Abstract
It used to be the case that archaeological features and artifacts were principally on a human scale. But that familiar world is changing fast. As archaeology extends its range of focus further forward in time its subject matter is moving beyond human proportions. Developments in macro- and micro-engineering mean that artifacts are no longer limited in size by physical limitations of the body. As scale and impact of material culture extends outwards and inwards in both macroscopic and microscopic directions, the perspectives of contemporary archaeology must change in order to keep track.
Résumé
Il fut un temps où les particularités archéologiques et les artefacts étaient principalement posés à l’échelle humaine. Mais cet univers familier change rapidement. Alors que l’archéologie développe ses domaines de compétences dans le futur, son objet dépasse les limites de l’Homme. Les développements de la macro et de la micro ingénierie impliquent que les artefacts ne sont plus limités en taille par les limites physiques du corps. Tandis que l’importance et l’impact de la culture matérielle se développent dans toutes les directions, à la fois macroscopique et microscopique, les conceptions de l’archéologie contemporaine doivent changer afin de suivre les évolutions.
Resumen
En el pasado, las prestaciones arqueológicas y los instrumentos eran, en su mayoría, a escala humana. Pero ese mundo familiar está cambiando rápidamente: a medida que la arqueología amplía su rango de enfoque al avanzar en el tiempo, su objeto de estudio desborda las proporciones humanas. Los avances en macro y microingeniería han logrado que el tamaño de los instrumentos ya no estén limitados físicamente por el organismo. A medida que la escala y el impacto de la cultura material se extiende por dentro y por fuera, tanto en direcciones macroscópicas como microscópicas, las perspectivas de la arqueología contemporánea deben cambiar para seguir su estela.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to Adrian Myers and Brent Fortenberry for organizing the CHAT session at the 2009 Stanford TAG conference, and for their suggested changes. I am also grateful for detailed comments provided by Barbara Voss, Cornelius Holtorf and two anonymous reviewers, as well as to the British Academy for the Overseas Conference Award which gave me the opportunity to contribute this paper.
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Edgeworth, M. Beyond Human Proportions: Archaeology of the Mega and the Nano. Arch 6, 138–149 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-010-9125-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-010-9125-9