Material Culture, Behavior, and Identity
The Human Body as Experiential Nexus
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12911554 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Piprani (0000-0001-5293-3038, Department of Archaeology, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 325-335 |
| Publication date | 2011-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Time and Mind (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1751-696X • E-ISSN: 1751-6978 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.2752/175169711x13046099195591 |
| OpenAlex | W2323061924 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 27 |
It has been argued that when examining hunter-gatherer archaeology from the millennial past, objects recovered may not make sense to us within our own modern materialist and sedentary context. In response this note makes a close examination of a particular human lion figurine and situates the discussion within its Aurignacian (c.32,000 BP) archaeological context. Examining the components of this figurine in relation to archaeological evidence of behavioral adaptation suggests that modern categories of human, animal, and material culture obfuscate how humans entering Europe modeled their predatory adaptation on that of an established felid (animal of the cat family) population. This adaptation was behavioral and the figurine under discussion reflects a preoccupation with felids in association with the human body. Ethnographic evidence shows how modeling patterns of animal movement and behavior changes how humans experience the world, no longer human or animal but a complex of human-animal experiences and behaviors. More appropriate may be to describe the figurine as a material expression of "cyborgian" felid identity. This recognizes an Aurignacian preoccupation with the human body as reflecting its importance as experiential nexus through which behavioral identities were lived. Material culture then is an archaeologically recoverable expression of lived behavioral identity.Keywords: Aurignacianlöwenmenschcyborgianfelidbodies
Adaptation (eye · Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Aurignacian · Cave · Context (archaeology · Ethnology · Experiential learning · Expression (computer science · Identity (music · Nexus (standard · Sociology · Anthropology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · History · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Psychology · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
European vegetation during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage-3
Changes in the Thermal Climate in Northwestern Europe during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3, Estimated from Fossil Insect assemblages
The Climate and Landscape of the Middle Part of the Weichselian Glaciation in Europe
Palaeolithic ivory sculptures from southwestern Germany and the origins of figurative art
Feminism/Postmodernism
Special objects – special creatures
Hominid Individual in Context
Thinking About ‘Style’ in the ‘Post‐stylistic Era’
A Very Model of a Modern Human Industry
An Archaeology of Materials
The ecology and adaptation of Neanderthals during the non-analogue environment of Oxygen Isotope Stage 3
Radiocarbon dating the appearance of modern humans and timing of cultural innovations in Europe
The first modern humans in Europe? A closer look at the dating evidence from the Swabian Jura (Germany)
Beyond Art
Key Debates in Anthropology
A thousand plateaus
Palaeolithic Art as Cultural Memory
Early Upper Paleolithic Approaches to Bone and Antler Projectile Technology
Human Evolution. An Illustrated Introduction
From carcass to cave
Bear Ceremonialism in the Northern Hemisphere
Not Animal, Notnot-animal
Becoming deer. Corporeal transformations at Star Carr
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |