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
Edition: 1
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 352
Archaeological Semiotics......Page 6
Contents......Page 10
List of Figures......Page 13
List of Tables......Page 16
Preface......Page 17
Acknowledgments......Page 20
1 Introduction......Page 24
What is Semiotics?......Page 28
Archaeology and Semiotics......Page 31
Theorizing Material Culture......Page 37
Organization of the Book......Page 39
Part I Signs of Meaning......Page 42
2 Saussure and His Legacy......Page 44
Ferdinand de Saussure......Page 45
Semiology and Structural Linguistics......Page 48
Saussure and Modern Linguistics......Page 54
Structural Anthropology......Page 60
Symbolic and Cognitive Anthropologies......Page 62
Summary......Page 65
3 The Peircian Alternative......Page 67
Charles Sanders Peirce......Page 68
Semeiotics......Page 72
Peirce and Modern Philosophy......Page 83
Peirce and Modern Linguistics......Page 86
The Life of the Sign......Page 87
Summary......Page 88
4 Pragmatic Anthropology......Page 90
Peircian Encounters......Page 91
Indexicality......Page 94
Self and Social Identity......Page 102
Material Culture Meanings......Page 107
Summary......Page 112
Part II Aspects of a Semiotic Archaeology......Page 114
5 Structuralism and Processual Archaeology......Page 116
A Brief History of Processual Archaeology......Page 118
Rules and Codes......Page 124
Information Exchange......Page 135
Ideology and Structural Marxism......Page 138
Summary......Page 143
6 Poststructuralism and Postprocessual Archaeologies......Page 145
A Brief History of Postprocessual Archaeologies......Page 146
From Structure to Practice......Page 154
Reading Material Culture......Page 158
Material Culture and Text......Page 161
Material Metaphors......Page 165
Summary......Page 168
7 Cognitive Science and Cognitive Archaeology......Page 170
A Brief History of Cognitive Archaeology......Page 171
Evolutionary Studies......Page 175
Cognitive Processual Studies......Page 185
Summary......Page 194
Part III Archaeological Case Studies......Page 196
8 Brook Farm and the Architecture of Utopia......Page 198
Utopian Architecture......Page 200
The Brook Farm Historical Site......Page 203
Semiotic Ideologies of Social Reform......Page 206
Finding Utopia......Page 213
House Agency......Page 216
Representing Brook Farm......Page 228
Conclusions......Page 231
9 In the Aftermath of the Pueblo Revolt......Page 233
The New Mexico Colony......Page 235
The Pueblo Revitalization Movement......Page 236
Living in Accord with the Laws of the Ancestors......Page 241
Kotyiti Archaeology......Page 244
Social Dynamics at Kotyiti Pueblo......Page 248
Ceramics, social groups, and ideology......Page 253
Regional Settlement......Page 261
Signs of the Times......Page 266
Conclusions......Page 268
10 Material Meanings in Practice......Page 270
On Chains and Cables......Page 273
Integrating Words and Things......Page 277
Semiotic Ideologies......Page 281
Toward a Pragmatic Archaeology......Page 283
Notes......Page 286
Bibliography......Page 294
Index......Page 338
