Mindscapes
Convenor
Sven Ouzman
The term `mindscape’ is partially encapsulated within the general body of theory known as `cognitive’ archaeology. The term is constructed so that an emphasis is placed on present and archaeologically observed thought. Though all material culture/objects has the potential to contain such cognitive information, certain objects are more amenable to such a study than others. For example, rock art imagery is often theoretically informed, Middle Stone Age lithics is often theoretically recondite. Webster (1996) points out that archaeologists often tend to over-interpret objects, many of which were probably just mundane with little symbolic significance. `Mindscape’ archaeology endeavours to select objects, sites and so forth that were firmly entrenched within the realm of conscious, planned, symbolic activity. Thus, like the closely allied discourse of `landscape’ archaeology, mindscape studies may offer us the opportunity to cross-cut intra-disciplinary boundaries and grant more insightful perspectives on known, received knowledge. One has to be very careful of becoming hyper-relativist (cf. Bernstein 1983) – not all interpretations are equally valid, in fact, very few interpretations are considered authoritative in practise. The WAC4 mindscape session is not intended as a catch-all for all `symbolic’ papers but as a session in which symbolic meanings in the past may be understood by reference to firm, empirical data. It will also be task of the mindscape of the session to investigate the term `symbolic’ and what is meant by this often vague, seldom precise term.
References Bernstein, R.J. 1983. Beyond objectivism and relativism: science, hermeneutics and praxis. Oxford: Blackwell.
Webster, G.S. 1996. Social archaeology and the irrational. Current Anthropology 37:609-627.
papers:
Author 1 Author 2 Title
Callegari Gonaldi Pattern and petroglyphs: their meaning within the landscape
Drew Rock Art and Ancestral Dreaming
Durand The discovery of a possible abacus near a Khami site on the Limpopo
Solomon Pattern, enigma and the quest for “mind” via San rock art