The Archaeology of the Colonized

‘A commendable and exciting work…the author’s interest in imperialism is bold and timely, as is his interest in promoting a bottom-up approach…a great opportunity to advance archaeological thought about imperialism.’ Charles E. Orser Jr, Illinois State University ‘…a talented, innovative author…the topic is very interesting and important.’ John Bintliff, University of Leiden This book focuses on the experience of the colonized in their landscape setting, looking at case studies from areas of the world not often considered in the postcolonial debate. It offers original, exciting approaches to the growing area of research in archaeology and colonialism. The case studies used range from the pyramids of Old Kingdom Egypt to illicit whisky distilling in nineteenth-century Scotland, and from the Roman roads of Turkey to the threshing floors of Cyprus under British colonial rule. Dr Given uses the archaeological evidence to create a vivid picture of how the lives and identities of farmers, artisans and labourers were affected by colonial systems of oppressive taxation, bureaucracy, forced labour and ideological control.
This is the first book to integrate fully the archaeological study of the landscape with the concerns of colonial and postcolonial history, theory and scholarship. It will be valuable to anyone investigating the relationship between local community and central control in a wide range of historical and archaeological contexts.

Author Biography

Michael Given is a Research Fellow in the Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow, and co-director of the Troodos Archaeological and Environmental Survey Project in Cyprus. His research interests include archaeological survey, landscape archaeology, imperialism and historical archaeology. He is co-author with A. Bernard Knapp of The Sydney Cyprus Survey Project: social approaches to regional archaeological survey (2003).