Archaeology of Performance

Takeshi Inomata is an associate professor in anthropology at University of Arizona. Lawrence S. Coben is the director of Proyecto Inkallakta (Incallajta), a multidisciplinary project centered at the monumental Inka site of that name in central Bolivia.

From the theatres of Inka power and ancient Egyptian ceremonies to Mayan spectacles and an Anatolian “festival of death and consumption,” this book is exemplary of a new and powerful archeology of performance. Using the tools of archeology, forensics, and performance theory, the authors of this collection lucidly explore theatre, the performative body, and ritual. What theyfind is not a “dead past” but rich repositories of living performances. Archeology of Performance is a must read for scholars in performance and the social sciences. Artists, too, will learn from this pioneering book.

• Part 1 PrologueChapter 2 Prologue: Behind the Scenes: Producing the PerformancePart 3 Act I: Concepts and ApproachesChapter 4 Scene 1: Overture: An Invitation to the Archaeological TheaterPart 5 Act II: Senses, Spectacle, and PerformanceChapter 6 Scene 2: "The Indians Were Much Given to Their Taquis": Drumming and Generative Categories in Ancient Andean Funerary ProcessionsChapter 7 Scene 3: The Spectacle of Daily Performance at ÇatalhöyükChapter 8 Scene 4: Representational Aesthetics and Political Subjectivity: The Spectacular in Urartian Images of PerformanceChapter 9 Scene 5: Impersonation, Dance, and the Problem of Spectacle among the Classic MayaPart 10 Act III: Public Performance of Power and CommunityChapter 11 Scene 6: Dancing Gods: Ritual, Performance, and Political Organization in the Prehistoric SouthwestChapter 12 Scene 7: Politics and Theatricality in Mayan SocietyChapter 13 Scene 8: Other Cuzcos: Replicated Theaters of Inka PowerChapter 14 Scene 9: Public Ceremonial Performance in Ancient Egypt: Exclusion and IntegrationChapter 15 Scene 10: Visible and Vocal: Sovereigns of the Early Merina (Madagascar) StateChapter 16 IndexChapter 17 About the Contributors