Cross-Cultural Approaches in Archaeology: Comparative Ethnology, Comparative Archaeology, and Archaeoethnology

Cross-cultural approaches have been used widely in archaeological research. Comparative ethnology has provided a number of archaeological indicators of behavior, but large segments of the archaeological record have not yet been subjected to extensive comparative analysis. Comparative archaeology has aided in exploring variation among societal types (such as chiefdoms) and categories within the archaeological record (such as settlements). Diachronic comparisons have been used frequently by archaeologists, but these have often been based on unique samples and only rarely have employed statistics to aid in the discovery or testing of hypotheses. Archaeoethnology, comparative analyses of archaeological cases employing valid samples and statistical evaluation of theories and hypotheses, is introduced.     

The Archaeology of Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico

The site of Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, is well known for its distinctive architecture and sculpture that came to light in excavations initiated some 70 years ago. Less well known is the extensive corpus of archaeological research conducted over the past several decades, revealing a city that at its height covered an area of c. 16 km² and incorporated a remarkably diverse landscape of hills, plains, alluvial valleys, and marsh. Its dense, urban character is evident in excavations at over 22 localities that uncovered complex arrangements of residential compounds whose nondurable architecture left relatively few surface traces. Evidence of craft production includes lithic and ceramic production loci in specific sectors of the ancient city. Tula possessed a large and densely settled hinterland that apparently encompassed the surrounding region, including most of the Basin of Mexico, and its area of direct influence appears to have extended to the north as far as San Luís Potosí. Tula is believed to have originated as the center of a regional state that consolidated various Coyotlatelco polities and probably remnants of a previous Teotihuacan-controlled settlement system. Its pre-Aztec history exhibits notable continuity in settlement, ceramics, and monumental art and architecture. The nature of the subsequent Aztec occupation supports ethnohistorical and other archaeological evidence that Tula’s ruins were what the Aztecs called Tollan.     

National History, Non-national Archaeology: The Case of Denmark

The early development of Danish archaeology (including the centuries before AD 1800) is discussed in terms of its relationship with national history, and with various ideas about regional phenomena and concepts of cultural identity. Danish archaeologists followed a dual strategy, by subscribing both to national sentiment, but also to the 'un-national' notion of close culture-historical links between regions. Confusion of text-based historical aims, and those of archaeology, caused problems. The main strengths of archaeology – its unique material perspective and concepts, historical, spatial, and contextual (including social and mental dimensions) – are stressed.     

The Archaeology of Al-Andalus: Past,Present and Future

Abstract

THIS PAPER PRESENTS AN OVERVIEW of the archaeology of al-Andalus (the Arabic name for Islamic Spain and Portugal), from its beginnings in the late 1970s to the present day. Innovative approaches and challenging theoretical stances made the archaeology of al-Andalus the spearhead of medieval archaeology in Iberia between the 1980s and 1990s. A problematic, and often conflicting, relationship between archaeology and history has characterised medieval archaeology in Spain since its inception, however, and a new awareness of these problems is emerging. This paper reviews past and current attitudes to such challenges and reflects on the future needs of the discipline. It also reflects on the politics of archaeology and on the role of medieval archaeology in revealing social change, which has until now been underrated.     

An Archaeology of History: The Wang Mang Nine Temples from Early Imperial China as Reconstructed by History and by Archaeology

In this paper, I examine the relationship between the construction of history by the textual history of early imperial China and by Chinese archaeology in the second half of the twentieth century, considering how these two fields of scholarship were directed by ideologies of the Chinese government. The locus for this investigation is the complex of imperial ancestral temples constructed by the emperor Wang Mang (r. 9–23 CE) for his brief interregnum dynasty. Although this group of buildings is described in the official dynastic history, compiled only fifty years after its construction, as having nine temple buildings with specific ancestors ascribed to each, its archaeological excavation in the late 1950s instead revealed twelve temples in a carefully organized plan. The discrepancy between the original construction of the temple complex and its subsequent revision in textual history is revealing in terms of the relationship between received tradition and individual action in the context of establishing imperial legitimacy, whereas the modern attempts to reconcile the discrepancy between textual history and excavated history are indicative of the relationship between Chinese archaeology of that period and the nationalist revision of history.     

The Golden Fleece: Myth, Euhemeristic Explanation and Archaeology

'The Golden Fleece' figures in Greek mythology as the principal objective of the expedition of the Argonauts. The question of the essence and real meaning of the Golden Fleece is widely discussed in the Classical world and modern specialist literature as well. It can be hypothesized that in Greek stories about the Argonauts the Golden Fleece was a symbol of a protector of royal power. The country where the Golden Fleece was preserved, i.e. Aea/Colchis, is identified with modern Western Georgia. The richness of Colchis in metal, mainly gold, became a basis for the euhemerizing, i.e. rationalist explanation, of the Golden Fleece.     

Battlefields of Class Conflict: Ludlow Then and Now

Abstract

In April 1914, a tent colony of striking coal miners at Ludlow, Colorado was the setting of the most notorious example of open class warfare in American History. This paper explores some dimensions of the conflict as revealed by archaeological investigations at the Ludlow Massacre Memorial. We consider the tactical strategies used by Labor and Capital to gain advantage in the conflict, as well as the survival strategies employed by ordinary people in harm's way. We also address recent vandalism at the Memorial which suggests that, ninety years later, the Ludlow ground remains a contested landscape.