Archaeological Theory Today

by Hodder, Ian

• ISBN13: 9780745653068
• ISBN10: 0745653065
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-03-26
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

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.

Author Biography

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

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables

List of Contributors

Introduction: Contemporary Theoretical Debate in Archaeology

Darwinian Cultural Evolution

Human Behavioral Ecology

Behavioral Archaeology

Complex Systems and Archaeology

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

Agency: A Revisionist Account

Archaeologies of Place and Landscape

Materiality

Symmetrical Archaeology

The Social Life of Heritage

Post-Colonial Archaeology

Archaeology and Indigenous Collaboration

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

Index

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