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The Archaeology of Personhood: An Anthropological Approach
Abstract
Bringing together a wealth of research in social and cultural anthropology, philosophy and related fields, this is the first book to address the contribution that an understanding of personhood can make to our interpretations of the past Applying an anthropological approach to detailed case studies from European prehistoric archaeology, the book explores the connection between people, animals, objects, their societies and environments and investigates the relationship that jointly produces bodies, persons, communities and artefacts. The Archaeology of Personhood examines the characteristics that define a person as a category of being, highlights how definitions of personhood are culturally variable and explores how that variation is connected to human uses of material culture.
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“It may have been accompanied by a model of personhood which was situational or contextual, rather in the manner of so-called “Great Man” societies (Godelier and Strathern 1991): authority or capacity in one sphere of action did not necessarily convey power in other spheres (Fowler 2004; Robb and Harris 2018).”
From Art (Pre)History: Ritual, Narrative and Visual Culture in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe (2020) · cites this paper as Fowler 2004
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Items 401–470 of 470
Legendre, T. (2023) · Journal of Skyscape Archaeology · doi:10.1558/jsa.22418
Bornemann, E. E., & Gamble, L. H. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316941256.008
Bodily Transformation and Sacralization: Human Sacrifice in Southwestern Mesoamerica
Urcid, J. (2024) · Conflict, Environment, and Social Complexity · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-36600-0_10
Palkovich, A. M. (2024) · Bioarchaeology and social theory · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-56023-1_3
Palkovich, A. M. (2024) · Bioarchaeology and social theory · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-56023-1_5
Fiorani, A. V., Kuijt, I., & Salazar, J. (2024) · Journal of Field Archaeology · doi:10.1080/00934690.2024.2402617
“…relations among the survivors and the deceased as an integrative force or to alter, maintain, and/or materialize power dynamics (Ches-son 2001; Eeckhout and Owens 2015; Fowler 2004; Gillespie 2001; Joyce 2001; Kuijt 1996; Parker Pearson 1993; Robb 2007, 2013; Sawchuk et al. 2018; Williams 2003).”
Reiter, S., & Frei, K. M. (2024) · Themes in contemporary archaeology · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-68157-8_8
Muir, B., Hiep, T. H., Buckley, H. R., et al. (2024) · Hunter Gatherer Research · doi:10.3828/hgr.2024.33
Pasarić, M. (2024) · Narodna umjetnost : hrvatski časopis za etnologiju i folkloristiku · doi:10.15176/vol61no27
Understanding the experience of death in the Irish and British Mesolithic
Mallonee, E. (2024) · Hunter Gatherer Research · doi:10.3828/hgr.2024.31
The Personhood of Children Revealed in Death
Garroway, K. H. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197566718.003.0009
Archaeological Periodization and Chronology
Garroway, K. H. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197566718.002.0006
Garroway, K. H. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197566718.003.0006
The Death of Children in the Hebrew Bible
Garroway, K. H. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197566718.003.0008 · Cited by 1
Garroway, K. H. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197566718.003.0001
Archaeological Overview of Child Burials in the Bronze and Iron Ages
Garroway, K. H. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197566718.003.0002
Surveying Infant and Child Burials in Iron I Israel and Iron II Judah and Israel
Garroway, K. H. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197566718.003.0005
Garroway, K. H. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197566718.002.0007
Garroway, K. H. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197566718.002.0004
Garroway, K. H. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197566718.002.0005
Surveying Iron Age Infant and Child Burials in Phoenician-Influenced Areas
Garroway, K. H. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197566718.003.0004
Surveying Iron Age Infant and Child Burials on the Philistine Coast
Garroway, K. H. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197566718.003.0003
Children and Infants in Judahite Family Tombs
Garroway, K. H. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197566718.003.0007
Zikidi, C. (2025) · Cambridge Archaeological Journal · doi:10.1017/s0959774325000010
“These concepts enriched analyses and challenged the passivity of individuals in processualist approaches (Back Danielsson 2008; Fowler 2004; Meskell 2001; Thomas 2002).”
Budziszewski, A., Strozzi, A. G., & Díaz, J. L. P. (2025) · Latin American Antiquity · doi:10.1017/laq.2024.22
“…oste-ological descriptions of their biological profile but also as an expression of the complex social construct imbued with ideological and symbolic significance obtained throughout the individual ’ s lifetime and after death (Fowler 2004; Knudson and Stojanowski 2008:398 – 399; Sofaer 2006:62).”
Blocks, Bricks, and Material Practices of Intersubjectification at Pre-Columbian La Venta, Mexico
Gillespie, S. D. (2025) · Journal of Anthropological Research · doi:10.1086/735057
Remembering and forgetting: re-using stones, bones and monuments
Jones, A. M. (2025) · Time and Mind · doi:10.1080/1751696x.2025.2508709
“…has argued that grave-goods could have represented the relationships between the deceased and the people who were organising the burial, while Fowler (2004, 75) has suggested that artefacts and human remains were used by the community to communicate particular ideas about ‘personhood’ which…”
Meter, N. E. V., Pestle, W. J., Sabo, A. M., et al. (2025) · Antiquity · doi:10.15184/aqy.2025.10177
Floris, M. (2025) · Rivista di estetica · doi:10.4000/14kb7 · Cited by 1
Data from the Casa di Octavius Quartio
Mol, E. M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198912835.005.0004
Mol, E. M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198912835.003.0010
Data from the Casa di Amorini Dorati
Mol, E. M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198912835.005.0003
Mol, E. M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198912835.002.0005
Mol, E. M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198912835.003.0006
Style and Assemblage in Roman Archaeology
Mol, E. M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198912835.001.0001
Mol, E. M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198912835.003.0009
List of Aegyptiaca Found in Pompeian Houses
Mol, E. M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198912835.005.0001
Mol, E. M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198912835.002.0004
Additional Tables from Part II
Mol, E. M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198912835.005.0002
How Things Become Egyptian: Colonizing a Style
Mol, E. M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198912835.003.0002
Ritual Place-Making in the Roman House
Mol, E. M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198912835.003.0008
Mol, E. M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198912835.003.0005
Mol, E. M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198912835.003.0001
The Style of the Nile and Posthuman Embodiment
Mol, E. M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198912835.003.0007
The Eloquence of Cists: Humanising the 3rd–2nd Millennia BC transition in Southern PortugalPreprint
Basílio, A. C. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5811755
Widlok, T. (2026) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-11043-5_23
Dressed to Connect: Ornamental Strategies of Affiliation in Third Millennium BC, Cyprus
Laoutari, R. (2025) · Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology/Interdisciplinary contributions to archaeology · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-03906-4_13
Reassessing the Evidence for Aztec Cannibalism
Koziar, F. (2025) · Historical Archaeology · doi:10.1007/s41636-025-00586-z
Artistic narratives of death: funerary vessels in Attica’s cultural landscape
Christakopoulou, O. G., & Giamalidi, M. (2025) · JOURNAL OF GREEK ARCHAEOLOGY · doi:10.32028/jga.v10i.3355
“Samantha's instigations”: Reflections on an archaeology of the future
Zarankín, A., Cruz, M. J., Salerno, M. A., & Melquíades, V. (2026) · Journal of Material Culture · doi:10.1177/13591835261421125
“Phenomenology, most notably in Merleau-Ponty ’ s work (1993 [1945]), argues that the body is not an object we “ possess ” but the condition of experience itself — the primary site of perception, intentionality, and engagement with the world (Alberti, 1999; Fowler, 2004; Salerno, 2011).”
Каражигитова, А. (2026) · Gumilyov Journal of History · doi:10.32523/3080-129x-2026-154-1-7-20
Molloy, B., Fibiger, L., Booth, T. J., et al. (2026) · Journal of Field Archaeology · doi:10.1080/00934690.2026.2641968
“…the dead may be retained whole or fragmented, with a sliding scale of “integrity” of the individual as a body and the elements that comprise that body, shifting their roles in power expression within the community and the spaces they were deposited in (Fowler 2004, 2013; Parker Pearson 1999, 49).”
Toledo, J. L. (2025) · Peninsula. · doi:10.22201/cephcis.25942743e.2026.90913
Major, L., & Webster, E. (2026) · People and Nature · doi:10.1002/pan3.70270
“A person is, at least partially, socially constructed and ultimately realised through the dynamic interplay of social context, embodiment and experience (Fowler, 2004, p. 78).”
Vartan bhanji (Gift Exchange) as Social Capital in Punjabi Village : tradition in Transition
Qadar, A. (2018) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/45612969z5acbz488dzbfc2z4dd552fff4bc
The Bones of Relation: Materialising Personhood Through Secondary Burial in Papua New Guinea
Coxe, S., & Shaw, B. (2026) · Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory · doi:10.1007/s10816-026-09778-0
“A relational person is contextual and unbounded, with their growth and interactions with others not limited to physical form (Fowler, 2004: 9).”
Emotions, Affective Fields, and Creating a Coalescent Community at the Noble-Wieting Cultural Site
Skousen, B. J., Miller, G. L., Stone, A. C., et al. (2026) · American Antiquity · doi:10.1017/aaq.2025.10129
“” She further argues that Indigenous views of self are tied to larger groups of persons, human and otherwise, and importantly to the places in which they exist: a person, in short, is only a person because of the larger community of relationships of which they are a part (Fowler 2004; Skousen 2012).”
Lozada, J., Ahumada, A. T., de la Paz, J. M., et al. (2026) · Latin American Antiquity · doi:10.1017/laq.2025.10115
Tse, C. (2026) · Cambridge Archaeological Journal · doi:10.1017/s0959774326100651
“In archaeology, personhood is often defined as the social condition or state of ‘ being a person ’ ; it is ‘ attained and maintained through relationship ’ with other entities (Fowler 2004, 4; 2016, 398).”
Incorporating Native American Philosophies and Ontologies in Archaeological Practice
Lawres, N. R., O'Connell, D., & Sanger, M. C. (2026) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009559171 · Cited by 1
Chang, D. L. (2026) · Curator The Museum Journal · doi:10.1111/cura.70045
Gandhi, N. (2026) · Journal of Consumer Culture · doi:10.1177/14695405261466821
Kuhlase, S., & Forssman, T. (2026) · Journal of Field Archaeology · doi:10.1080/00934690.2026.2700493
“Disen-tangling this relationship is inherently challenging, because identity is neither static nor immutable; rather it is relational, situational, and continually renegotiated through practice (Bourdieu 1977; Fowler 2004; Jones 2007, 44–45).”
Halimaw na/ng nakalipas*: Power, Personhood, and the Tigers of Palawan Island, Philippines
Ochoa, J., Leon, A. S. D., Javier, J. R., et al. (2026) · Cambridge Archaeological Journal · doi:10.1017/s0959774326100638
Norstein, F. E. (2026) · Current Swedish Archaeology · doi:10.37718/csa.2026.01
Rounded With a Sleep: The Transitional Role of Grave Goods in the Archaeology of Ritual and Emotion
Wilkin, N. (2026) · Cambridge Archaeological Journal · doi:10.1017/s0959774326100699
Archaeology as Grounding: Decentring, Detaching and Decolonizing in the Service of Communities
Angelbeck, B., & Schaepe, D. M. (2026) · Ethnographisch-archäologische Zeitschrift/Ethnographisch-archäologische Zeitschrift · doi:10.54799/njro5759
Metadata
- Authors
- Fowler, C.
- Corresponding author
- Fowler, Chris
- ORCID
- Fowler, Chris
- Venue
- Routledge eBooks
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Published
- 2004-08-02
- OpenAlex
- W4234116192
- Cited by
- 486
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 46 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 71 · 2019: 48 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 27.58
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Routledge eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology (arts and humanities) › Archaeological and Geological Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology (arts and humanities) › Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Viking Age and Medieval Scandinavia
- Keywords
- personhood, material culture, human-animal relations, human-object relationship, social identity, cultural variation, community formation, human-environment relations, philosophy of personhood
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