A few examples of archaeological approaches to the beaver (Castor fiber L.) are given. A main source of inspiration is The Coles’ extensive archaeological record material and research on the beaver in Britain’s past, on which they established the beaver as a significant agent in prehistory. A small number of various south Scandinavian Mesolithic locales are focused. For comparison and contrast, records and interpretations from other disciplines are included. The bottom line of the paper is that Scandinavian archaeology has an unexplored potential in studies of beaver materialities. This concerns approaches to beavers’ connections with humans in social formations. It also concerns inclusion of the beaver and its materialities in landscape and environmental archaeology, as well as in cultural heritage and in historical and contemporary archaeology.
2008. Nowadays, one would probably have called this chapter, 'Archaeology in the Neoliberal Age', as the impact of the Bologna process on the curricula of archaeology in the German-speaking regions is discussed, with its new emphasis on employability of archaeology students in relation to the aims of the academic discipline, ending with a rather bleak discussion of the difficulties of archaeologists in the job market.Eggert's textbook was, at the time of its publication, a highly valuable tool to systematize the way in which prehistoric archaeology was taught and practiced in the German-speaking countries. It did fill a gap, but at the same time suffered from a too strong orientation towards its predecessor, Eggers' long-outdated introductory book from 1959. Without such a strong emphasis on research history, the categories of archaeological materials, typology, and even the outdated discussion on historical vs. scientific dating, there might have been more room to fill a number of glaring gaps, such as a more extensive discussion of the role of archaeological sciences, beyond radiocarbon dating, or a broader discussion of (then) current theoretical debates. A more critical evaluation of other fundamental premises of archaeological reasoning, for example from a gender or postcolonial perspective is largely missing-at least, one could argue, from the later editions. Source criticism-What can we actually say?-gets a lot of space, often stifling student`s curiosity and creativity, as the answer offered by this text is largely negative. A critical evaluation not only of our material, but also our own conceptual biases and a discussion of alternatives would probably have been a good opportunity to motivate students to ask more probing questions and search for their own ways of making sense of the past.
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