Browse by Subject: Anthropology and Archaeology

The Rosewood Massacre investigates the 1923 massacre that devastated the predominantly African American community of Rosewood, Florida. The town was burned to the ground by neighboring whites, and its citizens fled for their lives. None of the perpetrators were convicted. Very little documentation of the event and the ensuing court hearings survives today.

Bringing together high-profile cultural heritage sites from around the world, this volume shows how the term heritage has been used or understood by different groups of people over time. For some, the term has meant a celebration of a particular culture and history or the promotion of accessibility, tolerance, and inclusivity. But for others it has been connected with cultural privilege, social exclusion, or exploitation via the tourism industry.

This book explores the sociopolitical contexts of heritage landscapes, paying special attention to sites with deep Indigenous histories—Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and the Burrup Peninsula along the Pilbara Coast in Australia, the Altai Mountains of northwestern Mongolia, and Prince William Sound in Alaska. For many communities, landscapes such as these have long been associated with cultural identity and memories of important and difficult events, as well as political struggles related to nation-state boundaries, sovereignty, and knowledge claims. 

Packed with archaeological and historical evidence from both land and underwater sites, impressive in geographical scope, and featuring perspectives of scholars from many different countries and traditions, these volumes illuminate the often misunderstood nature of early colonialism in Asia-Pacific.

Packed with archaeological and historical evidence from both land and underwater sites, impressive in geographical scope, and featuring perspectives of scholars from many different countries and traditions, these volumes illuminate the often misunderstood nature of early colonialism in Asia-Pacific.

This volume is a much-needed update on recent archaeological and art historical work being done at Chichen Itza, offering new ways of understanding the site and its role in the Yucatan landscape.

Utopian and intentional communities have dotted the American landscape since the colonial era, yet only in recent decades have archaeologists begun analyzing the material culture left behind by these groups. The case studies in this volume use archaeological evidence to reveal how these communities upheld their societal ideals—and how some diverged from them in everyday life.

Eberl emphasizes that individual decision-making—the ability to imagine alternate worlds and to act on that vision—plays a large role in changing social structure over time. Pinpointing where and when these Maya inventions emerged, how individuals adopted them and why, War Owl Falling connects technological and social change in a novel way.

Established by a black community in the eighteenth century during British colonization of the Bahamas, the Northern Burial Ground of St. Matthew’s Parish was an important expression of the group’s African cultural identity. Analyzing the landscape and artifacts found at the site, Grace Turner shows how the community used this separate space to maintain a sense of social belonging despite the power of white planters and the colonial government.