THE SEMANTICS OF LOCAL KNOWLEDGEUsing Ethnosemantics to Study Folk TaxonomiesRepresented in the Archaeological Record

摘要

A culture's semantic structure reflects and affects local knowledge (the conceptualstructure used to interact with the environment). Archaeological analysis oficonography reflecting folk taxonomies and other aspects of local knowledgewill consequently provide insight into many different aspects of past cultures. Amethodology for modeling folk taxonomy is introduced. Both Linnaean and folktaxonomies are based on gross morphological traits, creating correspondencebetween them at the generic-species level. However, differences are likely athigher taxonomic levels and will be portrayed by depictions of "anomalous"taxa at odds with Linnaean taxonomy. Using archaeological context, symbolicassociations, and analogy, archaeologists can use these anomalies to determinethe underlying semantic connections. We apply this model to Casas Grandeseffigies and find that owls, rattlesnakes, coral snakes, and shamans are associatedwith each other under the semantic domain "night" and are central to Medioperiod cosmology and leadership