Theme:
1. The Material Record: Current Trends and Future Directions
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Pyroachaeology: Fire-Related Engineering, Environment and Cultural Proxies
Content:
Pyroarchaeological research encompasses natural and anthropogenic fire. The latter and its traces are understood as archaeological artefacts. This field relies on a large variety of methods to obtain environmental and behavioral proxies informing us on technology, diet, cultural activities and settlement patterns. Arguably, the most striking fire-related behaviour unique to modern humans is the use of heat to transform the properties of materials, processes which are sometimes termed “engineering” or “transformative techniques”. Beyond this, the analysis of fire-related artefacts and sediments can reveal cultural choices, environmental restrictions and variability, and evolutionary consequences. This session will be open to contributions from multiple disciplines concerned with the study of ancient fire, from the origins of fire use to its application in more complex technological innovations. The session puts special emphasis on the analysis of archaeological materials and experimental approaches, including their cognitive, cultural and social implications. Contributions from geoarchaeology, ethnography and ethnoarchaeology are also welcome. This large-scale approach aims at providing a comprehensive dataset on how fire-related techniques were invented and conducted, discusses new analytical tools and allows us to understand the role of fire in cultural evolution.
Keywords:
Pyrotechnology, Early engineering, Geoarchaeology, Heat treatment, Adhesives, Archaeometry
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:
UISPP - Commission on pyroarchaeology
Main organiser:
Patrick Schmidt (Germany) 1
Co-organisers:
Candice Shaw (Canada) 2
Affiliations:
1. Tübingen University
2. University of Toronto
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