A History of Archaeological Thought

by Bruce G. Trigger

• ISBN13: 9780521600491
• ISBN10: 0521600499
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-11
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In its original edition, Bruce Trigger’s book was the first ever to examine the history of archaeological thought from medieval times to the present in world-wide perspective. Now, in this new edition, he both updates the original work and introduces new archaeological perspectives and concerns. At once stimulating and even-handed, it places the development of archaeological thought and theory throughout within a broad social and intellectual framework. The successive but interacting trends apparent in archaeological thought are defined and the author seeks to determine the extent to which these trends were a reflection of the personal and collective interests of archaeologists as these relate - in the West at least - to the fluctuating fortunes of the middle classes. While subjective influences have been powerful, Professor Trigger argues that the gradual accumulation of archaeological data has exercised a growing constraint on interpretation. In turn, this has increased the objectivity of archaeological research and enhanced its value for understanding the entire span of human history and the human condition in general.

Author Biography

Bruce G. Trigger is James McGill Professor in the Department of Anthropology at McGill University

Table of Contents

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS	xi
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION	xv
1 Studying the History of Archaeology
Approaches to the History of Archaeology	5	(12)
Social Context	17	(9)
Archaeological Interpretation	26	(12)
Challenge	38	(2)
2 Classical and Other Text-Based Archaeologies	40	(40)
Interests in the Past	40	(8)
The Medieval View of History	48	(4)
Renaissance Antiquarianism	52	(15)
The Development of Classical Archaeology 6i
Egyptology and Assyriology	67	(7)
Other First Archaeologies	74	(3)
Conclusions	77	(3)
3 Antiquarianism without Texts	80	(41)
Antiquarianism in Northern Europe	81	(11)
Recognition of Stone Tools	92	(5)
The Enlightenment	97	(9)
Scientific Antiquarianism	106	(4)
Antiquarianism and Romanticism	110	(4)
The New World	114	(4)
The Impasse of Antiquarianism	118	(3)
4 The Beginnings of Prehistoric Archaeology	121	(45)
Relative Dating	121	(8)
The Development and Spread of Scandinavian Archaeology	129	(9)
The Antiquity of Humanity	138	(9)
Palaeolithic Archaeology	147	(9)
Reaction against Evolution	156	(2)
Archaeology in North America	158	(6)
Conclusions	164	(2)
5 Evolutionary Archaeology	166	(45)
The Rise of Racism	167	(4)
Lubbock's Synthesis	171	(6)
Colonial Archaeology in the United States	177	(12)
Australian Prehistory	189	(4)
Archaeology in New Zealand	193	(2)
Racist Archaeology in Africa	195	(12)
The Legacy of Evolutionary Archaeology	207	(4)
6 Culture-Historical Archaeology	211	(103)
Early Interests in Ethnicity	211	(6)
Diffusionism	217	(6)
The Montelian Synthesis of European Prehistory	223	(9)
The Concept of Culture	232	(3)
The Birth of Culture-Historical Archaeology	235	(6)
Childe and The Dawn of European Civilization	241	(7)
European Archaeology and Nationalism	248	(13)
Other National Archaeologies	261	(17)
Culture-Historical Archaeology in the United States	278	(12)
Technical Developments	290	(13)
Theory	303	(8)
Conclusions	311	(3)
7 Early Functional-Processual Archaeology	314	(72)
Environmental Functional-Processualism	315	(4)
Social Anthropology	319	(3)
Economic Approaches	322	(4)
Soviet Archaeology	326	(18)
Childe as a Marxist Archaeologist	344	(9)
Grahame Clark	353	(8)
Early Functionalism in the United States	361	(6)
The Conjunctive Approach	367	(5)
Ecological and Settlement Archaeology	372	(10)
World Archaeology	382	(2)
Conclusions	384	(2)
8 Processualism and Postprocessualism	386	(98)
Neoevolutionism	386	(6)
Early New Archaeology	392	(26)
The Diversification of Processual Archaeology	418	(26)
Postprocessual Archaeology	444	(34)
Continental European Alternatives	478	(2)
Discussion	480	(4)
9 Pragmatic Synthesis	484	(45)
Competing Approaches	485	(12)
Theoretical Convergence	497	(11)
Middle-Ranging Theory	508	(11)
High-Level Theory	519	(10)
10 The Relevance of Archaeology	529	(20)
The Challenge of Relativism	529	(3)
The Development of Archaeology	532	(6)
Relations with Other Social Sciences	538	(2)
Coping with Subjectivity	540	(9)
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY	549	(34)
REFERENCES	583	(98)
INDEX	681