TY - JOUR
T1 - Reconsidering the behavioral basis for style
T2 - A case study among the Kalahari San
AU - Wiessner, Polly
N1 - Funding Information:
colleagues at Moesgaard Museum, Aarhus, Denmark, Ed Wilmsen, and I. Eibl-Eibesfeldt have provided discussions which were very helpful in formulating the ideas presented in this paper. San beadworkers were most cooperative in explaining the details of their art. To them I am grateful. The reviewers of this paper, Bob Whallon and Ian Hodder, provided most helpful criticisms on a previous draft. The funds for this study were provided by the Ford Foundation and the Max Planck Institut for Human Ethology. The Botswana Govem-ment generously granted me permission to work with the San from 1973 to 1975.
PY - 1984/9
Y1 - 1984/9
N2 - In this paper, it is proposed that there is a behavioral basis for much, but not all, of the formal variation in material culture that has been called style by archaeologists. This aspect of stylistic behavior is founded on the basic human cognitive process of identification via comparison. Such stylistic behavior is argued to be one means by which people negotiate their personal and social identities relative to that of surrounding others. Thus, the process of social, and corresponding stylistic, comparison is proposed as the mechanism underlying stylistic development and change. This behavioral basis for style is explicated in a case study among the Kalahari San, in which the role of style in beaded headbands in regional, areal, and personal identity relations, as well as exchange, is investigated. Finally, the proposed behavioral basis for style is discussed in terms of what it can contribute to interpretation of variability in material culture, current approaches to style, and its implications for the development of a theory of style.
AB - In this paper, it is proposed that there is a behavioral basis for much, but not all, of the formal variation in material culture that has been called style by archaeologists. This aspect of stylistic behavior is founded on the basic human cognitive process of identification via comparison. Such stylistic behavior is argued to be one means by which people negotiate their personal and social identities relative to that of surrounding others. Thus, the process of social, and corresponding stylistic, comparison is proposed as the mechanism underlying stylistic development and change. This behavioral basis for style is explicated in a case study among the Kalahari San, in which the role of style in beaded headbands in regional, areal, and personal identity relations, as well as exchange, is investigated. Finally, the proposed behavioral basis for style is discussed in terms of what it can contribute to interpretation of variability in material culture, current approaches to style, and its implications for the development of a theory of style.
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U2 - 10.1016/0278-4165(84)90002-3
DO - 10.1016/0278-4165(84)90002-3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0001628389
SN - 0278-4165
VL - 3
SP - 190
EP - 234
JO - Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
JF - Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
IS - 3
ER -