Assaf Nativ, Nimrod Marom, Hagar Reshef, Ron Shimelmitz
{"title":"How far does culture go?","authors":"Assaf Nativ, Nimrod Marom, Hagar Reshef, Ron Shimelmitz","doi":"10.1017/s1380203824000047","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Focusing on the late prehistoric southern Levant, we recently suggested that the diffused low-frequency distribution of large predator bones (lion, leopard and bear) coalesces into a coherent temporal pattern when observed at a sufficiently long timescale. While in the previous research we sought to determine what sort of sociocultural mechanism might explain this pattern, effectively drawing it into the orbit of the familiar, in this brief provocation, we push in the other direction, towards the unfamiliar: how can a process or phenomenon be culturally significant yet meaningless at the human and societal levels? How is a phenomenon substantial in the long term and insubstantial in the short term?","PeriodicalId":45009,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Dialogues","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Archaeological Dialogues","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1380203824000047","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"ARCHAEOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Focusing on the late prehistoric southern Levant, we recently suggested that the diffused low-frequency distribution of large predator bones (lion, leopard and bear) coalesces into a coherent temporal pattern when observed at a sufficiently long timescale. While in the previous research we sought to determine what sort of sociocultural mechanism might explain this pattern, effectively drawing it into the orbit of the familiar, in this brief provocation, we push in the other direction, towards the unfamiliar: how can a process or phenomenon be culturally significant yet meaningless at the human and societal levels? How is a phenomenon substantial in the long term and insubstantial in the short term?
期刊介绍:
Archaeology is undergoing rapid changes in terms of its conceptual framework and its place in contemporary society. In this challenging intellectual climate, Archaeological Dialogues has become one of the leading journals for debating innovative issues in archaeology. Firmly rooted in European archaeology, it now serves the international academic community for discussing the theories and practices of archaeology today. True to its name, debate takes a central place in Archaeological Dialogues.