The Body as Material Culture
A Theoretical Osteoarchaeology

Examines the two distinct approaches taken when examining archaeological remains, one based on science, the other on social theory.

Joanna R. Sofaer (Author)

9780521521468, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 16 February 2006

208 pages, 10 b/w illus. 3 tables
22.6 x 15 x 1.8 cm, 0.29 kg

'This sophisticated integration of constructivist and biological perspectives demonstrates her [the author] ability to draw insights from both 'sides' and she encourages other scholars to do the same. … Her book is a valuable contribution that provides exciting prospects for osteoarchaeologists who have been striving to incorporate 'anthropology of the body' into their work and it demonstrates a maturing of the discipline. Social anthropologists and archaeologists with interests in anthropology of the body, mortuary practices, gender roles and the changing life course would also benefit from this reading. I think they will be pleasantly surprised by all that osteoarchaeology - of the kind that Sofaer espouses - can offer.' Cambridge Archaeological Journal

Bodies intrigue us. They promise windows into the past that other archaeological finds cannot by bringing us literally face to face with history. Yet 'the body' is also highly contested. Archaeological bodies are studied through two contrasting perspectives that sit on different sides of a disciplinary divide. On one hand lie science-based osteoarchaeological approaches. On the other lie understandings derived from recent developments in social theory that increasingly view the body as a social construction. Through a close examination of disciplinary practice, Joanna Sofaer highlights the tensions and possibilities offered by one particular kind of archaeological body, the human skeleton, with particular regard to the study of gender and age. Using a range of examples, she argues for reassessment of the role of the skeletal body in archaeological practice, and develops a theoretical framework for bioarchaeology based on the materiality and historicity of human remains.

1. Bodies and boundaries
2. The body as an archaeological resource
3. The body and convention in archaeological practice
4. Material bodies
5. Gender
6. Age.

Subject Areas: Human biology [PSX], Physical anthropology [JHMP], Social theory [JHBA], Archaeological theory [HDA], Archaeology [HD]