We take for granted the survival into the present of artifacts from the past. Indeed the discipline of archaeology would be impossible without the survival of such artifacts. What is the implication of the durability or ephemerality of past material culture for the reproduction of societies in the past? In this book, Andrew Jones argues that the material world offers a vital framework for the formation of collective memory. He uses the topic of memory to critique the treatment of artifacts as symbols by interpretative archaeologists and artifacts as units of information (or memes) by behavioral archaeologists, instead arguing for a treatment of artifacts as forms of mnemonic trace that have an impact on the senses. Using detailed case studies from prehistoric Europe, he further argues that archaeologists can study the relationship between mnemonic traces in the form of networks of reference in artifactual and architectural forms.

1. Memory and material culture?; 2. From memory to commemoration; 3. People, time and remembrance; 4. Improvising culture; 5. Continuous houses, perpetual places; 6. Culture, citation and categorisation; 7. Chains of memory; 8. The art of memory; 9. Tracing the past; 10. Coda.

Andrew Jones is a Principal Engineer, author, and a Google Developer Expert. He has over 15 years' experience in the industry, with the first half primarily as a software engineer before moving into the data platform and data engineering space. He thinks a lot about how to build platforms - particularly data platforms - that drive the creation of business value. His work on building performant, efficient, and well governed data platforms that facilitate the production and consumption of quality data led him to coining and defining data contracts, and in 2023 he authored the seminal book on the topic, Driving Data Quality with Data Contracts. Andrew is a regular speaker and writer, and passionate about helping organizations get the most value from data.