A Companion to Social Archaeology

The Companion to Social Archaeology is the first scholarly work to explore the encounter of social theory and archaeology over the past two decades.

• Grouped into four sections - Knowledges, Identities, Places, and Politics - each of which is prefaced with a review essay that contextualizes the history and developments in social archaeology and related fields.
• Draws together newer trends that are challenging established ways of understanding the past.
• Includes contributions by leading scholars who instigated major theoretical trends.

“Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year”

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year

"In this archaeological pilgrimage A Companion to Social Archaeology has been a well-met companion on the road." Australian Archaeology

Lynn Meskell is Professor of Anthropology at Stanford University. She is founding editor of the Journal of Social Archaeology and her previous books include Archaeology under Fire: Nationalism, Politics, and Heritage in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (1998, ed.), Archaeologies of Social Life: Age, Sex, Class etc. in Ancient Egypt (Blackwell, 1999), Private Life in New Kingdom Egypt (2002), Embodied Lives: Figuring Ancient Maya and Egyptian Experience, (2003, with Rosemary Joyce), and Object Worlds from Ancient Egypt: Material Biographies Past and Present (2004).

Robert W. Preucel is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Associate Curator of North American Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is editor of Processual and Postprocessual Archaeologies: Multiple Ways of Knowing the Past (1991), co-editor with Ian Hodder of Contemporary Archaeology in Theory (Blackwell, 1996), and editor of Archaeologies of the Pueblo Revolt: Identity, Meaning, and Renewal in the Pueblo World (2002).

A Companion to Social Archaeology explores the encounter of social theory and archaeology since the 1980s. The volume comprises 17 original essays grouped into four sections – Knowledges, Identities, Places, and Politics. Each section is prefaced with a review essay prepared by the editors that contextualizes the history and developments in social archaeology and related fields including anthropology, social theory, politics, and philosophy. The volume traces the origins of social theory within archaeology, discusses different conceptions of social archaeology, and identifies key intellectual issues that will have a bearing on the discipline’s future direction.

This book advocates a social archaeology that foregrounds the situated experiences of material life, the constitution of the object world and, concurrently, their shaping of human experience.

This collection provides an invaluable reference for students and teachers studying the intersections of archaeology, culture, and society.

A Companion to Social Archaeology explores the encounter of social theory and archaeology since the 1980s. The volume comprises 17 original essays grouped into four sections ls" Knowledges, rs" ls" Identities, rs" ls" Places, rs" and ls" Politicsrs" . Each section is prefaced with a review essay prepared by the editors that contextualizes the history and developments in social archaeology and related fields. The volume traces the origins of social theory within archaeology, discuss different conceptions of social archaeology, and identifies key intellectual issues that will have a bearing on the discipliners" s future direction. This book advocates a social archaeology that foregrounds the situated experiences of material life, the constitution of the object world and, concurrently, their shaping of human experience. This collection provides an invaluable reference for students and teachers studying the intersections of archaeology, culture, and society.

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