Weather Landscapes and Archaeology: Material Weathering Practices and Tangible Climates

Abstract

Climate and climate change can be impenetrable statistical concepts and the sometimes hegemonic scientific narratives around them can make them seem the purview of specialists, while at the same time create an epistemic, geographic and temporal distance between the individual and possible future consequences. However, the climate has already changed and communities throughout the world have most closely experienced it through weather. Weather is the medium through which the statistical reality of climate is felt immediately, is re-socialised, given cultural meanings and functions, and through which long-term environmental knowledge is gathered. Communities build social institutions through which they make long-term weather and climate manageable. Moreover, these experiences are part of identity, local histories and landscapes, key themes that effective climate discussions need to include. Archaeology, with its broad audiences and histories of resilience, has the potential to be an effective tool in climate change messaging. Its focus on local narratives and the material outcomes of human experiences goes beyond the economic discussions surrounding climate change, making it a social issue. In this paper we discuss why weather needs to become more prominent in archaeological narratives and discuss the ways weather can be directly or indirectly included in archaeological analyses and interpretations. Although climate research has been prominent in archaeology, an explicit focus on weather has been almost completely absent. By highlighting weather-centred materialities and practices in the past on the East Africa coast at Kilwa Kisiwani, we show how experiences of weather shape daily life, the built environment and social networks and how it makes the consequences of climate change much more tangible. Archaeologies of weather offer the chance to make archaeology a key partner in projects addressing community values around climate and environment through tangible and relatable components. RÉSUMÉ.Le climat et le changement climatique sont étudiés à travers des concepts statistiques qui peuvent paraître impénétrables. Les récits scientifiques parfois hégémoniques qui les entourent peuvent aussi donner l'impression qu'ils sont l'apanage des spécialistes. Cela amène une distance épistémique, géographique et temporelle entre l'individu et les éventuelles conséquences futures du changement climatique. Pourtant, le climat a déjà changé et les communautés du monde entier en ont fait l'expérience par le biais de la météo. Cette dernière est le moyen par lequel la réalité statistique du climat est ressentie immédiatement, est resocialisée et se voit attribuer des significations et des fonctions culturelles. C'est aussi le moyen par lequel des connaissances environnementales à long terme peuvent être recueillies. Les communautés construisent des institutions sociales qui leur permettent de gérer leur relation au temps et au climat sur le long terme. Ces expériences font partie de l'identité des sociétés, de l'histoire locale et ...

The Element of Water in the Built Environment on the Precolonial Kenya Coast

“…Haptic perception also played a part in daily experience, especially associated with movement and the curation of access routes, gates and thresholds in precolonial towns. In the context of water, walking through the shallows of water canals represented one of the most common short-distance communication routes, especially in towns and villages on islands [32]. In terms of auditory perception, precolonial Swahili towns manifested a tendency to be located close to the waterfront, which also meant maintaining an auditory link with the ocean, as shown by the previous research of the author [33].…”