Archaeologies of Materiality

“This fascinating and path-breaking volume addresses the most profound conceptual problems raised by the sheer materiality of things. It opens up important new conversations among archaeologists, socio-cultural anthropologists, and social theorists of all sorts.”
Webb Keane, University of Michigan

“This collection is not only a great pleasure to read, but will impress all scholars interested in material culture with its multidisciplinary maturity.”
Peter Pels, Leiden University

“This volume forces us to bring into focus our supposedly transparent ‘materialism’ and recognize that the ‘things’ we use to ‘know a people’ elude our classic taxonomies and trouble our social theoretical categories. Calling into question a simple dichotomy of objects as ‘purely functional or deeply symbolic’ this volume helps us understand how ‘materiality is problematic not only for our classical versions of material determinism but equally for many of our ‘new’ and ‘post’ theories of signification.”
Cambridge Archaeological Journal

“This book crosses boundaries between anthropology, material culture studies, and archaeology, in an attempt to strengthen a burgeoning movement toward looking at archaeological materials through the lens of materiality... it would be appropriate reading for all archaeologists interested in further exploring the relationships between social concepts and material culture.”
Canadian journal of Archaeology

“Readers less interested in specific approach to materiality will find value in the various reflections on the subject and practice of archaeology in this volume.”
American Antiquity