The Archaeology of Ethnicity

Integrating Identities: An Innovative Bioarchaeological and Biogeochemical Approach to Analyzing the Multiplicity of Identities in the Mortuary Record

“…Barth (1969), most contemporary scholars argue that ethnic identity is in fact a process, a dynamic cultural construction formed through constant interaction with other groups, rather than a primordial or essential feature of humanity. For example, Jones (1997), like many others (e.g., Janusek 2005), uses practice theory and habitus in her examination of multidimensional ethnicity and Romanization in Europe. She argues that, rather than attributing "ethnicity" to bound spatio-temporal groups and "the identification of styles that were involved in the conscious expression of ethnicity," one must explore it "with the makeup of entire assemblages of material culture in different spatial and temporal contexts, which may provide information about the social relations and cultural practices underlying the generation of transient, but repeated, expressions of identity" (Jones 1997:134).…”

"The Only True People": Linking Maya Identities Past and Present

“…This does not mean that people do not internalize ethnic identities, but the anthropological study has tended to concentrate on "post-Colonial situations" and "ethnogenesis, " whereby peoples are active in defining and refining their identity when faced with more powerful ethnic groups Castillo Cocom, Rodriguez, and Ashenbrener, this volume). Studies of ethnic identity in the past are rarer but present ( Jones 2002;Buzon 2006), although like these studies of Romanization and Ancient Egypt, they are often of situations where there is historical documentation to support a worldview that allows ethnic identification. The pre-Columbian Maya did recognize and depict "foreigners" (Demarest 2004), so a sense of Maya and non-Maya may have been present.…”

Detribalizing the later prehistoric past: Concepts of tribes in Iron Age and Roman studies

“…This suffers from two significant problems: firstly, there is little to suggest that those naming these groups (classical authors, imperial administrations or the people themselves) conceived of identity in this way. Secondly, it is, as Jones (1997) and others (Bradley, 1997) have made clear, a simplistic reading of ethnicity.…”