CONTENT:
- Introduction to style
- Chronology game
- Relativity game
- Current research
- Historical development
- Concluding comments
Introduction to Style
People often think of style and its association to art, fashion, and design, but it's also a concept used in anthropological science. It was first used to investigate the interactions and relatedness of cultural groups via analysing stylistic variations.
Before radiocarbon dating, stylistic variations were also examined to give relative dates to material culture, and although we have other forms of evidence to give more conclusive dates, stylistic variations are still being analysed to form chronological frameworks.
People often think of style and its association to art, fashion, and design, but it's also a concept used in anthropological science. It was first used to investigate the interactions and relatedness of cultural groups via analysing stylistic variations.
Before radiocarbon dating, stylistic variations were also examined to give relative dates to material culture, and although we have other forms of evidence to give more conclusive dates, stylistic variations are still being analysed to form chronological frameworks.
Chronology Game
Extra Info:
By analysing stylistic variations, archaeologists in the past could give relative dates to material culture. This way of dating is less common now that we have radiocarbon dating - but it is still very useful in cases were radiocarbon dating is difficult (like in rock art).
By analysing stylistic variations, archaeologists in the past could give relative dates to material culture. This way of dating is less common now that we have radiocarbon dating - but it is still very useful in cases were radiocarbon dating is difficult (like in rock art).
Relativity Game
Extra Info:
Stylistic variations can inform us on the inter-relatedness and interactions of different social groups, with ideas around design and form often being shared. Above are shards from Fiji and the Bismark archipelago which share characteristically Lapita design. This indicates the people that created the pottery interacted, with other archaeological evidence linking them as being part of the same group which first migrated into Near Oceania.
Stylistic variations can inform us on the inter-relatedness and interactions of different social groups, with ideas around design and form often being shared. Above are shards from Fiji and the Bismark archipelago which share characteristically Lapita design. This indicates the people that created the pottery interacted, with other archaeological evidence linking them as being part of the same group which first migrated into Near Oceania.
Current Research
Here are some recent publications that use the concept of style:
Here are some recent publications that use the concept of style:
- Riemer, Heiko, Kröpelin, Stefan and Zboray, Andras. 2017. Climate, styles and archaeology: an integral approach towards an absolute chronology of the rock art in the Libyan Desert (Eastern Sahara). antiquity 91:7-23.
- Swift, Ellen. 2019. Re-evaluating the Quoit Brooch Style: economic and cultural transformations in the 5th century AD, with an updated catalogue of known Quoit Brooch Style artefacts. Medieval Archaeology 63:1-55.
- Walker, Leslie. 2008. A sense of style: An analysis of Late Prehistoric ceramic variability in the central Arkansas River valley. University of Arkansas.
Historical Development
Style's use as a concept in archaeology can be traced back to when archaeology was first becoming a discipline, with its use in chronologically dating and the estimating relatedness of social groups being especially useful. Since then there have been many key archaeologists (like Binford, Sackett, Hodder, and Dunnell) who have discussed the use of style in this field, with there being many back and forth letters, and publications for various ideas.
Due to this, the concepts definition has changed over time, with no singular definition being used by all. There is still much debate around this, with many highlighting different interactions with other concepts like function, technology, and human agency. One shared belief appears to be the key tenets, that style is a way of carrying something out (Cochrane, 2001; Sackett, 1977; Shennan, 2020) and that it involves a choice among multiple alternatives (Hegmon, 1992; Sackett, 1982).
Style's use as a concept in archaeology can be traced back to when archaeology was first becoming a discipline, with its use in chronologically dating and the estimating relatedness of social groups being especially useful. Since then there have been many key archaeologists (like Binford, Sackett, Hodder, and Dunnell) who have discussed the use of style in this field, with there being many back and forth letters, and publications for various ideas.
Due to this, the concepts definition has changed over time, with no singular definition being used by all. There is still much debate around this, with many highlighting different interactions with other concepts like function, technology, and human agency. One shared belief appears to be the key tenets, that style is a way of carrying something out (Cochrane, 2001; Sackett, 1977; Shennan, 2020) and that it involves a choice among multiple alternatives (Hegmon, 1992; Sackett, 1982).
Concluding points
Style is just one of the many concepts in Anthropological Sciences that you can learn about in your degree. It's related to the other concepts of function and human agency, and the study of material culture.
Style is just one of the many concepts in Anthropological Sciences that you can learn about in your degree. It's related to the other concepts of function and human agency, and the study of material culture.
References:
Title image - Digital Photography (colour), David Coulson, 1998, sourced from The British Museum,
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_2013-2034-3106
From the chronology game:
Black-Figure Amphora, ca. 570-560BCE, Painter of Acropolis 606, sourced from the Getty Museum, https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103VZY
Terracotta amphora, ca. 530BCE, Andokides, sourced from The Metropolitan Museum, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/255154
From the relativity game:
Bismark archipelago shards - Specht, J., Denham, T., Goff, J. and Terrell, J.E., 2014. Deconstructing the Lapita cultural complex in the Bismarck Archipelago. Journal of Archaeological Research, 22(2), pp.89-140.
Romanian shards - Bugoi, R., Talmaţchi, C., Haitǎ, C. and Ceccato, D., 2019. Archaeometric characterization of Byzantine pottery from Păcuiul lui Soare. Heritage Science, 7(1), pp.1-16.
Fijian shard - Thomas, F.R., Geraghty, P., Matisoo-Smith, E.A. 2020. Lapita Archaeology in the Southwest Pacific. In: Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_3410-1
From the Historical development section:
Title image - Digital Photography (colour), David Coulson, 1998, sourced from The British Museum,
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_2013-2034-3106
From the chronology game:
Black-Figure Amphora, ca. 570-560BCE, Painter of Acropolis 606, sourced from the Getty Museum, https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103VZY
Terracotta amphora, ca. 530BCE, Andokides, sourced from The Metropolitan Museum, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/255154
From the relativity game:
Bismark archipelago shards - Specht, J., Denham, T., Goff, J. and Terrell, J.E., 2014. Deconstructing the Lapita cultural complex in the Bismarck Archipelago. Journal of Archaeological Research, 22(2), pp.89-140.
Romanian shards - Bugoi, R., Talmaţchi, C., Haitǎ, C. and Ceccato, D., 2019. Archaeometric characterization of Byzantine pottery from Păcuiul lui Soare. Heritage Science, 7(1), pp.1-16.
Fijian shard - Thomas, F.R., Geraghty, P., Matisoo-Smith, E.A. 2020. Lapita Archaeology in the Southwest Pacific. In: Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_3410-1
From the Historical development section:
- Cochrane, Ethan E. 2001. Style, Function, and Systematic Empiricism: The Conflation of. Style and function: Conceptual issues in evolutionary archaeology 183.
- Hegmon, Michelle. 1992. Archaeological research on style. Annual Review of Anthropology 517-36.
- Shennan, Stephen. 2020. "Style, function and cultural transmission," in Culture history and convergent evolution. 291-8. Springer.
- Sackett, James A. 1977. "The meaning of style in archaeology: a general model." American antiquity 42, 3: 369-380.
- ----. 1982. Approaches to style in lithic archaeology. Journal of anthropological archaeology 1:59-112.