Re-Constructing Archaeology

312 Pages·2016·5.01 MB·English

by  Michael Shanks e Christopher Tilley

Re-Constructing
Michael Shanks
and Christopher Tilley
Re-Constructing Archaeology
How should we view the archaeological past? How can we come to understand it and
what procedures are suitable for constructing archaeological knowledge? What indeed
is the purpose of archaeology? Re-Constructing Archaeology tackles all these issues with
wit and vigour. It aims to challenge the disciplinary practices of both traditional and
'new' archaeology and to present a radical alternative - a critically self-conscious archae-
ology aware of itself as practice in the present, and equally a social archaeology that
appreciates artifacts not merely as objects of analysis but as part of a social world of past
and present that is charged with meaning.
Re-Constructing Archaeology ranges widely across the social and philosophical literature,
from philosophy of science to hermeneutics, structuralism and post-structuralism and
Marxism. But its concerns are not simply theoretical. The book is fundamentally
concerned with overcoming the split between theoretical argument and practical
research, be it excavation, artifact analysis or the relationship between professional
archaeologists and the public.
When Re-Constructing Archaeology was first published, it provoked a storm of controversy
on both sides of the Atlantic. The second edition is brought up to date with a new
preface and appendix, in which Michael Shanks and Christopher Tilley extend their
arguments and answer their most vocal critics. It will be essential reading for students
of archaeology.
Michael Shanks is the author of Experiencing the Past: On the Character of Archaeology
(1992). Christopher Tilley, Lecturer in Archaeology at St David's University College,
University of Wales, is the author of Material Culture and Text: The Art of Ambiguity
(1991). He has recently edited Reading Material Culture (1990) and Interpretative Archae-
ology (1992). Michael Shanks and Christopher Tilley have also co-authored Social Theory
and Archaeology (1987).
MICHAEL SHANKS and CHRISTOPHER TILLEY
Re-Constructing Archaeology
Theory and Practice
SECOND EDITION
3
LONDON and NEW YORK

Far ELIZABETH and KARIN

CONTENTS
List of illustrations xi
Figures xi
Tables xii
Acknowledgements xiii
Foreword by Ian Hodder xv
Preface to the second edition xvii
Introduction 1
PART I ISSUES IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL THEORY AND PRACTICE:
CRITIQUE AND DEVELOPMENT 5
1 The present past 7
Introduction 7
The problematic past 8
Time travel: getting from the present back to the past 9
Recreating the past 15
Archaeology - history 16
The practice of archaeology 22
Justifications 25
Conclusions 21
2 Positivism and the 'new archaeology' 29
Introduction 29
The new paradigm - or traditional archaeology resurrected? 29
Grounding knowledge claims: positivism 32
Naturalism 34
Phenomenalism and the demarcation of science/non-science 36
Conclusion 43
3 Facts and values in archaeology 46
Introduction 46
An objective and scientific archaeology: rational method and therapy 46
Reification and empirical regularity 48
Manipulating the past as image of the present: economic archaeology 49
Systems theory, the status quo and pathology 52
Cultural evolution, the politicization of time 53
vii
Contents
Evolution: biology and behaviour 54
Statistics, mathematics and objectivity 56
Mathematical archaeology 57
Reason as method: a logistical archaeology 59
Justifications and the meaning of archaeology 62
Facts and values, ideology and criticism 62
The lament of High Culture 63
The valuable past 64
Conclusions: notes towards a critical archaeology 65
4 Presenting the past: towards a redemptive aesthetic for the museum 68
Introduction 68
PART ONE: THE MUSEUMS 69
The artifact transformed into an object in commodified time 69
The Museum of Antiquities of the University and Society of Antiquaries of
Newcastle upon Tyne 69
The aesthetic artifact 11
'The British Museum 71
Bringing the past alive 73
Narrative display and the artifact as information 74
The Museum of London 74
Presence, absence and the authenticating quote 74
The exhibited past 76
A period room in the Castle Museum, York 76
The erotics of the museum 79
'The George Joicey Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne 80
Shop-front commodification 81
The Castle Museum, York 81
Heritage: visiting a mythical past 83
The North of England Open Air Museum. Beamish, County Durham 83
Labour and discovery: the archaeologist as hero 86
Jorvik Viking Centre, York 86
PART TWO: PAST AND PRESENT IN THE MUSEUM 90
Entertaining the public: 'real' and 'popular' archaeology 91
Archaeologists as creatures of their times 93
Mediating past and present 94
Conclusion: towards a redemptive aesthetic 97
PART II PERSPECTIVES FOR A SOCIAL ARCHAEOLOGY 101
5 Hermeneutics, dialectics and archaeology 103
Archaeology as interpretation 103
The hermeneutic circle 104
The role of the interpreter 105
Contents ix
Archaeology as fourfold hermeneutic 107
Thought as embedded in historical process 108
Beyond hermeneutics, towards dialectics 110
Explanation 112
Knowledge 113
Conclusions 114
6 Social archaeology: the object of study 116
Introduction 116
Artifact, culture, system 117
Against essentialism: social system as relational whole 119
Agency and social practices 722
A stratified model of agency 125
Structures, structuring principles 126
Structuration 128
Contradiction, power, ideology, change 129
Material culture: objectification and social strategies 130
Meaning in material culture 131
Conclusions 134
PART III MATERIAL CULTURE AND SOCIAL PRACTICES 135
1 Style and ideology 137
Introduction 137
How archaeologists have dealt with style 138
An alternative perspective 146
Style: a summary 755
Style as ideology in southern Swedish middle neolithic ceramics 755
Summary 777
8 Social values, social constraints and material culture: the design of
contemporary beer cans 7 72
Introduction 772
THE DESIGNS ON BRITISH AND SWEDISH BEER CANS 773
Differences between British and Swedish beer can designs 175
Differences between British beer and lager cans 780
Differences between Swedish beer classes 183
DRINK, THE STATE, CONSUMERISM, DISCIPLINE 186
Early industrial capitalism and alcohol production 186
Changes in experience of work and leisure 189
Drink, social control and disciplinary power 190
Consumerism, the welfare state and the medicalization of drinking practices 198
The brewing industry 207
Contents
ALCOHOL IN THE MEDIA AND ADVERTISING 209
Drink and the news 209
Advertisements 214
TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE DESIGN OF BEER CANS 236
PART IV CONCLUSIONS 241
9 Archaeological theory and practice today 243
Appendix: Archaeology into the 1990s 247
References 267
Index 285