I would like to propose a session for the 2010 ICAZ meetings and am looking for folks who might be interested in participating.
TITLE: What hunter-gatherer-fishers do at home: insights from animal artifacts
ABSTRACT: Worked bone, antler, ivory, and shell provide a special window into the activities of hunter-gatherer-fisher home life. When viewed within their social context these activities in turn help to fill out our vision of daily life within and between households in camps and villages. A drilled shell bead, a bird bone flute, a carved ivory atlatl spur, a decorated bone net-weaving tool, an engraved bone gaming piece, these all remind us that hunter-gatherer-fishers of the past did more than seek their dinner and that food-getting was interwoven with other aspects of life, such as artistic expression, manufacturing skill, ritual life, and leisure pursuits. Building on the existing scholarship that has refined our ability to recreate manufacturing sequences and test likely functions of worked items, this session will emphasize the social contexts of these hunter-gatherer activities.
In keeping with the objectives of the 2010 ICAZ conference to promote archaeozoology, strengthen interactions across continents, and promote the archaeozoology of hunter-gatherer societies, this session seeks participation from researchers representing the diversity of hunter-gatherer-fisher archaeology, with a special emphasis on hunter-gatherer home life and the potential of worked bone and shell to provide special insights into the mix of activities that contribute to daily life in camp or village.
Possible themes might include (but are not restricted to):
•spatial analysis of location of finished and unfinished items and/or manufacturing by-products within or between sites
•functional analysis and comparisons of inventories of worked items within or between households or sites
•associations of worked items with other types of artifacts, features, or food remains
•evidence for household specializations (or lack thereof) in particular activities or production of items
•insights from ethnoarchaeological or experimental studies concerning the visibility of social aspects of artifact production or use
•insights from associated burials concerning social roles of individuals associated with particular worked items or their manufacture
•insights from manufacturing details concerning household autonomy or interdependence in producing finished items
The April 30 deadline for session submissions is just 2 days away, so if you think this is worth pursuing, please send a quick email to: [log in to unmask] with a working title and a couple sentences about what you'd like to contribute.
Jean Hudson
Associate Professor, Anthropology
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
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