Archaeological Theory Today (eBook)

Ian Hodder (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2014 | 2. Auflage
320 Seiten
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
978-0-7456-8100-9 (ISBN)

Infos

Now in a revised and updated second edition, this volume provides an authoritative account of the current status of archaeological theory, as presented by some of its major exponents and innovators over recent decades. It summarizes the latest developments in the field and looks to its future, exploring some of the cutting-edge ideas at the forefront of the discipline.

The volume captures the diversity of contemporary archaeological theory. Some authors argue for an approach close to the natural sciences, others for an engagement with cultural debate about representation of the past. Some minimize the relevance of culture to societal change, while others see it as central; some focus on the contingent and the local, others on long-term evolution. While few practitioners in theoretical archaeology would today argue for a unified disciplinary approach, the authors in this volume increasingly see links and convergences between their perspectives.

The volume also reflects archaeology's new openness to external influences, as well as the desire to contribute to wider debates. The contributors examine ways in which archaeological evidence contributes to theories of evolutionary psychology, as well as to the social sciences in general, where theories of social relationships, agency, landscape and identity are informed by the long-term perspective of archaeology.

The new edition of Archaeological Theory Today will continue to be essential reading for students and scholars in archaeology and in the social sciences more generally.

Autor

Ian Hodder is Dunlevie Family Professor of Anthropology at Stanford University.

Inhalt

List of Figures and Tables

List of Contributors

1 Introduction: Contemporary Theoretical Debate in
Archaeology

Ian Hodder

2 Darwinian Cultural Evolution

Stephen Shennan

3 Human Behavioral Ecology

Douglas W. Bird and James F. O'Connell

4 Behavioral Archaeology

Vincent M. LaMotta

5 Complex Systems and Archaeology

Timothy A. Kohler

6 Towards a Cognitive Archaeology: Material Engagement and the
Early Development of Society

Colin Renfrew

7 Agency: A Revisionist Account

John C. Barrett

8 Archaeologies of Place and Landscape

Julian Thomas

9 Materiality

Carl Knappett

10 Symmetrical Archaeology

Bjørnar Olsen

11 The Social Life of Heritage

Lynn Meskell

12 Post-Colonial Archaeology

Chris Gosden

13 Archaeology and Indigenous Collaboration

Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh

14 Archaeological visualisation: early artefact illustration and
the birth of the archaeological image

Stephanie Moser

Index

Rezensionen

"A crucial addition to contemporary debates in social sciences. The
way different methodological issues are discussed, as well as
the dialogue between different contributors serve as an exemplary
way of promoting scholarship of the highest standard."

Social Anthropology

"In Archaeological Theory Today, Ian Hodder has assembled a
fine collection of papers that, taken together, present a vibrant
and exciting overview of current theoretical trends. Reading this
volume, one is struck not just by the diversity of archaeological
theory today, but by its breadth, depth, and sheer intellectual
vitality. This book is not just an overview of current thinking,
but an eloquent statement of the importance of archaeology as a
modern human science."

Matthew Johnson, Northwestern University

"Archaeology has changed dramatically since the early 1980s. It
is more inclusive, more holistic, and more relevant to the modern
world. These changes are the product of the interplay of internal
debates about epistemology and external discussions regarding
social and political factors in the context of knowledge
production. This new edition interrogates standard assumptions
underlying such oppositions as culture and agency, matter and
materiality, individual and society, colonial power and indigenous
resistance, and, in the process, offers exciting new ways
forward."

Robert W. Preucel, University of Pennsylvania

"In this new edition, valuable chapters on cognition/symbolism,
agency, landscape, and post-colonial archaeology are revised and
carried on from the first edition. New chapters on materiality,
behavioral ecology, complex systems, heritage, and indigenous
knowledge (among others) are added. The new ATT admirably
takes the pulse of major and progressive trends in social theory by
leading archaeologists."

Norman Yoffee, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 27.2.2014
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Archäologie
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Vor- und Frühgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Technik
• Schlagworte: Archäologie • Archaeological Methods & Theory • archaeology • Archäologie • Geschichtswissenschaft • Methoden u. Theorie der Archäologie • Methoden u. Theorie der Archäologie
• ISBN-10: 0-7456-8100-X / 074568100X
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-8100-9 / 9780745681009