Prof. Lydia Wilson Marshall Publishes The Archaeology of Slavery

February 25, 2015

Lydia Wilson Marshall, assistant professor of anthropology at DePauw University, is editor of The Archaeology of Slavery: A Comparative Approach to Captivity and Coercion.  The book has been published by the University of Southern Illinois Press as part of the Center for Archaeological Investigations Occasional Paper series.

The text "develops an interregional and cross-temporal framework for the interpretation of slavery," according to a synopsis. "Contributors consider how to define slavery, identify it in the archaeological record, and study it as a diachronic process from enslavement to emancipation and beyond."

It adds, "This essay collection seeks to analyze slavery as a process organized by larger economic and social forces with effects that can be both durable and wide-ranging. It presents a comparative approach that significantly enriches our understanding of slavery."

"Lydia Wilson Marshall and colleagues have performed an essential service for those working across disciplines on the global reach and temporal range of human bondage," states James F. Brooks, author of Captives and Cousins: Slavery, Kinship and Community in the Southwest Borderlands. "The Archaeology of Slavery is more than its ambitious title intends: it is an impressive collection of comparative world history, of methodologies within and beyond the disciplines, and muscular theorizing. This will be our go-to collection for years ahead."

Learn more, and order the book, at the publisher's website.

Dr. Marshall has published articles in the Journal of African Archaeology and African Archaeological Review and is active in the fields of historical archaeology and African archaeology.

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