Social Distance in Hunter-Gather Settlement Sites: A Conceptual Metaphor in Material Culture

Abstract

Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) has been little used by archaeologists.A key barrier is that current metaphor analysis relies on linguistic evidence, a resource that archaeologists rarely have. Methods for interpreting entirely "material metaphors" have yet to develop. This article explores CMT in a domain of long-standing archaeological interest: settlement structure. Anthropologists have long recognized that hunter-gatherers place their dwellings close to those they are close to socially, usually their kin. Archaeologists have assumed the same holds true for prehistory-although without direct evidence. This article explains why people consistently associate with their kin this way, and how the metaphor, "SOCIAL DISTANCE IS PHYSICAL DISTANCE," structures hunter-gatherer campsites worldwide. Archaeologists can infer the existence of this metaphor in the archaeological record without linguistic support. Furthermore, they can assume it exists in all human societies for as long as human brains have been wired up as they currently are.Over the past thirty years, conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) has expanded from it original home in linguistics, to be used across many other human sciences and the humanities: psychology, philosophy, and literary studies have been prominent contributors (Gibbs, 2008(Gibbs, , 2011. There are disciplines, however, where CMT has seen almost no use. Among these is my own: archaeology. For archaeologists, "metaphor" is often little more than a synonym for either "symbol" or "analogy" (e.g.

Social Distance in Settled Communities the Conceptual Metaphor, Social Distance is Physical Distance, in Action

“…Scarcely a dozen articles by archaeologists have employed it (Ortman 2000(Ortman , 2006(Ortman , 2011(Ortman , 2012Potter 2002;Culley 2003Culley , 2006aHays-Gilpin 2006;Whitley 2008;Loubser 2010;Gill 2010;Wiseman 2014Wiseman , 2015.…”

“…These develop early in children: probably during the first year of life (Wiseman 2014). When an infant is fed at the breast, its brain registers not only milk but also several other stimuli.…”

“…The result is the metaphors AFFECTION IS WARMTH and AFFECTION IS PROXIMITY. These are expressed worldwide in expressions like 'a warm smile' and 'a close friend' (Wiseman 2014).…”

“…The concept of 'social distance' is expressed worldwide in unrelated cultures (Wiseman 2014). People talk of close friends and distant relatives; drifting apart and getting together again, along with a host of other expressions that use physical distance to express social relations.…”

“…Elsewhere (Wiseman 2014), I have argued that the link between social organisation and settlement layout in hunter-gather camps is the conceptual metaphor, SOCIAL DISTANCE IS PHYSICAL DISTANCE. Conceptual metaphors are, at root, neural structures in the brain, connecting together otherwise unrelated concepts.…”