Overview

This anthology methodologically examines the relation between material culture, technology and regional identities from a wide range of angles and perspectives. It contains essays that develop understandings of regional technologies. What is the relation between technology, regions, regionalisation and regional identities? The contributions in this anthology approach this question by focusing on the social dimensions of technology in time and space - assessing it from different angles and perspectives, theoretically, methodologically and empirically. The archaeological and ethnographic cases that are presented stretch widely and comprise regions and periods from Fennoscandia to the north to Africa in the south, from England in the west to Finland in the east, and from the Palaeolithic up to the Middle Ages, including present pre-industrial societies. The authors deal with tacit knowledge, pedagogy, skills and a great variation of methods and approaches in order to describe and understand technological processes and regional identities. They look into regionalism and processes of continuity and change in discussions of technology and materiality in terms of long time regional similarities and variations but also micro, meso and macro scale diversity. In this way, the book serves as an important contribution to an understanding of technology as a social dimension, including power relations. By approaching technology and regions in a long time perspective it reveals the importance for apprehending and comprehending social and cultural processes in ancient societies.

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9780773436862

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... [this book] is well suited to the need for meticulous comparison... each chapter of this book brings valuable data and/or a theoretical proposition. - Prof. Pierre Lemonnier Universite de Provence ... this volume will be an intellectual harbinger and will find an important niche in a growing archaeological literature that treats region and identity as inseparable. - Prof. Peter R. Schmidt University of Florida

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