Books by Bruce Routledge
https://archive.org/details/debates-in-archaeology-bruce-routledge-archaeology-and-state-theory-subjects-and, Nov 2013
Orientations 1 1 After (neo-)evolution(ism) 9 2 Coercion and consent 27 3 Hegemony in action: The... more Orientations 1 1 After (neo-)evolution(ism) 9 2 Coercion and consent 27 3 Hegemony in action: The kingdom of Imerina in central Madagascar 49 4 Beyond politics: Articulation and reproduction in Athens and the Inca Empire 67 5 Spectacle and routine 6 Routine lives and spectacular deaths: The Royal Tombs of Ur 7 Conclusion: The hazardous necessity of comparison Bibliography Index List of figures 3.1 Map of the Kingdom of Imerina 3.2 Radama I 3.3 Stone slab tomb, central Madagascar 4.1 Map of Classical Greece featuring the polis of Athens 4.2 Greek courtyard house, fifth century bc, Olynthus House Avii4 4.3 Map of the Inca Empire 4.4 Acllaconas spinning wool within an acllawasi compound overseen by a mamacona 4.5 Inca ceramic figurine of a man carrying an aríbalo of chica on his back 5.1 Map of the Classic Maya heartland with sites mentioned in text marked 5.2 Si(j)yaj K'in Chaak II impersonating the water-lily serpent. Machaquilá Stele 4 5.3 Schematic cross-section of a Classic Maya convex runoff water collection system 6.1 Map of Mesopotamia showing sites mentioned in text 6.2 General plan of the 'Royal Cemetery of Ur' 6.3 Tomb PG/789 showing distribution of hair adornment on bodies 6.4 Tomb PG/1237 ('The Great Death Pit') showing distribution of hair adornment on bodies 6.5 'Peace' side of the Royal Standard of Ur showing a banquet scene 6.6 Soundbox of lyre (U.
Moab in the Iron Age: Hegemony, Polity, Archaeology
https://archive.org/details/moabinironageheg0000rout, 2004
Articles by Bruce Routledge
Levant, 2024
Social archaeology of the early Iron Age southern Levant has tended to work from the top-down, us... more Social archaeology of the early Iron Age southern Levant has tended to work from the top-down, using abstract models of social organization, collective identity and subsistence economies to interpret archaeological remains. In this paper a bottom-up approach that uses the visual affordances of the built environment of Khirbat al-Mudayna al-ʽAliya, an Iron Age IB site on Jordan's eastern Karak Plateau is proposed. Four different methods of visibility analysis are proposed, including a bespoke hybrid approach developed by one of the authors (Wilson). Analyses suggests that the two largest houses at Khirbat al-Mudayna al-ʽAliya were exempt from the dense inter-visible monitoring afforded by the built environment of the site. Combined with other archaeological evidence, the analysis supports the inference that these two houses were occupied by households whose status differed from their fellow residents by degree, if not kind. It is argued that extending this sort of micro-political analysis to other sites would
Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2023
Archaeology is centrally concerned with the tension between material remains in the present and a... more Archaeology is centrally concerned with the tension between material remains in the present and a reconstructed past. This tension is captured by the concept of a trace, namely a contemporary phenomenon that references the past through some sort of epistemic intervention. Traces are deceptively complex in terms of both their epistemology and their ontology and hence worthy of detailed exploration. In particular, archaeological traces not only concern the past per se but also possess a latent quality of as yet unrealized signification. This gives archaeological traces a future orientation that is rarely considered in discussions of archaeological epistemology.
Religions, 2021
In this paper we examine why common methodologies for determining ‘religious architecture’ do not... more In this paper we examine why common methodologies for determining ‘religious architecture’ do not account for the diverse and fluid ways in which religious behaviour can be expressed. We focus on religious architecture from the Iron Age Southern Levant highlighting certain sites that ‘fall through the cracks’ of current taxonomies. We propose a different way of approaching evidence for religious practice in the archaeological record, viewing religion as one dimension of social action made visible along a spectrum of ritualization.
Extensification in a Mediterranean Semi-Arid Marginal Zone: An Archaeological Case Study from Early Iron Age Jordan’s Eastern Karak Plateau
Journal of Arid Environments, May 2014
The extensification of agricultural systems into marginal lands is a common response to environme... more The extensification of agricultural systems into marginal lands is a common response to environmental, economic, and political pressures for more cultivable land. Yet the course that extensification takes in particular instances is unpredictable given the choices available to producers. This article investigates an instance of extensification during the late second millennium BCE on the semi-arid Eastern Karak Plateau in west-central Jordan. Architectural, faunal, and archaeobotanical evidence is presented from Khirbat al-Mudayna al-’Aliya, one of several communities that participated in an extensified settlement system on the edge of the Wadi al-Mujib and its tributaries. Producers practiced agriculture and pastoralism in a low-intensity subsistence economy that supported a nucleated settlement of households. Faunal analysis determined goat was kept, and wild animals supplemented diets. Archaeobotanical analysis of charred plant remains from storage bins in a building destroyed by fire indicated that barley was stored in a semi- processed state and that harvesting by uprooting was practiced, thus resulting in the maximization of the straw harvest. The riparian zone beneath the settlement was a key venue for subsistence activities. This Early Iron Age example contrasts with later episodes of extensification whose settlement systems were more dispersed and agro-pastoralist regime more integrated.
Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 2013
Measuring Local Diversity in Early Iron Age Animal Economies: a View from Khirbat al-Mudayna al-'Aliya (Jordan)
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 2011
Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 1995
Journal of The Economic and Social History of The Orient 43(3): 221-256, 2000
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Seeing Through Walls: Interpreting Iron I Architecture at Khirbat al-Mudayna al-'Aliya
BASOR, 2000
The antiquity of the nation? Critical reflections from the ancient Near East
Nations and Nationalism, 2003
Debates over the antiquity/modernity of the nation have often made use of evidence from the ancie... more Debates over the antiquity/modernity of the nation have often made use of evidence from the ancient Near East. In doing so, these debates employ the distant past principally as a ‘mirror’ of the present, using contrast or similitude to argue for a particular understanding of nations and nationalism since the eighteenth century. In this manner, both ‘Modernist’ and ‘Perennialist’ approaches incorporate pre-modern contexts into the categories and priorities of modernity. This article critically reviews several influential studies on nations and nationalism in light of ancient Near Eastern evidence in order to highlight the narrowing of possibilities that this practice involves. I argue that the cost of this narrowing is not so much a misunderstood past as a mystified present.
Bulletin of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies, 1997
Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 56: 111-129, 2012
A detailed summary of the results of excavation during the 2009 season.
Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan Vol 55, 2011
The Dhiban Archaeological Project: Community outreach activities
The Dhiban Excavation and Development Project’s 2005 Season
Annual of the Department of Antiquities 54: 9-34, 2010
Tall Dhiban 2004 Pilot Season: Prospection, Preservation, and Planning
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Books by Bruce Routledge
Articles by Bruce Routledge