Assemblages of practice. A conceptual framework for exploring human–thing relations in archaeology

Abstract

In this paper we propose the conceptual framework of the assemblage of practice as an effective middlerange heuristic tool that bridges deep theory and the data available to archaeologists. Our framework foregrounds vibrant things as opposed to static objects, and sympathetically articulates the current concepts of entanglement, correspondence and assemblage. To us an assemblage of practice is a dynamic gathering of corresponding things entangled through situated daily and eventful human practice. Once reassembled by comprehensively and critically marshalling all the evidentiary lines available to archaeologists today, the assemblage of practice becomes a powerful analytical tool that illuminates changes, continuities and transformations in human-thing entanglements, and not only their impacts on local and short-term sociocultural developments, but also their repercussions on phenomena of much larger spatiotemporal scale. Our goal is to present archaeologists with a pluralistic, integrative and evolving middle-range framework that pays close attention to terminological precision and theoretical clarity and is conceptually accessible and widely applicable.

Pre‐Hispanic howler monkeys from two sites of northern Venezuela and the Orinocan connection: An archaeoprimatological study

“…She also recorded an alleged collar made of monkeys' teeth. In this region, Anonymous (1965) also reported that H. Peñalver found burials with “large primates.” In the Caribbean island of Dos Mosquises, north of Valencia, a cranium of a howler monkey was found possibly associated with other cultural evidences that seems to be an assemblage related to ritual practices (Antczak, 1995; Antczak & Antczak, 2006, Antczak & Beaudry, 2019; Urbani et al, 2021).…”

The Spectrum of Religiousness, or What Makes an Object Religious. Habits, Patterned Evidence and Religious Meanings of Image-Objects in Pompeii

“…The tension between and foundations of an individual's behaviour (agency) and a community's values, beliefs, and norms (structure) and vice versa is partly resolved by the bourdieuan concept of habitus (bourdieu, 1977 and 1979), as well as Giddens structuration theory (Giddens, 1984), further developed in practice-theoretical approaches for archaeology. See Antczak andbeaudry, 2019. 14.…”

Stringing Together Cowrie Shells in the African Archaeological Record with Special Reference to Southern Africa

“…However, as Antczak and Beaudry (2019) recently noted, approaches to object studies emphasising relationality often lack a methodological bridge between theory and data. This can make teasing out scalar nuances related to context difficult to achieve in practice.…”