Fragmentation, Personhood and the Social Construction of Technology in Middle and Late Bronze Age Britain

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Brück
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Social Construction Of Technology ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Bronze Age

This article examines a range of practices involving the deliberate fragmentation of human bodies and objects in Middle and Late Bronze Age Britain. Focusing on evidence from settlements and mortuary sites, it is suggested that metaphorical links were drawn between people and things, and that productive processes such as potting and metallurgy provided potent metaphors for the construction of the human self. Building on these points, it is argued that current models which posit the rise of an ideology of the ‘individual’ during the Bronze Age may be inappropriate in this cultural context.

scholarly journals Hunting Warriors: The Transformation of Weapons, Combat Practices and Society during the Bronze Age in Ireland

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 280-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry P.C. Molloy
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Peer Relations ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Martial Art ◽  
The Social ◽  
Training Resources ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Bronze Age

Warfare is increasingly considered to have been a major field of social activity in prehistoric societies, in terms of the infrastructures supporting its conduct, the effects of its occurrence, and its role in symbolic systems. In the Bronze Age many of the weapon forms that were to dominate battlefields for millennia to come were first invented—shields and swords in particular. Using the case study of Ireland, developments in Bronze Age warfare are traced from the Early to the Late Bronze Age. It is argued that during this period there was a move from warfare that made use of projectiles and impact weapons to warfare that used both defensive and cutting weapons. This formed the basis for a fundamental reorganization in combat systems. This in turn stimulated change in the social organization of warfare, including investment in material and training resources for warriors and the development of new bodily techniques reflecting fundamental changes in martial art traditions. Metalwork analysis of bronze weapons and experimental archaeology using replicas of these are used to support this position. The article explores how developments in fighting techniques transformed the sociality of violence and peer-relations among warriors and proposes that these warriors be regarded as a category of craft specialist exerting significant social influence by the Late Bronze Age.

scholarly journals Propuesta metodológica para analizar fenómenos socio técnicos en internet

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (15) ◽  
pp. 370
Author(s):  
Ramón Abraham Mena Farrera
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Intentional Action ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Social Construction Of Technology ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
La Red ◽  
Methodological Strategy

Resumen: No podemos soslayar que las experiencias humanas están vinculadas a la vigorosa expansión tecnológica de los medios electrónicos de comunicación. Por tanto, el presente artículo presenta una revisión teórica que permite formular una estrategia en la metodología cualitativa para producir, ordenar y analizar nuevos datos empíricos que nos den cuenta del fenómeno de la interacción humana en la red de internet. La estrategia metodológica propuesta se sostiene en las tradiciones filosóficas y sociológicas de la construcción social de la tecnología (WINNER, 1993; BIJKER, 1987; PINCH; BIJKER, 1987), la teoría del actor-red (LAW, 1992; CALLON, 1998), y el modelo de los sistemas (HUGHES, 1983), usados para la comprensión de los sistemas socio tecnológicos. Se concluye con algunos posicionamientos renovadores para la metodología cualitativa y su presencia para analizar fenómenos de internet inspirados en la fenomenología, enfatizando el rol concreto del individuo en sus experiencias (mundos vividos y significativos) y el hecho de la acción intencional que tiene el interlocutor de internet para compartir sus vivencias.Palabras clave: Relaciones socio técnicas; Fenomenología tecnológica; Etnometodología; Internet. Methodological proposal to analyze sociotechnical phenomena on the internet Abstract: We cannot argue that human experiences are linked to the vigorous technological expansion of electronic means of communication. Therefore, this article presents a theoretical review that allows the formulation of a strategy in the qualitative methodology for producing, ordering and analyzing new empirical data that denounce the phenomenon of human interaction on the Internet. The methodological strategy proposed is based on the philosophical and sociological traditions of the social construction of technology (WINNER, 1993; BIJKER, 1987; PINCH; BIJKER, 1987), the actor-red theory (LAW, 1992; CALLON, 1998). , and the model of systems (HUGHES, 1983), used for the understanding of socio-technological systems. It concludes with some renewing positions for the qualitative methodology and its presence to analyze internet phenomena inspired by the phenomenology, emphasizing the concrete roll of the individual in his experiences (lived and significant worlds) and the closing of the intentional action that he has the interlocutor of internet to share your experiences Keywords: Sociotechnical relations; Technological phenomenology; Ethnomethodology; Internet. Proposta metodológica para analisar fenômenos sociotequínicos na internet Resumo: No podemos saslayar que as experiencias humanas estão vinculadas à expansão vigorosa tecnológica dos meios eletrónicos de comunicação. Por tanto, o presente artigo apresenta uma revisão teórica que permite formular uma estrategia na metodologia de cotagem para produzir, ordenar e analizar novos dados empíricos que n'água cuenta do fenómeno da interacção humana no vermelho de internet. A estrategia metodológica propôs-se sostiene nas tradições filosóficas e sociológicas da construção social da tecnologia (WINNER, 1993; BIJKER, 1987; PINCH; BIJKER, 1987), la teoría del actor-red (LAW, 1992; CALLON, 1998). O modelo dos sistemas (HUGHES, 1983), usado para a compreenção dos sistemas sócio-tecnológicos. Conclui com algumas posições os renovadores da metodologia qualitativa e sua presença para analisar fenômenos da Internet inspirados na fenomenologia, enfatizando ou papel dos indivíduos em seus experimentos (mundos e estados vividos) e realizou ações intencionais que os medos ou o interlocutor da Internet compartilham suas informações e experiências.Palavras-chave: Relações sociotécnicas; Fenomenologia tecnológica; Etnometodologia; Internet.

IT and the Social Construction of Knowledge

2009 ◽  
pp. 577-583
Author(s):  
Elena Revilla ◽  
José Sánchez-Alarcos
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Collective Knowledge ◽  
Construction Of Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Construction Of Knowledge ◽  
Individual Knowledge ◽  
Social Product ◽  
Sustained Success ◽  
The Individual

In a dynamic environment, knowledge is the only valid asset that allows organizations to adapt and change. That is why knowledge is one of the few resources on which any organization can support its sustained success. This resource, in its turn, appears as a result of a repetitive process of learning. Learning is a social product—knowledge is social and has synergic possibilities—therefore, its value increases when it is shared, enriched, and developed beyond the individual, proportioning coherence to the interpretations of the members of the group (Brown & Duguid, 2001; Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). Many researchers have pointed out that the capacity of an organization to get into the environment, interpret it, and understand it, in short, to learn it, requires dialogue and discussion among its members. Through dialogue (Isaacs, 1993), each member exhibits a perception or personal image of the world, and these perceptions will affect the other members when they are shared during interaction. Together, the discussion of individual perceptions produces a shared image of reality. In addition, collective knowledge is a needed complement to the individual (Brown & Duguid, 1991). First of all, there are problems that require the integration of individual knowledge. Second, and not less important, collective knowledge implies that the members of an organization that share it are going to act according to the same criteria and that makes the organization predictable beyond individual contingences. For example, it is of little use for a driver to know the obligation to drive on the right if the others do not know such obligation (as anyone who has driven in countries where they drive on the left will have been able to confirm at the slightest distraction). It is collective knowledge that supplies standards of conduct whose validity stems precisely from the fact that it is collective. The idea of social construction of knowledge links it to the communities that create, use, and transform it. According to this, if learning is the result of personal experience and processes of interaction among individuals, this should be understood in relation to the social and cultural context in which these experiences and interactions take place, that is, in relation to communities of practice.

Danish Bronze Age antler axes – depositions in time and space

2020 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-186
Author(s):  
Lise Frost
Keyword(s):  
Distribution Pattern ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Wide Distribution ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Related Case ◽  
Running Water ◽  
The Individual ◽  
River Valleys ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Different Parts

AbstractAntler axes are normally associated with the Mesolithic, but they also turn up again later, in the Bronze Age, where they are typically found as single depositions in streams, rivers, bogs and other wetland areas. This article provides a comprehensive account of Denmark’s Bronze Age antler axes together with a series of new 14C dates, which show that this axe type was a consistent presence in both the Early and Late Bronze Age. It concludes with landscape-related case studies examining depositional practices in different parts of Denmark. Attention is focussed here on a comparison of the depositions of antler axes, 14C dates and the landscape – also in relation to the general country-wide distribution pattern. The analyses show that long periods often elapsed between the individual depositions of antler axes within the same areas and that these artefacts are generally strongly associated with watercourses and wetland areas related to watercourses and river valleys, both in the Early and Late Bronze Age. This picture is consistent with that for the rest of Europe, where antler axes are typically associated with running water.

Tracking the social lives of things: biographical insights into Bronze Age pottery in Spain

Antiquity ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 88 (340) ◽  
pp. 441-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Blanco-González
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Living Organism ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Central Spain ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Biographical Approach ◽  
Coarse Wares ◽  
The Individual

Pottery has sometimes been compared to a living organism in its cycle of birth, life and death or discard. A biographical approach to an unusual assemblage of pottery from the Late Bronze Age site of Pico Castro in central Spain suggests that they had been used together at a communal feast. The shared social memory that they acquired thereby conferred on them a special status that resulted in their eventual placement in the pit, fine wares and coarse wares together. Thus the varied biographies of the individual vessels—and the individual sherds—eventually converged not only in their discard but in the episodes that preceded it.

scholarly journals Establishing the Middle Sea: The Late Bronze Age of Mediterranean Europe (1700–900 BC)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Iacono ◽  
Elisabetta Borgna ◽  
Maurizio Cattani ◽  
Claudio Cavazzuti ◽  
Helen Dawson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Mediterranean Europe ◽  
Northern Shore ◽  
Comparative Survey ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractThe Late Bronze Age (1700–900 BC) represents an extremely dynamic period for Mediterranean Europe. Here, we provide a comparative survey of the archaeological record of over half a millennium within the entire northern littoral of the Mediterranean, from Greece to Iberia, incorporating archaeological, archaeometric, and bioarchaeological evidence. The picture that emerges, while certainly fragmented and not displaying a unique trajectory, reveals a number of broad trends in aspects as different as social organization, trade, transcultural phenomena, and human mobility. The contribution of such trends to the processes that caused the end of the Bronze Age is also examined. Taken together, they illustrate how networks of interaction, ranging from the short to the long range, became a defining aspect of the “Middle Sea” during this time, influencing the lives of the communities that inhabited its northern shore. They also highlight the importance of research that crosses modern boundaries for gaining a better understanding of broad comparable dynamics.

scholarly journals Non-discursive Knowledge and the Construction of Identity Potters, Potting and Performance at the Bronze Age Tell of Százhalombatta, Hungary

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Budden ◽  
Joanna Sofaer
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
Construction Of Identity ◽  
Differential Acquisition ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Bronze Age

This article explores the relationship between the making of things and the making of people at the Bronze Age tell at Százhalombatta, Hungary. Focusing on potters and potting, we explore how the performance of non-discursive knowledge was critical to the construction of social categories. Potters literally came into being as potters through repeated bodily enactment of potting skills. Potters also gained their identity in the social sphere through the connection between their potting performance and their audience. We trace degrees of skill in the ceramic record to reveal the material articulation of non-discursive knowledge and consider the ramifications of the differential acquisition of non-discursive knowledge for the expression of different kinds of potter's identities. The creation of potters as a social category was essential to the ongoing creation of specific forms of material culture. We examine the implications of altered potters' performances and the role of non-discursive knowledge in the construction of social models of the Bronze Age.

Bronze Age Mongolia

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Luc Houle
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
The Bronze Age

This article discusses the Bronze Age in Mongolia, a period when pastoralism, mobility, and interaction between regional communities increased dramatically. It also corresponds to the heyday of monumental construction and to the development of societal complexity in this region. After briefly discussing the local Bronze Age chronology, the discussion then turns to the topic of the transition to animal husbandry and to the development of mobile, equestrian pastoralism in particular—a phenomenon that seems to have taken place during the Late Bronze Age. Following this, I examine the monumental landscape as well as what is known from “settlements” before discussing the nature of Late Bronze Age social organization and societal complexity. The article ends with a brief exposé on bronze metallurgy before highlighting what are thought to be the critical issues that continue to challenge research on the Bronze Age in the region.

The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia: New Insight on Social Change from Ban Non Wat

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Higham
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Copper Base ◽  
French Colonial ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Bronze Age

The expansion of copper-base metallurgy in the mainland of Eurasia began in the Near East and ended in Southeast Asia. The recognition of this Southeast Asian metallurgical province followed in the wake of French colonial occupation of Cambodia and Laos in the nineteenth century. Subsequently, most research has concentrated in Thailand, beginning in the 1960s. A sound chronology is the prerequisite to identifying both the origins of the Bronze Age, and the social impact that metallurgy may have had on society. This article presents the revolutionary results of excavations at the site of Ban Non Wat in northeast Thailand within the broader cultural context of Southeast Asian prehistory, concluding that the adoption of copper-base metallurgy from the eleventh century BC coincided with the rise of wealthy social aggrandizers.

scholarly journals Beyond Transgressive Lands and Forgotten Seas: Towards a Maritime Understanding of Rock Art in Bohuslän

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-140
Author(s):  
Johan Ling
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Clay Soil ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Bronze Age

Since the beginning of the 20th century rock art in Bohuslän has traditionally been interpreted, on the basis of its adjacent location to the clay-soil plains, as an indicator ofpermanent pastoral or agrarian settlement units. However, recent results ofthe first substantial and extensive shoreline study, covering the whole of Bohuslän, have shown that, during the entire Bronze Age, many of these lower, clay- soil plains were in fact sea bottoms in shallow bays. On the basis of these results new measurement of the rock art panels and the surrounding terrain were made. The study showed that many rock carvings had been placed on or near the contemporary shore during the Bronze Age. It therefore seemed essential to present new questions about the social and ritual behaviour, as manifested by the rock art in these particular areas. It is here suggested that the rock art in the investigated area may be a materialised reflection of seasonal maritime interactions during the Bronze Age.

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