Afterword: A portal to a more imaginative archaeology / Margaret Conkey. Nightscapes. Upper paleolithic soundscape and the emotional resonance of nighttime / April Nowell -- Classic Maya nights at Copán, Honduras and El Cerén, El Salvador / Nancy Gonlin and Christine C. Dixon -- The night is different : sensescapes and affordances in ancient Arizona / Kathryn Kamp and John C. Whittaker -- "La luz de aceite es triste" : nighttime, community, and memory in the Colorado-New Mexico Borderlands / Minette C. Church -- The Night Sky. Nighttime sky and early urbanism in the high Andes : architecture and ritual in the Southern Lake Titicaca Basin during the Formative and Tiwanaku periods / Alexei Vranich and Scott C. Smith -- Night in day : contrasting ancient and contemporary Maya and Hindu responses to total solar eclipses / Anthony F. Aveni -- In the sea of night : ancient Polynesia and the dark / Cynthia van Gilder -- Nocturnal Ritual and Ideology. Night moon rituals : the effects of darkness and prolonged ritual on Chilean Mapuche participants / Tom D. Dillehay -- Where night reigns eternal : darkness and deep time among the ancient Maya / Jeremy D. Coltman -- The Emerald site, Mississippian women, and the moon / Susan M. Alt -- Illuminating the Night. A great secret of the West : transformative aspects of artificial light in New Kingdom Egypt / Meghan E. Strong -- Burning the midnight oil : archaeological experiments with early medieval Viking lamps / Erin Halstad McGuire -- Nighttime Practices. Engineering feats and consequences : workers in the night and the Indus civilization / Rita P. Wright and Zenobie S. Garrett -- All Rome is at my bedside : nightlife in the Roman Empire / Glenn Reed Storey -- Midnight at the oasis : past and present agricultural activities in Oman / Smiti Nathan -- Fluid spaces and fluid objects : nocturnal material culture in sub-Saharan Africa with special reference to the Iron Age in southern Africa / Shadreck Chirikure and Abigail Joy Moffett -- The freedom that nighttime brings : privacy and cultural creativity among enslaved peoples at eighteenth- and nineteenth century Bahamian plantations / Jane Eva Baxter -- Concluding the Night. Afterword: A portal to a more imaginative archaeology / Margaret Conkey.
Summary:
"A diverse team of experienced scholars used a variety of methods and resources to reconstruct how ancient peoples experienced the night, their views of the dark, their portrayals of the night, and how people in everyday life adapted to the night "--Provided by publisher. "How did ancient peoples experience, view, and portray the night? What was it like to live in the past when total nocturnal darkness was the norm? Archaeology of the Night explores the archaeology, anthropology, mythology, iconography, and epigraphy of nocturnal practices and questions the dominant models of daily ancient life. A diverse team of experienced scholars uses a variety of methods and resources to reconstruct how ancient peoples navigated the night and what their associated daily--and nightly--practices were. This collection challenges modern ideas and misconceptions regarding the night and what darkness and night symbolized in the ancient world, and it highlights the inherent research bias in favor of "daytime" archaeology. Numerous case studies from around the world (including Oman, Mesoamerica, Scandinavia, Rome, Great Zimbabwe, Indus Valley, Peru, and Cahokia) illuminate subversive, social, ritual, domestic, and work activities, such as witchcraft, ceremonies, feasting, sleeping, nocturnal agriculture, and much more. Were there artifacts particularly associated with the night? Authors investigate individuals and groups (both real and mythological) who share a special connection to nighttime life. Reconsidering the archaeological record, Archaeology of the Night views sites, artifacts, features, and cultures from a unique perspective. This book is relevant to anthropologists and archaeologists and also to scholars of human geography, history, astronomy, sensory studies, human biology, folklore, and mythology"--Publisher's website.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.