Archaeological approaches to cultural identity - Stephen Shennan

This volume is part of a series resulting from the World Archaeological Congress, held in Southampton in September 1986, which addressed world archaeology and examined not only how people lived in the past, but also what changes took place in society and culture which still exist today.;This book explores some of the kinds of archaeological data which may adduce evidence of ethnicity in the past and asks fundamental questions about archaeological enquiry and interpretation: what can legitimately be inferred about the social groups which produced the material culture objects which are the primary evidence of archaeology? More particularly, when could these groups of people legitimately be assumed to have thought themselves distinct from other groups of human beings? Sections of the text demonstrate how ethnic or cultural groupings have in fact changed in composition, and adapted their modes of production in response to political change and influence.