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Research Interests: Cultural History, Geography, African Studies, Archaeology, Art, and 15 moreEthnoarchaeology, Ethiopian Studies, Anthropology of the Body, African History, Anarchism, Egalitarianism, Archaeology of States, Collective Memory, Domestic Space, Ethiopia, Archaeological ethnography, African Archaeology, Borders and Borderlands, Archaeology of Colonialism, and Azania
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Control over the production and consumption of tej (honeywine) and the honey to produce it, was part of the political economy of the Abyssinian kingdom/Ethiopian empire (1270-1974 CE) and possibly earlier polities in the northern... more
Control over the production and consumption of tej (honeywine) and the honey to produce it, was part of the political economy of the Abyssinian kingdom/Ethiopian empire (1270-1974 CE) and possibly earlier polities in the northern Ethiopian highlands. Unlike other Indigenous and imported alcohol, tej became diacritica used to constitute social inequality by creating exclusive consumption-communities based on social rank and class. Those with imperial permission consumed tej with specific drinking vessels, which added to the drama of ranked performance in politically charged feasts. Honey for elite tej production was demanded as tax and tribute by the state from every land holder, and while honey was widely available, commoners were forbidden to make and drink tej. The study concludes that exclusive rights over the use of honey for making and drinking tej, an abundant resource in the northern highlands, was a more effective political strategy in legitimating state power and authority than the consumption of rare exotica, including imported alcohol, that was irrelevant to most peoples’ lives. The study contributes to recent archaeological literature that focuses on how power and authority were locally legitimated within the political praxis of precolonial African states. The long-term political importance of honey and tej in northern Ethiopia, continues to shape the value of these products in contemporary commensal politics and in the political economy.
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ABSTRACT Pottery surface treatments are considered essential to waterproofing and strengthening low-fired porous pots, and they add characteristic elements of colour and texture to pottery assemblages. However, surface treatments do not... more
ABSTRACT Pottery surface treatments are considered essential to waterproofing and strengthening low-fired porous pots, and they add characteristic elements of colour and texture to pottery assemblages. However, surface treatments do not receive the same attention as other stages of pottery chaînes opératoires in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in terms of the social context of production, how technological treatments vary across an assemblage, contribute to flavour and address ecological concerns and ontological perspectives. This paper presents an ethnoarchaeological study of the continuum of potter and customer surface treatments that are applied to pots to specialise vessels for use in regional culinary practices in three sub-regions of Tigray Regional state in northern highland Ethiopia. The choice of surface treatments and their application methods may further protect consumers from the perceived dangers that society attributes to these marginalised artisans.
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Pottery surface treatments are considered essential to waterproofing and strengthening low-fired porous pots, and they add characteristic elements of colour and texture to pottery assemblages. However, surface treatments do not receive... more
Pottery surface treatments are considered essential to waterproofing and strengthening low-fired porous pots, and they add characteristic elements of colour and texture to pottery assemblages. However, surface treatments do not receive the same attention as other stages of pottery chaînes opératoires in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in terms of the social context of production, how technological treatments vary across an assemblage, contribute to flavour and address ecological concerns and ontological perspectives. This paper presents an ethnoarchaeological study of the continuum of potter and customer surface treatments that are applied to pots to specialise vessels for use in regional culinary practices in three sub-regions of Tigray Regional state in northern highland Ethiopia. The choice of surface treatments and their application methods may further protect consumers from the perceived dangers that society attributes to these marginalised artisans.
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Control over the production and consumption of tej (honeywine) and the honey to produce it, was part of the political economy of the Abyssinian kingdom/Ethiopian empire (1270-1974 CE) and possibly earlier polities in the northern... more
Control over the production and consumption of tej (honeywine) and the honey to produce it, was part of the political economy of the Abyssinian kingdom/Ethiopian empire (1270-1974 CE) and possibly earlier polities in the northern Ethiopian highlands. Unlike other Indigenous and imported alcohol, tej became diacritica used to constitute social inequality by creating exclusive consumption-communities based on social rank and class. Those with imperial permission consumed tej with specific drinking vessels, which added to the drama of ranked performance in politically charged feasts. Honey for elite tej production was demanded as tax and tribute by the state from every land holder, and while honey was widely available, commoners were forbidden to make and drink tej. The study concludes that exclusive rights over the use of honey for making and drinking tej, an abundant resource in the northern highlands, was a more effective political strategy in legitimating state power and authority ...
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... View statistics of this item. Title: Regionalism of Dorset art style : a comparative analysis of stylistic variability in five Dorset art samples. Authors: Lyons, Diane (Diane Elaine), 1955-. Advisor: Schledermann, Peter. Issue Date:... more
... View statistics of this item. Title: Regionalism of Dorset art style : a comparative analysis of stylistic variability in five Dorset art samples. Authors: Lyons, Diane (Diane Elaine), 1955-. Advisor: Schledermann, Peter. Issue Date: 1982. Publisher: Archaeology, University of Calgary. ...
This paper explores how intangible knowledge creates politically and ideologically charged landscapes in peasant communities in Eastern Tigray, northern highland Ethiopia. Tigrayans hold a strict binary perception of gender that is partly... more
This paper explores how intangible knowledge creates politically and ideologically charged landscapes in peasant communities in Eastern Tigray, northern highland Ethiopia. Tigrayans hold a strict binary perception of gender that is partly constituted in technological and spatial practices that are used to create rural farming landscapes of farmhouses, fields, fences, paths, wells, and churches. Despite the importance of pottery and iron tools to rural household economies, the intangible knowledge and skills associated with the production of these crafts are perceived as immoral and dangerous to people and/or village material resources. Furthermore, in practicing their skills and using their knowledge, potters and smiths transgress normative gendered technological and spatial practices when they extract resources and produce products in craft-specific mines and workshops. In short, smiths behave “like women” and potters “like men.” Places produced by potters and smiths on the village landscape also become locations where social differences between farmers and artisans are routinely negotiated and expressed in acts of violence and/or denigration. It is suggested that intangible knowledge (or ignorance) of crafting skills, their non-normative gendered technological and spatial inscription on the landscape, create and are rendered meaningful by local ideologies that legitimate social inequities. This conclusion challenges models of political landscapes that emphasize elite control of resources and of powerful legitimating ideologies that bolster social inequities. In the example presented, non-elite people also develop powerful ideologies and politically charged landscapes that create and reproduce social inequities in the routine practice of daily life.
ABSTRACT In 2016 Olivier Gosselain published a paper in Archaeological Dialogues suggesting that ethnoarchaeology should “go to hell”. His provocation misrepresents the ethnoarchaeology of the past quarter century, as is evident in a... more
ABSTRACT In 2016 Olivier Gosselain published a paper in Archaeological Dialogues suggesting that ethnoarchaeology should “go to hell”. His provocation misrepresents the ethnoarchaeology of the past quarter century, as is evident in a literature of which he appears largely unaware. Here we refute his charges, showing, for example, that ethnoarchaeologists neither regard the societies with which we work as living fossils, nor do we entertain naïve stereotypes regarding their workings. Our refutations are accompanied by commentaries on topics raised that introduce readers to the substantial recent literature. Far from a wreck, ethnoarchaeology, a form of material culture studies practiced by and mainly for archaeologists, has vigor and relevance, making theoretical, methodological and historical contributions that are worldwide in scope. And as we demonstrate for Africa, non-Western ethnoarchaeologists contribute substantially to the ethnoarchaeological literature.
Research Interests: Art and Ethnoarchaeology
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The study presents the results of neutron activation analysis (NAA) of contemporary pottery from Tigray Regional State, northern highland Ethiopia. This is the first regional-scale study of ceramic composition of Tigray’s pottery and is... more
The study presents the results of neutron activation analysis (NAA) of contemporary pottery from Tigray Regional State, northern highland Ethiopia. This is the first regional-scale study of ceramic composition of Tigray’s pottery and is part of an ethnoarchaeological study of the material and social contexts of pottery production and consumption in Tigray’s Eastern (Misraqawi), Central (Mehakelegnaw), and North-western (Semien Mi’irabawi) zones. The analysis identifies clear compositional groups with strong regional patterns, an encouraging result for the use of NAA to study Tigray’s ancient pottery trade. Significantly, the study further contributes to discussions of how mutually constituted social identities of potters and consumers affect compositional patterning in the distribution of pottery in market networks.RésuméL’étude présente les résultats de neutron activation analysis (NAA) de la poterie contemporaine de l’État régional de Tigray, dans les hautes terres du nord de l’Éthiopie. Ceci est la première étude régionale de la composition céramique de la poterie du Tigray et fait partie d’une étude ethnoarchéologique des contextes matériels et sociaux de la production et de la consommation de poteries dans le Tigray oriental (Misraqawi), central (Mehakelegnaw) et nord-ouest (Semien Mi ‘irabawi) zones. L’analyze identifie des groupes de composition clairs avec des modèles régionaux forts, un résultat encourageant pour l’utilization du NAA pour étudier le commerce de la poterie ancienne de Tigray. De manière significative, l’étude contribue également aux discussions sur la façon dont les identités sociales mutuellement constituées des potiers et des consommateurs affectent la structuration de la composition de la poterie dans les réseaux de marché.
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ABSTRACT Contemporary ethnoarchaeology has come a long way from material correlates and ‘fleshing out the past’. This paper re-introduces ethnoarchaeology and opens a debate on its role in archaeology today. We summarize the role... more
ABSTRACT Contemporary ethnoarchaeology has come a long way from material correlates and ‘fleshing out the past’. This paper re-introduces ethnoarchaeology and opens a debate on its role in archaeology today. We summarize the role ethnoarchaeology has in developing, testing and building archaeological interpretation, and argue for its continuing importance in the wider discipline. This critical role further produces rich ethnographic and material information to think about human-material relationships not necessarily as analogies, but as empirical accounts of how culturally different people engage with the material in complex and variable ways. The study of human-material interaction in daily life and in long-term studies can both challenge and support dominant and emergent theoretical models.
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Building floor plans are frequently recovered by archaologists. A common first sorting of the shapes of small domestic buildings is between round houses and rectangular houses. What do these differences mean? Why do social groups change... more
Building floor plans are frequently recovered by archaologists. A common first sorting of the shapes of small domestic buildings is between round houses and rectangular houses. What do these differences mean? Why do social groups change their building form from one to the other? An ethnoarchaeological study from northern Cameroon illustrates how four ethnic groups in a single community use building shape to blur or define group boundaries for political self-interests.
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Studies of resistance often examine borderlands: liminal areas formed by the presence of often displaced indigenous or dissident social groups along the frontier of hierarchical and hegemonic polities. In this book González-Ruibal... more
Studies of resistance often examine borderlands: liminal areas formed by the presence of often displaced indigenous or dissident social groups along the frontier of hierarchical and hegemonic polities. In this book González-Ruibal addresses one question: what are the strategies and circumstances that have allowed a group of egalitarian societies to survive in the western borderlands of Ethiopia, one of the earliest areas of state formation in Africa? To answer this question he examines and compares how three lowland groups (Gumuz, Bertha and Mao), historically egalitarian hunter-gatherers and slash-and-burn hoe-and-digging-stick farmers, resist the political and cultural hegemony of highland states and their ideologies of inequality by maintaining archaic material practices. What is new in this study is González-Ruibal’s proposed ‘archaeology of resistance’ that queries the structure of resistance of contemporary people as ontological: resistance as a way of being. The author argues that this is archaeological rather than ethnographic because his approach addresses how different groups use time and materiality to resist oppression and to reproduce their egalitarian values. His theoretical framework builds upon two critiques of anthropological theory:
Research Interests: Cultural History, Geography, African Studies, Archaeology, Art, and 15 moreEthnoarchaeology, Ethiopian Studies, Anthropology of the Body, African History, Anarchism, Egalitarianism, Archaeology of States, Collective Memory, Domestic Space, Ethiopia, Archaeological ethnography, African Archaeology, Borders and Borderlands, Archaeology of Colonialism, and Azania
In Wallaga, local beer (farso) is one of the most common alcoholic beverages. The beverage is prepared from cereals such as sorghum, millet, maize and barley and an additive plant known as gesho (Rhamnus prinoides). The beer is fermented... more
In Wallaga, local beer (farso) is one of the most common alcoholic beverages. The beverage is prepared from cereals such as sorghum, millet, maize and barley and an additive plant known as gesho (Rhamnus prinoides). The beer is fermented in a ceramic jar known as huuroo. The brewing process causes pitting in the interior walls. Because most fermentation processes cause pitting of ceramic vessels, use alteration analysis cannot specifically identify past beer brewing practice. Ethnoarchaeological research of beer fermentation in Wallaga shows that in addition to erosion of interior walls of beer jars, the beer fermentation process results in the deposition of residues on the interior walls of the vessels. This residue from beer brewing is different from residue left by other processes because it includes ingredients not incorporated into other foods. As a result, plant microresidue analysis of archaeological ceramics can help to identify past brewing practices and major ingredients o...
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... The concept of gendered technical practice contributes to a fundamental body of anthropological research that addresses agency and materiality (Barrett 2001; Bourdieu 1977; Dobres 2000, Dobres and Robb 2000, 2005; Dornan 2002;... more
... The concept of gendered technical practice contributes to a fundamental body of anthropological research that addresses agency and materiality (Barrett 2001; Bourdieu 1977; Dobres 2000, Dobres and Robb 2000, 2005; Dornan 2002; Gard-ner 2004; Giddens 1984; Gosden ...
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... Debela, S.(1989). Brief remarks on grass pea production in Ethiopia. In (PS Spencer, ed.) The Grass Pea: Threat and Promise. New York: Third World Medical Research Foundation, pp. 147-151. Elizabeth Wuhib, Redda Tekle-Haimanot,... more
... Debela, S.(1989). Brief remarks on grass pea production in Ethiopia. In (PS Spencer, ed.) The Grass Pea: Threat and Promise. New York: Third World Medical Research Foundation, pp. 147-151. Elizabeth Wuhib, Redda Tekle-Haimanot, Angelina Kassina, Yemane Kidane and ...
... west Europe dating to at least the 14th century AD (Slicher van Bath, 1963: 263; Jones and Halstead, 1995: 104), surveys of 19th century agronomic literature on Ethiopia have not produced any accounts of cereal intercropping, other... more
... west Europe dating to at least the 14th century AD (Slicher van Bath, 1963: 263; Jones and Halstead, 1995: 104), surveys of 19th century agronomic literature on Ethiopia have not produced any accounts of cereal intercropping, other than references to mixtures of tef va-rieties ...
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Page 1. Witchcraft, gender, power and intimate relations in Mura compounds in Déla, northern Cameroon Diane Lyons Abstract African witchcraft is a personal act of one individual using supernatural powers to harm another. ...
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The strong relationship between cuisine and the construction of identity is an important topic of social science research, but archaeologists have only recently examined African foodways in these terms. Presented here is an... more
The strong relationship between cuisine and the construction of identity is an important topic of social science research, but archaeologists have only recently examined African foodways in these terms. Presented here is an ethnoarchaeological study of culinary practices in the Tigray Region, highland Ethiopia. The article suggests that cuisine and its associated heat treatment technologies provide important material practices that track construction, continuity and change in social identities. The study is of interest to archaeologists investigating how identities persist in a location as a result of geographic isolation, elite politics and land tenure systems that promote strong regional and local affiliations. The study is relevant to archaeologists interested in the social history of highland Ethiopia because the approach advocated here may help to elucidate factors that produced distinct geographic distributions of pottery wares in Pre-Aksumite and Aksumite times.
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... View statistics of this item. Title: Regionalism of Dorset art style : a comparative analysis of stylistic variability in five Dorset art samples. Authors: Lyons, Diane (Diane Elaine), 1955-. Advisor: Schledermann, Peter. Issue Date:... more
... View statistics of this item. Title: Regionalism of Dorset art style : a comparative analysis of stylistic variability in five Dorset art samples. Authors: Lyons, Diane (Diane Elaine), 1955-. Advisor: Schledermann, Peter. Issue Date: 1982. Publisher: Archaeology, University of Calgary. ...
Building floor plans are frequently recovered by archaologists. A common first sorting of the shapes of small domestic buildings is between round houses and rectangular houses. What do these differences mean? Why do social groups change... more
Building floor plans are frequently recovered by archaologists. A common first sorting of the shapes of small domestic buildings is between round houses and rectangular houses. What do these differences mean? Why do social groups change their building form from one to the other? An ethnoarchaeological study from northern Cameroon illustrates how four ethnic groups in a single community use building shape to blur or define group boundaries for political self-interests.
Research Interests:
... Debela, S.(1989). Brief remarks on grass pea production in Ethiopia. In (PS Spencer, ed.) The Grass Pea: Threat and Promise. New York: Third World Medical Research Foundation, pp. 147-151. Elizabeth Wuhib, Redda Tekle-Haimanot,... more
... Debela, S.(1989). Brief remarks on grass pea production in Ethiopia. In (PS Spencer, ed.) The Grass Pea: Threat and Promise. New York: Third World Medical Research Foundation, pp. 147-151. Elizabeth Wuhib, Redda Tekle-Haimanot, Angelina Kassina, Yemane Kidane and ...
This paper presents the first ethnoarchaeological study of stigmatised market pottery production in Tigray Region in northern highland Ethiopia. In Tigray the rural farm economy is based on ox-plough cereal farming, which frequently fails... more
This paper presents the first ethnoarchaeological study of stigmatised market pottery production in Tigray Region in northern highland Ethiopia. In Tigray the rural farm economy is based on ox-plough cereal farming, which frequently fails to produce a household's subsistence. ...
Research Interests:
The strong relationship between cuisine and the construction of identity is an important topic of social science research, but archaeologists have only recently examined African foodways in these terms. Presented here is an... more
The strong relationship between cuisine and the construction of identity is an important topic of social science research, but archaeologists have only recently examined African foodways in these terms. Presented here is an ethnoarchaeological study of culinary practices in the Tigray Region, highland Ethiopia. The article suggests that cuisine and its associated heat treatment technologies provide important material practices that track construction, continuity and change in social identities. The study is of interest to archaeologists investigating how identities persist in a location as a result of geographic isolation, elite politics and land tenure systems that promote strong regional and local affiliations. The study is relevant to archaeologists interested in the social history of highland Ethiopia because the approach advocated here may help to elucidate factors that produced distinct geographic distributions of pottery wares in Pre-Aksumite and Aksumite times.
Research Interests:
... The concept of gendered technical practice contributes to a fundamental body of anthropological research that addresses agency and materiality (Barrett 2001; Bourdieu 1977; Dobres 2000, Dobres and Robb 2000, 2005; Dornan 2002;... more
... The concept of gendered technical practice contributes to a fundamental body of anthropological research that addresses agency and materiality (Barrett 2001; Bourdieu 1977; Dobres 2000, Dobres and Robb 2000, 2005; Dornan 2002; Gard-ner 2004; Giddens 1984; Gosden ...
Research Interests:
Studies of resistance often examine borderlands: liminal areas formed by the presence of often displaced indigenous or dissident social groups along the frontier of hierarchical and hegemonic polities. In this book González-Ruibal... more
Studies of resistance often examine borderlands: liminal areas formed by the presence of often displaced indigenous or dissident social groups along the frontier of hierarchical and hegemonic polities. In this book González-Ruibal addresses one question: what are the strategies and circumstances that have allowed a group of egalitarian societies to survive in the western borderlands of Ethiopia, one of the earliest areas of state formation in Africa? To answer this question he examines and compares how three lowland groups (Gumuz, Bertha and Mao), historically egalitarian hunter-gatherers and slash-and-burn hoe-and-digging-stick farmers, resist the political and cultural hegemony of highland states and their ideologies of inequality by maintaining archaic material practices. What is new in this study is González-Ruibal’s proposed ‘archaeology of resistance’ that queries the structure of resistance of contemporary people as ontological: resistance as a way of being. The author argues that this is archaeological rather than ethnographic because his approach addresses how different groups use time and materiality to resist oppression and to reproduce their egalitarian values. His theoretical framework builds upon two critiques of anthropological theory:
Research Interests: Cultural History, Geography, African Studies, Archaeology, Art, and 15 moreEthnoarchaeology, Ethiopian Studies, Anthropology of the Body, African History, Anarchism, Egalitarianism, Archaeology of States, Collective Memory, Domestic Space, Ethiopia, Archaeological ethnography, African Archaeology, Borders and Borderlands, Archaeology of Colonialism, and Azania
... west Europe dating to at least the 14th century AD (Slicher van Bath, 1963: 263; Jones and Halstead, 1995: 104), surveys of 19th century agronomic literature on Ethiopia have not produced any accounts of cereal intercropping, other... more
... west Europe dating to at least the 14th century AD (Slicher van Bath, 1963: 263; Jones and Halstead, 1995: 104), surveys of 19th century agronomic literature on Ethiopia have not produced any accounts of cereal intercropping, other than references to mixtures of tef va-rieties ...
Research Interests:
Page 1. Witchcraft, gender, power and intimate relations in Mura compounds in Déla, northern Cameroon Diane Lyons Abstract African witchcraft is a personal act of one individual using supernatural powers to harm another. ...