History of Archaeology

Cultural Relativism

There is no universal standard for judging human progress (historical Particularism)

Time space grids

shows how cultures interacted, artifact styles are what lead to the formation of the time space grids.

Processual Archeology (Lewis Binford)

1\.       Archaeology should be objective science

                        i. Hypothesis

                       ii. Rigorous testing

2\.       Culture is adaptation.

                        i. Cultures as a systems of interlinked processes

             ii. Environment/ Subsistence process drive the system.

                      iii. Adaptation is key.

Post-Processual Archaeology

1. Human Agency is culture change
2. Subdivision of societies -> Power, conflict, inequality
3. “insider’s” point of view -> meaning, Ideology
4. Question the objectivity of Archaeology
5. Problems
i. How do we get the insiders view into ancient civilizations
ii. In the 80’s it completely ignored environment, technology, and other things

Uniformitarianism

Geologically ancient conditions that are similar to those of current time.

Three Age System

Prehistoric artifacts could be divided into a Stone age (later divided), Bronze Age, and Iron Age.

Unilinear evolution

All societies pass through the same stages of cultural development.

Functionalism (Bronislaw)

Culture is designed to fulfill important functions and meet universal human needs.

Cultural Ecology (Julian Steward)

humans culture is an adaptation environment.