures, whose relevance in the study of archaeology has often been claimed but rarely practiced. In this book, the authors successfully show how the adoption of ethnoarchaeological perspectives on non-material aspects of cultures can support the development of methodologies aimed at refining the archaeological interpretation of ancient items, technologies, rituals, settlements and even landscape.


The volume includes a series of new approaches that can foster the dialogue between archaeology and anthropology in the domain of the intangible knowledge of rural and urban communities. The role of ethnoarchaeology in the study of the intangible heritage is so far largely underexplored, and there is a considerable lack of ethnoarchaeological studies explicitly focused on the less tangible evidence of present and past societies. Fresh case studies will revitalize the theoretical debate around ethnoarchaeology and its applicability in the archaeological and heritage research in the new millennium.


Over the past decade, ‘intangible’ has become a key word in anthropological research and in heritage management. Archaeological theories and methods regarding the explorations of the meaning and the significance of artifacts, resources, and settlement patterns are increasingly focusing on non-material evidence. Due to its peculiar characteristics, ethnoarchaeology can effectively foster the development of the study of the intangible cultural heritage of living societies, and highlight its relevance to the study of those of the past.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Barcelona, Spain

    Stefano Biagetti

  • Rome, Italy

    Francesca Lugli

About the editors

Stefano Biagetti (Ph.D. University College London) is a consulting ethnoarchaeologist who has been involved in Saharan studies since 2002. He has been research fellow at the ‘Sapienza’University of Rome (until Dec. 2012), studying the development of pastoralism in the Sahara, from prehistory to current societies. He carried out ethnoarchaeological investigations among Tuareg from SW Libya. His ethnoarchaeological research is focused on the study of resilience in arid lands, and on the variability of pastoralism in marginal environments. He has published in major journals such as Nature, Journal of African Archaeology, Azania and African Archaeological Review.

Francesca Lugli (D.E.A. Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies, Université de Paris I, Sorbonne-Panthéon; Scuola di Specializzazione in Archeologia, Sapienza Università di Roma) is the president of the Italian Society for Ethnoarchaeology. She carried out several excavations in Italy and abroad, and directed ethnoarchaeological research projects in Italy, Tunisia and Australia, funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italian Institute for Africa and Asia (IsIAO). Currently, she is leading ethnoarchaeological investigations in Mongolia, funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, focused on modern nomads, their campsites, their land use strategies. and their intangible heritage. She edited six books on ethnoarchaeology and wrote more than sixty papers on international journals.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Intangible Elements of Culture in Ethnoarchaeological Research

  • Editors: Stefano Biagetti, Francesca Lugli

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23153-2

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-23152-5Published: 09 June 2016

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-79452-5Published: 26 May 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-23153-2Published: 02 June 2016

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XX, 323

  • Number of Illustrations: 69 b/w illustrations, 58 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Archaeology, Anthropology

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