Big Histories, Human Lives: Tackling Problems of Scale in Archaeology (School for Advanced Research Advanced Seminar Series) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 193469164X ISBN 13: 9781934691649

Publisher: School for Advanced Research Press, 2013

Synopsis

We may be due an Ice Age any day now as the earth wobbles through its complex long-term cycles of axial tilt, precession, and eccentricity. Not only are these cycles--on the scale of hundreds of thousands of years--poorly understood, but they intersect with other trends that could have an equally massive effect on our planet. It does not take an Ice Age, however, to change our lives; we are so accustomed to our present-day situation that even shorter term, relatively small changes may create havoc. Such fluctuations, no matter what their size, must be understood at broad scales of analysis similar to those contemplated in this book for human history generally. Big Histories, Human Lives is a re-theorizing of scale and change in human history as they are related to the big picture--the relationships between time, the environment, and all of human experience on earth.

The contributors consider something archaeologists seldom think about: the intersection of micro-scale human experience with large-scale and long-term histories. Did history unfold in different ways for different people? What are the central historical processes behind such unfoldings? How are we to understand these events and their relevance to us today?

About this title

Review:

Since the 1980s, archaeologists have struggled with growing, impressive bodies of data about long-term social change and outmoded theories used to explain change. Under criticism by postprocessualists and others, grand narratives of change were questioned and even the idea of having grand narratives was rejected. This occurred especially in the demolition of neo-evolutionist theory (of stages and levels), which created a kind of theoretical anomie. This book is a call to restore grand narratives of change, and the authors are determined to put human beings who were effectively ignored in systems theories, environmental determinist theories, adaptationism, and functionalism as central actors in their own histories. Archaeologists: this way forward. --Norman Yoffee, Senior Fellow, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University

Through vivid and thought-provoking examples, the volume s various authors demonstrate how the archaeological, anthropological, and historical examination of past human societies has many lessons of direct and immediate relevance to people in the modern world. It also recasts the focus of scholars from these disciplines in turn, arguing that there are bigger problems and better ways of examining them than the approaches many have chosen. --David G. Anderson, University of Tennessee, author of Climate Change and Cultural Dynamics: A Global Perspective on Mid-Holocene Transitions

This highly provocative book breaks new ground in examining the articulation between the longue durée and short-term, small-scale human experiences. A stellar group of scholars re-energize our thinking about long-term history without losing sight of microscale events and human lives. The authors experiment with multiple, innovative theoretical approaches in a series of case studies that will be of great interest to any scholar grappling with the investigation of humans in deep time. --Kent G. Lightfoot, University of California, Berkeley

Through vivid and thought-provoking examples, the volume s various authors demonstrate how the archaeological, anthropological, and historical examination of past human societies has many lessons of direct and immediate relevance to people in the modern world. It also recasts the focus of scholars from these disciplines in turn, arguing that there are bigger problems and better ways of examining them than the approaches many have chosen. --David G. Anderson, University of Tennessee, author of Climate Change and Cultural Dynamics: A Global Perspective on Mid-Holocene Transitions

This highly provocative book breaks new ground in examining the articulation between the longue durée and short-term, small-scale human experiences. A stellar group of scholars re-energize our thinking about long-term history without losing sight of microscale events and human lives. The authors experiment with multiple, innovative theoretical approaches in a series of case studies that will be of great interest to any scholar grappling with the investigation of humans in deep time. --Kent G. Lightfoot, University of California, Berkeley

Through vivid and thought-provoking examples, the volume s various authors demonstrate how the archaeological, anthropological, and historical examination of past human societies has many lessons of direct and immediate relevance to people in the modern world. It also recasts the focus of scholars from these disciplines in turn, arguing that there are bigger problems and better ways of examining them than the approaches many have chosen. --David G. Anderson, University of Tennessee, author of Climate Change and Cultural Dynamics: A Global Perspective on Mid-Holocene Transitions

This highly provocative book breaks new ground in examining the articulation between the longue durée and short-term, small-scale human experiences. A stellar group of scholars re-energize our thinking about long-term history without losing sight of microscale events and human lives. The authors experiment with multiple, innovative theoretical approaches in a series of case studies that will be of great interest to any scholar grappling with the investigation of humans in deep time. --Kent G. Lightfoot, University of California, Berkeley

About this edition

• Publisher: School for Advanced Research Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 193469164X
• ISBN 13: 9781934691649
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296
• Editor: Robb John, Pauketat Timothy R.