Books by Joshua Englehardt
Agency in Ancient Writing
"Individual agents are frequently evident in early writing and notational systems, yet these syst... more "Individual agents are frequently evident in early writing and notational systems, yet these systems have rarely been subjected to the concept of agency as it is traceable in archeology. Agency in Ancient Writing addresses this oversight, allowing archeologists to identify and discuss real, observable actors and actions in the archaeological record.
Embracing myriad ways in which agency can be interpreted, ancient writing systems from Mesoamerica, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete, China, and Greece are examined from a textual perspective as both archaeological objects and nascent historical documents. This allows for distinction among intentions, consequences, meanings, and motivations, increasing understanding and aiding interpretation of the subjectivity of social actors. Chapters focusing on acts of writing and public recitation overlap with those addressing the materiality of texts, interweaving archaeology, epigraphy, and the study of visual symbol systems.
Agency in Ancient Writing leads to a more thorough and meaningful discussion of agency as an archaeological concept and will be of interest to anyone interested in ancient texts, including archaeologists, historians, linguists, epigraphers, and art historians, as well as scholars studying agency and structuration theory."
Heredia Espinoza, Verenice Y., Joshua D. Englehardt, and Héctor Cardona Machado (Eds.). Nuevos En... more Heredia Espinoza, Verenice Y., Joshua D. Englehardt, and Héctor Cardona Machado (Eds.). Nuevos Enfoques en la Arqueología de la Región de Tequila. El Colegio de Michoacán, Zamora.
El presente volumen, Diálogos sobre la relación entre arqueología, antropología e historia, exami... more El presente volumen, Diálogos sobre la relación entre arqueología, antropología e historia, examina de manera crítica las relaciones—a menudo nebulosas y confusas—que existen entre las disciplinas de la arqueología, la antropología, y la historia. Los capítulos, escritos por historiadores, arqueólogos, antropólogos, y estudiantes de estas disciplinas, tratan de estas relaciones y cuestionan el desarrollo histórico y el futuro de estas disciplinas, tanto en México así como en otros partes del mundo. De esta manera, el volumen da voz a los estudiantes y jóvenes profesionales, ya que serán ellos quienes definen y conforman nuestras disciplinas en el futuro. El volumen destaca la necesidad de abrir espacios críticos de dialogo entre disciplinas afines, para entender la historia y relevancia actual de nuestros campos de estudio, para crear investigaciones más interdisciplinarias y sobresalientes, para formar investigadores más fuertes, y para asegurar el desarrollo sostenible de nuestras disciplinas en el futuro.
These "Thin Partitions" explores the intellectual and methodological differences that separate tw... more These "Thin Partitions" explores the intellectual and methodological differences that separate two of the four subdisciplines within the field of anthropology: archaeology and cultural anthropology. Contributors examine the theoretical underpinnings of this separation and explore what can be gained by joining them, both in university departments and in field research.
In case studies highlighting the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration, contributors argue that anthropologists and archaeologists are simply not “speaking the same language” and that the division between fields undermines the field of anthropology as a whole. Scholars must bridge this gap and find ways to engage in interdisciplinary collaboration to promote the health of the anthropological discipline. By sharing data, methods, and ideas, archaeology and cultural anthropology can not only engage in more productive debates but also make research accessible to those outside academia.
These "Thin Partitions" gets to the heart of a well-known problem in the field of anthropology and contributes to the ongoing debate by providing concrete examples of how interdisciplinary collaboration can enhance the outcomes of anthropological research.
This research explores the development of the Maya writing system in Middle–Late Formative and Ea... more This research explores the development of the Maya writing system in Middle–Late Formative and Early Classic period (700 BC–AD 450) Mesoamerica. It seeks to correlate script development with interregional interaction and diachronic changes in material culture, and proposes a new methodological template for examining script development via material remains. In doing so, it contributes to anthropological debate regarding the role and effects of interregional interaction in processes of development and change of material and symbolic culture. This investigation posits that Maya writing developed in late Middle Formative through Early Classic period Mesoamerica as a correlate of interregional sociopolitical and economic interaction. Scholars working in many areas of the world have long claimed that interaction is central to cultural innovation, especially in relation to the development of writing. If the emergence of the Maya script is a correlate of systemic interaction, then its developmental process should be traceable archaeologically through artifactual evidence. This hypothesis is tested by exploring archaeological indicators of interaction against a backdrop of previously documented transformations in the emerging Mayan script. The methodological model proposed here builds on current models of the development of Mesoamerican writing systems and models of interregional interaction and cultural development to associate archaeological remains with the development of the Mayan script.
Papers by Joshua Englehardt
The Tenaxpi Egg: Ecology, Representation, and Conceptual Convergence in Olmec Art
The 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2021
Ancient West Mexicos
University Press of Florida eBooks, Apr 4, 2020
This introductory chapter provides a brief history of research on ancient west Mexico and outline... more This introductory chapter provides a brief history of research on ancient west Mexico and outlines traditional archaeological conceptions of the region as exotic, unique, or “other.” It also provides a preliminary definition and spatial delimitation of the vast area known as “the west,” and a short discussion of regional chronology. In doing so, it contextualizes the constituent chapters of the volume within broader archaeological debates regarding the nature of pre-Hispanic societies in west Mexico and their role in larger, pan-Mesoamerican sociocultural processes. Like the volume itself, the introduction highlights the spatial, temporal, and cultural diversity evident throughout the region’s history. Finally, the introduction provides brief summaries of the chapters that comprise the volume, foregrounding the dialogue among the contributions and foreshadowing the synthesis presented in the conclusions, thus aiding in binding a diverse collection into a coherent whole.
Agroecological Heritage: Elucidating the Place of Cycads in Indigenous Mesoamerican Epistemologies
Springer eBooks, 2021
The Archaeology of Cycad Use in Ancient Mesoamerica
Under the Shade of Thipaak
Tequila (and Mezcal)
Distilled
Architectural Discourse and Sociocultural Structure at Los Guachimontones, Jalisco
Ancient West Mexicos
<p>Despite the importance of Los Guachimontones within the larger Teuchitlán tradition of a... more <p>Despite the importance of Los Guachimontones within the larger Teuchitlán tradition of ancient west Mexico, little is known of its socio-political organization and underlying sociocultural structure. Departing from a dual–processual framework and utilizing spatial analysis, this chapter analyzes variability in the spatial syntax, formal characteristics, and distribution of architectural groups in the nuclear core and Loma Alta sectors of the site. Variability, in terms of differing degrees of openness and/or connectivity, suggests distinct functions of discrete areas within the site, and demonstrates how the socio–structural organization of the groups that occupied Los Guachimontones was negotiated, reflected, and reified in the built environment. Results of a comparison of architecture in these site sectors suggests that discrete physical spaces were utilized in diverse manners as architectural discourse to communicate distinct messages to different social groups, even when the built environment of these sectors presents a high degree of formal homogeneity and contains the same architectonic elements. This chapter thus adds a new analytic axis and alternate framework that provides insight on both architectural variability at Los Guachimontones and the social structures that gave rise to these architectonic configurations.</p>
Transformation of the Gods: Symmetry and the Construction of Mesoamerican Deity Systems in the Middle Formative
Ancient West Mexicos: Time, Space, and Diversity
Englehardt, Joshua D., Verenice Y. Heredia Espinoza, and Christopher S. Beekman (Eds.). Ancient W... more Englehardt, Joshua D., Verenice Y. Heredia Espinoza, and Christopher S. Beekman (Eds.). Ancient West Mexicos: Time, Space, and Diversity. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
Tecnologias digitales han mejorado la documentacion arqueologica y la investigacion. Del mismo mo... more Tecnologias digitales han mejorado la documentacion arqueologica y la investigacion. Del mismo modo, los nuevos medios y tecnicas de visualizacion han aumentado la profundidad y el alcance del metodo de distribucion de informacion arqueologica y han planteado cuestiones eticas y filosoficas acerca de la autenticidad, la representacion, la reproducibilidad, la conservacion, y la educacion que impactan la politica, las partes interesadas, y el conocimiento popular. Exploramos como las nuevas tecnologias son y pueden ser usados en la difusion y la presentacion del objeto arqueologico a un publico mas amplio, ademas de como estas nuevas formas de representacion impactan a la investigacion arqueologica, ya que estas representaciones se convierten en la matriz a traves de que se construyen nuevas preguntas y modelos. Asi, se investiga cuestiones asociadas con la representacion y poder simbolico exploradas por Baudrillard, Benjamin, y Deleuze (entre otros), asi como las dilemas eticas prov...
The Mediated Image: Reflections on Semasiographic Notation in the ancient americas 21 -Margaret A... more The Mediated Image: Reflections on Semasiographic Notation in the ancient americas 21 -Margaret A. Jackson 2. Bureaucratic Backlashes: Bureaucrats as agents of socioeconomic Change in Proto-Historic Mesopotamia 45 -Clemens Reichel vi Contents 3. are Writing systems intelligently designed? 71 -Adam D. Smith 4. agency in death: early egyptian Writing from Mortuary Contexts 95 -Laurel Bestock Part II: The Material Agency of Early Writing and Incipient Scripts 5. reembodying identity: seals and seal impressions as agents of social Change on late Prepalatial Crete 115 -Emily S.K. Anderson 6. Performance, Presence, and Genre in Maya Hieroglyphs 139 -Michael D. Carrasco 7. Contingency and innovation in native transcriptions of encrypted Cuneiform (Ud.Gal.nUn) 165 -J. Cale Johnson and Adam Johnson Part III: Agency through Writing and Early Texts 8. structuration of the Conjuncture: agency in Classic Maya iconography and texts 185 -Joshua Englehardt 9. inscriptions from Zhongshan: Chinese texts and the archaeology of agency 209 -Wang Haicheng 10. structuration and the state in Mycenaean Greece 231 -Dimitri Nakassis epilogue: agency and Writing 249 -Ruth D. Whitehouse References 257 List of Contributors 289
Formative Period Interregional Interaction and the Emergence of Mesoamerican Scripts
Agroecological Heritage: Elucidating the Place of Cycads in Indigenous Mesoamerican Epistemologies
New Approach to Cultural Heritage, 2021
Ancient Mesoamerica, 2019
Although the Cascajal Block (CB), an incised greenstone slab from southeastern Veracruz, Mexico, ... more Although the Cascajal Block (CB), an incised greenstone slab from southeastern Veracruz, Mexico, arguably contains the earliest written text in the New World, debate remains regarding the object's authenticity, dating, and cultural affiliation. To address these issues, this article details recent analyses of the CB via polynomial texture mapping (PTM), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). PTM revealed new details that have resulted in a new epigraphic drawing of the block's incised text and allowed for improved identification of several constituent signs. Spectrometric analysis confirmed that the chemical composition of the CB matrix is consistent with serpentine and identified a uniform patina on its surface, which provided additional contextual data. SEM micrographs of polymer replica molds taken from the incised text evidence manufacturing traces that correspond to lapidary techniques observed on other Formative-period Olmec objects of secure ...
Agency in Ancient Writing, 2012
The Mediated Image: Reflections on Semasiographic Notation in the ancient americas 21 -Margaret A... more The Mediated Image: Reflections on Semasiographic Notation in the ancient americas 21 -Margaret A. Jackson 2. Bureaucratic Backlashes: Bureaucrats as agents of socioeconomic Change in Proto-Historic Mesopotamia 45 -Clemens Reichel vi Contents 3. are Writing systems intelligently designed? 71 -Adam D. Smith 4. agency in death: early egyptian Writing from Mortuary Contexts 95 -Laurel Bestock Part II: The Material Agency of Early Writing and Incipient Scripts 5. reembodying identity: seals and seal impressions as agents of social Change on late Prepalatial Crete 115 -Emily S.K. Anderson 6. Performance, Presence, and Genre in Maya Hieroglyphs 139 -Michael D. Carrasco 7. Contingency and innovation in native transcriptions of encrypted Cuneiform (Ud.Gal.nUn) 165 -J. Cale Johnson and Adam Johnson Part III: Agency through Writing and Early Texts 8. structuration of the Conjuncture: agency in Classic Maya iconography and texts 185 -Joshua Englehardt 9. inscriptions from Zhongshan: Chinese texts and the archaeology of agency 209 -Wang Haicheng 10. structuration and the state in Mycenaean Greece 231 -Dimitri Nakassis epilogue: agency and Writing 249 -Ruth D. Whitehouse References 257 List of Contributors 289
Revista Trace, 2016
Se presenta la investigación de la cerámica de la tradición Teuchitlán del occidente de México po... more Se presenta la investigación de la cerámica de la tradición Teuchitlán del occidente de México por medio del estudio iconográfico y la presencia de símbolos panmesoamericanos, con una visión alterna hacia los procesos de contacto intercultural, proponiendo que la interacción interregional del occidente fue más compleja y sucedió más prematuramente de lo que se considera. Motivos compartidos fueron incorporados a cánones representacionales locales con un simbolismo regional único indicando que los artesanos continuaron una tradición cultural e implementaron agencia artística. La evidencia indica simultáneamente una cosmovisión compartida a través de la incorporación a complejos simbólicos panmesoamericanos y una afirmación material de configuraciones regionales culturales específicas.
Uploads
Books by Joshua Englehardt
Embracing myriad ways in which agency can be interpreted, ancient writing systems from Mesoamerica, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete, China, and Greece are examined from a textual perspective as both archaeological objects and nascent historical documents. This allows for distinction among intentions, consequences, meanings, and motivations, increasing understanding and aiding interpretation of the subjectivity of social actors. Chapters focusing on acts of writing and public recitation overlap with those addressing the materiality of texts, interweaving archaeology, epigraphy, and the study of visual symbol systems.
Agency in Ancient Writing leads to a more thorough and meaningful discussion of agency as an archaeological concept and will be of interest to anyone interested in ancient texts, including archaeologists, historians, linguists, epigraphers, and art historians, as well as scholars studying agency and structuration theory."
In case studies highlighting the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration, contributors argue that anthropologists and archaeologists are simply not “speaking the same language” and that the division between fields undermines the field of anthropology as a whole. Scholars must bridge this gap and find ways to engage in interdisciplinary collaboration to promote the health of the anthropological discipline. By sharing data, methods, and ideas, archaeology and cultural anthropology can not only engage in more productive debates but also make research accessible to those outside academia.
These "Thin Partitions" gets to the heart of a well-known problem in the field of anthropology and contributes to the ongoing debate by providing concrete examples of how interdisciplinary collaboration can enhance the outcomes of anthropological research.
Papers by Joshua Englehardt