Theme:
5. All Roads Lead to Rome: Multiscalar Interactions
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Workers of the Past Unite! Labour studies today: a reflection on the potentialities and limits of the approach
Content:
Studies on labour and energetics are rapidly growing in popularity as a quantitative approach to understanding socio-economics aspects of ancient communities that are not visible in the archaeological record. This popularity is mostly due to its multi-scalar applicability: from a family to a community effort, from the chaîne opèratoire of the artefacts to buildings and cities construction and the manipulation of landscapes, energetics can help in shedding light on processes and people in different research scales.
The scholarly literature, however, is still not set on a comprehensive and shared methodology for this approach. Frequently, researchers have been building up their own theoretical framework and methodology, also because the energetic estimates are highly dependent on single case studies and focus on different perspectives (e.g., the natural resources, the landscape, the demography, etc).
Moreover, critics often highlight that the energetic approach produces estimates rather than absolutes and there is always a plethora of variables in the resulting models. Nevertheless, the growing body of labour cost studies demonstrates that - besides its multiscalarity - this approach can help answer important questions arisen in modern archaeological scholarship, like the visibility of social groups that do not appear using traditional research methods or the relationship between labourers, production and the people who control production.
This session aims to bring together contributions which define the state-of-the-art, the potentiality and the limits of this approach, in order to increase the body of knowledge of labour cost studies and investigate new ways forward. Papers should bring a particular focus on their multiscalarity - from individuals to communities, from production processes to landscape transformations, and so on - and the implications of these studies on the historical and social interpretation of past societies. Case studies from prehistory to medieval times from any geographical area are welcome.
Keywords:
labour studies, energetics, multiscalarity
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:
Francesca Tomei (Italy) 1
Co-organisers:
David Vicenzutto (Italy) 2
Diederik Halbertsma (United Kingdom) 3
Aris Politopoulos (Netherlands) 4
Affiliations:
1. IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca
2. University of Padova
3. University of Liverpool
4. Leiden University
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