Premium
9 Tracing Everyday Life at Trimithis (Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt)
Author(s) -
Boozer Anna Lucille
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
archeological papers of the american anthropological association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.783
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1551-8248
pISSN - 1551-823X
DOI - 10.1111/apaa.12063
Subject(s) - trace (psycholinguistics) , materiality (auditing) , everyday life , tracing , agency (philosophy) , perspective (graphical) , aesthetics , sociology , history , environmental ethics , epistemology , art , visual arts , social science , computer science , philosophy , linguistics , operating system
This article explores how concepts of “trace” might help archaeologists disentangle and interpret the material remains of ordinary life. Trace is a theoretical vantage long exploited by social theorists to explore the unintentional, quotidian residues of ordinary people. The term trace is relevant to archaeology because it refocuses attention from active agency to more subtle undercurrents within daily life rhythms. I explore two Romano‐Egyptian houses from the same city from a trace perspective in order to reveal the small‐scale daily life choices of individuals. The results of this exploration suggest future directions for the archaeological use of trace to explore materiality, everyday life, and subtle signatures of multi‐cultural scenarios.