Archaeological theory has gone through a great upheaval in the last 50 years – from the processual theory, which wanted to make archaeology more "scientific" to post-processual theory, which understands that interpreting human behavior (even of past cultures) is a subjective study. This subjective approach incorporates a plurality of readings, thereby implying that different interpretations are always possible, allowing us to modify and change our ideas under the light of new information and/or interpretive frameworks. In this way, interpretations form a continuous flow of transformation and change, and thus archaeologists do not uncover a real past but rather construct a historical past or a narrative of the past. Post-processual theory also incorporates a conscious and explicit political interest on the past of the scholar and the subject. This includes fields and topics such as gender issues, ethnicity, class, landscapes, and consumption. This reflects a conscious attempt to also decentralize the discipline, from an imperialist point of view to an empowering one. Method and theory also means being politically aware and engaged to incorporate diverse critical approaches to improve understanding of the past and the present. This book focuses on the fundamental theoretical issues found in the discipline and thus both engages and represents the very rich plurality of the post-processual approach to archaeology. The book is divided into four sections: Issues in Archaeological Theory, Archaeological Theory and Method in Action, Space and Power in Material Culture, and Images as Material Discourse.
Author(s): Pedro Funari, Andres Zarankin, Emily Stovel
Edition: 1
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 387
0306486504......Page 1
Preliminaries......Page 2
Contents......Page 5
1 Materiality and the Social......Page 18
2 Archaeology and the Meanings of Material Culture......Page 26
3 Why Is There Material Culture Rather than Nothing Heideggerian Thoughts and Archaeology......Page 36
4 What Conditions of Existence Sustain a Tension Found in the Use of Written and Material Documents in Archaeology......Page 50
5 The Reception of New Archaeology in Argentina A Preliminary Survey......Page 66
6 Network Theory and the Archaeology of Modern History......Page 84
7 The Comparative Method in Archaeology......Page 104
8 Bodies in Prehistory Beyond the Sex Gender Split......Page 114
9 Children’s Activity in the Production of the Archaeological Record of Hunter Gatherers An Ethnoarchaeological Approach......Page 128
10 The Archaeology of Identity Construction Ceramic Evidence from Northern Chile......Page 152
11 Rethinking Stereotypes and the History of Research on Je Populations in South Brazil An Interdisciplinary Point of View......Page 174
12 Traveling Objects and Spatial Images Exchange Relationships and the Production of Social Space......Page 198
13 The Materiality of Inka Domination Landscape Spectacle Memory and Ancestors......Page 218
14 Walls of Domestication Archaeology of the Architecture of Capitalist Elementary Public Schools The Case of Buenos Aires......Page 244
15 Enlightened Discourses Representations and Social Practices in the Spanish Settlement of Floridablanca Patagonia 18th Century......Page 272
16 Stylistic Units in Prehistoric Art Research Archeofacts or Realities......Page 290
17 Water and Olive Oil An Analysis of Rural Scenes in Black and Red Figure Attic Vases and the Construction of the Athenian Empire......Page 304
18 Between Motorcycles and Rifles Anglo American and Latin American Radical Archaeologies......Page 316
19 Footsteps of the American Race Archaeology Ethnography and Romantism in Imperial Brazil 1838 1867......Page 344
20 Brazilian Archaeology Indigenous Identity in the Early Decades of the Twentieth Century......Page 360
21 Discussion A Response from the Core......Page 372
Index......Page 378
