Silencing the Poor –
Political taphonomy and perspectives on the archaeological record

NINO Postdoctoral Research Fellow 4^th Annual Conference
Leiden, 17-19 November 2023

The elites of ancient societies have been given prominence in historical and archaeological writings due to a focus on monumental architecture and the lives of political leaders. Yet, the archaeological record often lacks clarity when researchers attempt to study the lower classes. The reason for this is that long before we start to interpret and excavate ancient sites, political inequalities have already affected the durability of the archaeological record. Ziggurats, palaces and monumental graves are built forever, while the living quarters of the majority of the population are constructed from less substantial materials that are more easily destroyed. This power imbalance in the transformation process has been referred to as “political taphonomy”, which will be the focal point of this workshop.

To tackle this topic, scholars based in institutions from Central Asia to Western Europe within the fields of Southwest Asian and Northeast African archaeology have been invited to talk about political taphonomy and its effects on graves, architecture, material culture as well as the detectability of sites in surveys. The overarching questions of the conference will be how the unequal access to resources shaped the archaeological record and what can we do to take this inequality into consideration, when writing our historical narrative.

Contact and information

The sessions on the 17^th and 18^th November will take place in the Leemanszaal in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden.

The conference will round off with a closed World Café Discussion on the 19^th of November involving all speakers.

Further updates, instructions and other information will be posted on this event page.

For additional questions and information, please contact Dr. Georg Cyrus – NINO Postdoctoral Fellow.

Programme