M J Walsh
Biographic Data
| ID | 66233 |
|---|---|
| NAME | M J Walsh |
| GIVEN NAMES | M J |
| FAMILY NAME | Walsh |
| SIGNATURE | WALSH M J |
| AFFILIATIONS | National Museum of Denmark |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0151-4655 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 75 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
The Ties That Bind: Computational, Cross-cultural Analyses of Knots Reveal Their Cultural Evolutionary History and Significance
Integral to the fabric of human technology, knots have shaped survival strategies since their first invention. As the ties that bind, their evolution and diversity have afforded human cultural change and expression. This study examines knotting traditions over time and space. We analyse a sample of 338 knots from 86 ethnographically or archaeologically documented societies over 12 millennia. Utilizing a novel approach that combines knot theory wi…
The cultural macroevolution of lithic technological strategies in Northern and Western North America during the upper Pleistocene and Holocene
A global cross-cultural analysis of string figures reveals evidence of deep transmission and innovation
Few cultural practices beyond language are as widespread as string figure games. Their global distribution and potential to yield insights into cultural transmission and cognition have long been noted. Yet, it remains unknown how or when this behavior originated and to what extent shared motifs are signals of repeated innovations or deep cultural transmission. Here, we combined a global cross-cultural inventory of string figures with a novel meth…
Disparate Ontologies: Revisiting Descola’s Ontological Schema among Northern Societies
Disparate Ontologies? Takes a critical look at Philippe Descola’s four-field anthropological model for ontologies among hunter-gatherer societies. Descola’s model juxtaposes animism, totemism, analogism, and naturalism as reflecting different expressions of interiority and physicality and queries those four ontological concepts as comparative units of analysis. While Descola’s Beyond Nature and Culture (2013) was a ground-breaking exploration of …
Introducing sacrificial values
Herein, the volume editors introduce some of the major themes in the contemporary transdisciplinary study of human sacrifice and value, broadly addressing its scholarly contexts as embedded in anthropology, ethnography and ethnology, archaeology and history of religion studies. Emergent themes are presented as different and diverse aspects of human sacrificial violence, from its very real motifs and motives to its theoretical mechanisms and metap…
Ideas with Histories: Traditional Knowledge Evolves
Anthropologists have long been fascinated by the strikingly similar adaptations of circumpolar cultures as well as their puzzling differences. These patterns of diversity have been mapped, studied, and interpreted from many perspectives and often at different social and spatiotemporal scales. While this work has generated vast archives of legacy data, it has also left behind a fragmented understanding of what underpins Arctic cultural diversity a…
The Bear Trap: Reinvestigation of a Unique Stone Structure on the Northwest Tip of the Nuussuaq Peninsula, Greenland
A dry-stone structure known as the Bear Trap—“Bjørnefælden” in Danish and “Putdlagssuaq” (The Great Trap) in the local Greenlandic Kalaallisut—is a unique and enigmatic feature on the Arctic landscape of the Nuussuaq Peninsula in northwestern Greenland. Despite its suggestive name, the intended function of the Bear Trap has been the subject of scholarly debate since 1740. Here we present new findings on the Bear Trap, update the archaeological co…
Under the Skin: Norwegian Bog Skeletons and Perceptions of Personhood, Value, and Sacrifice
The authors set a relatively small and little-known corpus of human remains recovered from Iron Age wetland contexts in Norway in a wider theoretical framework of sacrifice and personhood. The material studied, fragmentary skeletal remains in wetland contexts, juxtaposed with the better-known bog body tradition of northern Europe, offers a base from which to query constructions and perceptions of personhood. Situating the discussion in a contextu…
Cultural macroevolution in the middle to late Holocene Arctic of east Siberia and north America
The Record of Dogs in Traditional Villages of the Mid-Fraser Canyon, British Columbia: Ethnological and Archaeological Evidence
Children and innovation: Play, Play Objects and Object Play in Cultural Evolution
Agents of Death: Reassessing Social Agency and Gendered Narratives of Human Sacrifice in the Viking Age
This article seeks to approach the famous tenth-century account of the burial of a chieftain of the Rus, narrated by the Arab traveller Ibn Fadlan, in a new light. Placing focus on how gendered expectations have coloured the interpretation and subsequent archaeological use of this source, we argue that a new focus on the social agency of some of the central actors can open up alternative interpretations. Viewing the source in light of theories of…
A multivariate perspective on lithic technological organization at Housepit 54, Bridge River Site (EeRl4), British Columbia
Evolutionary household archaeology: Inter-generational cultural transmission at housepit 54, Bridge River site, British Columbia
Who’s Afraid of the S-word? Deviants’ Burials and Human Sacrifice
Over the last couple of decades, archaeologists interested in studies of ritualized violence have continued to debate the possibility, extent, and possible evidence for human sacrifice in much of t
The Vimoa project and archaeological heritage in the Nuussuaq Peninsula of north-west Greenland
Cultural transmission of Blackfoot ceremonial bundles: A phylogenetic study of bundles from the Scriver Collection
Ceremonial ‘bundles’ are collections of ritual paraphernalia used by peoples across the North American Plains for a variety of ceremonial practices including traditional medicine, divination, and the performance of numerous rituo-religious ceremonies. A range of bundles were used for millennia across the continental west. The ritual functions associated with bundles and their components varied in scope from individual rites to festival-scale cere…
Malthusian cycles among semi-sedentary Fisher-Hunter-Gatherers: The socio-economic and demographic history of Housepit 54, Bridge River site, British Columbia
Human sacrifice and value
A Soul by Any Other Name: The Name-Soul Concept in Circumpolar Perspective
Name-soul beliefs maintain that, through a process of reincarnation, spirits of the deceased return into the bodies of newborn members of the same society. When this is recognized, the newborn or very young child is then named for the previously known ancestor or close kin relation believed to be returning (e.g., a grandfather, or an aunt). Name-soul spiritual beliefs among traditional indigenous societies residing in circumpolar regions are perv…
The Evolution of Material Wealth-Based Inequality: The Record of Housepit 54, Bridge River, British Columbia
The evolution of material wealth-based inequality is an important topic in archaeological research. While a number of explanatory models have been proposed, rarely have they been adequately tested. A significant challenge to testing such models concerns our ability to define distinct, temporally short-term, residential occupations in the archaeological record. Sites often lack evidence for temporally persistent inequality, or, when present, the p…
Evolution of Early Thule Material Culture: Cultural Transmission and Terrestrial Ecology
Mosaic Evolution in Cultural Frameworks: Skateboard Decks and Projectile Points
The Coarse Volcanic Rock Industry at the Río Ibáñez 6 West Site, Chilean Patagonia: Assessing Geogenic Versus Anthropogenic Processes
Prentiss et al. (2015, The Coarse Volcanic Rock Industry at Rio Ibáñez 6 west, Aisén Region, Patagonian Chile. Lithic Technology 40:112–127) described a unique assemblage of bifacial and unifacial tools made from coarse volcanic rock at the Río Ibáñez 6 west site in Chilean Patagonia. The artifacts offer significant implications for interpreting the behavior of late pre-Colonial peoples in this region. Garvey and Mena (2016, Re-Analysis of a rece…
Cultural macroevolution among high latitude hunter–gatherers: A phylogenetic study of the Arctic Small Tool tradition
Children and innovation: Play, Play Objects and Object Play in Cultural Evolution
The Evolution of Material Wealth-Based Inequality: The Record of Housepit 54, Bridge River, British Columbia
The evolution of material wealth-based inequality is an important topic in archaeological research. While a number of explanatory models have been proposed, rarely have they been adequately tested. A significant challenge to testing such models concerns our ability to define distinct, temporally short-term, residential occupations in the archaeological record. Sites often lack evidence for temporally persistent inequality, or, when present, the p…
Cultural macroevolution among high latitude hunter–gatherers: A phylogenetic study of the Arctic Small Tool tradition
Malthusian cycles among semi-sedentary Fisher-Hunter-Gatherers: The socio-economic and demographic history of Housepit 54, Bridge River site, British Columbia
Cultural macroevolution in the Pacific Northwest: A phylogenetic test of the diversification and decimation model
The Coarse Volcanic Rock Industry at Rio Ibáñez 6 West, Aisén Region, Patagonian Chile
Excavations at the stratified rockshelter, Rio Ibáñez 6 west (RI-6 west), located in west-central Patagonia, uncovered a previously unrecognized lithic industry featuring the production of a range of tools from coarse volcanic rock actually derived from the wall of the shelter. Tool forms from this material at RI-6 west include a variety of bifaces, projectile points, picks, knives, and wedges. This paper will present a description of the industr…
Cultural macroevolution in the middle to late Holocene Arctic of east Siberia and north America
Agents of Death: Reassessing Social Agency and Gendered Narratives of Human Sacrifice in the Viking Age
This article seeks to approach the famous tenth-century account of the burial of a chieftain of the Rus, narrated by the Arab traveller Ibn Fadlan, in a new light. Placing focus on how gendered expectations have coloured the interpretation and subsequent archaeological use of this source, we argue that a new focus on the social agency of some of the central actors can open up alternative interpretations. Viewing the source in light of theories of…
Who’s Afraid of the S-word? Deviants’ Burials and Human Sacrifice
Over the last couple of decades, archaeologists interested in studies of ritualized violence have continued to debate the possibility, extent, and possible evidence for human sacrifice in much of t
A global cross-cultural analysis of string figures reveals evidence of deep transmission and innovation
Few cultural practices beyond language are as widespread as string figure games. Their global distribution and potential to yield insights into cultural transmission and cognition have long been noted. Yet, it remains unknown how or when this behavior originated and to what extent shared motifs are signals of repeated innovations or deep cultural transmission. Here, we combined a global cross-cultural inventory of string figures with a novel meth…
Evolutionary household archaeology: Inter-generational cultural transmission at housepit 54, Bridge River site, British Columbia
Cultural transmission of Blackfoot ceremonial bundles: A phylogenetic study of bundles from the Scriver Collection
Ceremonial ‘bundles’ are collections of ritual paraphernalia used by peoples across the North American Plains for a variety of ceremonial practices including traditional medicine, divination, and the performance of numerous rituo-religious ceremonies. A range of bundles were used for millennia across the continental west. The ritual functions associated with bundles and their components varied in scope from individual rites to festival-scale cere…
A Soul by Any Other Name: The Name-Soul Concept in Circumpolar Perspective
Name-soul beliefs maintain that, through a process of reincarnation, spirits of the deceased return into the bodies of newborn members of the same society. When this is recognized, the newborn or very young child is then named for the previously known ancestor or close kin relation believed to be returning (e.g., a grandfather, or an aunt). Name-soul spiritual beliefs among traditional indigenous societies residing in circumpolar regions are perv…
The Coarse Volcanic Rock Industry at the Río Ibáñez 6 West Site, Chilean Patagonia: Assessing Geogenic Versus Anthropogenic Processes
Prentiss et al. (2015, The Coarse Volcanic Rock Industry at Rio Ibáñez 6 west, Aisén Region, Patagonian Chile. Lithic Technology 40:112–127) described a unique assemblage of bifacial and unifacial tools made from coarse volcanic rock at the Río Ibáñez 6 west site in Chilean Patagonia. The artifacts offer significant implications for interpreting the behavior of late pre-Colonial peoples in this region. Garvey and Mena (2016, Re-Analysis of a rece…
Cultural macroevolution in the Pacific Northwest: A phylogenetic test of the diversification and decimation model
Cultural macroevolution among high latitude hunter–gatherers: A phylogenetic study of the Arctic Small Tool tradition
The Coarse Volcanic Rock Industry at Rio Ibáñez 6 West, Aisén Region, Patagonian Chile
Excavations at the stratified rockshelter, Rio Ibáñez 6 west (RI-6 west), located in west-central Patagonia, uncovered a previously unrecognized lithic industry featuring the production of a range of tools from coarse volcanic rock actually derived from the wall of the shelter. Tool forms from this material at RI-6 west include a variety of bifaces, projectile points, picks, knives, and wedges. This paper will present a description of the industr…
Mosaic Evolution in Cultural Frameworks: Skateboard Decks and Projectile Points
The Coarse Volcanic Rock Industry at the Río Ibáñez 6 West Site, Chilean Patagonia: Assessing Geogenic Versus Anthropogenic Processes
Prentiss et al. (2015, The Coarse Volcanic Rock Industry at Rio Ibáñez 6 west, Aisén Region, Patagonian Chile. Lithic Technology 40:112–127) described a unique assemblage of bifacial and unifacial tools made from coarse volcanic rock at the Río Ibáñez 6 west site in Chilean Patagonia. The artifacts offer significant implications for interpreting the behavior of late pre-Colonial peoples in this region. Garvey and Mena (2016, Re-Analysis of a rece…
Evolution of Early Thule Material Culture: Cultural Transmission and Terrestrial Ecology
A Soul by Any Other Name: The Name-Soul Concept in Circumpolar Perspective
Name-soul beliefs maintain that, through a process of reincarnation, spirits of the deceased return into the bodies of newborn members of the same society. When this is recognized, the newborn or very young child is then named for the previously known ancestor or close kin relation believed to be returning (e.g., a grandfather, or an aunt). Name-soul spiritual beliefs among traditional indigenous societies residing in circumpolar regions are perv…
The Evolution of Material Wealth-Based Inequality: The Record of Housepit 54, Bridge River, British Columbia
The evolution of material wealth-based inequality is an important topic in archaeological research. While a number of explanatory models have been proposed, rarely have they been adequately tested. A significant challenge to testing such models concerns our ability to define distinct, temporally short-term, residential occupations in the archaeological record. Sites often lack evidence for temporally persistent inequality, or, when present, the p…
Human sacrifice and value
A multivariate perspective on lithic technological organization at Housepit 54, Bridge River Site (EeRl4), British Columbia
Evolutionary household archaeology: Inter-generational cultural transmission at housepit 54, Bridge River site, British Columbia
Who’s Afraid of the S-word? Deviants’ Burials and Human Sacrifice
Over the last couple of decades, archaeologists interested in studies of ritualized violence have continued to debate the possibility, extent, and possible evidence for human sacrifice in much of t
The Vimoa project and archaeological heritage in the Nuussuaq Peninsula of north-west Greenland
Cultural transmission of Blackfoot ceremonial bundles: A phylogenetic study of bundles from the Scriver Collection
Ceremonial ‘bundles’ are collections of ritual paraphernalia used by peoples across the North American Plains for a variety of ceremonial practices including traditional medicine, divination, and the performance of numerous rituo-religious ceremonies. A range of bundles were used for millennia across the continental west. The ritual functions associated with bundles and their components varied in scope from individual rites to festival-scale cere…
Malthusian cycles among semi-sedentary Fisher-Hunter-Gatherers: The socio-economic and demographic history of Housepit 54, Bridge River site, British Columbia
The Record of Dogs in Traditional Villages of the Mid-Fraser Canyon, British Columbia: Ethnological and Archaeological Evidence
Children and innovation: Play, Play Objects and Object Play in Cultural Evolution
Agents of Death: Reassessing Social Agency and Gendered Narratives of Human Sacrifice in the Viking Age
This article seeks to approach the famous tenth-century account of the burial of a chieftain of the Rus, narrated by the Arab traveller Ibn Fadlan, in a new light. Placing focus on how gendered expectations have coloured the interpretation and subsequent archaeological use of this source, we argue that a new focus on the social agency of some of the central actors can open up alternative interpretations. Viewing the source in light of theories of…
Under the Skin: Norwegian Bog Skeletons and Perceptions of Personhood, Value, and Sacrifice
The authors set a relatively small and little-known corpus of human remains recovered from Iron Age wetland contexts in Norway in a wider theoretical framework of sacrifice and personhood. The material studied, fragmentary skeletal remains in wetland contexts, juxtaposed with the better-known bog body tradition of northern Europe, offers a base from which to query constructions and perceptions of personhood. Situating the discussion in a contextu…
Cultural macroevolution in the middle to late Holocene Arctic of east Siberia and north America
Disparate Ontologies: Revisiting Descola’s Ontological Schema among Northern Societies
Disparate Ontologies? Takes a critical look at Philippe Descola’s four-field anthropological model for ontologies among hunter-gatherer societies. Descola’s model juxtaposes animism, totemism, analogism, and naturalism as reflecting different expressions of interiority and physicality and queries those four ontological concepts as comparative units of analysis. While Descola’s Beyond Nature and Culture (2013) was a ground-breaking exploration of …
Introducing sacrificial values
Herein, the volume editors introduce some of the major themes in the contemporary transdisciplinary study of human sacrifice and value, broadly addressing its scholarly contexts as embedded in anthropology, ethnography and ethnology, archaeology and history of religion studies. Emergent themes are presented as different and diverse aspects of human sacrificial violence, from its very real motifs and motives to its theoretical mechanisms and metap…
Ideas with Histories: Traditional Knowledge Evolves
Anthropologists have long been fascinated by the strikingly similar adaptations of circumpolar cultures as well as their puzzling differences. These patterns of diversity have been mapped, studied, and interpreted from many perspectives and often at different social and spatiotemporal scales. While this work has generated vast archives of legacy data, it has also left behind a fragmented understanding of what underpins Arctic cultural diversity a…
The Bear Trap: Reinvestigation of a Unique Stone Structure on the Northwest Tip of the Nuussuaq Peninsula, Greenland
A dry-stone structure known as the Bear Trap—“Bjørnefælden” in Danish and “Putdlagssuaq” (The Great Trap) in the local Greenlandic Kalaallisut—is a unique and enigmatic feature on the Arctic landscape of the Nuussuaq Peninsula in northwestern Greenland. Despite its suggestive name, the intended function of the Bear Trap has been the subject of scholarly debate since 1740. Here we present new findings on the Bear Trap, update the archaeological co…
A global cross-cultural analysis of string figures reveals evidence of deep transmission and innovation
Few cultural practices beyond language are as widespread as string figure games. Their global distribution and potential to yield insights into cultural transmission and cognition have long been noted. Yet, it remains unknown how or when this behavior originated and to what extent shared motifs are signals of repeated innovations or deep cultural transmission. Here, we combined a global cross-cultural inventory of string figures with a novel meth…
Archaeology (21 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (18 works) · History (17 works) · Geography (16 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Anthropology (9 works) · Language and cultural evolution (8 works) · Biology (7 works) · Epistemology (7 works)