Archaeology in the Humanities (original) (raw)

Isayev E. 2006. Archaeology ≠ Object as History ≠ Text. Debates in World Archaeology 38: 599-610.

While interdisciplinarity may be an admirable goal many still doubt its benefits. The paper seeks to articulate the methods used to work across disciplines and considers the obstacles that stand in the way of inter-rather than multi-disciplinarity. Sauer's volume is used as a starting point to highlight key concerns in integrating archaeology and ancient history: the assumption that disciplines are determined by evidence type; the encouragement of specialisms to be discipline specific; the lack of differentiation between Mode One and Mode Two collaborative projects. Briefly tracing the development of the two subjects, suggestions are made as to why history is associated with text and archaeology with object. This is followed by proposals for two key areas of integration beyond concerns of evidence type: the struggle of the two disciplines to deal with accessing the past while being products of the present, and explaining patterns of change.

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Archaeology

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Archaeology, 2024

Díaz-Andreu, Margarita and Coltofean, Laura, eds. (2024) The Oxford Handbook of the History of Archaeology. Oxford, Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780190092504. DESCRIPTION. The Oxford Handbook of the History of Archaeology offers comprehensive perspectives on the origins and developments of the discipline of archaeology and the direction of future advances in the field. Written by thirty-six archaeologists, historians, and historians of science from all over the world, it covers a wide range of themes, including major debates, scientific techniques, and archaeological fieldwork practices. Chapters in this handbook also discuss the effect of institutional contexts on the development of archaeology, including legislative parameters and the nature of the work that takes place in museums, universities, and the management of archaeology. Other themes include the cultural and political backdrop that has affected archaeological research, from religion to nationalism and colonialism, and the social history of archaeology, with a focus on women, amateur archaeology, economics, and tourism | ~~| TABLE OF CONTENTS | Contributors | 1. Introduction: Towards a Multifaceted History of Archaeology | Margarita Díaz- Andreu and Laura Coltofean p1 |~| PART I. METHODOLOGY AND THEORY | 2. Writing the History of Archaeology: A Historical Overview | Margarita Díaz- Andreu p21 | 3. Archives, Oral History, and Histories of Archaeology | Ola Wolfhechel Jensen | p48 | 4. Photo Archives and the History of Archaeology | Lucila Mallart p72 | 5. Biographical Research in the History of Archaeology | Laura Coltofean p98 | 6. “Genius,” “Precursors,” and “Great (White) Men” in the History of Archaeology | Oscar Moro Abadía, Emma Lewis-Sing p121 |~| PART II. ARCHAEOLOGY AND ITS PRACTICES | 7. From Deep Holes to the Bigger Picture: A History of Methods in Archaeological Excavation | Gisela Eberhardt p143 | 8. Stratigraphy in the history of archaeology | Massimo Tarantini p165 | 9. Epistemic Practices and Blurred Boundaries: Human Remains in the History of Archaeology | Nélia Dias p193 | 10. A History of Interdisciplinarity in Archaeology: The Three Science Revolutions, Their Implementation and Impact | Kristian Kristiansen p218 | 11. The history of archaeology’s interaction with the hard sciences | Géraldine Delley p238 |~| PART III. OBJECTS, NETWORKS, AND MUSEUMS | 12. Collecting Antiquities in the Nineteenth Century | Miruna Achim p263 | 13. Museums of Archaeology: Museums with Archaeology | Ana Cristina Martins | p286 | 14. Objects in Transit: On the Theory and Practices of Archaeological Collecting | Fedra Pizzato p307 | 15. Artifact Distribution: Networks in the History of Archaeology | Alice Stevenson p325 | 16. Fakes in the history of archaeology | Irina Podgorny p346|~| PART IV. DIVERSE ARCHAEOLOGIES | 17. The History of Gender Archaeology | Margarita Díaz-Andreu, Rachel Pope p371 | 18. A history of historical archaeology | Charles Orser p402 | 19. The history of conflict archaeology | Sophie M. McMillan, Tony Pollard p424 | 20. The history of public archaeology | Gabriel Moshenska p445 | 21. The history of commercial archaeology: The United Kingdom and the United States | Kenneth Aitchison p466 | 22. The history of commercial archaeology: Europe and Beyond | Kenneth Aitchison p466 |~| PART V. INSTITUTIONS AND LEGISLATION | 23. The history of international foreign archaeological schools | Frederick Whitling | p531 | 24. The history of international archaeological congresses | Ulrike Sommer p558 | 25. The development of archaeology in school curricula | Michael Corbishley p581 | 26. The history of archaeological legislation | John Carman p617 | 27. The history of the fight against the antiquities trade | Francesca de Tomasi p637 |~| PART VI. IDEOLOGIES AND THE POLITICAL CONTEXT OF ARCHAEOLOGY | 28. Sacred Archaeology in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century | Bonnie Effros | p663 | | 29. Archaeology, Nationalism, Imperialism, Colonialism, and the Postcolonial Turn | Margarita Díaz-Andreu p682 | 30. Archaeology and Orientalism | Suzanne Marchand p715 | 31. Race, Racialism, and Racism in European Archaeology, 1800–1960 | Fabian Link p736 | 32. The Political Ecology of Archaeology under Communism | Ludomir Lozny p757 |~| PART VII. ARCHAEOLOGY AND SOCIETY | 33. From Stunning Solitaires to Creative Clusters: Women from Antiquarianism to Archaeology | Elisabeth Arwill-Nordbladh p785 | 34. Amateur Archaeology in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries| Nathalie Richard p810 | 35. Violence, Armies, and Archaeological Research from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century | Francisco Gracia Alonso p829 | 36. Archaeology as Leisure: A History of Archaeological Tourism | Margarita Díaz-Andreu p857 | 37. The History of the Influence of Free Market Economics on Archaeology | Peter Tomlinson p890 | 38 Community Approaches to Archaeology, Heritage, and Museums: A Historical Perspective | Veysel Apaydin p909 | Index | https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-the-history-of-archaeology-9780190092504?cc=us&lang=en&#

Contemporary Issues in Archaeological Theory

This course explores how archaeologists make sense of the world from artifacts of the past. Human practices and cultural processes resonate, live within the material traces that surround us in our everyday life. How do archaeologists re-imagine these traces as residues of real people in history rather than imaginary beings and ghosts? How do archaeologists place material objects and spaces in the context of human practices, cultural processes and long-term history? In short, we will read, think and write about archaeological ways of thinking about the world. Archaeology, as a modern discipline, investigates the past through the study of its material remains. This material record is documented and interpreted through various intellectual activities from fieldwork to publication. But archaeologists are usually torn between their work in the field (digging, surveying, drawing, travelling, taking notes) and in their academic environment (processing data, interpreting, publishing). Throughout the semester we will spend some thought on this divided life between the field and discourse, and explore some of the novel attempts have been made to bridge them. Archaeology frequently becomes entangled with our daily lives through its politicized engagement with the past and issues of identity. We will examine various theoretical approaches and historiographic models used in archaeology since its inception in the 19th century, while putting a particular emphasis on the recent developments in the theories and methodologies in archaeology in the last few decades. It is intended to provide a solid theoretical and historigraphic basis for the discipline of archaeology. The first few weeks of the course will be dedicated to discussing the central movements in the discipline such as culture-history, New Archaeology, and contextual archaeology, while the second half deals with more contemporary theoretical paradigms such as gender and sexuality, technology and agency, space, place and landscape, and issues of cultural heritage. Particular archaeological materials, sites, projects will be used in discussing the potentials and disadvantages of various approaches. Archaeological case studies will be drawn mostly from the ancient Western Asian and Mediterranean worlds.

On the object of archaeology

Archaeological Dialogues, 2018

The paper ponders on the object of archaeology, called here 'the archaeological.' It argues that the existence of such an object is a necessary premise of the field and that ultimately it is on this object that the validity of all claims and arguments must rest. The paper suggests that the archaeological be conceived as a cultural phenomenon that consists in being disengaged from the social, an understanding that positions archaeology as a counterpart to the social sciences and the humanities, rather than a member in the same milieu. The first part of the paper focuses on the position of the archaeological with reference to the concepts of 'Nature' and 'Culture' that eventually leads us to a confrontation of archaeological statics with the dynamics of the world. Efforts to justify and understand archaeological statics, consequently, leads to the recognition of a constitutive distinction between buried and non-buried conditions, upon which the differentiation of the archaeological from the social is established.