Analogy in Archaeological Interpretation

Ascher, Robert

doi:10.1086/soutjanth.17.4.3628943

Cited by 219 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…A direct historical link between contemporary mobile groups of South Asia and those of the archaeological record should not be assumed. Instead, ethnography can lend insight into practices shaped by the geographical and environmental context, which shares some similarities between past and present (Ascher 1961). Although there are difficulties in using ethnographic analogy (Gould and Watson 1982;Yellen and Harpending 1972), it remains a critically useful tool.…”

Section: Ethnographic Analogiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobility, Economic Strategies, and Social Networks: Investigating Movement in the Mewar Plain of Rajasthan

Raczek¹

2011

asi

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Mobility is an important part of life for those who practice a variety of economic strategies including foraging, pastoralism, craft production, service provision, and performance. Studies of mobility can contribute to broader understandings of social networks, community formation, and social identity in South Asia during the first few millennia b.c ., a time of early social complexity. Previous ethnographic and archaeological research in the region shows a range of ways that mobile people form relationships with those who are more settled. In contrast to research that studies mobile people through the lens of sedentism, this study examines mobility directly, by focusing on the direction, range, and patterns of movement of the people who inhabited the site of Bagor (c. 5500 b.c. – a.d . 200) in Rajasthan, India. For much of its occupation, Bagor was used as a temporary camp by people with a high degree of mobility and a broad range of subsistence strategies. Although the links between Bagor and nearby permanent settlements have been clearly demonstrated, the direction, extent, and range of their movements during different time periods was previously unknown. This study examines the lithic raw materials from the 2001 re-excavations conducted by Deccan College (Pune) and pairs those results with a new survey of stone material sources in the region. Visual raw material analysis of the Bagor lithics indicate that local materials outnumber non-local materials and that approximately one-third of the Bagor chert artifacts may have come from regions to the south and southeast. In later time periods the use of non-local materials declines, which may reflect corresponding shifts in mobility. A comparison of the raw material distribution with the artifacts from Gilund, a contemporary sedentary settlement, shows a difference between their uses of raw material. Gilund utilized more local materials, and fewer non-local materials than Bagor.

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Section: Ethnographic Analogiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobility, Economic Strategies, and Social Networks: Investigating Movement in the Mewar Plain of Rajasthan

Raczek¹

2011

asi

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“…Methods of relating ethnology to archaeology are as old as anthropology itself (see e.g. Sollas, 1911; Steward, 1942; Thompson, 1958; Ascher, 1961; Chang, 1967; Binford, 1967; Lee and DeVore, 1968; Dozier, 1970), but very few attempts have been made to "connect" historic Canadian Arctic cultures with ancestral ones. Freeman's interrogatory about the importance of bowhead whales to Thule subsistence focuses our attention anew on problems inherent in archaeological-ethnological interpretation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Nature of Thule Eskimo Whale Use

McCartney¹

1980

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. Archaeologists for the past half century have considered bowhead whding to be an important and integral part of Thule Eskimo subsistence. This position has come into question recently. Arguments are set forth favoring the predominant archaeological view that bowheads were hunted and extensively used during the period A.D. 1000-1300 in much of the Canadian Arctic. Direct, indirect, and circumstantial evidence is outlined, ranging from the presence of whaling gear and graphic whaling depictions to arguments of resource maximization and ample storage capacity at Thule winter sites. Differences in interpreting the Thule record appear to reflect different methodological approaches of ethnologists and archaeologists.

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“…There were a few notable exceptions in psychology (Asch, 1955, Nash, 1963 in archaeology (Ascher, 1961) in paleontology (Gould, 1977), in biology and general systems theory (Bertalanffy,1963), in ethology (Lorenz, 1974), in physics (Oppenheimer, 1956) and in numerous other fields. Research in the humanities already had a massive literature on both analogy and metaphor (e.g., Shibles, 1971).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Access Paradox in Analogical Reasoning and Transfer: Whither Invariance?

Haskell¹

2008

THS

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Despite the burgeoning research in recent years on what is called analogical reasoning and transfer, the problem of how invariant or similarity relations are fundamentally accessed is typically either unrecognized, or ignored in computational cognitive science and artificial intelligence. This problematic is not a new one, being outlined by the epistemological learning paradox found in Plato's Meno. In order to understand the analogical-access problematic, it is suggested that the concept of analogical reasoning needs to be reconceptualized as a subset of a higher order domain including the lexical concept metaphor, isomorphic relation in mathematics, the concept of homology in biology, stimulus generalization in psychology, transfer of learning in education, and transposition phenomena in perception, as all share the problem of how invariance relations are generated and accessed. A solution is suggested based on two specific evolutionary and neurological models, coupled with findings regarding the cognitive importance of knowledge-base. The paper constitutes a reciprocal complementarity theory to a previous paper on metaphor, suggesting the neurological origins and a reconceptualization of what are commonly called analogical and metaphorical reasoning. The paper also introduces a higher order form of analogical reasoning called analogical progression. Implications for research on analogical reasoning are discussed indicating the need for a paradigm shift in analogical reasoning research. The paper concludes with a four-stage model of analogical access.Analogy, and its sister concept metaphor, has disenjoyed a long and controversial history. Indeed, the history and analysis of analogy and metaphor have been traced by authors in virtually every discipline:

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Analogy in Archaeological Interpretation

Cited by 219 publications

References 6 publications

Mobility, Economic Strategies, and Social Networks: Investigating Movement in the Mewar Plain of Rajasthan

Mobility, Economic Strategies, and Social Networks: Investigating Movement in the Mewar Plain of Rajasthan

The Nature of Thule Eskimo Whale Use

The Access Paradox in Analogical Reasoning and Transfer: Whither Invariance?

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