Introduction

The poetics model was developed from Whitehead’s work in Amazonia and has been applied extensively to case studies within the Americas (Western Hemisphere). For this volume, we wanted to see how well this approach could be applied to case studies in the Eastern Hemisphere. The geographic region covered in this volume (Afroeurasia), sometimes called the Old World in a remnant of colonial scholarship, presents unique challenges and opportunities for poetics theory. We asked researchers to examine archaeological assemblages including burials through the lens of poetics, and the results show the power of this theoretical approach within bioarchaeology. The chapters in this volume illustrate, by case studies from the Eastern Hemisphere, the power of the poetics model to examine the confluence of violence and identity, both through interpersonal and structural violence lenses. Violence has an important part to play in the formation of groups, the negotiation of social relationships, marriage patterns, and social hierarchy, just to name a few important elements.