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Archaeologies of Rules and Regulation
Between Text and Practice
Edited by Barbara Hausmair, Ben Jervis, Ruth Nugent, and Eleanor Williams
356 pages, 56 illus., bibliog., index
ISBN 978-1-78533-765-9 $145.00/£107.00 / Hb / Published (January 2018)
ISBN 978-1-83695-051-6 $34.95/£27.95 / Pb / Not Yet Published (April 2025)
eISBN 978-1-78533-766-6 eBook
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Reviews
“This is a high-quality and far-ranging, …dense and rich, edited collection with subject matter spanning 1500 years of historical archaeological research from Northern, Western and Central Europe together with two North American chapters. As such, it constitutes a great achievement by four academics working collaboratively and drawing upon their very different geographical, chronological, and thematic expertise.” • Archaeological Journal
“This wide-ranging collection of substantive case studies does demonstrate the central importance of rules in shaping human behavior, social hierarchies, and change, although I think few archaeologists would question this proposition. One of its main contributions is shining a spotlight on the explicit study of rules and regulations. This is an emphasis that derives from particular social theories, but the volume and its authors offer many new insights that will be of interest to all historical archaeologists.” • Historical Archaeology
“The impact of rules on the archaeological record has been the focus of many scholars. This volume provides a solid theorized overview of the theme, offering an extensive biography of previous works.” • Charlotte Newman, English Heritage
Description
How can we study the impact of rules on the lives of past people using archaeological evidence? To answer this question, Archaeologies of Rules and Regulation presents case studies drawn from across Europe and the United States. Covering areas as diverse as the use of space in a nineteenth-century U.S. Army camp, the deposition of waste in medieval towns, the experiences of Swedish migrants to North America, the relationship between people and animals in Anglo-Saxon England, these case studies explore the use of archaeological evidence in understanding the relationship between rules, lived experience, and social identity.
Barbara Hausmair is a post-doctoral researcher at the Zukunftskolleg, University of Konstanz, Germany where she previously held a Marie-Skłodowska-Curie-Fellowship. She gained her Ph.D. from the University of Vienna, Austria and studied at the Universities of Cambridge and Reading, U.K. as a visiting Ph.D. student.
Ben Jervis is Lecturer in Medieval Archaeology at Cardiff University, U.K. having gained his Ph.D. from the University of Southampton in 2011. He has published widely on topics including medieval urbanism and the application of archaeological theory to the study of medieval objects.
Ruth Nugent gained her Ph.D. from the University of Chester, U.K. where she is currently a Visiting Lecturer. Her work has been published in ‘Medieval Archaeology’ and she has presented her work at major conferences, including the International Medieval Congress.
Eleanor Williams gained her Ph.D. from the University of Southampton, U.K. where she is currently a Visiting Fellow. She has published with CAHMER, presented on her research at a number of conferences in England and France, and with colleagues from the University of Southampton, organized a major conference on ‘Buildings and Bodies’ in 2014.
Subject: ArchaeologyHistory: Medieval/Early ModernSociologyHistory (General)
Contents
Of Related Interest
Critical Public Archaeology
Confronting Social Challenges in the 21st Century
Advocacy and Archaeology
Urban Intersections
Poverty Archaeology
Architecture, Material Culture and the Workhouse under the New Poor Law
