James M. Skibo Michael Brian Schiffer. People and Things. A Behavioral Approach to Material Culture

Transcription

1 People and Things

2 James M. Skibo Michael Brian Schiffer People and Things A Behavioral Approach to Material Culture

3 James M. Skibo Illinois State University Normal, IL USA Michael Brian Schiffer University of Arizona Tucson, AZ USA The following chapters are reprinted in modified form with permission from the indicated sources: Chapter 3: Exploring the Origins of Pottery on the Colorado Plateau (with Eric Blinman), Pottery and People (1999), edited by J. M. Skibo and G. Feinman, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. Chapter 4: Smudge Pits and Hide Smoking Revisited (with John G. Franzen and Eric C. Drake), Archaeological Anthropology: Perspectives on Method and Theory (2007), edited by J. M. Skibo, M. Graves, and M. Stark, University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Chapter 5: The Devil Is in the Details: The Cascade Model of Invention Processes, American Antiquity (2005) 70: Chapter 6: Ball Courts and Ritual Performance (with William H. Walker), The Joyce Well Site, edited by J. M. Skibo, E. McCluney, and W. Walker, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. Chapter 7: Social Theory and History in Behavioral Archaeology, Expanding Archaeology (1999), edited by J. M. Skibo, W. Walker, and A. Nielson, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. Chapter 8: Studying Technological Differentiation, American Anthropologist (2002) 104: ISBN: e-isbn: DOI: / Library of Congress Control Number: Springer Science + Business Media, LLC All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY-10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Cover illustration: Colorful Cadenas, courtesy of Nathaniel Hardwick Printed on acid-free paper springer.com

4 Preface The study of the human-made world, whether it is called artifacts, material culture, or technology, has burgeoned across the academy. Archaeologists have for centuries led the way, and today offer investigators myriad programs and conceptual frameworks for engaging the things, ordinary and extraordinary, of everyday life. This book is an attempt by practitioners of one program Behavioral Archaeology to furnish between two covers some of our basic principles, heuristic tools, and illustrative case studies. Our greater purpose, however, is to engage the ideas of two competing programs agency/practice and evolution in hopes of initiating a dialog. We are convinced that there is enough overlap in goals, interests, and conceptions among these programs to warrant guarded optimism that a more encompassing, more coherent framework for studying the material world can result from a concerted effort to forge a higher-level synthesis. However, in engaging agency/ practice and evolution in Chap. 2, we are not reticent to point out conflicts between Behavioral Archaeology and these programs. This book will appeal to archaeologists and anthropologists as well as historians, sociologists, and philosophers of technology. Those who study science technology society interactions may also encounter useful ideas. Finally, this book is suitable for upper-division and graduate courses on anthropological theory, archaeological theory, and the study of technology. The idea for this book came during a Fulbright sponsored trip to Porto Alegre, Brazil, by Jim Skibo in 2004, and conversations with Adriana Schmidt Dias, Fabíola Silva, Klaus Hilbert, and the participants in the seminar. The seminar was on ceramic analysis, ethnoarchaeology, and pottery use-alteration, but much of the discussion focused on how our theoretical approach to the study of technology contrasts with agency/practice, evolution, and other theoretical models currently in vogue. This led to a discussion between us and the decision to write this book. Although we had been collaborators for over two decades, this was our first coauthored book and we would like to thank the participants of the Fulbright seminar for the provocative conversation that convinced us to embark on this enjoyable enterprise. A number of people commented on the manuscript: Eric Drake, Nathan Hardwick, Vincent LaMotta, Fernanda Neubauer, Charles Orser, Tim Pauketat, Michael Schaefer, and William Walker. Nathan Hardwick also created the wonderful v

5 vi Preface cover art, Colorful Cadenas. We also thank the editors at Springer, Teresa Krauss and Katie Chabalko, for their interest in this project. Finally, we thank our wives, Becky and Annette, for their unfailing support and love. This book is dedicated to them. Normal, IL Tucson, AZ James M. Skibo Michael Brian Schiffer

6 Contents List of Figures... List of Tables... xiii 1 People and Things: A Performance-Based Theory... 1 Behavioral Archaeology... 4 The Theory... 7 Life History/ Behavioral Chain... 9 Activities and Interactions Technical Choices Performance Characteristics Application Behavior, Selection, Agency, Practice, and Beyond Evolutionary Archaeology French School Agency and Practice Where the Rubber Meets the Road Logging Camps and Social Power Conclusion The Origins of Pottery on the Colorado Plateau Origins Theoretical Models Emergence of Ancestral Pueblo Pottery Early Ceramic Sites The Study Whole Vessel Use-Alteration Traces Implications Southwestern Pottery Origins Revisited xi vii

7 viii Contents 4 Smudge Pits and Hide Smoking Grand Island Gete Odena: Historic Accounts Gete Odena: Williams Era Gete Odena: Smudge Pits Performance-Based Analysis Performance Analysis of the Features Other Supporting Evidence Why Smoke Hides? Conclusion The Devil is in the Details General Considerations The Cascade Model Illustrating the Model: The Electromagnetic Telegraph Creating the Prototype Technological Display Demonstrating Practicality Replication Marketing and Sales Installation Use/Operation Maintenance Functional Differentiation Operationalizing the Cascade Model on Archaeological Cases Applicability of the CTS Construct Discussion Implications of the Cascade Model Conclusion Ritual Performance: Ball Courts and Religious Interaction Joyce Well Ball Court Morphology Excavation Artifacts Culberson and Timberlake Ball Courts The Boot Heel Courts Ritual Performance Manufacturing Performance Use Performance Primary Functions of Animas Phase Courts Community Integration Celestial-Based Fertility Rituals Integration in the Casas Grandes Interaction Sphere Conclusions

8 Contents ix 7 Social Theory and History in Behavioral Archaeology: Gender, Social Class, and the Demise of the Early Electric Car Behavioral Archaeology and Social Theory Behavioral Archaeology and History The Narrative: What Happened to the Early Electric Car? History and Social Theory: The Electric Car Revisited Summary and Conclusions Studying Technological Differentiation Technology Transfer: A Behavioral Framework Phases of Technology Transfer Information Transfer Experimentation Redesign Replication Acquisition Use Narratives of Technological Differentiation The Case Study: Eighteenth-Century Electrical Technology Electrophysicists Electrical Demonstrators Collectors of Electrical Technology Electrotherapists Atmospheric Electricians The Property Protectors Electrochemists Discussion and Conclusion References Index

9 List of Figures Fig. 3.1 Interior of vessel with a carbon pattern caused by heating food in the absence of water Fig. 3.2 Vessel with an interior carbon pattern characteristic of wet-mode cooking. The wider band of carbon likely resulted from variable water levels Fig. 3.3 Exterior of a vessel that was used over fire Fig. 3.4 Interior of a vessel used to heat food in the wet mode Fig. 3.5 Interior of a vessel used to heat food in the dry mode Fig. 4.1 The location of the Grand Island and the site of Gete Odena Fig. 4.2 Profile drawings of representative smudge pits found at Gete Odena, each showing charred material at the base Fig. 4.3 Photos of an Ojibwe woman smoking a deer hide (Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 86, Plate 75) Fig. 6.1 Location of the Joyce Well site in southwestern New Mexico Fig. 6.2 The rooms excavated at Joyce Well during the 1963 project Fig. 6.3 The relative location of the pueblo and the ball court at Joyce Well Fig. 6.4 Plan view of the Joyce Well ball court Fig. 6.5 Topographic map of the Joyce Well ball court Fig. 6.6 Locations of the Joyce Well, Culberson, and Timberlake ball courts Fig. 6.7 Plan view of the Timberlake ball court Fig. 6.8 Plan view of the Culberson ball court xi

10 List of Tables Table 3.1 Obelisk gray vessel forms from the Prayer Rock Caves curated at the Arizona State Museum Table 7.1 A threshold performance matrix for gasoline and electric automobiles, circa xiii