This book explores the multiple ways in which archaeologists give meaning to the past, highlighting debates over the ontological and epistemological status of the discipline and evaluating current responses to these issues.
- Explains why absolute foundations in archaeology are inadequate and looks at the alternatives.
- Highlights debates over the ontological and epistemological status of the discipline and evaluates current responses to these issues.
- Defines a new space for archaeological discourse and dialogue.
Author(s): Robert W. Preucel
Series: Social Archaeology
Edition: 1
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 354
Archaeological Semiotics......Page 5
Contents......Page 9
List of Figures......Page 12
List of Tables......Page 15
Preface......Page 16
Acknowledgments......Page 19
1 Introduction......Page 23
What is Semiotics?......Page 27
Archaeology and Semiotics......Page 30
Theorizing Material Culture......Page 36
Organization of the Book......Page 38
Part I Signs of Meaning......Page 41
2 Saussure and His Legacy......Page 43
Ferdinand de Saussure......Page 44
Semiology and Structural Linguistics......Page 47
Saussure and Modern Linguistics......Page 53
Structural Anthropology......Page 59
Symbolic and Cognitive Anthropologies......Page 61
Summary......Page 64
3 The Peircian Alternative......Page 66
Charles Sanders Peirce......Page 67
Semeiotics......Page 71
Peirce and Modern Philosophy......Page 82
Peirce and Modern Linguistics......Page 85
The Life of the Sign......Page 86
Summary......Page 87
4 Pragmatic Anthropology......Page 89
Peircian Encounters......Page 90
Indexicality......Page 93
Self and Social Identity......Page 101
Material Culture Meanings......Page 106
Summary......Page 111
Part II Aspects of a Semiotic Archaeology......Page 113
5 Structuralism and Processual Archaeology......Page 115
A Brief History of Processual Archaeology......Page 117
Rules and Codes......Page 123
Information Exchange......Page 134
Ideology and Structural Marxism......Page 137
Summary......Page 142
6 Poststructuralism and Postprocessual Archaeologies......Page 144
A Brief History of Postprocessual Archaeologies......Page 145
From Structure to Practice......Page 153
Reading Material Culture......Page 157
Material Culture and Text......Page 160
Material Metaphors......Page 164
Summary......Page 167
7 Cognitive Science and Cognitive Archaeology......Page 169
A Brief History of Cognitive Archaeology......Page 170
Evolutionary Studies......Page 174
Cognitive Processual Studies......Page 184
Summary......Page 193
Part III Archaeological Case Studies......Page 195
8 Brook Farm and the Architecture of Utopia......Page 197
Utopian Architecture......Page 199
The Brook Farm Historical Site......Page 202
Semiotic Ideologies of Social Reform......Page 205
Finding Utopia......Page 212
House Agency......Page 215
Representing Brook Farm......Page 227
Conclusions......Page 230
9 In the Aftermath of the Pueblo Revolt......Page 232
The New Mexico Colony......Page 234
The Pueblo Revitalization Movement......Page 235
Living in Accord with the Laws of the Ancestors......Page 240
Kotyiti Archaeology......Page 243
Social Dynamics at Kotyiti Pueblo......Page 247
Ceramics, social groups, and ideology......Page 252
Regional Settlement......Page 260
Signs of the Times......Page 265
Conclusions......Page 267
10 Material Meanings in Practice......Page 269
On Chains and Cables......Page 272
Integrating Words and Things......Page 276
Semiotic Ideologies......Page 280
Toward a Pragmatic Archaeology......Page 282
Notes......Page 285
Bibliography......Page 293
Index......Page 337
