Conflict in Archaeology of Living Traditions

Conflict in the archaeology of living traditions addresses some of the most controversial issues in the pursuit of archaeology and anthropology today: models and concepts of evolution; selectivity in what is rated 'worthwhile' for purposes of academic research and study; the profound disturbance of indigenous cultures by the exhumation and reburial of human skeletons for the purposes of research. Recent events about the last of these issues, in the United States and Australia in particular, have called into question the relationship between archaeologists and contemporary cultures and peoples. This in turn has led some archaeologists to deny the existence of a continuous indigenous cultural tradition linking living people with the remains of the past, upon which frequently rest indigenous claims for control of such remains. Bringing together new insights from Western scientists and indigenous contributors, the book provides a worldwide range of studies dealing with these difficult problems. All students of archaeology and anthropology will find that the book offers authoritative contemporary insights, from many viewpoints, into several sensitive problem areas.Any reader concerned with issues of conservation and indigenous cultures will be fascinated by the dicussions herein.

 

List of contributors Foreword Preface Introduction: conflict in the archaeology of living traditions 1. Relations of production and exchange in 17th-century New England: interpretive contexts for the archaeology of culture contact 2. Archaeology, colonialism and 17th-century Native America: towards an alternative interpretation 3. History and prehistory in Bolivia: what about the Indians? Made radical by my own: an archaeologist learns to accept reburial 5. On the problem of historicist catgories in theories of human development 6. The burden of an encumbered inheritance upon the study of the past of Madagascar 7. Archaeological and anthropological hypotheses concerning the origin of ethnic divisions in sub-Saharan Africa 8. The role of language in African perceptions of the past: an appraisal of African language policies and practices 9. A chapter in the history of the colonization of Sami lands: the forced migration of Norwegian reindeer Sami to Finland in the 1800s 10. A proper place for the dead: a critical review ofthe 'reburial' issue 11. The sanctity of the grave: White concepts and American Indian burials 12. The acquisition, storage and handling of Aboriginal skeletal remains in museums: an indigenous perspective 13. The souls of my dead brothers 14. Statement of American Indians Against Desecration before the World Archaeological Congress 15. Federal Indian burial policy: historical anachronism or contemporary reality? 16. Human bones as symbols of power: aboriginal American belief systems toward bones and 'grave-robbing' archaeologists 17. The role of archaeology in nation building 18. Dual perceptions of the past: archaeolgy and Inuit culture Index