Diana Fridberg | Washington University in St. Louis (original) (raw)
Address: Towson, Maryland, United States
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Papers by Diana Fridberg
A teaching resource for material culture theory related to "The Social Life of Things"
paper presented at the XXI Encuentro de los Investigadores de la Cultural Maya, 2011
The Classic period Maya imagined the earth as a giant reptile floating across a primordial sea, a... more The Classic period Maya imagined the earth as a giant reptile floating across a primordial sea, and death as a journey to a watery underworld. Art and artifacts from the Classic period reflect these concepts. The Guatemalan site of La Corona is no exception, and marine species from as far away as the Pacific Ocean have been recovered from Late Classic burials at the site. However, during the Early Classic period, La Corona seems to have been outside of the elite trade network that was later established by Calakmul, Campeche and its allies. During the 2011 season of the La Corona Regional Archaeology Project, a tomb dating to AD550-600 was excavated and the bones of several aquatic species were recovered. However, the vast majority of this aquatic material was available locally, in the civales around the site. This paper will discuss this tomb and demonstrate that, in the absence of marine species, the Classic Maya utilized local resources ritually re-create the primordial sea.
2012. Analysis of faunal remains from a ritual feasting deposit from La Corona Structure 13R-10
2010. Zooarchaeological remains from an elite, Classic Maya residential group at El Perú-Waka', P... more 2010. Zooarchaeological remains from an elite, Classic Maya residential group at El Perú-Waka', Petén, Guatemala. Manuscript on file, Washington University in St. Louis.
2010. El Perú-Waka' Regional Archaeological Project informe
2013. Analysis of faunal remains from La Corona Burial 6
2006. Although the medical and material branches of anthropology both developed in the late twent... more 2006. Although the medical and material branches of anthropology both developed in the late twentieth century, there has been little material anthropological analysis of medical objects. In order to investigate the material agency of surgical tools the social life of a set of Shawiya Berber trepanation instruments collected by Melville William Hilton-Simpson are analysed. First, key works on the social lives and agency of objects are discussed, with particular reference to Alfred Gell’s works on the agency of technological artefacts. Second, the case study set of objects is introduced along with general background on the practice of cranial trepanation in order to reconstruct the social history and cultural biography of this collection. Finally, the agency exerted by at different points during the social lives of the Hilton-Simpson collection is discussed and Gell’s ideas about the mechanisms behind the “enchantment of technology” are tested. The resulting assessment of material agency is one which is dependent upon knowledge of its use and ideas about the skill of its user rather than that of its creator.
2005. An investigation of Maya use of peccaries (Tayassuidae) using iconographic, zooarchaeologic... more 2005. An investigation of Maya use of peccaries (Tayassuidae) using iconographic, zooarchaeological, and ethnographic evidence. A.B. thesis, Harvard University.
2013. El Perú-Waka' Regional Archaeological Project informe
2012. El Perú-Waka' Regional Archaeological Project informe
A teaching resource for material culture theory related to "The Social Life of Things"
paper presented at the XXI Encuentro de los Investigadores de la Cultural Maya, 2011
The Classic period Maya imagined the earth as a giant reptile floating across a primordial sea, a... more The Classic period Maya imagined the earth as a giant reptile floating across a primordial sea, and death as a journey to a watery underworld. Art and artifacts from the Classic period reflect these concepts. The Guatemalan site of La Corona is no exception, and marine species from as far away as the Pacific Ocean have been recovered from Late Classic burials at the site. However, during the Early Classic period, La Corona seems to have been outside of the elite trade network that was later established by Calakmul, Campeche and its allies. During the 2011 season of the La Corona Regional Archaeology Project, a tomb dating to AD550-600 was excavated and the bones of several aquatic species were recovered. However, the vast majority of this aquatic material was available locally, in the civales around the site. This paper will discuss this tomb and demonstrate that, in the absence of marine species, the Classic Maya utilized local resources ritually re-create the primordial sea.
2012. Analysis of faunal remains from a ritual feasting deposit from La Corona Structure 13R-10
2010. Zooarchaeological remains from an elite, Classic Maya residential group at El Perú-Waka', P... more 2010. Zooarchaeological remains from an elite, Classic Maya residential group at El Perú-Waka', Petén, Guatemala. Manuscript on file, Washington University in St. Louis.
2010. El Perú-Waka' Regional Archaeological Project informe
2013. Analysis of faunal remains from La Corona Burial 6
2006. Although the medical and material branches of anthropology both developed in the late twent... more 2006. Although the medical and material branches of anthropology both developed in the late twentieth century, there has been little material anthropological analysis of medical objects. In order to investigate the material agency of surgical tools the social life of a set of Shawiya Berber trepanation instruments collected by Melville William Hilton-Simpson are analysed. First, key works on the social lives and agency of objects are discussed, with particular reference to Alfred Gell’s works on the agency of technological artefacts. Second, the case study set of objects is introduced along with general background on the practice of cranial trepanation in order to reconstruct the social history and cultural biography of this collection. Finally, the agency exerted by at different points during the social lives of the Hilton-Simpson collection is discussed and Gell’s ideas about the mechanisms behind the “enchantment of technology” are tested. The resulting assessment of material agency is one which is dependent upon knowledge of its use and ideas about the skill of its user rather than that of its creator.
2005. An investigation of Maya use of peccaries (Tayassuidae) using iconographic, zooarchaeologic... more 2005. An investigation of Maya use of peccaries (Tayassuidae) using iconographic, zooarchaeological, and ethnographic evidence. A.B. thesis, Harvard University.
2013. El Perú-Waka' Regional Archaeological Project informe
2012. El Perú-Waka' Regional Archaeological Project informe