Social and Behavioral Sciences | Open Access Articles

Transnational Artifacts: Grappling With Fluid Material Origins And Identities In Archaeological Interpretations Of Culture Change, Douglas Ross Dec 2011

Transnational Artifacts: Grappling With Fluid Material Origins And Identities In Archaeological Interpretations Of Culture Change, Douglas Ross

Douglas Ross

There has been a gradual shift in historical archaeology towards interpretive approaches to material culture, including recognition of the potential for multiple functions and meanings in local contexts. It is argued here that artifacts can also maintain multiple, fluid origins and identities that affect our understanding of the nature of cultural persistence and change among migrant, indigenous and other ethnic groups. However, predefined classification schemes are often rigid and do not allow for this kind of fluidity, including the potential for artifacts from one culture to be indigenized into another. Data drawn from recent research on Japanese migrants in British …

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Contemporary Archaeology In Transit: The Artifacts Of A 1991 Van, Adrian Myers Dec 2010

Contemporary Archaeology In Transit: The Artifacts Of A 1991 Van, Adrian Myers

Adrian Myers

This article uses an assemblage of recently abandoned material culture as a medium for exploring the world in which we all live. First it is suggested that if we are to study contemporary material culture, then our methodology must be collaborative, multivocal, and innovative. Next, an assemblage of materials recovered from a 1991 Ford Transit van, used by archaeologists in the field for 8 years, is investigated as a case study. The vehicle is epistemologically dismantled, and it is demonstrated that the car part should be treated as a diagnostic artifact. A close investigation of the recovered small finds uncovers …

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Special Journal Issue: "Perspectives On The Recent Past", Brent Fortenberry, Adrian Myers Dec 2009

Special Journal Issue: "Perspectives On The Recent Past", Brent Fortenberry, Adrian Myers

Adrian Myers

No abstract provided.

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Telling Time For The Electrified: An Introduction To Porcelain Insulators And The Electrification Of The American Home, Adrian Myers Dec 2009

Telling Time For The Electrified: An Introduction To Porcelain Insulators And The Electrification Of The American Home, Adrian Myers

Adrian Myers

As archaeologists increasingly survey and excavate at sites from the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries, they more commonly encounter artifacts that the standard guides do not consider. Included in this class of “too recent” artifacts are the material remnants of the early electrification of the American household. Particularly ubiquitous electrical artifacts are the small white porcelain knobs, tubes, and cleats used in “knob and tube” wiring systems. Meticulous research by insulator collectors, notably Jack Tod and Elton Gish, is a significant boon to the archaeologist, and their work shows that these artifacts can often be dated and provenanced. This …

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Transit, Transition: Excavating J641 Vuj, Adrian T. Myers, Greg Bailey, Cassie Newland, Anna Nilsson, John Schofield Dec 2008

Transit, Transition: Excavating J641 Vuj, Adrian T. Myers, Greg Bailey, Cassie Newland, Anna Nilsson, John Schofield

Adrian Myers

In July 2006 archaeologists from the University of Bristol and Atkins Heritage embarked on a contemporary archaeology project with a difference. We ‘excavated’ an old (1991) Ford Transit van, used by archaeologists and later by works and maintenance teams at the Ironbridge Museum. The object: to see what can be learnt from a very particular, common and characteristic type of contemporary place; to establish what archaeologists and archaeology can contribute to understanding the way society, and specifically we as archaeologists, use and inhabit these places; and to challenge and critique archaeologies of the contemporary past. In this report we describe …

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Archaeology Of The Recent Past: Excavating A 1991 Ford Van, Adrian Myers Dec 2007