Description
Session Organiser for "Déjà vu: from space to place in prehistory"Session Abstract: Humans, and arguably, hominins do not inhabit optimal spaces but places. This aspect of human experience has long been the Achilles heel of ecological archaeology. Because it was conceptually and analytically difficult it was the great omission from locational theory and the processual approaches to archaeology so popular in the 70s and 80s. Attempts at archaeologies of natural places [cf. Bradley) and phenomenological interpretations of place [cf. Tilley) have to some extent tackled the problem. They have supplemented [but rarely incorporated) the functional and ecological with locales, rhythms and lived-through bodies. Places are undoubtedly more than locations in an inhabited landscape, and more than an expression of everyday life. They involve relationships: spiritual, habitual, corporeal, territorial and emotional [cf. Schama, Bender).
This session invites papers from any period in Prehistory, which analyse and discuss if and how we can understand what "place" might have been in the past. It is clearly not simple, involving memory, activity, social practice, belief systems and most difficult of all meaning. As such, "place" cannot exist independently of humans/hominins, and must be dynamic and negotiated. Theories of place have been borrowed from anthropology, geography, psychology and history, yet archaeology's position as a discipline concerned with histories, should enable us to consider creation of place in space, and actively engage in the cross-disciplinary debate. Does archaeology allow us an insight into the construction of place? Can we see whether and how it varies both culturally and chronologically? And what can this add to the wider debate?
Bender, B. (2002) lime and Landscape. Current Anthropology, Volume 43, Supplement 4 pp.I03·112
Bradley, R. (2000) An Archaeology of Natural Places. Routledge
Schama, S. (1996) Landscape and Memory. Vintage Books.
Tilley, C. (1994) A Phenomenology of Landscape, Places, Paths and Monuments. Oxford, BERG
| Period | 31 Dec 2016 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Exeter, United KingdomShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |