I work in Central Asia and Kazakhstan on Iron Age agropastoral settlements of the Saka and other nomadic polities. Phone: 434-381-6191 Address: PO Box 149
Sweet Briar, VA 24595
USA
... Archeology:illage Ethnoarchaeology: Rural Iran in Archaeological Perspective. Carol Kramer.Cl... more ... Archeology:illage Ethnoarchaeology: Rural Iran in Archaeological Perspective. Carol Kramer.Claudia Chang. Article first published online: 22 OCT 2009. ... Get PDF (173K). More content like this. Find more content: like this article. Find more content written by: Claudia Chang. ...
This book chapter is from The Ecology of Pastoralism edited by P. Nick Kardulias (2015) Universit... more This book chapter is from The Ecology of Pastoralism edited by P. Nick Kardulias (2015) University of Colorado Press. It discusses the historiography of the study of Kazakh nomadism and its relationship to similar trends in Western scholarship on pastoral nomadism.
This essay explores Braidotti's nomadic subject as the starting point for a posthumanist ... more This essay explores Braidotti's nomadic subject as the starting point for a posthumanist perspective for the interpretation of ethnographic and ancient pastoral societies. Why has women's labour and positionality in such societies tended to be ignored by archaeology? The author's autobiographical discussion of her earlier work on village and transhumant pastoralists in Greece frames her personal discovery of gender and power dynamics in mobile societies. The main case study, however, examines the household archaeology of Iron Age Saka (eastern variants of Scythians) and later pastoral groups in order to put forth hypotheses about gendered production in semi-sedentary societies. Haraway's concept of the cyborg and Braidotti's concept of the nomadic subject are examined. Material studies of ceramic serving dishes, household debris and house form at an Iron Age agropastoral settlement apply some of the concepts of new feminisms. A comparison is drawn between the philosophy of nomadology and the anthropological archaeology of pastoral nomads.
This ethnoarchaeological study of an Inupiat Eskimo fish camp examines the formation of activity ... more This ethnoarchaeological study of an Inupiat Eskimo fish camp examines the formation of activity areas through time-motion studies and the analyses of activity episodes. These observations on two adults using the site during the summer of 1982 are used as examples of how spatially discrete activity areas are shaped by behavioral processes. In this case, activity-area formation is tied to the adaptive strategies of the Inupiat Eskimo cultural system. Specific subsistence-related activities such as food processing, animal butchering, and equipment maintenance leave material residues after tasks are completed. Cognitive and adaptive aspects of the Inupiat cultural system contribute to the spatial organization of this fish camp.
... torical continuity of pastoral trans-humance in the Pindos Mountains of Greece illustrates in... more ... torical continuity of pastoral trans-humance in the Pindos Mountains of Greece illustrates in a ... The political, social, and economic structures by which nomads or transhumants were linked ... the evolution of pastoral specialization in Mesopota-mia: during the Neolithic period, there ...
digitation and synthesis of the individual data sets, seem to be internally consistent, rarely co... more digitation and synthesis of the individual data sets, seem to be internally consistent, rarely contradictory, and thoroughly within the limits of the extant information from the study area and contiguous localities. Completely groundless speculation is markedly minimized in all of the Cherokee studies. Not surprisingly, the authors conclude that (1) no cultural differences of any significant magnitude were discernible between the Late paleo-Indian and Archaic horizons in terms of economy and adaptive strategy; (2) Atlantic climate on the western Prairie Peninsula was different from that of today but in degree rather than kind; (3) the Cherokee area sustained increased aridity and desiccation during the duration of human occupation; (4) this "altithermal," for want of a better label, did not cause the evacuation of the eastern plains even if it did perhaps restrict human activities either to wetter regions or to wetter climatic episodes. Although certainly not profound or "earth shattering," all of the broad conclusions are clearly demonstrable and documented at least for the study area; they also have marked implications for understanding eastern plains prehistory generally. On a more specific level, the authors observe that all three of the Cherokee Sewer Site cultural horizons can be interpreted as late winter multifamily bison processing sites. Approximately "two dozen" separate and distinct activity sets can be isolated at the site. Without enumerating these activities, suffice it to note that virtually all of the posited prehistoric behaviors do appear to be based on recovered or observed physical evidence. Mention should be made in passing of the "Eight innovations . . . which . . . represent 'firsts' for the eastern border of the Great Plains" (p. 266) (i.e., Iowa), including early stemmed and side-notched projectile points, a worked beaver incisor, thermal alteration of low quality chert, milling stones, domesticated dogs, a bone tube, and a fragmentary flute. While this reviewer could elaborate further on the book's credits, I prefer to point out what I consider to be some of the volume's few real deficiencies. The emphasis in this book is (intentionally or otherwise) empirical. The quality and extent of some of the descriptive data are occasionally rather limited, however. All of the cultural features recorded in the 1976 excavations are relegated to six pages of an appendix and are cryptically treated at best. Further, the descriptions of lithic and bone tools are occasionally brief (to be charitable) and of somewhat limited utility. Similarly, although data were obviously abundant, the flaked stone debitage is not as extensively presented or discussed in terms of reduction stages or sequences as I would prefer. In this vein, I might also note that I find the retention of such functional terms as endscrapers, choppers, etc., in the total absence of edgewear analysis to be both unwarranted and misleading. It should be stressed that all of these are picayune objections when the overall quality of this book is considered.
... Archeology:illage Ethnoarchaeology: Rural Iran in Archaeological Perspective. Carol Kramer.Cl... more ... Archeology:illage Ethnoarchaeology: Rural Iran in Archaeological Perspective. Carol Kramer.Claudia Chang. Article first published online: 22 OCT 2009. ... Get PDF (173K). More content like this. Find more content: like this article. Find more content written by: Claudia Chang. ...
This book chapter is from The Ecology of Pastoralism edited by P. Nick Kardulias (2015) Universit... more This book chapter is from The Ecology of Pastoralism edited by P. Nick Kardulias (2015) University of Colorado Press. It discusses the historiography of the study of Kazakh nomadism and its relationship to similar trends in Western scholarship on pastoral nomadism.
This essay explores Braidotti's nomadic subject as the starting point for a posthumanist ... more This essay explores Braidotti's nomadic subject as the starting point for a posthumanist perspective for the interpretation of ethnographic and ancient pastoral societies. Why has women's labour and positionality in such societies tended to be ignored by archaeology? The author's autobiographical discussion of her earlier work on village and transhumant pastoralists in Greece frames her personal discovery of gender and power dynamics in mobile societies. The main case study, however, examines the household archaeology of Iron Age Saka (eastern variants of Scythians) and later pastoral groups in order to put forth hypotheses about gendered production in semi-sedentary societies. Haraway's concept of the cyborg and Braidotti's concept of the nomadic subject are examined. Material studies of ceramic serving dishes, household debris and house form at an Iron Age agropastoral settlement apply some of the concepts of new feminisms. A comparison is drawn between the philosophy of nomadology and the anthropological archaeology of pastoral nomads.
This ethnoarchaeological study of an Inupiat Eskimo fish camp examines the formation of activity ... more This ethnoarchaeological study of an Inupiat Eskimo fish camp examines the formation of activity areas through time-motion studies and the analyses of activity episodes. These observations on two adults using the site during the summer of 1982 are used as examples of how spatially discrete activity areas are shaped by behavioral processes. In this case, activity-area formation is tied to the adaptive strategies of the Inupiat Eskimo cultural system. Specific subsistence-related activities such as food processing, animal butchering, and equipment maintenance leave material residues after tasks are completed. Cognitive and adaptive aspects of the Inupiat cultural system contribute to the spatial organization of this fish camp.
... torical continuity of pastoral trans-humance in the Pindos Mountains of Greece illustrates in... more ... torical continuity of pastoral trans-humance in the Pindos Mountains of Greece illustrates in a ... The political, social, and economic structures by which nomads or transhumants were linked ... the evolution of pastoral specialization in Mesopota-mia: during the Neolithic period, there ...
digitation and synthesis of the individual data sets, seem to be internally consistent, rarely co... more digitation and synthesis of the individual data sets, seem to be internally consistent, rarely contradictory, and thoroughly within the limits of the extant information from the study area and contiguous localities. Completely groundless speculation is markedly minimized in all of the Cherokee studies. Not surprisingly, the authors conclude that (1) no cultural differences of any significant magnitude were discernible between the Late paleo-Indian and Archaic horizons in terms of economy and adaptive strategy; (2) Atlantic climate on the western Prairie Peninsula was different from that of today but in degree rather than kind; (3) the Cherokee area sustained increased aridity and desiccation during the duration of human occupation; (4) this "altithermal," for want of a better label, did not cause the evacuation of the eastern plains even if it did perhaps restrict human activities either to wetter regions or to wetter climatic episodes. Although certainly not profound or "earth shattering," all of the broad conclusions are clearly demonstrable and documented at least for the study area; they also have marked implications for understanding eastern plains prehistory generally. On a more specific level, the authors observe that all three of the Cherokee Sewer Site cultural horizons can be interpreted as late winter multifamily bison processing sites. Approximately "two dozen" separate and distinct activity sets can be isolated at the site. Without enumerating these activities, suffice it to note that virtually all of the posited prehistoric behaviors do appear to be based on recovered or observed physical evidence. Mention should be made in passing of the "Eight innovations . . . which . . . represent 'firsts' for the eastern border of the Great Plains" (p. 266) (i.e., Iowa), including early stemmed and side-notched projectile points, a worked beaver incisor, thermal alteration of low quality chert, milling stones, domesticated dogs, a bone tube, and a fragmentary flute. While this reviewer could elaborate further on the book's credits, I prefer to point out what I consider to be some of the volume's few real deficiencies. The emphasis in this book is (intentionally or otherwise) empirical. The quality and extent of some of the descriptive data are occasionally rather limited, however. All of the cultural features recorded in the 1976 excavations are relegated to six pages of an appendix and are cryptically treated at best. Further, the descriptions of lithic and bone tools are occasionally brief (to be charitable) and of somewhat limited utility. Similarly, although data were obviously abundant, the flaked stone debitage is not as extensively presented or discussed in terms of reduction stages or sequences as I would prefer. In this vein, I might also note that I find the retention of such functional terms as endscrapers, choppers, etc., in the total absence of edgewear analysis to be both unwarranted and misleading. It should be stressed that all of these are picayune objections when the overall quality of this book is considered.
This is Robert Spengler's review of my book Rethinking Central Asian Prehistory: Shepherds, Farme... more This is Robert Spengler's review of my book Rethinking Central Asian Prehistory: Shepherds, Farmers and Nomads.
This essay explores Braidotti's nomadic subject as the starting point for a posthumanist perspect... more This essay explores Braidotti's nomadic subject as the starting point for a posthumanist perspective for the interpretation of ethnographic and ancient pastoral societies. Why has women's labour and positionality in such societies tended to be ignored by archaeology? The author's autobiographical discussion of her earlier work on village and transhumant pastoralists in Greece frames her personal discovery of gender and power dynamics in mobile societies. The main case study, however, examines the household archaeology of Iron Age Saka (eastern variants of Scythians) and later pastoral groups in order to put forth hypotheses about gendered production in semi-sedentary societies. Haraway's concept of the cyborg and Braidotti's concept of the nomadic subject are examined. Material studies of ceramic serving dishes, household debris and house form at an Iron Age agropastoral settlement apply some of the concepts of new feminisms. A comparison is drawn between the philosophy of nomadology and the anthropological archaeology of pastoral nomads.
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