ANT411H5 S

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ANT411H5 S
Archaeological Paradigms
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Anthropological Archaeology
The scientific study of material evidence of any
human activity,
generally in absence of observation of that
activity,
for purposes of explanation.
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three elements
1. observed material evidence
2. unobserved human activity
3. explanation of human activity
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• Ranges of Archaeology
• Low Range
• Artifacts to artifacts
• Middle Range
• Artifacts to human activity
• High Range
• Activity to activity

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Inference
reasoning from the known to the unknown
Observed -gt Assumptions -gt Product
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Dimensions of Inference
Contextual Dimensions
1. formal
2. spatial
3. temporal
Cultural Dimensions
4. material
5. social
6. ideational
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1 Formal
Assumption human activity results in material
correlates with attributes that are amenable to
recognition analysis
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2 Spatial
Assumption unless other factors intervene,
variation over space will be clinal (even)
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3 Temporal
Assumption unless other factors intervene,
variation through time will be clinal (even)
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4 Material
Assumption humans have adapted to a material
world by means of evolutionary processes
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5 Social
Assumption humans inhabit a social world that
minimally includes family, community society
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6 Ideational
Assumption humans inhabit a symbolic world that
minimally includes language, art religion
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Contextual Dimensions
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Cultural Dimensions
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David Clarke
1. consciousness
2. self-consciousness
3. critical self-consciousness
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Alison Wylie
Columbia
philosophy of archaeology
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Alison Wylie
Philosophy from the Ground Up
amphibious philosophy of archaeology
analytic metaarchaeology
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Bruce G. Trigger
McGill
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Scientific Archaeology
A. Origins
B. Scientific Archaeology
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A. Origins

• Antiquity - AD 1500

• Renaissance 1500s 1600s

• Enlightenment 1700s 1800s

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1. Antiquity to AD 1500

• speculative 'Age' schemes

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2. Renaissance 1500s 1600

• Mercati artifacts

• changes in economic conditions

• discovery of Americas

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3. Enlightenment 1700s 1800

• systematization

• scientific method

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• 1797 John Frere

Law of Superposition

• 1833 Charles Lyell

Principles of Geology

• 1859 Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species
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B. Scientific Archaeology
1. Methods 1850 - 1945
2. Culture History 1945-1960
3. Explanation 1960 -gt
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1. Methods 1850 - 1945
a. Excavation
b. Classification
c. Early theory
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a. Excavation

• Petrie

• Pitt-Rivers

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b. Classification
Thomsen Worsaae
Three Age System
Stone, Bronze Iron
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Prehistoric archaeology did not begin as a result
of borrowing a dating device from other
disciplines.
Instead it started with the development of a new
technique for relative dating seriation that
was appropriate to archaeological material.
Trigger 198984
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3 Temporal
Assumption unless other factors intervene,
variation through time will be clinal (even)
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c. Early Theory

• cultural evolution

• unilineal evolution

• cultural relativism

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c. Early Theory

• particularism

• archaeological culture

• diffusion

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2. Culture-History 1945-1960

• Form typology

• Space culture areas

• Time relative chronometric

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3. Explanation 1960 -gt present

• Processual Archaeology

• Post-processual Archaeology

• Social Archaeology