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Looking at Archaeology and Oral History As Two Complementary Sources of Data

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Looking at Archaeology and Oral History As Two Complementary Sources of Data Thesis 2014 Who says myths are not real? Looking at archaeology and oral history as two complementary sources of data. Carlijn Hageraats University Leiden Faculty of Archaeology Thesis 2014 Image on cover: Mohamad Kida Qasim abu Shritah Aljazi, respondent of the Udhruh Oral History project. Photo: Guus Gazenbeek. 1 Who says myths are not real? Looking at archaeology and oral history as two complementary sources of data. Author: Carlijn Hageraats Student number: 1279041 Course: MA Thesis Archaeology Course code: ARCH 1044WY Supervisors: dr. M.H. van den Dries and dr. M.J. Driessen Specialization: Archaeological Heritage Management in a World Context University of Leiden, Faculty of Archaeology Amsterdam, 15 August 2014 2 Carlijn Hageraats Eerste Breeuwersstraat 7hs NL - 1013MA Amsterdam E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: +31 (0)6 810 551 15 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Introduction of the subject ....................................................................................... 8 1.2 Problem orientation .................................................................................................. 8 1.3 Outline of chapters ................................................................................................... 9 1.4 Hypothesis ............................................................................................................... 12 2. Theoretical framework: Oral history situated between archaeological ethnography and community archaeology............................................................................................. 13 2.1 Oral History Theory ................................................................................................. 13 2.2 Social memory of a local community ...................................................................... 15 2.3 Processual and post-processual/interpretive archaeologies .................................. 16 2.4 Oral History as an aspect of Archaeological Ethnographies ................................... 17 2.5 Oral History as an aspect of Community Archaeology............................................ 22 2.6 Summary ................................................................................................................. 24 3. Methods and practice ................................................................................................... 25 3.1 Set-up and funding .................................................................................................. 25 3.2 Preparing and conducting interviews ..................................................................... 26 3.2.1 Selection of respondents ................................................................................. 27 3.2.2 Interview techniques........................................................................................ 29 3.2.3 Translations ...................................................................................................... 31 3.3 Qualification of data ................................................................................................ 32 3.4 Using stories in research and writing ...................................................................... 34 3.5 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................... 35 3.6 Recommendations for oral history projects interacting with archaeology ............ 41 3.6.1 Selecting participants ....................................................................................... 41 3.6.2 Asking questions .............................................................................................. 43 3.6.3 Finding the right setting ................................................................................... 45 4. Historiography: History and heritage of Jordan. ........................................................... 47 4.1 Jordanian history and the post-colonial heritage discourse ................................... 47 4.2 The Bedouin state of Jordan ................................................................................... 49 5. Case study: Tales from Udhruh ..................................................................................... 52 5.1 Oral History: General............................................................................................... 53 5.1.1 Bedouin life ...................................................................................................... 53 5.1.2 Family relations ................................................................................................ 58 4 5.1.3 Politics .............................................................................................................. 59 5.2 Oral History: Archaeology ....................................................................................... 60 5.2.1 Earlier excavations ........................................................................................... 60 5.2.2 The Roman Legionary Fortress ......................................................................... 61 5.2.3 Other ruins in the Udhruh region ..................................................................... 65 5.2.4 Water irrigation systems .................................................................................. 67 5.2.5 Graveyards ....................................................................................................... 70 5.2.6 Agriculture ........................................................................................................ 71 5.3 Oral Traditions ......................................................................................................... 71 5.3.1 Ottoman period .............................................................................................. 71 5.3.2 Ancient times ................................................................................................... 73 5.3.3 The Mountain of Judgement ............................................................................ 74 5.3.4 Old name of Udhruh ........................................................................................ 75 5.4 Summary ................................................................................................................. 75 6. Archaeological practice ................................................................................................. 77 6.1 Archaeology and Oral History as complementary practices ................................... 77 6.1.1 Landscape ......................................................................................................... 78 6.1.2 Events ............................................................................................................... 80 6.1.3 Myths/legends ................................................................................................. 83 6.2 Understanding historicity ........................................................................................ 86 6.3 Summary ................................................................................................................. 89 7. multivocality and social relevance: oral history in community archaeology ................ 90 7.1 Oral history and multivocality ................................................................................. 90 7.2 Exhibiting multivocality to the public ...................................................................... 94 7.3 Oral history as part of community archaeology ..................................................... 96 7.4 Summary ................................................................................................................. 98 8. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 100 Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 104 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 113 Abstract ........................................................................................................................... 114 List of Figures .................................................................................................................. 115 Appendices ...................................................................................................................... 116 5 6 7 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction of the subject In the summer of 2013, I joined the Udhruh Archaeological Project in Jordan as a heritage student, focusing on the local community living close to the archaeological site by involving them through an oral history project.1 The project was executed as an internship, as part of the masterspecialization ‘Archaeological Heritage Management in a World Context’ at University Leiden. Therefore, the aims of the internship focused on involving the local community in current research and to raise awareness about the archaeological remains. However, while analyzing its results, oral history as a method of research turned out to be a rich source of information in itself. Therefore the combination of archaeology and oral history is here further analyzed and discussed. The Udhruh Oral History project is used as a case study for this subject, in which its storylines
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