Structure, Agency and Commerce in the Ancient Near East

Lamberg‐Karlovsky, C. C.

doi:10.2143/ia.44.0.2034375

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…The constituents of that termed MAIS (Central Asia, the Eurasian steppes, the Indus Valley, Persian Gulf, and the Iranian Plateau) had extensive relations, political and economic, with Mesopotamia, which in turn, had continuous interactions throughout the Bronze Age with the eastern Mediterranean. The nature of this expansive interaction, at different times and in different places, involved conflict, political alliances, gift exchange, trade, and even open markets (Salvatori, 2008a;Lamberg-Karlovsky, 2009;. The interactive world of MAIS was part of a far greater world of communication extending from the Aegean to China and involving a down-the-line chain of interaction.…”

Section: C Lamberg-karlovskymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Oxus Civilization

Lamberg-Karlovsky¹

2013

cupauam

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ResumenLa Civilización del Oxus, también conocida como la Civilización de Bactria-Margiana, está centrada en el oasis de Murghab, Turkmenistán, y datada entre el 2200-1700 AC. Descubierta por Victor Sarianidi en la década de 1970, continua sus excavaciones en el poblado de +20 hectáreas de Gonur depe. La Civilización del Oxus tiene una arquitectura única, una cultura material excepcionalmente rica, y contactos con Mesopotamia, el Valle del Indo y la llanura iraní.Palabras clave: Civilización del Oxus, Bronce Inicial, Turkmenistán, Gonur depe. AbstractThe Oxus Civilization, also known as the Bactrian-Margina Civilization, is centere in the Murghab Oasis, Turkmenistan, and dated to 2200-1700 BC. Discovered by Victor Sarianidi in the 1970s, he continues his excavations on the +20 hectare site of Gonur depe. The Oxus Civilization has unique architecture, an exceptionally rich material culture, and contacts with Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and the Iranian Plateau.

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Section: C Lamberg-karlovskymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Oxus Civilization

Lamberg-Karlovsky¹

2013

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“…Wolf (1982) has argued that cultural evolution operates on interconnected systems where societies are linked to each other by what he referred to as "social fields". This is but one model that has been used describe interconnections in prehistory, and joins concepts like "interaction spheres", "peer polity interaction" and "world systems" (see Kohl 2008: 496;Lamberg-Karlovsky 2009).…”

Section: Culture Change and Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sherratt 1997;Shennan 1989Shennan , 1996McGlade and McGlade 1989: 282), and also the role of individual agency, action and choice in the social process (e.g. Layton 1973Layton , 1989Lamberg-Karlovsky 2009).…”

Section: Culture Change and Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Culture”, Innovation and Interaction Across Southern Iran from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age (c. 6500–3000 bc)

Petrie

2011

Investigating Archaeological Cultures

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Southern Iran saw profound socio-economic and political transformations between 6500 and 3000 BC, which are marked by a series of innovations in ceramic production. This paper looks at the pace and nature of change in prehistoric ceramic technology and decorative style to investigate the relationships between processes of culture change, innovation and transmission. It is noted that the dynamics of culture change across the diverse cultural and physical geography of Southern Iran are marked by a complex pattern of rapidly dispersing major technological innovations followed by protracted periods where there is evidence for regionally distinctive stylistic elaboration of vessel decoration and form. The multifaceted and variable relationships between people, material culture, technology, style and landscapes have the potential to provide insight into the dynamics of culture change.

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“…The content of these humble documents cannot compare with the religious manuscripts, but they tell us more about what it means to be human than stories about invisible creatures. The troves of financial and commercial documents from the Ancient Near East tell us more about the political configurations of the states and economy than all other documents combined (Lamberg-Karlovsky, 2009). Translation of Tibetan contracts clarifies linguistic details, and uncovers how business was conducted on the Silk Road, the language of business, who could read, who wrote contracts, and what was being traded (Takeuchi, 1995).…”

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The role of documents in the U.S.

Choksy

2015

Journal of Documentation

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Purpose -How documents pour l'action organize and bind US society. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach -Manuel Zacklad's concept of documents pour l'action are examined as highly embedded social objects using cultural anthropology and the robotics concept of stigmergy. Pragmatic literacy as opposed to scholarly or recreational literacy is used to inform the discussion. Findings -Documents pour l'action are more than memory devices that explain or describe. They function within highly structured social contexts to organize and bind US society. Research limitations/implications -Research on documents has been limited to their role as memory devices. Documents pour l'action are deeply embedded social objects. A new focus on pragmatic literacy could create many breakthroughs in the understanding of documents generally. Originality/value -This is the first study of the role of documents as a binding force in a society, particularly with an understanding of how they can be understood through stigmergy.The author of this paper has had the rare privilege over the past 25 years to observe how organizations handle what Manuel Zacklad calls documents pour l'action (Zacklad, 2006). This paper is not about a particular consulting project performed by the author, but about synthesizing 25 years' worth of consulting projects in nearly every industry and every aspect of document creation, handling, and mishandling, as well as historical research in pragmatic literacy. Analysis is informed by anthropological research based on understanding how societies organize themselves using documents pour l'action, rather than trying to find the locus of culture in documents. The focus is behavior, not storage, memory, or preservation, either of culture or documents. In focussing on behavior we are searching for the sine qua non, the "without which not" that makes a group of people, in the case of the USAa very disparate group of people, behave in a unified and organized way. Entomologists call this stigmergy, a way to coordinate agents or actions by individuals through simple mechanisms of signals and sensors:La coordination des tâches, la régulation des constructions ne dépendent pas directement des ouvriers, mais des constructions elles-memes. L'ouvrier ne dirige pas son travail, il est guidé par lui. C'est à cette stimulation d'un type particulier que nous donnons le nom du STIGMERGIE (stigma, piqûre; ergon, travail, oeuvre ¼ oeuvre stimulante) (Grassé, 1959, p. 65). This concept was adopted by robotics as a way of clarifying some of the goals of robotics:Stigmergy is essentially a mechanism that allows an environment to structure itself through the activities of agents within the environment: The state of the environment, and the current distribution of agents within it, determine how the environment and the distribution of agents will change in the future (Holland and Melhuish, 1999, p. 174). How behavior is coordinated by actors in a system using signals and sensors is also examined by anthropologis...

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Structure, Agency and Commerce in the Ancient Near East

Cited by 7 publications

References 42 publications

The Oxus Civilization

The Oxus Civilization

“Culture”, Innovation and Interaction Across Southern Iran from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age (c. 6500–3000 bc)

The role of documents in the U.S.

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