Ralph
Waldo Emerson once said that “all history becomes
subjective,” that, in fact, “properly there is no
history, only biography.”
Today, Emerson’s observation is hardly revolutionary for
archaeologists; it has become conventional wisdom that the present is a
battleground where interpretations of the events and meanings of the
past are constantly being disputed. What were the major events? Whose
lives did these events impact, and how? Who were the key players? What
was their legacy? We know all too well that the answers to these
questions can vary considerably depending on what political, social, or
personal agenda is driving the response.
Despite our keen eye for discerning historical spin doctors operating
today, it has been only in recent years that archaeologists have begun
exploring in detail how the past was used in the past itself. This
volume of ten original works brings critical insight to this frequently
overlooked dimension of earlier societies. Drawing on the concepts of
identity, memory, and landscape, the contributors show how these points
of entry can lead to substantially new accounts of how people
understood their lives and why things changed as they did. Chapters
include the archaeologies of the eastern Mediterranean, including
Mesopotamia, Iran, Greece, and Rome; prehistoric Greece; Achaemenid and
Hellenistic Armenia; Athens in the Roman period; Nubia and Egypt;
medieval South India; and northern Maya Quintana Roo. The contributors
show how and why, in each society, certain versions of the past were
promoted while others were aggressively forgotten for the purpose of
promoting innovation, gaining political advantage, or creating a new
group identity.
Commentaries by leading scholars Lynn Meskell and Jack Davis blend with
newer voices to create a unique set of essays that is diverse but
interrelated, exceptionally researched, and novel in its perspectives..
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Negotiating the Past
in the Past
Identity, Memory, and Landscape in Archaeological Research
edited by Norman Yoffee
University of Arizona Press,
2007
Order
a copy
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