[...]... evolve as a discipline, refining new theoretical approaches that help us to model the past in novel ways These are exciting times that are providing fresh tools for understanding all of human history and the dynamics that have made the world what it is today The Archaeology of Traditions: Agency and History Before and After xii | Foreword Columbus is at the forefront of applying this paradigm shift to... outside of traditional practices? This puzzle indicates the need for better concepts to deal with the process of tradition making A series of such concepts are used throughout this volume, including practice, doxa, ethnogenesis, community, resistance, and official and unofficial traditions With the aid of these, the resolution to the conundrum will be found in the revised understanding of southeastern history. .. level, they often carried with them indirect—if not direct—physical and material consequences As African Americans negotiated the terms of their existence in the antebellum South, there always was at least one source of strength they had to draw upon: the cultural practices and traditions that they retained, adopted, created, and modified The process of putting traditions into practice—that is, living them... the aesthetics of African pottery, or the eschatology of animistic religion into the nineteenth century is no more useful than reading the demands of blackbelt cotton production, the theology of African- African-American Tradition and Community | 19 American Christianity, and the ethos of antebellum paternalism back into the seventeenth century It is important to remember that at the beginning of the. .. to the novel referents and associations of the pot’s contents, the time or place of the pot’s use, or the people who made, used, or possessed the pot (Pauketat and Emerson 1991; and see fig 1.2) Note that I am not saying that things, such as the pot or the pot’s symbolism, are subject to negotiation Rather, I am saying that the very idea of “thingness” is problematic The pot and its symbolism are themselves... place The reverse order also recapitulates how we in the present and our predecessors at various points in the past create and created tradition by reaching selectively back further and further into the past The result, I hope, is an archaeology of tradition that better explains and, at the same time, transcends the Southeast Notes 1 Of course, denying that we can know the past, oddly, denies the people... religious leaders and politicians use traditions to attract followers Traditions used in such ways are the basis of social movements, coalitions, or revolutions These are cases of tradition in the service of high-order political interests In the course of world history, such coopted traditions have built cathedrals and pyramids, overthrown governments, and revitalized religions Other, lower-order traditions. .. amounts of property The task system, along with the gang system, was one of two principal labor systems used on plantations (Gray 1933, 1:550–551) Under the task system, slaves were given specific tasks that had to be completed by the end of the day Upon completion of assigned tasks, slaves had the remainder of the day to pursue their own goals The gang system, on the other hand, involved groups of slaves... on tradition and tradition making In this regard, the Southeast and all things traditional go together remarkably well Archaeologists in the Southeast are fortunate to have a wealth of data that speaks directly to issues of an archaeology of traditions, and for this many individuals, private foundations, and public organizations are owed debts of gratitude Of those directly supportive of my own research... interests, and are defined and contested through power relations Tradition may participate in this negotiation in a number of ways, but always as a constituent part of the struggle to define and maintain community A second and equally critical point is the importance of history in understanding both the institution of slavery and the developments that took place within it The ideological construction of African . Archaeology of Traditions The Ripley P. Bullen Series Florida Museum of Natural History This page intentionally left blank The Archaeology of Traditions Agency and History Before and After Columbus Edited. Tallahassee University of Central Florida, Orlando University of Florida, Gainesville University of North Florida, Jacksonville University of South Florida, Tampa University of West Florida, Pensacola The. Coast University, Florida Interna- tional University, Florida State University, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University of South Flor- ida, and