The Archaeology of Anxiety ― The Materiality of Anxiousness, Worry, and Fear

Recent developments in archaeological theory have led to the recognition that emotions play a direct role in the processes of how a society forms: a group of people band together as they fear outside forces attacking them. This also applies to personal behavior as well: wanting the sun to come up in the morning and the rituals conducted because of that.

Yet research on emotion in archaeology remains limited, despite the fact that such states underpin many studies of socio-cultural transformation.The Archaeology of Anxiety draws together papers that examine the local complexities of anxiety as well as the variable stimuli—class or factional struggle, warfare, environmental degradation, resource exhaustion, and personal turmoil, responsibilities to the dead—that may generate emotional responses of agitation, anxiousness, and concern.

The goal of this timely volume is to present fresh research that addresses the material dimension of rites and performances related to the mitigation and negotiation of anxiety, as well as the role of material culture in constituting and even creating periods or episodes of anxiety.

Jeffrey Fleisher (BA, MA, PhD, University of Virginia) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Rice University in Houston, Texas. His regional specialty is on the ancient Swahili coast of eastern Africa, focusing on the development of first and second millennium urban centers there. Past research has focused on the ancient settlements of rural and non-elite Swahili, and their connections and contributions to urban developments. Currently, he directs a long-term project at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Songo Mnara in southern Tanzania, focusing on the use of open and public space.

Neil Norman (BA, Flagler College; MA, University of South Carolina; PhD, University of Virginia) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. His specialties are the archaeology of social complexity and historical archaeology. At present, he directs the Savi Countryside Archaeological Project (Republic of Benin), the Africatown Archaeological Project (Mobile, Alabama) and co-directs the Later Zanzibar Archaeological Project (Republic of Tanzania).