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See also the scheme and the definition of culture below and the Abstract on social brain
Things and Objects can be accepted as elementary classificatory units in the field of theoretical
archaeoanthropology/archaeology, although we need to clarify their relation to the artifacts (artefact)
and finds, which are the terms usually used in the archaeological theory. The stronger aspect of Thing
in compare to Object is that it may mean not only artifact but also an elementary social activity
(occurrence) that makes it a powerful anthropological conceptual tool for analyses and interpretations.
However, to analyze the objects / things anthropologically we need to study them in their cultural context
and as a result of activity of people, in other words as cultural facts.
Armed with a multi-directional approach to Past, we will attempt to structure the concept of things within
the theories of anthropology of everydayness and enculturation. In particular, a social and psychological
conceptualization of things in Prehistory will be discussed in order to define a framework of changes in
the concepts of things/objects within Neolithic, Copper and Bronze Age in Eurasia. For instance, we
usually find fragmented pottery in the burnt Neolithic houses in the Balkans, while there are discovered
burnt Copper Age houses with many compact vessels inside. As a rule, insufficient inventories
characterize the Early Bronze Age burnt houses and there are excavated houses which were emptied
completely before being left behind.
The changing conceptualization of the things during Prehistory is very impressively demonstrated in the
context of the problem of accumulation of wealth in Prehistoric Eurasia. The research in depth of the
floating character of wealth allows us more specific diachronic comparative analyses and directs us to
the general discussion What is archaeology about? Isn’t it about the everydayness of the people by
studying how the individuals and social groups lived, changed the world around and what they left as a
cultural wealth of the human civilization?
Related actual topics:
Corporate culture and corporate memory
Reference:
Internal Link
Things and Objects can be accepted as elementary classificatory units in the field of theoretical
archaeoanthropology/archaeology, although we need to clarify their relation to the artifacts (artefact)
and finds, which are the terms usually used in the archaeological theory. The stronger aspect of Thing
in compare to Object is that it may mean not only artifact but also an elementary social activity
(occurrence) that makes it a powerful anthropological conceptual tool for analyses and interpretations.
However, to analyze the objects / things anthropologically we need to study them in their cultural context
and as a result of activity of people, in other words as cultural facts.
Armed with a multi-directional approach to Past, we will attempt to structure the concept of things within
the theories of anthropology of everydayness and enculturation. In particular, a social and psychological
conceptualization of things in Prehistory will be discussed in order to define a framework of changes in
the concepts of things/objects within Neolithic, Copper and Bronze Age in Eurasia. For instance, we
usually find fragmented pottery in the burnt Neolithic houses in the Balkans, while there are discovered
burnt Copper Age houses with many compact vessels inside. As a rule, insufficient inventories
characterize the Early Bronze Age burnt houses and there are excavated houses which were emptied
completely before being left behind.
The changing conceptualization of the things during Prehistory is very impressively demonstrated in the
context of the problem of accumulation of wealth in Prehistoric Eurasia. The research in depth of the
floating character of wealth allows us more specific diachronic comparative analyses and directs us to
the general discussion What is archaeology about? Isn’t it about the everydayness of the people by
studying how the individuals and social groups lived, changed the world around and what they left as a
cultural wealth of the human civilization?
Related actual topics:
Corporate culture and corporate memory
Reference:
Internal Link
| Toward theory of anthropological concepts The concepts of things and objects from the perspective of archaeoanthropology of everydayness and enculturation (Eurasian cultural context) |
| Dubene-Sarovka village (South central Bulgaria). Early Bronze II (earlier third millennium cal BCE) |
| A gold treasure attributed to Dubene-Balinov gorun. Early Bronze II-III. |
Some of those things in Prehistory that always make us think:
Archaeological finds from
Bulgaria. Iron Age pottery (top)
and Thracian rython* (middle)
and imported Greek painted red
figure pottery (bottom).
* A vessel for pouring ritual
libations
Bulgaria. Iron Age pottery (top)
and Thracian rython* (middle)
and imported Greek painted red
figure pottery (bottom).
* A vessel for pouring ritual
libations
(Oct 12, 2008, 9:06 AM)
A Question to a psychologist: This is what I drew before publishing
below for the first time my scheme about culture from my manuscript for
Big Doctor Thesis to be defended in December 2008 in Bulgaria
(Prehistory and Enculturation). Can you tell me something about my
mood at that moment? E-mail me to lnikolova@iianthropology.org
A Question to a student in archaeology: Can you tell me which simple
rules I followed when I drew this picture and why I did draw it?
E-mail me to lnikolova@iianthropology.org
A Question to a psychologist: This is what I drew before publishing
below for the first time my scheme about culture from my manuscript for
Big Doctor Thesis to be defended in December 2008 in Bulgaria
(Prehistory and Enculturation). Can you tell me something about my
mood at that moment? E-mail me to lnikolova@iianthropology.org
A Question to a student in archaeology: Can you tell me which simple
rules I followed when I drew this picture and why I did draw it?
E-mail me to lnikolova@iianthropology.org
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| Culture is the way we behavior and produce in our everydayness based on values, beliefs and emotions reproduced within more that two millennia human history and produced every day as a unique cultural act with visible or invisible results (Nikolova L. 2008. Prehistory and Enculturation, manuscript). |
| .pdf in Bulgarian |