Between Artifacts and Texts: Historical Archaeology in Global Perspective

224 Pages·1998·6.17 MB·English

by  Anders Andrén (auth.)

Between Artifacts
and Texts
Historical Archaeology
in Global Perspective
CONTRIBUTIONS TO GLOBAL HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Series Editor:
Charles E. Orser, Jr., Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois
A HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE MODERN WORLD
Charles E. Orser, Jr.
ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE CAPITALIST WORLD SYSTEM: A Study from
Russian America
Aron L. Crowell
BETWEEN ARTIFACTS AND TEXTS: Historical Archaeology in
Global Perspective
Anders Andren
CULTURE CHANGE AND THE NEW TECHNOLOGY: An Archaeology of
the Early American Industrial Era
Paul A. Shackel
A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery
of each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual
shipment. For further information please contact the publisher.
Between Artifacts
and Texts
Historical Archaeology
in Global Perspective
Anders Andrén
University of Lund
Lund, Sweden
Translated by
Alan Crozier
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, LLC
Library of Congress Catalog1ng-in-Publ1cat1on Data
Andren. Anders. 1952-
[Mellan ting och text. English]
Between artifacts and texts historical archaeology in global
perspective I Anders Andren ; translated by Alan Crozier.
p. em. -- <Contributions to global historical archaeology)
Includes bibliographical references <p. ) and index.
ISBN 978-1-4757-9411-3 ISBN 978-1-4757-9409-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4757-9409-0
1. Archaeology and history. I. Title. II. Series.
CC77.H5A5313 1997
930. 1--dc21 97-40651
CIP
ISBN 978-1-4757-9411-3
The original version of this volume was published in Swedish under the title Mel/an ling oclz
text: En introduktion till de historiska arkeologierna, © 1997 Brutus Ostling Bokforlag Symposion,
Stockholm and Stehag, Sweden.
© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1998
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1998
All rights reserved
10987654321
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise,
without written permission from the Publisher
D
Preface
This book is about historical archaeologies all over the world; about
their history, their methods, and their raison d'etre. The focus is on an
existential question for archaeology: whether investigations of mate
rial culture are necessary at all when studying societies with writing.
Is it not sufficient to read and interpret texts if we wish to understand
and explain historical periods? This book has been written out of a
conviction that archaeology is important, even in the study of literate
societies. Yet the book has also been written out of a conviction that the
importance of the historical archaeologies is not obvious to everyone.
The disciplines have a tendency to be marginalized in relation both to
history and to archaeology and anthropology, because the archaeologi
cal results are sometimes perceived as unnecessary confirmations of
what is already known. Although I regard theoretical considerations as
crucial for all scholarly work, I do not think that the solution to this
marginalization can be found in any "definitive" theory that might raise
the disciplines above the threatened tautology. Instead, I have found it
more important to examine different methodological approaches in the
historical archaeologies, to investigate how material culture and writ
ing can and could be integrated. I am convinced that the tautological
threat should be averted in the actual encounter of artifact and text. By
problematizing this encounter, I believe that it is possible to create
favorable methodological conditions for new perspectives on the past. It
is only through such new and interesting results that the historical
archaeologies can assert their importance.
The problems treated in the book have engaged me ever since I
came into contact with archaeology 25 years ago. As a student, a digging
and report-writing archaeologist, a museum worker, and a teacher and
researcher, I have constantly touched upon questions concerning the
relation between artifact and text. In retrospect it is easy to see that
these questions did not just happen to come my way; on the contrary, I
have been continually drawn to them. Despite this fascination with the
intricate association between material culture and writing, however, a
long time elapsed before the idea for this book finally took shape. When
it did, it gave me the opportunity to combine two major interests-
v
vi Preface
archaeology and travel-in one and the same project. Since my own
archaeological specialization-North European medieval archaeology
has its obvious geographic and chronological limits, I have tried as far
as possible to obtain direct, physical experience of other places and
areas treated by historical archaeology. I have therefore visited many of
the areas discussed in the following pages, on journeys undertaken both
before and after the idea for the book took shape.
When I began this project, there were relatively few studies that
tried to go beyond the bounds of the individual historical archaeologies
in quest of more general features. As my research has proceeded, how
ever, several new works have been published with partially similar
boundary-crossing perspectives. It seems as if the time is ripe for view
ing the historical archaeologies as a unit. The new texts have in several
cases been a source of help and inspiration, although I do not always
share the other authors' perspectives and suggested solutions to the
"crisis" of the historical archaeologies.
D
Acknowledgments
There are many people who deserve thanks in connection with this
book. My gratitude is due to those who have helped me in various ways
and made the book possible. Some people have assisted me in purely
practical ways, others have given me inspiration and support at the
right moment, and others have had a direct influence on the shape of the
text by reading and discussing drafts. It all started in the spring of
1986, when I was invited to Uppsala by Thomas Lindkvist to lecture to
the historical seminar on the relation between archaeology and history.
One year later, thanks to Klavs Randsborg, I had a chance to work in
Copenhagen, where I began for the first time to read in depth about the
relation between archaeology and written sources. This resulted in a
short article that in a way marks the introduction to this work. In the
autumn of 1989 I was in Copenhagen again, following an invitation by
Lotte Hedeager. I then had the privilege of working at the Center for
Research in the Humanities, where Mogens Trolle Larsen, Michael
Harbsmeier, and Michael Rowlands in particular kindled my interest in
literacy as a problem, and made me think in more global terms. This
was followed in the spring of 1990 by a sabbatical term in Cambridge,
where I gradually began to pin down my problem in the University
Library and the cold Haddon Library. During these months in Cam
bridge I benefited from important conversations, in particular, with
Marie-Louise Stig S0rensen, Ian Hodder, J.D. Hill, and Gina Barnes.
The ideas from Cambridge had to lie dormant, however, because my
regular teaching post did not give me enough time to continue. It was
not until the spring of 1993, when I had the privilege of becoming a
reader in historical archaeology, that I found time to write the book and
conclude the enterprise. With a few interruptions, the Institute of Ar
chaeology in Lund has been the base for my work. There are many
people who deserve thanks for making this workplace an inspiring
environment. In this context, however, I must above all mention two
persons in the department: Hans Andersson and Jes Wienberg. Hans
has constantly encouraged, read, and commented on my explorations in
the borderland of medieval archaeology, and he has always handled
with stoical calm the practical problems entailed by my absences. With
vii
viii Acknowledgments
Jes I have carried on an incessant and inspiring dialogue about archae
ology and historical archaeology for many years. His comments on
different versions of my book have, as always, been critical and thought
provoking.
Thanks to generous grants from the Faculty of Arts, the Elisabeth
Rausing Memorial Foundation, the New Society ofLetters in Lund, and
the Swedish Institute, I have been able to undertake many trips abroad,
and I have also been able to invite guest scholars from Europe and the
United States to lecture about problems in the historical archaeologies.
These guest lectures have provided important inspiration for this text.
Other decisive stages in my work have been series of seminars on
historical archaeology that I have held in Lund, Troms0, and Stockholm.
The seminars forced me to formulate certain problems more precisely,
and the discussions led me to narrow down several crucial questions.
The present text was mainly written in Lund in the autumn of1994
and in Athens in the spring and summer of 1995. The greater part of
1996 was devoted to the revision of the Swedish manuscript and the
translation into English, which was financed by the Swedish Council for
Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences. In connection with the
translation, I have had rewarding discussions with Alan Crozier about
the difficult art of recasting Swedish expressions in English forms. Ann
Tobin has helped me with bibliographical data and has compiled the
index. Tina Borstam has drawn some of the illustrations, whereas
Bengt Almgren has made most of the figures camera-ready. In the hectic
final phase, Gunnar Broberg read the manuscript and made significant
comments from the point of view of the history of ideas. Special thanks
are also due to Charles Orser, who has been kind enough to accept the
book for the Contributions to Global Historical Archaeology series and
who has made important comments on the text.
Finally, I wish to turn to my family. My parents have, as always,
supported my work. Besides reading and commenting on the text, they
have also been of invaluable assistance in their role of grandparents.
My wife, Sanne, has shared her life with me for roughly as long as the
idea of this book has existed. I am especially grateful for her constant
encouragement and for her professional criticism during these years.
It is also due to her, and her work in Greece, that the most intensive
writing period took place during some dreadfully hot summer months in
Athens. Every morning and afternoon during this summer on the way to
and from our children's day-care center, I passed over the conduit
through which the River Ilissos is channeled. In other words, every day
during this hot summer I passed the place where Socrates, according
to Plato's Phaedrus, discussed writing as a problem.
D
Contents
Chapter 1. The Paradox of the Historical Archaeologies ..... 1
Chapter 2. Historical Archaeologies in Europe ............. . 9
The European Traditions ................................ . 9
The Past as Utopia: Classical Archaeology .............. . 10
The Christian Golden Age: Medieval Archaeology ....... . 25
Chapter 3. Historical Archaeologies in the Middle East and
Asia ......................................... . 37
The Middle East ........................................ . 37
The Origin or Cul-de-Sac of History: Egyptology ........ . 38
Paradise Lost: Mesopotamian Archaeology .............. . 43
Defending the Faith: Biblical Archaeology .............. . 49
Asia ................................................... . 54
Exotic and Familiar: Indian Archaeology ............... . 54
History as Morality: Chinese Archaeology .............. . 62
In Search of a New Identity: Japanese Archaeology ..... . 68
Chapter 4. Historical Archaeologies in Africa and America .. 73
Africa .................................................. . 73
Heart of Darkness: African Archaeology ................ . 73
America ................................................ . 82
America's Greece: Mexican Archaeology ................ . 83
The Past as a Laboratory: Peruvian Archaeology ........ . 91
The New Europe: Historical Archaeology in the United
States ............................................. . 95
ix