- Lisa Rankin, Memorial University of Newfoundland
The term isolation conjures images of remote populations, separated from neighbours and the outside world by great distances, challenging environments and even physical barriers, unable to interact with others. Contemporary archaeology acknowledges that there is really no such thing as an isolated society and that all human communities depend on interaction –however infrequent - with others for their biological and cultural variability . Yet isolation remains a valuable, if ambiguous, concept to investigate the socio-cultural ramifications resulting from different levels of connections and separation that existed between and within populations. This session invites papers which use the concept of isolation to discuss the archaeology of people who live parts of their lives in relative isolation from other groups, or, perhaps more commonly, phenomena of isolation within communities - both of which can be powerful catalysts for social change and differentiation. Participants may also want to address issues arising from undertaking archaeology in isolated places, or from doing archaeology alone.