In the Eye of the Beholder
Using Microscopic Analysis in the Interpretation of Tuniit (Dorset Paleo-Inuit) Art
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2620366 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matilda I Siebrecht, Matilda Siebrecht (0009-0003-7284-2688, University of Groningen), Sean P A Desjardin (0000-0002-9688-9216, Canadian Museum of Nature), Sean P A Desjardins |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 39-56 |
| Publication date | 2023-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Arctic Anthropology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0066-6939 • E-ISSN: 1933-8139 |
| Publisher | University of Wisconsin Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.3368/aa.59.1.39 |
| OpenAlex | W4386636701 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 19 |
How archaeologists classify and categorise artefacts has the potential to direct and bias interpretations before analysis has taken place. A clear example of this phenomenon in Arctic archaeology is the analysis of material culture classified as “art” attributed to premodern Tuniit peoples (Late Dorset Paleo-Inuit, ca. AD 800 - 1300). Often, analyses of Tuniit art pieces are restricted by the use of customary typologies that can impose modern assumptions of how Tuniit groups would have perceived their material culture. In this study, we address this problem by focusing not on the meaning embodied in the finished objects, but on the identification of decision-making patterns of the object carvers and users, as reflected through microscopic traces of manufacture and use. We argue that through such trace-focused observation, certain newly-observed patterns may suggest greater diversity in decision-making processes (with regard to manufacture and use) than would be suggested by traditional typological grouping alone. This work has wide-ranging implications for how Arctic archaeologists approach artefact classification and typological organisation
Archaeology · Arctic · Artifact (error · Assemblage (archaeology · Categorization · Cultural artifact · Diversity (politics · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Identification (biology · Linguistics · Meaning (existential · Object (grammar · Sociology · TRACE (psycholinguistics) · Anthropology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Ecology · Geology · History · Philosophy · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
Art And Agency
The Distinction between Art and Craft
Technological Choices
Paleoeskimo Occupations of Central and High Arctic Canada
Dorset Harpoon Endblade Hafting and Early Metal Use in the North American Arctic
Use-Trace Epistemology and the Logic of Inference
An application of micro-wear analysis to bone experimentally worked using bronze tools
Uncovering their tracks
The Oxford Handbook of The Prehistoric Arctic
Art’ in Archaeology and Anthropology
Ontology, Ethnography, Archaeology
The Concept of Art as Archaeologically Applicable
Lapidary production in the eastern Caribbean
A Change of Subject
Are Emic Types Relevant to Archaeology
How Animals Create Human History
Paleoeskimo Occupation History of Foxe Basin, Arctic Canada
Use Wear on Bone and Antler Tools from the Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories
The Dorset Culture of the Eastern Arctic
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |