Theme:
1. Artefacts, Buildings & Ecofacts
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Archaeological Approaches to Human Perception: Methods and Practice
Content:
Since the emergence of phenomenological approaches in archaeology, there has been a wide appreciation of the epistemological importance of understanding how people perceived their environment, rather than creating disembodied representations of it (often claimed to be ‘objective’). With the advent of material agency and post-phenomenological theories, the understanding of past human perception and how it was influenced by the material world has become even more vital, highlighting the need to develop appropriate methodologies to answer these questions. Methods for studying human perception have evolved in archaeology from the pioneering studies in landscape archaeology, such as viewshed analysis using GIS and the study of site acoustics, to more recent cheriotic approaches and eye-tracking methods. Yet, bearing weight on these approaches is the recognition that, because humans are socialised in different ways, there may not be a clear way to characterise a 'model' of feeling, thinking or doing that pertains to all humans. Consequently, the meaning of how we perceive the world today may not correspond to how people perceived it in the past, i.e. contra 'presentism'. One potential solution, which XSCAPE (ERC-funded project) is trying, is to substitute the “how” of perception as content, for the “how” of perception as a way: what cognitive processing tell us about past and present perceptions and how this is influenced by the material world.
The session aims to discuss methods/techniques used for the study of past human perception, attempting to integrate methodological innovations with more established ones in our discipline. Secondly, we wish to enquire on the limitations of assuming universal models of human perception and how we might be able to address them. We welcome papers that bring forth new perceptual methods for archaeological research and concrete applications in specific case studies, as well as submissions that critically engage with questions about presentism.
Keywords:
Perception, Cognitive Archaeology, Phenomenology, Materiality
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:
Bruno Vindrola-Padrós (Germany) 1
Co-organisers:
Jaime Almansa Sánchez (Spain) 2
Lizzie Scholtus (Germany) 1
Kata Szilágyi (Germany) 1
Johannes Müller (Germany) 1
Affiliations:
1. Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
2. Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
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