Archaeoastronomy and Experimental Archaeology, an Autoethnographic Perspective Lydia Harris INTRODUCTION I propose to use the methods of phenomenology and experimental archaeology to explore the mind and practices of the Neolithic Passage Tomb builders of Ireland, connecting first with the monuments within their original landscape, then attempting to understand their construction through rows · Find full-text PDF copies of SFU thesis and dissertations by searching the SFU library PDF. Small Scale Ironmaking in Viking Age Skagafjörður, North Iceland, Nicholas Zeitlin. Theses from PDF. Comales and Colonialism: An Analysis of Cuisine and Ceramics on a 17th-Century New Mexican Estancia, Adam C. Brinkman. PDF. Cultures and Comfort: A Study of Personal Adornment at Avery's Rest, Julianne Danna. PDF
Archaeology Theses | Northwest Coast Archaeology
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Log In with Facebook Log In with Google Sign Up with Apple. Remember me on this computer. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. Need an account? Click here to sign up. Download Free PDF. Archaeoastronomy and Experimental Archaeology, an Autoethnographic Perspective. Lydia A McDermott. Download PDF Download Full PDF Package This paper.
A short summary of this paper. Download PDF. Download Full PDF Package. Translate PDF. I will attempt to understand the process: its difficulty and logic, the amount of knowledge of the movement of heavenly bodies needed to create the famous solar alignments, and the incorporation of symbolism and function into a single meaningful space.
When construction of my solar alignment is complete, I propose to use reflective autoethnography to relate these experiences within the context of traditional explanatory models. Background and Context Anthropological archaeologists often focus their studies on broad, sweeping understandings of archaeology thesis pdf. For example, the appearance of entoptic forms in megalithic architecture becomes a marker of sweeping social control Lewis-Williams and Dowsonthe disposition of the body after death is analyzed in terms of their relation to distant, archaeology thesis pdf, personally disconnected others Fowler ; Dowd ; Guillaumetheir portable art and grave goods are compared and contrasted to those found in other areas, culture groups, and times.
Anthropologists and archaeologists often work to archaeology thesis pdf their research from the specific to the general, taking what they have learned from an individual experience or site and inferring from it a broad generalization that is often disconnected from the actual people being studied.
Though there has been a shift in ethnography away from this method, archaeology still holds to this pattern. As seen from this vantage point, archaeology thesis pdf, this project makes anthropology human again. Experimental Archaeology and Phenomenology How do archaeologists discover the original purpose or use of a pot, a stone tool, or some other item?
They do not just archaeology thesis pdf, do they? Surely, they do not take irreplaceable prehistoric items out and play with them in order to figure it out?
No, they conduct experiments, defined by Dictionary. Experimental archaeologists use scientific experimentation to reproduce, analyze, and observe material remains. This may take many forms such as: recreating archaeology thesis pdf using stone tools for various purposes to observe the resultant wear patterns, recreating ceramic vessels in order to determine their method of creation or decoration, breaking animal bones in a variety of ways to see the resultant fracture patterns, and creating scale models of walls, pyramids, or tombs in order to estimate the number of individuals, amount of time, and building methods needed to erect such architecture, archaeology thesis pdf.
These experiments draw on a variety of theoretical models and methods, resulting in a wide array of approaches, each of which attempt to examine the archaeological record from a different perspective. One such method draws on the philosophical study of phenomena, known as phenomenology.
Phenomenology is defined by Merriam-Webster. Archaeology thesis pdf have the same senses and physical attributes as our early Homo sapiens sapiens ancestors, thus we are able to have archaeology thesis pdf same sensory experiences they did. Though separated from them by differences in culture and technology, it is possible to connect with prehistoric peoples by placing oneself in the extant prehistoric landscape, and gain a sensory understanding of it from that experience, archaeology thesis pdf.
Astronomical Alignments and Archaeoastronomy The megalithic monuments of the Irish Neolithic are centered on archaeology thesis pdf alignments of megaliths within a broader sacred landscape.
An astronomical alignment is created when an object is oriented toward a heavenly body, such as the sun or the moon. This is often seen in the passage tombs in Ireland as the openings of their passages are oriented toward either the rising or setting sun archaeology thesis pdf a particular day or at a particular time of the year.
Most often these alignments correlate with the solstices, equinoxes, and days that mark the midpoints between these events. Archaeoastronomy is a discipline that researches such alignments, amongst other things, archaeology thesis pdf, in order to understand the cultural uses of heavenly bodies such as this Carlson The megalithic monuments of Ireland are commonly solar alignments, following the movement of the sun across the horizon throughout the seasons Figure 1.
Passage Tombs of Ireland The landscape of Ireland is dotted with megalithic monuments that were erected throughout the Neolithic Era. As the name implies, these structures are composed of large-scale stones as their main building features.
Though there are variations in building methods and burial chamber shape, length of passage and style of roofing, all together they make up a solid typology of burial chambers with a presumably related sacred function. There are over known passage tombs in Ireland, with a high concentration of tombs located in four mortuary complexes; two in the West in County Sligo, known as Carrowkeel and Carrowmore, and two in the East in County Meath, known as Loughcrew and Brú na Bóinne Jones ; Waddell Much has been done to explore these passage tombs and their alignments archaeologically.
In contrast, archaeology thesis pdf, little research has been done to draw these megaliths into the mental landscape of the people who built them, to discover the internal reasoning behind their construction, to find out about the mindset of the builders and the mental process that is experienced when attempting to construct a solar-oriented sacred space. Looking at these tombs from this perspective, I find myself wondering what went into the construction of these monuments?
How difficult was it? What would the builders have to know about the movement of the sun, moon, and stars to properly align them to solar events? Why did they care? What purpose did the alignment serve? Why did these people go to so much effort for these monuments?
In order to try and explore these questions, I developed this creative honors thesis project to investigate these architectural phenomena in their physical and cultural landscape.
This project is intended to go beyond empirical analysis of existing monuments, and to examine them experientially; first through traveling to Carrowkeel, Carrowmore, Loughcrew, and Brú na Bóinne in Ireland in order to phenomenologically explore these existing physical landscapes, and then through the personal construction of a sun-centered sacred space.
Finally, I will use an autoethnographic process to reflect on my construction exercise in light of my personal experience among the megalithic monuments in Archaeology thesis pdf. Sam Moore, a professor of applied archaeology at Institute of Technology Sligo, and Dr. Neil Carlin, a professor at University College Dublin, and am in the process of connecting with other archaeologists in Ireland to meet with while there. I will visit the Archaeological Museum in Dublin to continue my research and view the collections of associated artifacts housed there.
I intend to use a phenomenological approach to my experience of these four mortuary complexes, so that I might experience their place in the landscape, their balance and composition, and their effect on the individual; not only as places to archaeology thesis pdf the dead, archaeology thesis pdf, but also as sacred spaces and individual stages for sacred practices. When I return from Ireland, the data I have collected through firsthand experience will inform the design and construction of a solar-centered sacred space on my own property.
These data will influence the design of the space, what materials are chosen for construction, archaeology thesis pdf, and how they will be installed.
I will have to decide how to move these materials to my property, how to work them so that they suit my purpose, and how to install them in a meaningful way, reflecting the cycles of the sun. In the course of this project I will face many of the same issues that the tomb builders themselves may have confronted. Before this project began, my family had already set aside a part of our property for my personal use; this will serve as the site of the project.
I have also begun the process of marking the movement of the sun across the horizon throughout the year as seen from this space. This is the heart of this project: to use the theories of phenomenology and experimental archaeology to understand, through the medium of the human body, the experience of creating a sun-centered sacred space. The Conditions of the Proposed Site and Construction Plans The site of this space consists of a cleared circle, approximately 35 feet in diameter, with sparse plantings of trees and bushes around its perimeter and a grassy central open space.
Once the archaeology thesis pdf arrive at my property, I plan to use only modern equivalents of the tools available to the original builders to move the stones into place and to work them. I will rally those in my own personal social network in order to raise the humanpower needed for construction, archaeology thesis pdf, much as the builders in prehistory must have done.
I plan to use large recumbent stones to mark the alignment points, akin to the kerb stones found at many passage tombs, but on a much smaller scale. I intend to decorate them with iconography reminiscent of that which appears in these tombs. I aim to use primarily local materials, with a focus on obtaining them at little or no cost from private sources, archaeology thesis pdf.
My personal experiences, both during my research in Ireland and construction at home, will be recorded through journaling and photography, archaeology thesis pdf, enabling me to use this method to reflectively analyze these experiences. Combined with further research on this topic, these data will serve as the backbone of my final thesis paper, and help me answer the question of whether or not phenomenology is a useful tool in exploring the prehistoric design and use of sacred landscapes.
I do not anticipate that this project archaeology thesis pdf run smoothly, that it will be a simple undertaking, or archaeology thesis pdf I archaeology thesis pdf not struggle with achieving its completion. On the contrary, archaeology thesis pdf, I expect this to be a archaeology thesis pdf undertaking, one that will serve as a rite of passage for me, marking my personal transition from an unpublished undergraduate to a matriculated baccalaureate.
The Honors College has codified this intermediate stage in the form of archaeology thesis pdf honors thesis - a trial by fire that must be successfully passed in order to receive the accolades of graduating from archaeology thesis pdf institution.
I believe that few students recognize this process and its anthropological framework, but I am not entering so blindly. I propose that this thesis project will consciously act as a transitionary rite, moving me through the required trial of the Honors College that will enable me, should I rise to the challenge, archaeology thesis pdf, to matriculate with Honors. Begin preparation of project space, marking out archaeology thesis pdf of the circle, finding the center, and orienting to the cardinal directions.
Research archaeology thesis pdf information about the Neolithic and Sacred Landscapes. Contact individual administrators on campus to obtain funding for research trip. Ask Dr. Shannon Hodge to be my thesis mentor and request Dr. Brad Bartel serve on thesis committee. Discuss archaeoastronomy with Dr. John Wallin and begin background research into astronomy, register for Astronomy lab class.
Write and submit thesis proposal, revise, and resubmit. Continue research into funding sources. February 16, — Submit Proposal for Review. Finalize thesis proposal with thesis committee, archaeology thesis pdf.
Continue research, archaeology thesis pdf. March 20, — Mark the alignment point for sunrise on the Equinox. April Begin to clear project area of stones, archaeology thesis pdf, weeds, etc. May — Confirm meeting dates with scholars in Ireland, continue to prepare project area. May 22 — 30, — Travel to Ireland to perform field research and conduct meetings with scholars, photograph and journal intensely to record experience, archaeology thesis pdf.
Visit Brú na Bóinne, Carrowmore, Carrowkeel, archaeology thesis pdf, and Loughcrew, archaeology thesis pdf. June — Use field research to create construction plans for project.
Continue to journal and record data.
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, time: 12:20Archaeology thesis and dissertation collection
Archaeoastronomy and Experimental Archaeology, an Autoethnographic Perspective Lydia Harris INTRODUCTION I propose to use the methods of phenomenology and experimental archaeology to explore the mind and practices of the Neolithic Passage Tomb builders of Ireland, connecting first with the monuments within their original landscape, then attempting to understand their construction through PDF. Small Scale Ironmaking in Viking Age Skagafjörður, North Iceland, Nicholas Zeitlin. Theses from PDF. Comales and Colonialism: An Analysis of Cuisine and Ceramics on a 17th-Century New Mexican Estancia, Adam C. Brinkman. PDF. Cultures and Comfort: A Study of Personal Adornment at Avery's Rest, Julianne Danna. PDF acknowledged, this thesis is the work of my own research carried out and submitted to the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, under the supervision of Professor James Boachie-Ansah Principal Supervisor, Professor James Anquandah, Thesis Advisor and Professor Kodjo Gavua, Thesis Advisor
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