Archaeological Theory: An Introduction

599 Pages·2010·4.35 MB·English

by  Matthew Johnson

Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Preface: The Contradictions of Theory
1 Common Sense is Not Enough
Definitions of Theory
Understanding Theory
2 The ‘New Archaeology’
Culture History
Origins of the New Archaeology
New Archaeology: Key Points
Case Study: The Enigma of the Megaliths
Conclusion
3 Archaeology as a Science
Definitions of Science
Positivism
Examples
Objections to ‘Science’
Kuhn and Feyerabend
Social Constructivism
4 Middle-range Theory, Ethnoarchaeology and
Material Culture Studies
Binford and Middle-range Theory
Interpreting the Mousterian
Uniformitarian Assumptions
Case Study: Bones at Olduvai
Middle-range Theory: Problems
Behavioural Archaeology
Material Culture Studies
5 Culture and Process
Culture History
Cultural Systems: Summary
The Idea of Process
Example: Cultural Process around the North Sea
Cultural Process: Strengths
The Context of Cultural Systems
Processual Thinking: Drawbacks
Processual Thinking Modified
Culture, Process and the Individual
6 Thoughts and Ideologies
Looking at Thoughts
Structuralism
Marxism
Ideology
Cognitive Archaeology
Conclusion
7 Postprocessual and Interpretive Archaeologies
Postprocessual Archaeology
Case Studies: Rock Art and Medieval Houses
Phenomenology
8 Archaeology, Gender and Identity
Gender
Bias Correction
Critique of Archaeological Practice
Archaeologies of Gender
Men, Women and Knowledge
Case Study: What This Awl Means
Archaeologies of Identity
Performativity
Conclusion
9 Archaeology and Cultural Evolution
Darwin, Marx and Spencer
Cultural Evolution
Criticisms of Cultural Evolution
Multilinear Evolution
Cultural Evolution and Marxism
Origins of the State
Case Study: Cahokia
Cultural Evolution Strikes Back
10 Archaeology and Darwinian Evolution
Darwin’s Dangerous Idea
Cultural Ecology
Genes and Memes
Co-Evolutionary Theory
Selectionist Archaeology
Case Study: Art, Handaxes, Population and Innovation in the
Palaeolithic
Darwinian Archaeologies: Criticisms
Conclusion
11 Archaeology and History
Traditional History
The Annales School
The Linguistic Turn
Historical Archaeology
Historical Archaeology and the Text
Case Study: Bodiam Castle
Conclusion
12 Archaeology, Politics and Culture
Archaeology is Not in a Vacuum
Case Study: African Burial Ground
Indigenous Archaeologies
Multiculturalism, Diversity and Inclusion
The Relativism Question
13 Conclusion: The Future of Theory
Where We Are Now
The Fall and Rise of Empiricism
Processual and Postprocessual Archaeologies
Agency
Materiality
Theorizing The Field
Where Theory Is Going
Progress and Impact
Diversity and Pluralism
Conclusion
Selective Glossary
Further Reading
Bibliography
Index
Alan Sorrell, ‘Falling Tower’, date uncertain. Sorrell (1904–74) was a neo-
Romantic artist known both for his ‘reconstruction’ drawings of archaeological
sites and depictions of past cultural life, and for his ‘imaginative’ work, which
was characteristically inspired by the monuments and images of the past.
For Jo,
who learnt to love theory

This second edition first published 2010
© 2010 Matthew Johnson
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