From Masada to the Little Bighorn
The role of archaeological site interpretation in the shaping of national myths
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20499546 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Neil Asher Silberman (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1999 |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| Pages | 9-15 |
| Publication date | 1999-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1350-5033 • E-ISSN: 1753-5522 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1179/135050399793138699 |
| OpenAlex | W2111812514 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 12 |
This paper describes the changing commemoration, political meaning and archaeological presentation of Masada and the Little Bighorn National Battlefield in an attempt to understand the role that each has played in the crystallization of national consciousness. In examining official efforts to preserve the site of ‘Custer's Last Stand’ – from its establishment as a US military cemetery in the late nineteenth century through recent archaeological exploration by the National Park Service – the paper analyses the theme of heroic death of ‘the few against the many’ as symbolic legitimation of frontier conquest. In tracing the history of the commemoration of Masada – from its initial identification by Edward Robinson in 1838, through its adoption as a Zionist symbol in the 1930s, to the large-scale excavations of the 1960s – the paper discusses archaeological attempts to verify Josephus' account of the mass suicide of the Jewish rebels and the site's use as a symbolic legitimation of territorial sovereignty. Finally, changes in the ‘official’ interpretations of the two sites (and emergence of dissenting viewpoints) are placed in political and intellectual context. This cross-cultural comparison is the basis for general observations on the role of archaeology, patriotic mythology and tourism in the development of modern nation states
Archaeology · Ethnology · Frontier · German · Historic site · Josephus · Judaism · Legitimation · Militarism · Mythology · National consciousness · Nazism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Archaeological Research and Protection · Classics · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.15 |
| Citation span | 2000 - 2016 (17) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |