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Tilling Nature - Harvesting Culture. Exploring Images of the Human Being in the Transition to Agriculture.

Rudebeck, Elisabeth LU (2000) In Acta Archaeologica Lundensia. Series in 8° 32.
Abstract
Archaeology is about human beings – in the present and in the past. When we concern ourselves with archaeology we have to imagine prehistoric human beings thinking, feeling and acting. This imagining is the very precondition for the creation of meaning from the fragments and traces of human lives that we choose as our data. What kind of images of human beings do we create through the writing and reading of archaeological texts? From where do these images come? How are they created, and what implications do they have for our understanding of the past – and of the present? This study is devoted to these and other related questions.



The questions are focused on a specific archaeological problem: the origins of agriculture.... (More)
Archaeology is about human beings – in the present and in the past. When we concern ourselves with archaeology we have to imagine prehistoric human beings thinking, feeling and acting. This imagining is the very precondition for the creation of meaning from the fragments and traces of human lives that we choose as our data. What kind of images of human beings do we create through the writing and reading of archaeological texts? From where do these images come? How are they created, and what implications do they have for our understanding of the past – and of the present? This study is devoted to these and other related questions.



The questions are focused on a specific archaeological problem: the origins of agriculture. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that this is the most mythically charged theme in Western archaeology. Agricultural origins concerns Western identity. During the last two or three centuries, countries in the Western world have been transformed from agricultural societies to modern industrialised societies. The nostalgia for disappearing life-styles and contemporary concerns with environmental issues are probably the most important reasons for the vast archaeological interest in agricultural origins during the twentieth century.



This work investigates how the origins of agriculture has been defined, debated, deconstructed, restated, renamed and revived. The intention is to yield insights into the relation between images of the present, images of the past and images of the human being. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

I denna avhandling undersökes och diskuteras människosyn i arkeologisk forskning i ett långtidsperspektiv. Frågorna kring existentiella bilder av människan fokuseras kring det arkeologiska problemet jordbrukets uppkomst. Teorier om jordbrukets uppkomst från klassisk tid fram till det sena 1900-talet diskuteras med avseende på människosyn och dess förändring över tid och relation till samtida sociala och politiska processer.
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author
supervisor
opponent
  • Professor Hodder, Ian, Stanford
organization
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
archaeological theory, origins of agriculture, gender, primitivism, human nature, modernism, Archaeology, Arkeologi
in
Acta Archaeologica Lundensia. Series in 8°
volume
32
pages
298 pages
publisher
Almqvist & Wiksell International
defense location
Edens hörsal, Paradisgatan
defense date
2000-05-25 13:15:00
external identifiers
  • other:ISRN: LUHFDA/HFAR--00/1038--SE+298
ISSN
0065-0994
ISBN
91-22-01872-7
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
887656af-ba26-4203-8c6c-c0f99ebeebbd (old id 19793)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 16:46:53
date last changed
2019-05-21 09:30:21
@phdthesis{887656af-ba26-4203-8c6c-c0f99ebeebbd,
  abstract     = {{Archaeology is about human beings – in the present and in the past. When we concern ourselves with archaeology we have to imagine prehistoric human beings thinking, feeling and acting. This imagining is the very precondition for the creation of meaning from the fragments and traces of human lives that we choose as our data. What kind of images of human beings do we create through the writing and reading of archaeological texts? From where do these images come? How are they created, and what implications do they have for our understanding of the past – and of the present? This study is devoted to these and other related questions.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
The questions are focused on a specific archaeological problem: the origins of agriculture. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that this is the most mythically charged theme in Western archaeology. Agricultural origins concerns Western identity. During the last two or three centuries, countries in the Western world have been transformed from agricultural societies to modern industrialised societies. The nostalgia for disappearing life-styles and contemporary concerns with environmental issues are probably the most important reasons for the vast archaeological interest in agricultural origins during the twentieth century.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
This work investigates how the origins of agriculture has been defined, debated, deconstructed, restated, renamed and revived. The intention is to yield insights into the relation between images of the present, images of the past and images of the human being.}},
  author       = {{Rudebeck, Elisabeth}},
  isbn         = {{91-22-01872-7}},
  issn         = {{0065-0994}},
  keywords     = {{archaeological theory; origins of agriculture; gender; primitivism; human nature; modernism; Archaeology; Arkeologi}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Almqvist & Wiksell International}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  series       = {{Acta Archaeologica Lundensia. Series in 8°}},
  title        = {{Tilling Nature - Harvesting Culture. Exploring Images of the Human Being in the Transition to Agriculture.}},
  volume       = {{32}},
  year         = {{2000}},
}