ANT-309 Monday March 3, 2008 Lecture Outline
X
History of Archaeological Thought
A
Theories in
the Social Sciences
B
Paradigms
1
Definition:
The philosophical and theoretical framework of
a scientific discipline within which theories, laws, and generalizations and
the experiments performed in support of them are formulated
2
Precursors to
an Archaeological Paradigm: Influences from Anthropology
a
Unilinear Evolution
i
E. B. Tylor (British) --- religion
ii
L. H. Morgan
(Am) --- subsistence arts, technology, family types, etc.
b
Historical Particularism
i
Diffusion
ii
Migration
3
The Cultural
Historical Paradigm in Archaeology (1905-1965)The emergence of the first paradigm
in archaeology was fueled by innovations that allowed archaeological materials
to be placed in temporal order:
a
stratigraphy- and stratigraphic excavation
b
Law of
Superposition”-
c
typology and seriation- placing artifacts
in a series based on similarities- allows us to look for patterns and order
cultural material (more on this in later lectures and assignments).
d
archaeological cultures: “ an assemblage of artifacts that recur
repeatedly associated together in dwellings of the same kind and with burials
of the same rite. The arbitrary peculiarities of implements, weapons,
ornaments, houses, burial rites, and ritual objects are assumed to be concrete
expressions of the common social traditions that bind together a people.”
2
The New
Archaeology and the Processual Paradigm (1965-1990)
a
Pioneered by
Lewis Binford in the 1960’s
b
Based on
cultural materialism is associated with an anthropologist named Marvin Harris.
i
The Scientific
Method
(i)
define a
problem
(ii)
establish one
or more hypotheses
(iii)
determine the
empirical implications of the hypotheses
(iv)
collect
appropriate data through observation and/or experience
(v)
compare these
data with the expected implications
(vi)
revise and/or
retest hypotheses as necessary
ii
trying to
remain objective and ethnically neutral; the politics of the present have
nothing to do with the past
c
Relies heavily
on the theory of cultural ecology developed by Julian Steward. culture as an extrasomatic means of adaptation
d
systems
theory; complex entities can be viewed as systems comprised of multiple
interacting parts (i.e. thermostats)
e
etic approach: generalizations; universal laws which apply to
all societies
f
middle range theory - links some specific archaeological data with
the relevant aspects of human behavior that produced it.
3
Postmodernism
and the Post Processual Paradigm (1990-)
a
In opposition
to modernism-
b
emphasizes an
empathetic approach; shows an intense distrust of the universals and
generalizations that provide the keystones to modern scientific reasoning
(postmodern interpretivism is very anti-scientific)
c
pluralism- a theory that multiple kinds of an
ultimate reality exist
d
empathetic
approach- humans are individuals with personal thoughts and decisions
e
universal laws
do not exist
f
emic approach