User:Lorenzo Nigro67/sandbox

The archaeo-meme is a cultural trait which is devised and generated within a cultural system by a human group. It is the basic product of this system in antiquity as reconstructed and conceptualized by the archaeologist. Archaeo-meme is not a single experience but rather the sum of similar experiences, which is shared by a human community. Thus, it is a type rather than a single item: a peculiar bowl, known from many examples, but typical of a culture; a burying custom, a special decoration of the handle of a sword which was relevant for those who produced it; the layout of a city, or the way of making mortar, etc. This means that each archaeo-meme has an idea behind it, a concept shared by a society. It is thus simultaneously material and immaterial as any archaeological finds is the outcome of a human idea and enterprise. Its finding spot, its “contexts”, is meanwhile part of its definition and historical meaning, so that all this information is contained within an archaeo-meme and the archaeo-meme itself is much more than the individual find it represents. Cultural traits, exemplified in what is referred to as “material culture” and “immaterial heritage” reflected in materiality, are the object of Archaeology, the Science of the Past, which investigates ancient human cultures to reconstruct their history through the recovery and analysis of buried material remains. Such ancient buried relics maybe very different in nature, consistency and spatial or temporal organization. Items, artifacts, organic and inorganic objects, layers (“archaeo-facts”), built up-structures, monuments, sites, but also landscapes, customs as witnessed by archaeological remains, ideas and feelings as transmitted by art, writing or behaviors detectable by excavations and surveys an be referred to as can archaeo-meme. Archaeo-memes are like tesserae of a huge mosaic with which the archaeologist by investigating their reciprocal connections and placement can reconstruct the picture of antiquity. Grouped archaeo-memes, connected by material or conceptual relationships, come together to construct cultural identities of communities and, at a broader level, a society that shares its cultural genoma/cultural heritage. The latter embodies social and individual life of an ancient community: economy, religion, knowledge, power, politics interconnected in a living cultural construction. These social expressions are linked by explicit and implicit rules, which are the dynamic glue keeping united a community. By the power of mind expressed by materiality, archaeo-memes are spread by imitation among individuals and groups who come into contact, or by teaching or cultural dissemination. They have the capability to navigate through time and cultures by themselves, not only as brought by a “dominant culture”, but also being shared at any level. They thus mark cultural borders or highlight relationships and connections. Cultural memes, and their archaeological footprints, archaeo-memes, contribute to the growth of a community or a society, and may influence its transformation, development, success or crisis. However, on a long duration, they grow in complexity and overlap, improving cultural capabilities of a society and thus its achievements in any field of human activity. This is why a society which has a long history and preserves it, also has a complex, stratified, and multi-faceted culture.