Mistaken Identity

Overview & Synopsis

Both individuals and social groups define themselves through a sense of very different affiliations, which are consciously emphasized or adapted depending on the situation. This complexity of identity realities and the use of identity as a social resource make it difficult to understand the affiliations of ancient actors. This has led to contradictions, simplifications and misclassifications, particularly in attempts to link findings and individuals with collective identities such as ethnic groups. The resulting mistaken identities in turn had and still have far-reaching consequences for the interpretation of archaeological finds. This volume discusses these difficulties on a theoretical and scientific-historical level and also presents concrete examples of specific material contexts that demonstrate the problems and limitations in dealing with the linking of objects and ethnic or cultural, political and religious identities. Last but not least, mistaken identities in the form of misattributions to the material basis are also addressed and the potential of scientific analytical methods in connection with identity discourses in archaeological contexts is put up for discussion. The contributions collected here were written following the international conference "Mistaken Identity", which was held at the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen from November 17-19, 2016.