Anthropological Archaeology in 2012: Mobility, Economy, and Transformation

Abstract

In 2012, archaeologists continued to grapple with large questions concerning process and structure and how they shaped the nature of humanity. The movement of populations, ideas, and material culture stands out prominently, including mobility's role in promoting social change and how forms of travel and communication, such as pilgrimages or long-distance trade, promoted social interaction. Research concerning the structure of ancient economies acknowledges the amazing diversity within which prehistoric communities organized food production and material goods manufacture and exchange. Social complexity as transformation illustrates how local histories

Anthropological Archaeology in 2013: The Search for Truth(s)

“…Here, I present some of the major themes, methods, and debates in current anthropological archaeology reflected in the literature over the past year, which can be characterized by theoretical and methodological diversity. There is a clear continuation of certain themes noted in previous reviews, such as mobility, economy, plant and animal domestication, social complexity, human–environment interaction, and identity and power (Hauser ; Kahn ). The postmodernist turn has unleashed a body of theory exploring a range of themes that are reviewed here, including landscape perception, personhood and the self, postsecular views of religion, and postcolonial critiques.…”

Buffering new risks? Environmental, social and economic changes in the Turkana Basin during and after the African Humid Period

“…Today, multi-scalar reckonings of mobility within and beyond Africa acknowledge the universality of movement – of people(s), their ideas, and their material cultures. Scholars emphasize its centrality to individuals’ daily lives and to social groups’ uses of landscapes (Antonites and Ashley, 2016; Honeychurch, 2015; Kahn, 2013; Salazar and Smart, 2011; Ventresca Miller and Makarewicz, 2017; Whallon, 2006). Ethnographic and historical records for pastoral societies throughout eastern Africa (e.g.…”

Coastal mobility and lithic supply lines in northeast New Guinea

“…Mobility and movement in the human past have recently been described as key theoretical concerns in archaeology (Close 2000;Kahn 2013;van Dommelen 2014), and in the social sciences more generally (Cresswell 2011(Cresswell , 2012(Cresswell , 2014Greenblatt 2009;Sheller 2014). Instead of conceiving 'sedentary' communities as static and coherent, we are being encouraged to think about the dynamic lines of movement and flow that bind and sever people, places and objects (Greenblatt 2009: 2;Ingold 2011: 145;Mazzullo and Ingold 2008;Pooley 2017).…”