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Passerini, Annapaola Smith, Adam Khatchadourian, Lori Manning, Sturt 2024-11-05T19:46:55Z 2024-05 ProQuest Submission ID: 14266 ProQuest Publication ID: 31242389 https://hdl.handle.net/1813/115978 https://doi.org/10.7298/ncpm-ef59 16575586 528 pages This dissertation addresses the impasse between absolute time and lived temporalities through a radiocarbon-based approach. I harness Bayesian chronological modeling as a theoretical and methodological intervention to reconstitute “eventfulness” from the ground up. Instead of exploring change as solely described by chrono-typological paradigms, I look at the intersection of multiple dimensions of organic and inorganic time as they materialize in the archaeological record. In doing so, I effectively weave narratives that adhere to the lived experience of social agents while relating them to material practices. I explore these themes in the context of the Kura-Araxes culture (3500-2500 BCE), a pressing “chronological case” for the archaeology of the South Caucasus and Southwest Asia. In this dissertation, I challenge the notion of “events” as extraordinary happenings in favor of pervasive “eventfulness”, extended to the repeating events that maintain organic and inorganic temporal cycles. Within this framework, I advocate for the reconceptualization of radiocarbon dates as materialized lived events, enabling insights into absolute, seasonal, and generational time, as well as the ruptures resulting from their reconfiguration. Empirically, I investigate these temporalities through their material correlates within the Kura-Araxes horizon, ranging from ceramic productions to burial episodes and spatial relocation. Methodologically, I apply chronometric hygiene to assemble radiocarbon datasets that adhere to eventful assemblages. I then compile the data into site-specific Bayesian models, producing contextual date estimates. The results describe a much more fragmented and diverse temporal scenario for the development of the Kura-Araxes culture. Site-specific date estimates demonstrate that most of the sites formerly assumed to be coeval were not contemporary, breaking down the notion of the Kura-Araxes as a unitary cultural phenomenon. The adherence of these Bayesian chronologies to a multitemporal framework highlights how changes in absolute, seasonal, and generational time reverberated across the Kura-Araxes world. The results also call for a reflection on the power of temporal labels in creating archaeological subjects. Ultimately, this dissertation develops a critique of archaeology’s epistemology of time, examining the theories and methods that the discipline traditionally employs to create both narratives of the past and meaning in the present. 2026-06-17 en Bayesian modeling Bronze Age radiocarbon dating South Caucasus temporality time From order to narrative: assembling eventfulness through Bayesian chronologies. A view from the Early Bronze Age (3500-2500 BCE) South Caucasus dissertation or thesis https://newcatalog.library.cornell.edu/catalog/16575586 application/pdf Anthropology Cornell University Doctor of Philosophy Ph. D., Anthropology https://hdl.handle.net/1813/59810.2 Publication Cornell Theses and Dissertations Passerini, Annapaola 5893a6ea-7af3-41d7-abc6-04bcd26ab5df embargo embargo <Publication xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/1.1/" id="0c096214-ae56-4778-9275-d3545cd5b7a7"> <Type xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/vocab/COAR_Publication_Types">http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_1843</Type> <Language>en</Language> <Title>From order to narrative: assembling eventfulness through Bayesian chronologies. A view from the Early Bronze Age (3500-2500 BCE) South Caucasus</Title> <PublishedIn> <Publication> </Publication> </PublishedIn> <PublicationDate>2024-05</PublicationDate> <DOI>https://doi.org/10.7298/ncpm-ef59</DOI> <Authors> <Author> <DisplayName>Passerini, Annapaola</DisplayName> <Affiliation> <OrgUnit> </OrgUnit> </Affiliation> </Author> </Authors> <Editors> </Editors> <Publishers> <Publisher> <OrgUnit /> </Publisher> </Publishers> <Keyword>Bayesian modeling</Keyword> <Keyword>Bronze Age</Keyword> <Keyword>radiocarbon dating</Keyword> <Keyword>South Caucasus</Keyword> <Keyword>temporality</Keyword> <Keyword>time</Keyword> <Abstract>This dissertation addresses the impasse between absolute time and lived temporalities through a radiocarbon-based approach. I harness Bayesian chronological modeling as a theoretical and methodological intervention to reconstitute “eventfulness” from the ground up. Instead of exploring change as solely described by chrono-typological paradigms, I look at the intersection of multiple dimensions of organic and inorganic time as they materialize in the archaeological record. In doing so, I effectively weave narratives that adhere to the lived experience of social agents while relating them to material practices. I explore these themes in the context of the Kura-Araxes culture (3500-2500 BCE), a pressing “chronological case” for the archaeology of the South Caucasus and Southwest Asia. In this dissertation, I challenge the notion of “events” as extraordinary happenings in favor of pervasive “eventfulness”, extended to the repeating events that maintain organic and inorganic temporal cycles. Within this framework, I advocate for the reconceptualization of radiocarbon dates as materialized lived events, enabling insights into absolute, seasonal, and generational time, as well as the ruptures resulting from their reconfiguration. Empirically, I investigate these temporalities through their material correlates within the Kura-Araxes horizon, ranging from ceramic productions to burial episodes and spatial relocation. Methodologically, I apply chronometric hygiene to assemble radiocarbon datasets that adhere to eventful assemblages. I then compile the data into site-specific Bayesian models, producing contextual date estimates. The results describe a much more fragmented and diverse temporal scenario for the development of the Kura-Araxes culture. Site-specific date estimates demonstrate that most of the sites formerly assumed to be coeval were not contemporary, breaking down the notion of the Kura-Araxes as a unitary cultural phenomenon. The adherence of these Bayesian chronologies to a multitemporal framework highlights how changes in absolute, seasonal, and generational time reverberated across the Kura-Araxes world. The results also call for a reflection on the power of temporal labels in creating archaeological subjects. Ultimately, this dissertation develops a critique of archaeology’s epistemology of time, examining the theories and methods that the discipline traditionally employs to create both narratives of the past and meaning in the present.</Abstract> <Access xmlns="http://purl.org/coar/access_right" > </Access> </Publication>