Thing Theory: Towards an Integrated Archaeological Perspective

2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. v-vi ◽  
Author(s):  
PROFESSOR IAN HODDER
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Origins Of Agriculture ◽  
Thing Theory ◽  
Behavioral Archaeology ◽  
The Past ◽  
Term Change ◽  
Central Turkey ◽  
Shed Light

Lecture 1.  Humans and things - developing some ideas and terms Lecture 2.  Çatalhöyük: a Neolithic ‘town’ in Turkey Lecture 3.  Humans and things at Çatalhöyük Lecture 4.  Developing a long-term view: the ‘origins of agriculture’ in the Middle East This lecture series has two aims. One is to discuss a new theoretical framework for the relationships between humans and material culture which I am calling ‘Thing Theory’. This framework focuses on the co-dependencies and entanglements between humans and non-humans and argues that long-term change comes about through the dispersed interactions of these entanglements. The theory is integrated in the sense that it adopts aspects of many theoretical agendas in recent archaeology, from experimental and behavioral archaeology to neo-evolutionary and selectionist models. It is also integrated in that it links theoretical agendas with archaeometry and archaeological science. The second aim is to show the application of Thing Theory to the 9000 year old Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in central Turkey, and to the ‘origins of agriculture’ in the Middle East. My excavations at Çatalhöyük over the past 15 years have uncovered a rich world of human-thing entanglements and have shed light on the complex lived worlds within which agriculture and settled villages were produced.

scholarly journals Bioplastics – An Eco-friendly Alternative to Petrochemical Plastics

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Selvamurugan Muthusamy ◽  
Sivakumar Pramasivam
Keyword(s):  
Public Awareness ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Global Estimate ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
Term Change ◽  
Past Half ◽  
Emission Of Greenhouse Gases

Plastics have varied application and have become an essential part of our daily lives. The use of the plastics has increased twenty-fold in the past half-century and is expected to double again in the next 20 years. As a global estimate, around 330 million tonnes of the plastics are produced per annum. The production, use and disposal of the plastics emerged as a persistent and potential environmental nuisance. The improper disposal of the plastics ends up in our environment, resulting in the deaths of millions of animals annually and also the reduction in fertility status of the soil. The bioplastics products are manufactured to be biodegradable with similar functionality to that of conventional plastics, which has the potential to reduce the dependence on petrochemicals based plastics and related environmental problems. The expansion and development of the bioplastics and their products would lead to the increase in the sustainability of environment and reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases. The bioplastics innovation would be a key to the long-term solution for the plastic pollution. However, a widespread public awareness is also essential in effecting longer-term change against plastic pollution.

scholarly journals Archaeology, climate, and global change in the Age of Humans

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (15) ◽  
pp. 8250-8253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torben C. Rick ◽  
Daniel H. Sandweiss
Keyword(s):  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Political Uncertainty ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cultural Systems ◽  
Human Ecodynamics ◽  
The Future ◽  
Shed Light

We live in an age characterized by increasing environmental, social, economic, and political uncertainty. Human societies face significant challenges, ranging from climate change to food security, biodiversity declines and extinction, and political instability. In response, scientists, policy makers, and the general public are seeking new interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary approaches to evaluate and identify meaningful solutions to these global challenges. Underrecognized among these challenges is the disappearing record of past environmental change, which can be key to surviving the future. Historical sciences such as archaeology access the past to provide long-term perspectives on past human ecodynamics: the interaction between human social and cultural systems and climate and environment. Such studies shed light on how we arrived at the present day and help us search for sustainable trajectories toward the future. Here, we highlight contributions by archaeology—the study of the human past—to interdisciplinary research programs designed to evaluate current social and environmental challenges and contribute to solutions for the future. The past is a multimillennial experiment in human ecodynamics, and, together with our transdisciplinary colleagues, archaeology is well positioned to uncover the lessons of that experiment.

The Autocrat’s Advisors: Opening the Black Box of Ruling Coalitions in Tunisia’s Authoritarian Regime

2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 330-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Buehler ◽  
Mehdi Ayari
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Black Box ◽  
Authoritarian Regime ◽  
Insider Threats ◽  
National Archives ◽  
Dominant Parties ◽  
The Military ◽  
Shed Light

Why do autocrats retain some elites as core, long-term members of their ruling coalitions for years, while others are dismissed in months? How and why might the type of elites retained within coalitions vary across time and different autocrats? Although what constitutes an authoritarian regime’s ruling coalition varies across countries, often including the military and dominant parties, this article focuses on one critical subcomponent of it—an autocrat’s cabinet and his elite advisors within it, his ministers. Because coalitions function opaquely to prevent coups, scholars consider their inner-workings a black box. We shed light through an original, exhaustive dataset from the Middle East of all 212 ministers who advised Tunisian autocrats from independence until regime collapse (1956–2011). Extracting data from Arabic sources in Tunisian national archives, we track variation in minister retention to identify which elites autocrats made core, long-term advisors within ruling coalitions. Whereas Tunisia’s first autocrat retained elites as ministers due to biographical similarities, capacity to represent influential social groups, and competence, its second autocrat did not. He became more likely to dismiss types of elites retained under the first autocrat, purging his coalition of ministers perceived to be potential insider-threats due to their favored status under his predecessor.

MAYA ARCHAEOLOGY FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: THE PROGRESS, THE PERILS, AND THE PROMISE

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur A. Demarest
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
First Century ◽  
Institutional Research ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Maya Archaeology ◽  
The Past ◽  
Culture History ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Analytical Approaches

AbstractIn the past 20 years, what were once considered specialized auxiliary subdisciplines or analytical approaches such as bioarchaeology, paleozoology, subterranean archaeology, and material culture studies have become central to all research due to refinements of their analytic tools. Meanwhile, building on earlier progress in epigraphy, work on the Classic period truly has become historical archaeology. These advances provide a much greater understanding of ancient Maya ecology, economy, and politics and insights into the details, not just trends, in culture history. Realization of this potential, however, is imperiled by problems in research design and interpretation. Project structures rarely allows for complete and independent application of these enhanced fields, while the traditional elements of ceramic classification and chronology have not kept pace. The erratic sample of both Maya lowland and highland regions needs to addressed, rather than glossed over by extrapolations or assumptions about interaction and expansionism. Institutional structures and financial limitations have led to many superficial studies masked by quasi-theoretical terminologies. Constructive solutions, most exemplified in some current projects, include the obligation to try to apply all available techniques and approaches. To make that feasible, larger projects should be fragmented into multi-institutional collaborations. Greater emphasis must be given to classifications and excavations that generate ceramic microchronologies. Above all, we must investigate the extensive unstudied or understudied regions. Finally, most challenging is the need to collectively confront academic structures that encourage rapid, incomplete studies and discourage more substantial publications and long term multi-institutional research.

Looking for the future in the past: Long-term change in socioecological systems

2012 ◽  
Vol 241 ◽  
pp. 42-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Michael Barton ◽  
Isaac I.T. Ullah ◽  
Sean M. Bergin ◽  
Helena Mitasova ◽  
Hessam Sarjoughian
Keyword(s):  
Socioecological Systems ◽  
The Past ◽  
Term Change ◽  
The Future

scholarly journals How COVID-19 Have Changed Crowdfunding: Evidence From GoFundMe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junda Wang ◽  
Xupin Zhang ◽  
Jiebo Luo
Keyword(s):  
Racial Disparity ◽  
Computational Approach ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Unique Data ◽  
The Past ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Shed Light

While the long-term effects of COVID-19 are yet to be determined, its immediate impact on crowdfunding is nonetheless significant. This study takes a computational approach to more deeply comprehend this change. Using a unique data set of all the campaigns published over the past two years on GoFundMe, we explore the factors that have led to the successful funding of a crowdfunding project. In particular, we study a corpus of crowdfunded projects, analyzing cover images and other variables commonly present on crowdfunding sites. Furthermore, we construct a classifier and a regression model to assess the significance of features based on XGBoost. In addition, we employ counterfactual analysis to investigate the causality between features and the success of crowdfunding. More importantly, sentiment analysis and the paired sample t-test are performed to examine the differences in crowdfunding campaigns before and after the COVID-19 outbreak that started in March 2020. First, we note that there is significant racial disparity in crowdfunding success. Second, we find that sad emotion expressed through the campaign's description became significant after the COVID-19 outbreak. Considering all these factors, our findings shed light on the impact of COVID-19 on crowdfunding campaigns.

scholarly journals Effect of Salt Crystallization on the Building Stones Used in Konya, Central Turkey

2019 ◽  
pp. 51-52
Author(s):  
VEYSEL ZEDEF ◽  
MURAT UNAL
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Salt Crystallization ◽  
Building Stones ◽  
Historical Buildings ◽  
The Past ◽  
Construction Purpose ◽  
Stone Weathering ◽  
Central Turkey ◽  
The City

The cities of Konya, Kayseri, Ankara, Sivas, Kyrsehirand Nevsehir, all located in Central Turkey, are well-knownfor their famous historical buildings and monumentsbelonging to prehistoric to medieval civilizations. Withthe Hittite monuments and Seljuk-Ottoman mosques,medresses and caravansaries, the city of Konya is themost distinctive among others. Especially, the buildingsare significant for the identity of the Seljuk and Ottomanarchitecture, which was dominant during the period of11th and 20th centuries. Travertines, andesites and granitesare the most used rocks for construction purpose bythese two dominant empires in the Middle East. Thebuildings have suffered stone weathering since theirconstruction and the preservation of these buildingshas become a great issue for the past decades. The sourceregion of the rocks used in these buildings as well asHittite monument (dacite was used) at Eflatun is displayedin Fig. 1.

scholarly journals Hefur umhverfisvitund aukist? Viðhorf Íslendinga til umhverfismála og stóriðju 1987-2017

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-78
Author(s):  
Sóllilja Bjarnadóttir ◽  
Inga Rún Sæmundsdóttir ◽  
Sigrún Ólafsdóttir ◽  
Þorvarður Árnason ◽  
Guðbjörg Andrea Jónsdóttir
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Heavy Industry ◽  
The Past ◽  
National Election Study ◽  
Term Change ◽  
The Government

The significance of environmental issues in the Icelandic public debate has increased in recent decades. Until now, it has not been possible to empirically examine whether this increased debate reflects a development towards a change in attitudes among the Icelandic public. The data from the Icelandic National Election Study (ICENES) shows an apparent long-term change in attitudes towards environmental issues over the past thirty years (1987-2017). Here, we analyze the results of two questions from ICENES. Firstly, we investigate attitudes concerning whether environmental issues should take precedence over efforts to increase economic growth, and, secondly, views on whether the government should place great or little emphasis on heavy industry. Similar changes are seen over time; the proportion of those who want to prioritize environmental issues increases year by year (with one exception immediately after the economic crisis), and the proportion of those who want the government to emphasize heavy industry decreases. The last survey (2017) found that 65% of respondents prioritized environmental issues above economic growth, and 80% wanted the government to place little emphasis on heavy industry. People who identified with a left political party where more likely to emphasize environmental issues whereas those who identified with a right political party where more likely to emphasize heavy industry.

scholarly journals EATING IDENTITY: AN EXPLORATION OF FIJIAN FOODWAYS IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PAST

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharyn R Jones
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Eating Behaviors ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
The Past ◽  
Fiji Islands ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Eating Identity

<p class="Normal1">I argue that group identity may be used to address fundamental anthropological concepts that are critical for understanding Pacific Island peoples and their cultures from a long-term perspective. Specifically, I explore foodways as a locus of archaeological material culture through the theoretical lens of materiality. I examine archaeological and ethnographic data that illuminate foodways in the Fiji Islands. The archaeological information derives from four islands and a variety of coastal sites across the Fiji archipelago. I illustrate that in both the past and present food, zooarchaeological remains, and associated material culture may be used to understand social changes and identity as expressed in eating behaviors and patterns in archaeological fauna. By using materiality and a broad comparative frame of reference archaeologists may better understand what it means to be Fijian.</p>

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