Far from Equilibrium: An Archaeology of Energy, Life and Humanity: A Response to the Archaeology of John C. Barrett

Archaeology is in crisis. Spatial turns, material turns and the ontological turn have directed the discipline away from its hard-won battle to ­ find humanity in the past. Meanwhile, popularised science, camouflaged as archaeology, produces shock headlines built on ancient DNA analyses that reduce humanity’s most intriguing historical problems to ‘just-so stories’. Today archaeology ­finds itself less able than ever to proclaim its relevance to the modern world. This volume foregrounds the relevance of the scholarship of John C. Barrett to this crisis. Twenty-four writers representing three generations of archaeologists scrutinise the current turmoil in the discipline and highlight the resolutions that may be found through Barrett’s analytical framework. Topics include archaeology and the senses, the continuing problem of the archaeological record, practice, discourse and agency, reorienting archaeological field practice, the question of different expressions of human diversity and material ecologies. Understanding archaeology as both a universal and highly specific discipline, case studies range from the Aegean to Orkney, and encompass Anatolia, Korea, Romania, the United Kingdom and the very nature of the Universe itself. This critical examination of John Barrett’s contribution to archaeology is simultaneously a response to his urgent call to arms to reorient archaeology in the service of humanity.

Table of Contents:
List of contributors List of tables List of figures Preface   The archaeology of John C. Barrett   1. (Re)placing humanity? Responses to the crisis in archaeology Michael J. Boyd and Roger C.P. Doonan   2. Bibliography of John C. Barrett   Prehistory in transition   3. The late Neolithic midden in Orkney: decay, assemblages and the efficacy of unwanted things Jane Downes and Colin Richards   4. In what way is one dead for an Eneolithic tell community? The construction of the dead body’s presence at Căscioarele-Ostrovel (Romania) Alexandra Ion   5. Conceptualising wealth and value in the Bronze Age Christopher Tilley   6. An assemblage of Early Bronze Age metalwork from the Scottish Highlands: Dail na Caraidh in retrospect Richard Bradley   Fields of discourse and an archaeology of inhabitation 7. ‘Contextual archaeology’ revisited: reflections on archaeology, assemblages and semiotics Zoë Crossland 8. Making the past human: history, archaeology and myth Martial Staub   9. What future for archaeology’s past? Krysti Damilati and Giorgos Vavouranakis 10. Fragments from Minoan Crete: social practice at the EM IIA–MM IB (2650–1875 BCE) Court Building at Knossos Ilse Schoep 11. Cemeteries of discourse: re-inhabiting a social arena Mark S. Peters 12. Towards an ‘archaeology of the conditions of possibility’ Ilhong Ko 13. ‘Fields of discourse’ revisited: a Simondonian perspective Despina Catapoti and Maria Relaki   Practice and record 14. ‘Ode to a treethrow’ and other reflexive thoughts: multivocal engagements at Heathrow airport Catriona Gibson 15.   Project design and implementation: reflections on Framework Michael J. Boyd with Colin Renfrew 16.   From fields of discourse to fields of sensoriality: rethinking the archaeological record Yannis Hamilakis 17. Critical discourse and creative labours: learning and teaching archaeology with John C. Barrett Brian Boyd   Material ecologies and forms of humanness 18. Bio-socio-material entanglements: archaeology and the extended evolutionary synthesis Ian Hodder 19. To love is to nourish: a thermodynamic perspective on practice and perception Roger C.P. Doonan 20. Is the universe sentient? What implications might this have for archaeology? Chris Gosden and Mark PollardPerspective 21. Agency and life Andrew Meirion Jones Index

About the Author :
Michael Boyd is a senior research associate at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge. His main research interests lie in the prehistoric Aegean where he has worked in the Peloponnese and Cyclades. He is co-director of the Keros-Naxos Seaways project, and co-editor of the Keros publications series. He has co-written a book with John Barrett on identity in third-millennium Europe, has published a book on Mycenaean funerary practices, and has co-edited two collected volumes on funerary archaeology, and two volumes on Cycladic sculpture. He has worked widely in Greece, Bulgaria and Albania. Roger Doonan is an archaeologist at Archaeological Research Services Limited, Sheffield. His research interests lie in Eurasian prehistory with an emphasis on craft practice as understood through innovative field methods. He has previously worked for English Heritage and held positions at the Universities of Bournemouth and Sheffield.

Review :
"Far from Equilibrium... is an important constellation of papers by Barrett's colleagues and former students that continues the debate on many of these important issues."-- "American Journal of Archaeology"