Reference to identity is ubiquitous in archaeology. Even when identity is not part of the questions driving research, assumptions about it affect interpretations of data; the terms used to designate individuals or collective groups carry implicit ideas about their identities. Default categories used to describe people, however, are often rooted in binary oppositions instead of the interactions that made up their daily social lives. In an archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean, these oppositional categories are most frequently rooted in ethnicity. This article presents the community as an ideal framework to address the problems posed by an overreliance on ethnicity for understanding ancient identities, but also to compare collective social dynamics more broadly. Laying out a methodology for communities’ archaeological study, it uses two case studies from Emporion (Spain) and Ephesos (Turkey) to illustrate the new questions and conversations facilitated by an archaeology of communities that complement ongoing identity studies.

在考古学中普遍提到身份。即使身份不是驱动研究的问题的一部分，关于身份的假设也会影响数据的解释。用于指定个人或集体团体的术语带有关于其身份的隐含观念。但是，用于描述人的默认类别通常植根于二元对立，而不是构成他们日常社交生活的互动。在古代地中海的考古学中，这些对立的类别最常见于种族。本文将社区作为一种理想的框架，以解决因过度依赖种族而无法理解古代身份所带来的问题，同时也可以更广泛地比较集体社会动力。为社区的考古学研究提供方法，