文档介绍：P1: KAE
0521853743pre CUFX128/Rainbird 0 521 85374 5 printer: cupusbw May 26, 2007 15:32
This page intentionally left blank
ii
P1: KAE
0521853743pre CUFX128/Rainbird 0 521 85374 5 printer: cupusbw May 26, 2007 15:32
The Archaeology of Islands
Archaeologists have traditionally considered islands as distinct phys-
ical and social entities. In this book, Paul Rainbird discusses the his-
torical construction of this characterisation and questions the basis
for such an understanding of island archaeology. Through a series of
case studies of prehistoric archaeology in the Mediterranean, Pacific,
Baltic and Atlantic seas and oceans, he argues for a decentring of
the land in favour of an emphasis on the archaeology of the sea and,
ultimately, a new perspective on the making of muni-
ties. The archaeology of islands is thus unshackled from approaches
that highlight boundedness and isolation, and is replaced with a new
set of principles – that boundaries are fuzzy, islanders are distinctive
in their expectation of contacts with people from over the seas and
island life can tell us much about munities. Debating
islands, thus, brings to the fore issues of identity munity
and a concern with Western construction of other peoples.
Paul Rainbird is Head of Department and Senior Lecturer in Archae-
ology at the University of Wales, Lampeter. A Fellow of the Society
of Antiquaries and a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute,
he is the author of The Archaeology of Micronesia and he serves on
the editorial boards of the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology
and Research in Archaeological Education.
i
P1: KAE
0521853743pre CUFX128/Rainbird 0 521 85374 5 printer: cupusbw May 26, 2007 15:32
ii
P1: KAE
0521853743pre CUFX128/Rainbird 0 521 85374 5 printer: cupusbw May 26, 2007 15:32
TOPICS IN CONTEMPORARY ARCHAEOLOGY
Series Editor
richard bradley University of Reading
This series is addressed to students, professi