Description
Book SynopsisFor thousands of years, the geography of Eurasia has facilitated travel, conquest and colonization by various groups, from the Huns in ancient times to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the past century. This book brings together archaeological investigations of Eurasian regimes and revolutions ranging from the Bronze Age to the modern day, from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus in the west to the Mongolian steppe and the Korean Peninsula in the east. The authors examine a wide-ranging series of archaeological studies in order to better understand the role of politics in the history and prehistory of the region. This book re-evaluates the significance of power, authority and ideology in the emergence and transformation of ancient and modern societies in this vast continent.
Table of ContentsIntroduction: regimes, revolutions, and the materiality of power in Eurasian archaeology Charles W. Hartley, G. Bike Yazıcıoğlu and Adam T. Smith; Part I. The Rhetoric of Regime and Ideology of Revolution: 1. Archaeology and the national idea in Eurasia Victor A. Shnirelman; 2. National history and identity narratives in China and cultural heritage interpretation in Xinjiang Gwen P. Bennett; 3. 'Yerevan, my ancient Erebuni': archaeological repertoires, public assemblages, and the manufacture of a (post-)Soviet nation Adam T. Smith; 4. Violence and power visualized: representations of military engagements between Central Asia and the Achaemenid Persian Empire Wu Xin; 5. Public vs. private: perspectives on the communication of power in ancient Chroasmia Fiona Kidd, Michelle Negus Cleary and Elizabeth Baker Brite; 6. Lines of power: equality or hierarchy among the Iron Age agro-pastoralists of southeastern Kazakhstan Claudia Chang; Part II. Materialities of Homeland, Practices of Expansion: 7. Homelands in the present and in the past: political implications of a dangerous concept Philip Kohl; 8. Processes and practices of death: toward a bioarchaeology of dynamic societies Maureen Marshall; 9. Ritualization of weapons in a contact zone: between the past and the present Kathryn M. Linduff and Yang Jianhua; 10. Ethos, materiality, and paradigms of political action in early medieval communities of the northwestern Caspian region Irina Lita Shingiray; 11. Legitimacy and control: the making of the imperial Liao heartland Hu Ling; 12. A bioarchaeological study of Xiongnu expansion in Iron Age Tuva, South Siberia Eileen M. Murphy; Part III. Regimes of the Body, Revolutions of Value: 13. Kazakhstan, post-socialist transition, and the problem of multiple materialities Victor Buchli; 14. Forging social networks: metallurgy and the politics of value in Bronze Age Eurasia David L. Peterson; 15. Where pottery and politics meet: mundane objects and complex political life in the Late Bronze Age South Caucasus Alan Greene; 16. Forming techniques and Kura-Araxes period pottery in the Eastern Caucasus MaryFran Heinsch; 17. Beastly goods: pastoral production in the Late Bronze Age Tsaghkahovit Plain Belinda H. Monahan; 18. From regimes to revolutions: technology and technique at the Bronze Age tell at Százhalombatta, Hungary Joanna Sofaer; Conclusion: on archaeology and politics across Eurasia Geoff Emberling.
