Theme:
5. Theories and methods in archaeology: interactions between disciplines
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
CANCELLED: Towards an Archaeological Zoosemiotics? Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Thomas A. Sebeok (1920 – 2001)
Content:
Zoosemiotics is the study of the use of signs among animals and how semiosis – the production of meaning by signs – becomes communication. The field is defined by having as its subject matter all semiotic processes that are shared by both animals and humans. In a broader sense, archaeological zoosemiotics can be understood in the following ways:
- Animal semiosis as a vital component in lived human-animal relationships
- Representations of animals based on a human reading of zoosemiotics
- Joint human-animal semiosis and its expression in material culture and architecture
Thomas A. Sebeok, born in 1920 Budapest, became renowned for his semiotic studies and is considered one of the founding fathers of zoosemiotics. However, his scientific interests were not limited to the field of semiotics. He engaged in multiple fields of research and transdisciplinary collaborations ranging from biology, anthropology and ethnology to linguistics and artificial intelligence. His research in ecology and sign/symbol studies led to the invention of zoosemiotics – a discipline at the interface of humanities and natural sciences. Moreover, his ontological foundation allowed him to create conditions for a global study of signs beyond species boundaries. Methodological approaches based on the concepts introduced or developed by Thomas A. Sebeok include Umwelt, mimicry, animal agency, cross-species communication, entanglement of culture and nature and sign/symbol relations.
The session “Towards an archaeological zoosemiotics?” will commemorate the 100th anniversary of Thomas A. Sebeok’s birth in the city where he was born. In so doing, we strive to acknowledge the impact of Thomas A. Sebeok’s work on archaeological discourse and explore the possibilities for a fruitful interdisciplinarity amalgamation of archaeology and zoosemiotics. How can Thomas A. Sebeok’s zoosemiotical legacy contribute to interdisciplinary studies in archaeology? We invite papers demonstrating the potential of zoosemiotics in the evaluation of archaeological data.
Keywords:
Human-animal relation, Zoosemiotics, Archaeological theory, Sign studies, Non-anthropocentric approach, Multispecies archaeology
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Krzysztof Patalan (Germany) 1
Co-organisers:
Kristin Armstrong Oma (Norway) 2
Affiliations:
1. Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (ZBSA), Schleswig
2. Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger
THIS SESSION CAN NOT BE SELECTED AT THIS MOMENT