The Archaeology of Personhood

Description

Bringing together a wealth of research in social and cultural anthropology, philosophy and related fields, this is the first book to address the contribution that an understanding of personhood can make to our interpretations of the past

Applying an anthropological approach to detailed case studies from European prehistoric archaeology, the book explores the connection between people, animals, objects, their societies and environments and investigates the relationship that jointly produces bodies, persons, communities and artefacts.

The Archaeology of Personhood examines the characteristics that define a person as a category of being, highlights how definitions of personhood are culturally variable and explores how that variation is connected to human uses of material culture.

Contents

1. The Individual in the Archaeological Imagination 2. Personhood and Identity: Theoretical Frameworks 3. Personhood, Exchange and Artefacts 4. Personhood Death and Transformation 5. Bodies, Substances and Community 6. An Interpretation: Personhood in Later Mesolithic Scandinavia 7. Relational Personhood in Context

Author Bio

Chris Fowler held a Leverhulme Special Research Fellowship during 2000-2002 at the University of Manchester, where he now lectures. He is a specialist in the British Neolithic and archaeological theory, particularly focussing on concepts of the person and approaches to identity in the past

Related Subjects

1. Archaeology
2. Archaeological Theory
3. Material Culture