Excavating the Mind

Edited By Niels Johannsen, Mads D. Jessen & Helle Juel Jensen

Description

Excavating the Mind deals with the relationship between the material culture of humans, i.e. our technologies, arts and environments, and our mental worlds. Emphasizing the close interdependence of mind and matter, the volume resonates with current developments within sociology, psychology and the cognitive sciences, yet it aims to supplement the focus on modern, predominantly Western societies and individuals with studies of different cultural contexts and processes in the evolutionary and historical past as well as the ethnographic present. With contributions from cognitive and social archaeology as well as anthropology, semiotics and the history of religion, the book combines well-illustrated case studies covering a wide chronological and geographic span - from Neolithic Europe to the present-day South Pacific - with incisive discussion of particular theoretical issues in the study of mind and material culture. Excavating the Mind is an original contribution to the multidisciplinary debate on the uniquely human entanglement of complex material cultures and mental worlds.

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Anthropology

Informations

• Publié par: Aarhus University Press
• Date de parution: 07 mai 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788771244281
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

niels johannsen
mads jessen
excavating the mind
helle juel jensen
edited by excavating the mind deals with the relationship between
the material culture of humans – i.e. our technologies, arts and en- niels johannsen
vironments – and our mental and social worlds. Emphasizing the mads jessen
close interdependence of mind and matter, the volume resonates
helle juel jensen
with current developments within sociology, psychology and the
cognitive sciences, yet it aims to supplement the focus on modern,
predominantly Western societies and individuals with studies of
different cultural contexts and processes in the evolutionary and
historical past as well as the ethnographic present. excavating

With contributions from cognitive and social archaeology as well
as anthropology, semiotics and the history of religion, the book
combines well-illustrated case studies covering a wide
chronological and geographic span – from Neolithic Europe to the present- the mind
day South Pacific – with incisive discussion of particular
theoretical issues in the study of mind and material culture.
cross-sections through culture,
cognition and materiality
ISBN 978-87-7934-217-0
9 788779 342170
1204_oms_excavating_.indd 1 11/04/12 14.40excavating the mind
This page is protected by copyright and may not be redistributed
1204_Book.indb 1 29/03/12 12.06This page is protected by copyright and may not be redistributed
1204_Book.indb 2 29/03/12 12.06Excavating the Mind
Cross-sections through culture, cognition and materiality
Edited by Niels Johannsen, Mads D. Jessen
& Helle Juel Jensen
Aarhus University Press

This page is protected by copyright and may not be redistributed
1204_Book.indb 3 29/03/12 12.06Excavating the Mind
© Te authors and Aarhus University Press 2012
Cover design and type seting: Grafsk SIGNS
Type: Arno Pro
E-book production: Narayana Press, Gylling
ISBN 978 87 7124 428 1
Aarhus University Press
Langelandsgade 177
DK-8200 Aarhus N
www.unipress.dk
International distributors:
Gazelle Book Services Ltd.
White Cross Mills
Hightown, Lancaster, LA1 4XS
United Kingdom
IS Distribution
70 Enterprise Drive
Bristol, CT 06010
USA
Published in collaboration with
Te Jutland Archaeological Society
Published with fnancial support by
Te Aarhus University Research Foundation
Te Humanities Research Focus Area ‘Cognition, Communication and Culture’
Queen Margrethe II’s Archaeological Foundation
This page is protected by copyright and may not be redistributedC O NTENT
List of contributors 7

Editors’ acknowledgements 9

Introduction 11

Mads D. Jessen & Helle J. Jensen
Debating the mind
Imitation, Mirror Neurons and Material Culture 25

Svend Østergaard
Boxes or Creepers? Containments and entanglements

of mind and matter 39

Tim Ingold
On Being More-Than-One and Doubts About Mind 57

Chris Gosden
Linear B as Distributed Cognition: Excavating a mind

not limited by the skin 69

Lambros Malafouris
Cultural practice, material reference and the generation
of meaning
Meaning in Miniature: Semiotic networks in material culture 87

Carl Knappett
Of God Stones and Dance Plazas: The material mediation

of historical consciousness 111

Robert W. Preucel
This page is protected by copyright and may not be redistributed
1204_Book.indb 5 29/03/12 12.06The Hall and the Church during Christianization:

Building ideologies and material concepts 133

Mads D. Jessen
In Small Things Remembered: Pottery decoration

in Neolithic Southern Italy 161

John Robb & Kostalena Michelaki
Colourful Meaning: Terminology, abstraction

and the Near Eastern Bronze Age 183

David A. Warburton
Agency, technology and society
Making Daggers and Scouting for Talents:

Situated learning in Late Neolithic Scandinavia 211

Deborah Olausson
Decision-making and Structuration: A study of the minds

behind private statues in New Kingdom Egyptian temples 233

Annette Kjølby
Combined Efforts: The cooperation and coordination

of barrow-building in the Bronze Age 255

Mads Kähler Holst & Marianne Rasmussen
Literacy: A tool of modernity and community in Vanuatu 281

Janet Dixon Keller
Archaeology and the Inanimate Agency Proposition:

a critique and a suggestion 305

Niels Johannsen
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1204_Book.indb 6 29/03/12 12.06List of contributors

Chris Gosden Mads D. Jessen
Institute of Archaeology Department of Prehistory
University of Oxford National Museum of Denmark
Institute of Archaeology Frederikholms Kanal 12,
36 Beaumont Street DK-1220 København K
Oxford, OX1 2PG Denmark
England, UK [e-mail]
[e-mail]
Niels Johannsen
Mads K. Holst Section for Archaeology
Section for Archaeology & Velux Core Research Group
University of Aarhus, Moesgaard Technologies of the Mind
Moesgaard Allé 20 University of Aarhus
DK-8270 Højbjerg Building 1453
Denmark Jens Chr. Skous Vej 3
[e-mail] DK-8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
Tim Ingold [e-mail]
Department of Anthropology
School of Social Science Janet D. Keller
University of Aberdeen Department of Anthropology
Aberdeen AB24 3QY University of Illinois
Scotland, UK 607 S Mathews Ave.
[e-mail] M/C 148
Urbana, IL 61801
Helle Juel Jensen USA
Section for Archaeology [e-mail]
University of Aarhus, Moesgaard
Moesgaard Allé 20
DK-8270 Højbjerg
Denmark
[e-mail] 7

This page is protected by copyright and may not be redistributed
1204_Book.indb 7 29/03/12 12.06List of contributors
Annette Kjølby Robert W. Preucel
Editorial Board Department of Anthropology
Samfundslitteratur, SL Publishers University of Pennsylvania
Rosenørns Allé 9 3260 South Street Philadelphia,
DK-1970 Frederiksberg C PA 19104-6398
Denmark USA
[e-mail] [e-mail]
Carl Knappett Marianne Rasmussen
Art History Department of Heritage
University of Toronto, Danish Agency of Culture
19 Russell Street, H.C. Andersens Boulevard 2
Toronto, ON, M5S 2S2 DK-1553 København K
Canada Denmark
[e-mail] [e-mail]
Lambros Malafouris John Robb
Keble College Department of Archaeology
University of Oxford University of Cambridge
Oxford, OX1 3PG Downing Street
England, UK Cambridge CB2 3DZ
[e-mail] England, UK
[e-mail]
Kostalena Michelaki
School of Human Evolution and Social Change David A. Warburton
Arizona State University Section for the Study of Religion
P.O. Box 872402 University of Aarhus
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402 Building 1442
USA Tåsingegade 3
[e-mail] DK-8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
Deborah Olausson [e-mail]
Department of Archaeology and Ancient
History Svend Østergaard
University of Lund Center for Semiotics
Sandgatan 1 University of Aarhus
Box 117, 221 00 Lund Building 1467
Sweden Jens Chr. Skous Vej 7
[e-mail] DK-8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
[e-mail]
8

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1204_Book.indb 8 29/03/12 12.06­
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Editors’ acknowledgements

This book has been in the making for a very long time. The process towards its
publication started with the symposium Excavating the Mind: cross-sections through
culture, cognition and materiality, organized by the Department of Prehistoric Ar
chaeology in cooperation with the Centre for Cultural Research at the University
of Aarhus in October 2004. During 2005 we received contributions from most of
the symposium speakers for the edited volume that we had decided to produce
in continuation of the stimulating talks and discussions at the meeting. The con
tributions went through peer reviews and, after some delays in that process, we
received the revised contributions from the authors in 2007 and early 2008. By
late 2008 we had completed final content revisions of the individual chapters, but
then several cases of serious illness in the editorial group and our families brought
our work on the book to a halt. We are extremely grateful to Aarhus University
Press and to the contributors of this volume for their immense patience as well
as their encouragement as various deadlines slipped away.
The publication of this volume has been made possible by generous donations
from the Aarhus University Research Foundation, the Humanities Research Focus
Area ‘Cognition, Communication and Culture’, the Jutland Archaeological Society
and Queen Margrethe II’s Archaeological Foundation. The symposium in 2004
was sponsored by the Danish Research Co