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Why have medieval archaeologists failed to reflect critically on the sacred? The answer may lie in archaeology’s prevailing intellectual tradition, which promotes a humanist or secular position, even when we study the remains of religious buildings and landscapes. By privileging certain narratives – such as authenticity, economic value and ‘rational’ behaviour – archaeologists have not […]
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Amy and I wrote Subsistence and Society: New Directions in Economic Archaeology, because the time was right to rethink the topic for two key reasons. Firstly, palaeoeconomics and environmental archaeology, which flourished from the 1950s to 80s, became quite unfashionable with the rise of post-processual critiques that accused it of ‘determinism’. However, like so many […]
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The production of textiles is a very ancient human endeavour. In pre-industrial settings, it was a complex and time-consuming craft that must have engaged a large part of the population. The product was both vital to society and in high demand. Clearly, not only has textile production been a major economic activity throughout history, but […]
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When Herodotus visited Egypt in the fifth millennium BC, he noted how Egypt was the gift of the Nile, since the fertile black muds that arrived with the annual flood were the foundation of Egyptian agriculture. Beyond its annual flood, the Nile river has often been regarded as stable and eternal over the longer term; […]
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We have heard it a thousand times. The world is going downhill and it’s the “system’s” fault. To save the planet, we must change the “system.” But what do we mean by the “system”? Capitalism? Is it “capitalism” that makes nations, corporations, and individuals seek out the best deals – which promotes low-wage labor and […]
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My inaugural, ghost-written speech to the Niha – learned rote and recited to massed tribesmen over a bloody carpet of pigmeat – ended with the resonant phrase, There is no resentment! It took me a further year of gruelling fieldwork in Nias to work out what, in practice, ‘painful heart’ really meant and why it […]
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Social theory is that kind of theory which should help us to understand and explain this modern world in which we all live. What caused the rise of the modern world? What are the driving forces of the constant change inherent to modernity? And what is the underlying ‘spirit’ of such forces? Social theory – […]
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In contemporary western society, risky behavior by male adolescents is seen as maladaptive for the individual and a serious social problem. It may lead to injury or death, delinquent and/or illegal behavior, bullying, rape, STDs, substance abuse and, conflict with authority including parents and poor academic outcomes. “The prevailing conceptual framework for thinking about these […]
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