num_pages: 296
description: This book concentrates on the varying roles and functions that material culture may play in almost all aspects of the social fabric of a given culture. The contributors, from Africa, Australia and Papau New Guinea, India, South America, the USA, and both Eastern and Western Europpe, provide a rich variety of views and experience in a worldwide perspective. Some of the questions examined include: whether all material culture is equivalent to documents which can be read and interpreted by the outside observer; what is the nature of the messages or meanings conveyed in this way?; to what extent does acceptance, and subsequent diffusion, of a religious belief or symbol may be qualified by the status of the individuals concerned in transmitting the innovation.
language: English
title: The Meanings of Things
titlecomplete: The Meanings of Things (One World Archaeology)
genres: Theory, Archaeology, Anthropology
ratings_count: 7
publisher: Routledge