Paradigm Lost: What Is a Commitment to Theory in Contemporary Archaeology?

Author(s):  
Gavin Lucas ◽  
Christopher Witmore
2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW BAINES

In reading archaeological texts, we expect to be engaged in a characteristically archaeological discourse, with a specific and recognisable structure and vocabulary. In evaluating the published work of 19th Century antiquarians, we will inevitably look for points of contact between their academic language and our own; success or failure in the identification of such points of contact may prompt us to recognise a nascent archaeology in some writings, while dismissing others as naïve or absurd. With this point in mind, this paper discusses the written and material legacies of three 19th Century antiquarians in the north of Scotland who worked on a particular monument type, the broch. The paper explores the degree to which each has been admitted as an influence on the development of the broch as a type. It then proceeds to compare this established typology with the author's experiences, in the field, of the sites it describes. In doing so, the paper addresses wider issues concerning the role of earlier forms of archaeological discourse in the development of present day archaeological classifications of, and of the problems of reconciling such classifications with our experiences of material culture.


2020 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 101230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary M. Feinman ◽  
Jill E. Neitzel

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colleen Morgan

Recent developments in archaeological thought and practice involve a seemingly disparate selection of ideas that can be collected and organized as contributing to an anti-authoritarian, “punk” archaeology. This includes the contemporary archaeology of punk rock, the DIY and punk ethos of archaeological labor practices and community involvement, and a growing interest in anarchist theory as a productive way to understand communities in the past. In this article, I provide a greater context to contemporary punk, DIY, and anarchist thought in academia, unpack these elements in regard to punk archaeology, and propose a practice of punk archaeology as a provocative and productive counter to fast capitalism and structural violence.


Author(s):  
Peter Merriman

Archaeologists are no strangers to the spaces and materialities of roads. The material cultures of prehistoric and Roman roads have provided an important focus for archaeological investigations, while modern road construction programmes have provided invaluable opportunities to conduct archaeological and geological investigations of sub-surface materials. In recent years, humanities and social science scholars have started to trace the material cultures and practices associated with the modern spaces of the car, road, and driving, and this chapter traces the outlines of what we might call an archaeology of modern automobility, discussing the findings of two research projects undertaken on the material cultures of automobility. Drawing upon research on the historical geographies of Britain’s M1 motorway the author examines how archaeological techniques (including field excavations) could provide an important complement to archival research in order to trace the design, construction, and use of such sites. In the second example, the chapter discusses a recent research project which attempted to write a cultural history and contemporary archaeology of the campaign for bilingual road signs in Wales. Drawing upon archival research, oral histories, and photographic research, the project reveals how the materiality of road signs was central to the motives behind-and effectiveness of-the campaign in 1960s and 1970s Wales.


Author(s):  
Rachael Kiddey

I was explicitly clear with everyone who became involved in the Homeless Heritage project that the intention was to present our findings publically in a number of ways. We did this by co-publishing articles in popular magazines and peer-reviewed journals, speaking at public meetings and academic conferences, and through co-curating two interactive public exhibitions on the heritage of homelessness. It was important to spread the ways in which our findings were presented across a variety of platforms so that our results reached diverse audiences; for example, John Schofield, my homeless colleagues, and I published co-authored articles in The Big Issue, and in British Archaeology, in the hope that our work might reach people outside academia. That said, we were equally keen to demonstrate that the Homeless Heritage project was just as valid as archaeological investigations into any other marginalized culture or period so we also published co-authored peer-reviewed papers in Public Archaeology, Post-Medieval Archaeology, and created, in collaboration with artist Mats Brate, a comic based on fieldwork for the Journal of Contemporary Archaeology. Further to this, various book chapters were co-produced for academic books,6 and I have since published a paper for the International Journal of Heritage Studies, which focused on how cultural heritage methodologies can function as tools for empowerment. I encouraged my homeless colleagues to co-present papers at a variety of conferences and public talks. Jane, Danny, Deano, and Whistler co-presented a paper entitled ‘Punks and Drunks: Counter Mapping Homeless Heritage’ at the conference of the Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) at the University of Bristol in 2010, while Andrew, Jane, Dan, and Mark co-presented a paper called ‘Stories from the Street: Contemporary Homelessness as Heritage’ at the Postgraduate Conference in Historical Archaeology at the University of Leicester Centre for Historical Archaeology in 2011. To me, it was essential that those homeless colleagues who wanted to remain involved with the project once fieldwork had been completed were given real opportunities to do so.


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