Dissertation Research: Archaeology and Artifacts: Unearthing Identity

论文研究：考古学与文物：发掘身份

• 批准号: 0522538
• 负责人: William Maurer
• 金额: $ 1.15万
• 依托单位: University of California-Irvine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-08-15 至 2007-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0522538&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Archaeology; Artifacts; Unearthing

Abstract This project focuses on the scientific and cultural production of knowledge at archaeological sitesthrough an ethnography of archaeologists working in Pompeii, Italy. The exacting "scientific" nature ofarchaeology has played a pivotal role in the construction of cultural and national identities. This projectseeks to understand the micro-processes by which artifacts become scientific objects and how, asscientific objects, artifacts become objects of signification: of "Italian-ness", "European-ness" and finally"World Heritage". Italy is a country fraught with a continual crisis of cultural and/or national identitybut the narrative of a shared Roman ancestry became important in attempts to generate "Italian-ness". Historically archaeology helped establish and legitimize this "common" identity. Intellectual Merits The intellectual merit of the proposed research is to examine how archaeology is currently being enrolled in the project of identity formation. As one of the most important sites in Italy, Pompeii offers the best opportunity to examine these processes at work. In 1997 Pompeii was "inscribed" by UNESCO and designated a "World Heritage" site. As such it is a particularly interesting place to potentially locate theformation of a new yet not fully defined European or world identity. This project not solely concerns the uses that archaeology has been put to in the social and political arena, but also with the practice of archaeology itself and how these practices construct scientific objects that are then employed to make larger truth claims. While general conclusions have been offered as to the work of archaeology as a nation-building tool, this project seeks to understand how archaeology as science is a "sign producing" activity and exactly how it is that the archaeological sign comes into being and circulates to producenarratives of heritage, identity and nation.Broader Impacts UNESCO's declaration of Pompeii as a "World Heritage" site points to the broader impacts ofthis study. Archaeological artifacts have long been caught up in important and contentious policy debatesover the disposition of such objects: not just who owns them, but who can use them for proprietary andnarrative projects. This study will contribute to those policy debates, as well as the broader discussion inpolicy circles in Europe: the Council of Europe explicitly stated in its Forward Planning Project of 2001that archaeological heritage would be used to "Europeanize" Europe. This project will thus have broaderimpacts in addressing the policy and scientific debate about the interface between the science and thepolitics of archaeology in the new Europe. Finally, Italy has recently passed legislation allowing theprivatization of Pompeii. How can privatization be reconciled with the larger collective projects ofUNESCO and the Council of Europe (which themselves may be at odds)? The data collected through theproposed research will be useful to scholars and policy makers attempting to navigate this increasinglyfraught legal and proprietary terrain.This award is being co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering

本项目通过在意大利庞贝工作的考古学家的人种志，重点关注考古遗址知识的科学和文化生产。考古学严格的“科学”性质在文化和民族认同的建构中发挥了关键作用。该项目旨在了解人工制品成为科学对象的微观过程，以及科学对象、人工制品如何成为具有“意大利性”、“欧洲性”和最终“世界遗产”意义的对象。意大利是一个充满文化和/或民族认同持续危机的国家，但共同的罗马血统的叙述在产生“意大利性”的尝试中变得重要。历史上，考古学帮助确立了这种“共同”身份，并使之合法化。这项研究的学术价值在于研究考古学目前是如何被纳入身份形成项目的。作为意大利最重要的遗址之一，庞贝为研究这些过程提供了最好的机会。1997年，庞贝古城被联合国教科文组织“列入”世界遗产名录。因此，它是一个特别有趣的地方，可以找到一个新的但尚未完全定义的欧洲或世界身份的形成。这个项目不仅关注考古学在社会和政治领域的应用，还关注考古学本身的实践，以及这些实践如何构建科学对象，然后用来提出更大的真理主张。虽然考古学作为一种国家建设工具的工作已经得到了一般性的结论，但本项目旨在了解考古学作为一门科学是如何成为一种“符号生产”活动的，以及考古符号是如何形成并传播到遗产、身份和国家的生产性叙述中的。更广泛的影响联合国教科文组织宣布庞贝古城为“世界遗产”，这表明了这项研究的更广泛的影响。长期以来，考古文物一直处于重要而有争议的政策辩论中，争论的焦点是这些文物的处置：不仅是谁拥有它们，还包括谁可以将它们用于专有和叙事项目。这项研究将有助于这些政策辩论，以及欧洲政策圈内更广泛的讨论：欧洲委员会在其2001年的前瞻性规划项目中明确指出，考古遗产将被用来“欧洲化”欧洲。因此，该项目将在解决新欧洲考古科学与政治之间的界面的政策和科学辩论方面产生更广泛的影响。最后，意大利最近通过立法，允许庞贝古城私有化。私有化如何与联合国教科文组织和欧洲委员会更大的集体项目协调一致（它们本身可能存在分歧）？通过拟议的研究收集的数据将有助于学者和政策制定者试图在这个日益令人担忧的法律和专有领域中导航。该奖项由国际科学与工程办公室共同资助