In a critical dialogue with museum and cultural heritage studies, this thesis examines the concept of ‘intangible cultural heritage’ (ICH) and its implications for heritage theory, policy and practice. ICH gained international recognition in the 21st century primarily through the activities of UNESCO. Controversies and gaps inherent in the institutional discourse on ICH, however, have led critics to question not only its assumptions but in some cases its very raison d’être. Taking this forward, the purpose of this thesis is to revisit the ICH discourse and explore alternative negotiations entangled in institutional configurations, intellectual quests for parallel/ subversive heritages and new/ postmuseum paradigms. My point of departure is a critique of the preservationist ethos of UNESCO that has led to the construction of the official ICH narrative. Based on the idea of the ‘politics of erasure’, I argue for the re-conceptualisation of ICH not via archival and salvage measures, but through the reworking of the modern/ pre-modern and presence/ absence dynamics embedded in notions of impermanence, renewal and transformation. Parallel to that, I trace the implications of the ICH discourse for heritage and museum practice. As such, I conduct multi-sited fieldwork research and follow the negotiations of ICH from the global sphere of UNESCO to the localised complexities of five museum milieux. These are the National Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Wellington), the Vanuatu Cultural Centre (Port Vila), the National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, New York, Suitland), the Horniman Museum (London) and the Musée du Quai Branly (Paris); selected as fieldwork destinations for the diverse perspectives they offer on ICH in the museum space and discourse. In so doing, I engage with the idea of the new museum, not as a repository of material culture, but as performative space for the empowerment of bottom-up, participatory museology and the reworking of the tangible/ intangible divide. My conclusion suggests that, couched within debates on the politics of recognition, representation and invented traditions and beyond UNESCO’s preservationist schemata, ICH emerges as a contested and critical intervention challenging and reinventing heritage policy and museum-work.

The aim of this work is to explore a method of archaeological site prospection using satellite-collected multispectral imagery in order to provide the archaeological community with a comprehensive, quantitative case study of an efficient tool to survey archaeological landscapes in the Near East and beyond. To that end, after a brief introduction a review of previous predictive modelling and satellite imagery applications in archaeology is presented to provide context to the methodological approach taken here. This is followed by a discussion of site detection, prediction, recovery and interpretation in order to consider problematic issues that might arise during each of these phases and negatively impact results; based on this foundation, a method of multispectral archaeological prospection is proposed. Next the primary case study region of the Dinar Basin in central western Turkey is presented in terms of the physical geography and palaeoclimatology as well as known settlement and inter-regional interaction from prehistory to the present to provide archaeological context to the study region and to better understand what might be expected in the archaeological record, what impact later settlement systems might have had on earlier ones, and how this might affect the proposed method of multispectral site detection and prediction. With this foundation, the methodology is applied and the results tested in the field with initial results presented; a consideration of settlement location relative to a number of variables reflecting the local environment and the sites’ relation to it, along with a consideration of the surface artefacts and overall surface artefact densities seen at the discovered sites, closes the analysis as a first interpretation of the site location results. Following on, the portability of this multispectral approach to site detection is tested in two other regions of the Near East, in the environs of Çatalhöyük in central Turkey and Ur in southern Iraq. Finally, the results of all of the work above are considered and discussed together to assess the validity and achievements of the research, and the conclusion outlines possible future directions to build on the work presented here. Volume two provides the associated tables and figures and an appendix detailing all of the previously known and newly recorded sites and findspots in the Dinar Basin.

This thesis focuses on the subsistence economy of the Yangshao period in the Wei River Valley, how it changes through time and how it relates to environmental change and changing social complexity. The research is based on faunal analysis at the Wayaogou site (6,500-6,000 BP) in Shaanxi Province, China. Pig and sika deer remains are studied in detail since they dominate the faunal assemblage. For the pig, its domesticated status is documented and its husbandry strategies are explored in detail; for sika deer, human hunting practices are investigated. Based on this, the subsistence system, especially the balance between pig husbandry and sika deer hunting practices, is addressed. Meanwhile, the utilization patterns of animal bones are investigated using contextual analysis, to understand human refuse discard behaviour and residential strategies. Standard zooarchaeological methods and approaches are used in this study. For pig, size change, cull patterns, body part representation, and archaeological evidence is used to infer its domesticated status, husbandry regime and utilization. This study is enhanced by Linear Enamel Hypoplasia (LEH) analysis, which is applied to pigs from Wayaogou and other Neolithic sites in the Wei River valley, to explore further the environmental conditions and husbandry practices. For sika deer, the age structure, size change, body part representation and bone modifications provide information on human hunting strategies and selection, as well as other uses of the animal, such as for bone tools. Spatial analysis is undertaken to investigate the spatial distribution patterns of faunal remains from Wayaogou. Some special depositions and contexts are assessed to infer social meanings and implications of faunal remains. The animal subsistence study is put into a broader context in an attempt to understand the interactions between climate fluctuations, human responses, subsistence strategies and social development and decline throughout the Neolithic in this region.

This thesis explores perceptions of two-edged swords as ‘living’ artefacts in Anglo-Saxon England and Scandinavia between c. 500 and 1100. Taking inspiration from recent anthropological and archaeological research into ‘artefact biography’, it considers two interlinked avenues of ‘life’: (1) the notion that swords could acquire life-histories, personalities and other person-like qualities; and (2) the nature of their relationship with warriors (as opposed to other members of society). The thesis compares Anglo-Saxon England and Scandinavia across a broad chronological period in order to identify how attitudes towards swords developed over time. The almost unique proximity to bloodshed which swords, by contrast with other weapons, provided for their wielders is considered key in fuelling perceptions of swords as ‘living’ artefacts, and strengthening the bond between warrior and weapon. This special connection between swords and violence is interpreted as contributing to the symbolic potency of swords in early medieval Northern Europe. This thesis adopts an interdisciplinary approach, discussing archaeological, pictorial and written evidence within a carefully-constructed methodological framework. The different sources are integrated in a discussion chapter which attempts to arrive at a holistic understanding of perceptions of ‘living’ swords in early medieval Northern Europe. Finally, the interdisciplinary method deployed in the thesis is assessed, and suggestions for future interdisciplinary research frameworks are made.

Museums are increasingly obliged to take note of Government policy regarding issues of social engagement, access and diversity within museum collections and how they relate to developing new audiences, particularly those of minority ethnic origin, in order to attract or maintain funding. This thesis examines this by using foreign recruited Roman Auxiliary soldiers as an extensive case study to show that their potential to reveal diversity could have the effect of attracting people of a range of ethnic backgrounds to museums, who might not otherwise attend, as well as demonstrating that ancient Britain was much more diverse than general opinion supposes. It will also show just how challenging many museums find this proposition. To explore these issues, this thesis examines archaeological and epigraphical evidence of auxiliary regiments, or Auxilia, in the northern frontier region of Britannia for indications of different ethnic and cultural identities and then critically examines their representation in modern museums of the area. Evidence will be drawn from the 1st to 4th centuries CE. A catalogue of all evidence concerning named auxiliary regiments has been constructed, along with indexes of museums in the area and of all archaeological sites from which material is sent to these museums for display. Using principles of ‘survivable traits’ this thesis uses a unique assessment tool to examine whether or not these traits have been communicated to the public while examining issues surrounding interpretation technique, imagery and mannequins. It also examines the manner in which archaeological theories such as ‘Romanization’ are communicated. It will reveal that most museums examined are poor at revealing basic information about unit origins, use outdated imagery, do not discuss the ethnicity or cultural identity of auxiliary soldiers and frequently oversimplify archaeological theory relating to identity. Suggestions for ways to improve this situation will be offered in conclusion. The field work was untaken largely in 2009 and therefore this thesis does not take into account changes that occurred to some museums in late 2011 and early 2012.

Recent archaeobotanical results from early Aceramic Neolithic sites on Cyprus (c. 8,500 cal. BC) have put the island in the forefront of debates on the spread of Near Eastern agriculture, with domestic crops appearing on the island shortly after they evolved. The archaeobotanical results from these early Cypriot Aceramic Neolithic sites changed conventional views regarding the Cypriot prehistoric economy, specifically the timing of the introduction of farming to the island. However, what happened after the introduction of agriculture to Cyprus has been less discussed. This thesis explores the role of new crop introductions, local agricultural developments, and intensification in subsequent economic and social developments on Cyprus corresponding with the island’s evidence of ongoing social transformations and changing off-island patterns of contacts. In addition to contributing to discussions on the origins and spread of Near Eastern agriculture, this thesis contributes to current archaeological debates on external contact and the influence of the broader Near East on the development of the island’s prehistoric economy. Further, the primary objective of this research is the comparative quantitative analysis of the Cypriot charred macro botanical record including archaeobotanical data from four recently excavated Cypriot sites, Krittou Marottou-‘Ais Yiorkis, Kissonerga-Skalia, Souskiou-Laona, and Prastion-Mesorotsos. This research is a chronological and regional analysis of the botanical record of Cyprus and a comparison of data from similarly dated sites in the Levantine mainland, Turkey, and Egypt.

Europeans’ arrival in the Americas ignited a process of colonization that produced slavery, acculturation, evangelization and the eventual extermination of many American Indigenous groups. This is still manifest in today’s social invisibility, lack of representation, and persisting stereotypes. South American Indigenous peoples seek articulations of public identities that express their cultural diversity while referring to their historic roots and communicating their contemporaneity. Collections originated by South American Indigenous peoples or related minorities can be used in more democratic articulations of history, and to enhance representation and visibility in society without compromising historic and social context. This thesis explores how conservators may facilitate these processes and how this could transform their discipline. It relates contemporary and recent contexts of conservation to the work of Paulo Freire (also Participatory Action Research advocates and Postcolonialist theorists) to illuminate the formation and maintenance of power structures and their possible reversals. Use of objects and collections is demonstrated with examples like the Bororo of Merure, the Tupinambá of Olivença (both in Brazil), and the Comuneros of San Cristóbal de Rapaz (Peru). This thesis argues that the cross-disciplinary nature of conservation and the different processes involved may provide spaces in which to articulate, negotiate and materialize new engagements. However, ideals of neutrality still implicit in contemporary conservation practice, although demonstrably misplaced, undermine such engagements. Conservation provides spaces that spawn examination and redefinition of structures of power, inside and outside the museum. The knowledge the conservation processes unveil should not be merely used to reinforce dominant knowledge but to create independent knowledge that may, in turn, reflect back on the discipline and strengthen it. Before that, conservators have to take ownership of their space and be ready to transform their own practice. Understanding the potential power entailed in the transformations provoked by conservation is part of conservators’ craft.

Hair, the most malleable part of the human body, lends itself to the most varied forms of impermanent modifications. The resulting hairstyles convey social practices and norms, and may be regarded as part of the “representation of self” and an integral element in the maintenance and structuring of society. In this thesis, a systematic and quantative investigation has been undertaken of the structural relationships between variations in hairstyles and principal changes in social organisation in ancient Egypt from the Protodynastic to the end of the Old Kingdom (3,350-2,181 BC), a period that witnessed the rise, consolidation and eventually breakdown of centralised authority. The results reveal that hairstyles were linked to the identity of individuals and social groups, such as men, women, children and the elderly. Hairstyles were used as a means of displaying status. After experimentation with a broad spectrum of hairstyles during the Protodynastic and early Dynasty I, an institutionalised canon for hairstyles was established, coinciding with the creation of administrative institutions. These codified hairstyles continued to serve as the norms for identifying members of the administration or signs of authority. By the end of the Old Kingdom, the hairstyles of the elite had been adopted by the lower officials of the increased bureaucracy and provincial elites as representations of their newly acquired power and status. Although initially the majority of the men had their hair cut short, modifications of short hair and the adoption of mid- and shoulder-length hair became progressively common. The use of certain hairstyles was restricted to the higher social offices, with longer hair being emblematic of power and divinity. Women, by contrast, initially had long hair with greater variety occurring by Dynasty I and a more restricted array from Dynasty II onwards. However, long hair was predominant among women of all social statuses in all periods. Long hair may have thus been related to the perception of women as mothers (responsible for childbirth and nursing), and hence their perceived role as directly linked with procreation and fecundity. Although the adoption of the tripartite by high officials was related to this ‘generative’ aspect of feminine hairstyles, it was primarily in imitation of the God Osiris and his regenerative powers.

A particular version of Rwanda’s pre-colonial Iron Age past was constructed during colonial rule and influenced by a racial world-view. This ethnicised and racialised past was used by successive Rwandan rulers to divide the population along newcomer/latecomer lines and eventually became a central tenet of the propaganda that contributed to the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. More recently this racial presentation of Rwanda’s past has since been successfully deconstructed by social historians such as Mamdani (2002), Chrétien (2003), Eltringham (2004) Vansina (2004) and Newbury (2009), and has been shown to be a heavily biased construction based on colonial values. Yet, the ethno-racial presentation of the past continues to be problematic for history education in Rwanda. This thesis follows on from the work of these authors. It suggests that archaeology can usefully engage with contemporary political contexts, involving the deconstruction and reconstruction of Rwanda’s pre-colonial past in a climate of reconciliation. Following this introduction this thesis explores the concept of ethnicity in relation to Rwandan archaeology before reconsidering the tangible evidence for the Iron Age in Rwanda through a critical review of the existing literature. Furthermore, through the application of a politically aware and sensitive theoretical and methodological framework, this thesis explores non-ethno-racial historical narratives in pre-colonial Rwanda through a new body of archaeological data generated during twelve months of recent fieldwork in southern, central and northern Rwanda. Finally this thesis concludes with a summary of the archaeological outcomes of this research and some speculation on future research directions.

This thesis examines a little understood aspect of Dynastic Egypt—that of the ideology of flint. Ideology is defined as the way flint is thought of rather than used. This study is unique in examining long term chronological changes in flint ideology against the background of increased metal use, and in using together text, iconography, and archaeology: studies of Egyptian ideology traditionally privilege text. Metaphor theory is employed as an important tool to aid this study. While metaphor is frequently used in Egyptological studies of Egyptian religion, its use is rarely explicit. The dataset brings together unpublished artefacts in British museum collections; a first hand analysis of lithics from Panhesy’s house at Amarna; finds cards from recent excavations at Memphis; and textual sources, several of which have not been considered before in relation to the ideology of flint; as well as published data on Egyptian lithic material. Chronological changes in ideology surrounding flint during the Bronze and Iron Ages, a time of flint decline, are considered. Because the nature of flint decline in Egypt has been assumed rather than known, I attempt to quantify the process. Conclusions show that the ideology of flint was far from static but only loosely related to the kinetic decline of flint. Flint is shown to be connected with the goddesses who are the Eye of Re, with Re himself, with snakes and lions. New facets of flint ideology are uncovered, including the connection of the material with the northern sky and the link between the treatment of New Kingdom Theban flint concretions and the religious landscape of the area.