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Topic 2: Ethnoarchaeology Analysis

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Sarah Kim Anthropology 8, Professor Acabado Discussion 1F, TA: Maryann Kontonicolas October 25, 2015 Guided Paper 1: Topic 2-Ethnoarchaeology Gur-Arieh’s article on cooking installations in the villages Sivasoy and Tolly of rural Uzbekistan describes how he and his team identified certain cooking installations, specifically the ochocks and tandirs using FTIR, and searched for the main fuel sources for the installations through soil heating experiments. The information was compiled into the Pseudomorphs/Spherulites Ratio (PSR), which produced values that related to the use of pure wood or dung as fuel, and a wide range called a “gray-area,” which represented a mix of wood and dung ashes that may have come as a result of mixing the two fuel sources …show more content…

As Malainey’s study of shells mention how the Yamana society is the last hunter-fisher-gatherer society, through ethnoarchaoelogy, one could examine if and how human behavior had changed through the treatment of shells during previous hunter-gatherer societies. An ethnoarchaeologist could attempt to find various shells, arrange them by date, and look for any differences in the occurrences of certain residues that might indicate a change in diet or use for the shells. Additionally, in considering evolution, one could examine if shells or other objects were handled more crudely and postulate how humans with different brain capacities at the time valued and used certain objects. Gur-Arieh mentioned in his research how women did most of the cooking, and ethnoarchaeology could be used to observe how women were perceived in society by examining the different apparatuses that women may have had to be in charge of, and how that affected family life. Additionally, looking closer at present day, ethnoarchaeologists can look at products targeted towards women how those products have changed their advertising or have been phased out over time depending on each society’s position on a woman’s role. In the future, ethnoarchaeology can be used to examine how human to human interactions have changed in this digital age with the popularity of social media and other devices, and how new technology will change everyday

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