Towards historical interpretations in archaeology: a case from an isоlated community
Keywords:
Vakıflı, Armenian community, ethnology, archaeology, identity, social and historical interpretations.Abstract
Vakıflı is the only remaining ethnic Armenian village in Turkey and the last officially recognized Western Armenian speaking settlement in the world. From this point of view it is an isolated community, the investigation of which is of primary importance as a case in common historical and social processes. When in 1939 the Sanjak of Alexandretta was handed over to Turkey, the inhabitants of Vakıflı did not leave the Mount Musa, they still live there (ca. 150 Armenians). Considering Vakıflı from various cultural perspectives (geography, name, history, population, settlement, cemetery, temple, material culture, language, script, economy, communication, myth, feast, value system) an attempt is made to pass from ethnography to archaeology and to check the possibilities of archaeological reconstructions. In the meanwhile, the question is touched upon, to what extent archaeology is able to speak about the problems of cultural and ethnic identity. The observations demonstrate the diversity of cultural phenomena, as well as the complexity of their interpretation, thus emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary research for understunding the historical and social processes in early societies.
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