Archaeological Semiotics (Social Archaeology) PDF
Preview Archaeological Semiotics (Social Archaeology)
P R E U C E L ARCHAEOLOGICAL SEMIOTICS A R This important book examines archaeology’s engagement with semiotics, from its early structuralist beginnings to its more recent Peircian encounters. Its central C thesis is that archaeology is a distinctive kind of semiotic enterprise; one devoted H to giving meaning to the past in the present through the study of materiality. A It compliments standard studies of linguistics and reformulates contemporary theories of material culture. E O The author develops his thesis by first introducing Saussure and reviewing his legacy across structural, symbolic, and cognitive anthropology. He then introduces L the Peircian alternative and highlights its influence on pragmatic anthropology. O Of special interest are the discussions of the interrelations of structuralism and processual archaeology, poststructuralism and postprocessual archaeologies, and G cognitive science and cognitive archaeology. He then provides two innovative case I studies, Brook Farm and the Pueblo Revolt, to demonstrate how a semiotic approach C can contribute novel insights regarding the material mediation of social orders. A Throughout his analysis, the author emphasizes the close links between archaeology L and other social sciences, but also contends that archaeology, by virtue of the S powerful ideological character of the past, opens up new spaces for discourse E and dialogue. He proposes that, in this way, archaeology can make an original contribution to contemporary semiotics. M I O Robert W. Preucel is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Associate Curator of North American Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught T previously at Southern Illinois University and Harvard University and has been a I Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge. He is co-editor of Contemporary C Archaeology in Theory (with Ian Hodder, Blackwell 1996). S ARCHAEOLOGICAL Cover design by RBDA SEMIOTICS For information, news, and content about R O B E R T W. Blackwell books and journals in history please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/history P R E U C E L PPrreeuucceell__AArrcchhaaeeoollooggiiccaall SSeemmaannttiiccss11 11 3300//88//0066 1100::5544::0000 Archaeological Semiotics RobertW.Preucel Blackwell Publishing Archaeological Semiotics SocialArchaeology GeneralEditor IanHodder,StanfordUniversity AdvisoryEditors MargaretConkey,UniversityofCaliforniaatBerkeley MarkLeone,UniversityofMaryland AlainSchnapp,U.E.R.d’Artetd’Archeologie,Paris StephenShennan,UniversityofSouthampton BruceTrigger,McGillUniversity,Montreal TitlesinPrint ARCHAEOLOGIESOFLANDSCAPE EditedbyWendyAshmoreandA.BernardKnapp TECHNOLOGYANDSOCIALAGENCY Marcia-AnneDobres ENGENDERINGARCHAEOLOGY EditedbyJoanM.GeroandMargaretW.Conkey SOCIALBEINGANDTIME ChristopherGosden THEARCHAEOLOGYOFISLAM TimothyInsoll ANARCHAEOLOGYOFCAPITALISM MatthewJohnson THELANGUAGESOFARCHAEOLOGY RosemaryA.Joyce ARCHAEOLOGIESOFSOCIALLIFE LynnMeskell ARCHAEOLOGYASCULTURALHISTORY IanMorris ARCHAEOLOGICALSEMIOTICS RobertW.Preucel CONTEMPORARYARCHAEOLOGYINTHEORY RobertW.PreucelandIanHodder BEREAVEMENTANDCOMMEMORATION SarahTarlow METAPHORANDMATERIALCULTURE ChristopherW.Tilley Archaeological Semiotics RobertW.Preucel Blackwell Publishing ©2006byRobertW.Preucel BLACKWELLPUBLISHING 350MainStreet,Malden,MA02148-5020,USA 9600GarsingtonRoad,OxfordOX42DQ,UK 550SwanstonStreet,Carlton,Victoria3053,Australia TherightofRobertW.PreuceltobeidentifiedastheAuthorofthisWorkhasbeenassertedin accordancewiththeUKCopyright,Designs,andPatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem, ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingor otherwise,exceptaspermittedbytheUKCopyright,Designs,andPatentsAct1988,withouttheprior permissionofthepublisher. Firstpublished2006byBlackwellPublishingLtd 1 2006 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Preucel,RobertW. Archaeologicalsemiotics/RobertW.Preucel. p.cm.—(Socialarchaeology) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN-13:978-1-55786-657-8(hardcover:alk.paper) ISBN-10:1-55786-657-0(hardcover:alk.paper) 1.Archaeology—Philosophy.2.Archaeology—Methodology.I.Title.II.Series. CC72.P742006 930.1—dc22 2005037148 AcataloguerecordforthistitleisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. Setin10/13ptMinion byNewgenImagingSystems(P)Ltd.,Chennai,India PrintedinSingaporebyMarkonoPrintMediaPteLtd Thepublisher’spolicyistousepermanentpaperfrommillsthatoperateasustainableforestrypolicy, andwhichhasbeenmanufacturedfrompulpprocessedusingacid-freeandelementarychlorine-free practices.Furthermore,thepublisherensuresthatthetextpaperandcoverboardusedhavemet acceptableenvironmentalaccreditationstandards. Forfurtherinformationon BlackwellPublishing,visitourwebsite: www.blackwellpublishing.com For Leslie Homyra Atik Contents ListofFigures x ListofTables xiii Preface xiv Acknowledgments xvii 1 Introduction 1 WhatisSemiotics? 5 ArchaeologyandSemiotics 8 TheorizingMaterialCulture 14 OrganizationoftheBook 16 Part I SignsofMeaning 2 SaussureandHisLegacy 21 FerdinanddeSaussure 22 SemiologyandStructuralLinguistics 25 SaussureandModernLinguistics 31 StructuralAnthropology 37 SymbolicandCognitiveAnthropologies 39 Summary 42 3 ThePeircianAlternative 44 CharlesSandersPeirce 45 Semeiotics 49
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