The Language of Artifacts

This work applies the concept of chaîne opératoire to the discourses that surround artifacts by examining the history, evaluation, and interpretation of specific archaeological objects. The chaîne approach to archaeological artifacts entails discussion of the entire ‘life cycle’ of an artifact from production to use and discard and will be applied here to the discourses that surround specific artifacts as they move through different contexts, time-periods, research groups, etc. to demonstrate that, at every link in the chain, the meaning of an artifact is contextually dependent. Chapters focus on particular objects and are arranged such that topics move further back in time, from a colonial American artifact to prehistoric European artifacts. The chaîne approach offers linguists a new vocabulary with which to discuss how language changes over time. What makes this book unique is its application of chaîne opératoire to discourse, an application that underscores a commitment to interdisciplinarity.