Reading the Past: Current Approaches to Interpretation in Archaeology

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Preface to the first edition......Page 13
Preface to the second edition......Page 17
Preface to the third edition......Page 19
1 The problem......Page 21
Cultural meanings and context......Page 22
Individuals and agents......Page 26
Historical context......Page 30
Conclusion......Page 33
1 Behaviour-material culture......Page 34
2 Cause-effect......Page 35
3 Fact-theory......Page 36
2 Processual and systems approaches......Page 40
A materialist approach to culture?......Page 42
Agency......Page 50
History and time......Page 51
Behavioural archaeology......Page 53
Measuring and predicting mind: cognitive processual archaeology......Page 56
Neo-evolutionary archaeology and mind......Page 59
Conclusion......Page 62
3 Structuralist, post-structuralist and semiotic archaeologies......Page 65
Formal analysis and generative grammars......Page 67
Structuralist analysis......Page 72
land:sea::summer:winter::man:woman::antler:ivory......Page 78
Critique......Page 79
Post-structuralism......Page 85
Verification......Page 88
Conclusion: the importance of structuralist archaeology......Page 92
Marxist archaeology......Page 95
Ideology......Page 99
First criticism......Page 103
Second criticism......Page 104
Third criticism......Page 106
Fourth criticism......Page 107
Ideology and power: conclusions......Page 108
Practice and structuration......Page 110
Resistance......Page 116
Agency......Page 119
6 Embodied archaeology......Page 126
Materiality and malleability......Page 127
From an archaeology of the body to embodiment......Page 132
The limits of the body......Page 141
Conclusion......Page 143
7 Archaeology and history......Page 145
History of the long term......Page 150
Historical theory and method: Collingwood......Page 165
Some examples......Page 170
Conclusion and critique......Page 172
8 Contextual archaeology......Page 176
Meaning and understanding......Page 177
Meaning in archaeology......Page 182
Reading material culture......Page 186
Context......Page 190
Similarities and differences......Page 193
Relevant dimensions of variation......Page 203
Definition of context......Page 207
Explanation and description......Page 211
Critical hermeneutics......Page 215
Conclusion......Page 223
9 Post-processual archaeology......Page 226
Variability and materiality......Page 227
Process and structure......Page 234
Historical meaning content: the ideal and the material......Page 235
Object and subject......Page 237
Critical Theory......Page 238
African burial grounds......Page 244
Indigenous archaeologies......Page 246
Feminist archaeologies......Page 248
Other alternative Western archaeologies......Page 251
Conclusion......Page 254
10 Conclusion: archaeology as archaeology......Page 256
Testing interpretations......Page 259
Archaeology and its distinctive role......Page 262
Bibliography......Page 268
Index......Page 304