Ethnoarchaeologies of Listening

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the importance of understanding how a researcher’s long-term relationships within in a community and willingness to accept other ways of being and learning make space for intersubjective exchanges and deeper understandings of technological ontologies. Borada-Gamo lithic practitioners of southern Ethiopia shared with me bit by bit their perception of stone as living beings, their proverbs, and their technological practices, which have the potential to reshape archaeological discourse surrounding lithic technology. It is critical that we privilege non-Western theories of the human and nonhuman world to acknowledge a wide range of intellectual contributions that produce inclusive and meaningful narratives of the past.