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Reviewed by:
  • Archaeology of Performance
  • Richard Schechner
Archaeology of Performance. Edited by Takeshi Inomata and Lawrence S. Coben. Altamira Press, 2006; 339 pp,; illustrations. $36.95 paper.

Takeshi Inomata and Lawrence S. Coben's approach, though academically sound, radically departs from mainstream archaeology. The overall attempt is to apply some well-known performance theories to archaeology. Case studies in Archaeology of Performance range from ancient Egypt and Anatolia to both the "prehistoric" (an unfortunate word) and contemporary ritual dances of the Pueblo peoples in the American southwest; the relationship of politics and theatricality among the Mayans during the classic period (250-900 ce); the Inka's domain in the Andes; and the 18th-century rituals of the Merina royals of Madagascar, some of which continue to the present day. The authors—archaeologists, anthropologists, and an Egyptologist—share an interest in performance and ritual. They want to transform archeology from a science of stones to one of performance. They take into account the (by now largely canonical) thought of Goffman, Hymes, Austin, Derrida, Butler, Bauman, Taylor, Schechner, and others even as they probe the ruins that mark what once were vital performance spaces, connecting these to contemporary performances and performance spaces. The essays in Archaeology of Performance frequently move between reconstructing long-vanished enactments and describing contemporary performances, drawing on archeology, history, anthropology, and performance studies. The book supports its editors' assertion that "Archaeology should be able to make significant contributions in the study of performance and power through the analysis of theatrical space, iconography, and material objects by placing theatrical events in specific social and historical contexts" (33). From the theatres of Inka power and Egyptian ceremony to the Anatolian "festival of death and consumption," the Archaeology of Performance is an important work integrating performance theory, forensics, and classical archaeology to describe and analyze not a "dead past" but pasts that continue to operate as rich repositories of living behaviors. Archaeology of Performance can profitably be read along with Mike Pearson and Michael Shanks's Theatre/Archaeology (Routledge, 2001), a more speculative and wilder ride authored by a theatre director/performance studies professor and a professor of classics/cultural anthropology. Calmer and more meticulous, Archaeology of Performance will have the longer shelf life. [End Page 197]

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