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Object Stories

Artifacts and Archaeologists

Steve Brown editor Anne Clarke editor Ursula Frederick editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Left Coast Press Inc

Published:31st Dec '14

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Object Stories cover

Archaeologists are synonymous with artifacts. With artifacts we construct stories concerning past lives and livelihoods, yet we rarely write of deeply personal encounters or of the way the lives of objects and our lives become enmeshed. In this volume, 23 archaeologists each tell an intimate story of their experience and entanglement with an evocative artifact. Artifacts range from a New Britain obsidian tool to an abandoned Viking toy boat, the marble finger of a classical Greek statue and ordinary pottery fragments from Roman England and Polynesia. Other tales cover contemporary objects, including a toothpick, bell, door, and the blueprint for a 1970s motorcar. These creative stories are self-consciously personal; they derive from real world encounter viewed through the peculiarities and material intimacy of archaeological practice. This text can be used in undergraduate and graduate courses focused on archaeological interpretation and theory, as well as on material culture and story-telling.

"Object Stories is about the intimate encounters between archaeologists and things. Compiling two dozen personal narratives from around the globe, the editors effectively demonstrate that in finding artifacts archaeologists may also find pieces of themselves. Or did the artifacts find them?" --Cornelius Holtorf, Linnaeus University "...So, please, join me in applauding and savouring and launching this beguiling, witty, valuable book, this loving book about objects and the value they bring to the world."... --Ross Gibson, Centenary Professor of Creative & Cultural Research, University of Canberra, Australia. 14 May 2015

ISBN: 9781611323832

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 544g

246 pages