ANTHR 206 LECTURE 21

EXPLANATION PT 1

• What is explanation?

  • Insight beyond the basic description: addresses What? When? and Where?

  • Explores the "Why?" and "How?" questions

  • Focuses on understanding relationships between variables in time and space

    • Diachronic vs. Synchronic

    • Functional vs. Historical

  • Ability to predict outcomes in various contexts

  • Distinction between historical sciences (living systems) and ahistorical sciences (non-living systems)

Subject of Explanation

• Key Areas of Focus:

  • Variability in time and space

  • Processes, mechanisms, and patterns

  • Specific event analysis

  • Patterns of events

  • Class of events

Culture-Historical Approach

• Definition:

  • Archaeological culture refers to the recurring association of the archaeological record (artefacts, ecofacts, etc.).

  • The concept links archaeology with people and language.

• Factors of Cultural Change:

  • Innovation

  • Migration

  • Diffusion

  • Assimilation/acculturation

Functional-Processual Approach

• Overview:

  • Known as New Archaeology

  • Emphasizes scientific rigor and systematic data collection

  • Forms the base of assumptions, hypotheses, and general laws

• Influences on Methodology:

  • Impact of philosophy of science, including:

    • Deductive-nomothetic model (C. Hempel)

    • Hypothetico-deductive model (K. Popper)

• Cultural Systems Examined:

  • Economy (subsistence, technology, exchange)

  • Social and political organization

  • Ideology and belief systems

Dynamics of Change in the Functional-Processual Approach

• Types of Feedback Mechanisms:

  • Negative feedback: promotes equilibrium

  • Positive feedback: drives morphogenesis

• Model Evaluation:

  • Monocausal vs. multivariate models in explaining processes

Criticisms of Functional-Processual Approach

• Often labeled as scientistic, mechanistic, and reductionist

• Critiques about neglect of individual narratives

• Perceived as ahistorical in its analysis

Marxist Approaches

• Focus:

  • Examines internal conflicts and competition between groups or classes

  • Emphasizes competition for economic control

  • Assigns a primary role to economic and materialist factors

• Critique:

  • Neglect of ideology and individual agency in historical processes

Post-Processual Approaches

• Neo-Marxism:

  • Structuralism (C. Levi-Strauss) underscores human actions being guided by beliefs and symbolic concepts

  • Examines structures of thought and binary oppositions (e.g., man/woman, left/right)

  • Investigates interrelations across different fields of knowledge

Criticism of Neo-Marxism

• Considered overly synchronic

• Perceived as having arbitrary dichotomies

Critical Theory (Frankfurt School)

• Premise:

  • Proposes that all knowledge is distorted and challenges the existence of objective knowledge

  • Argues that scientific knowledge often supports ideologies of control

  • Views archaeology as a narrative rather than objective history

Criticism of Critical Theory

• Perceived as overly politicized

• Accused of extreme relativism

• Critiqued for lack of scientific rigor

Cognitive-Processual Approach

• Significance:

  • Recognizes the role of cognitive and symbolic aspects in early societies

  • Acknowledges ideology and material culture as active elements in shaping societies

  • Focuses on the importance of individual roles in historical change

Cognitive-Processual Approach Analysis

• Moves away from traditional D-H and D-N models

• Accepts that facts gain meaning through theoretical frameworks

• Critique:

  • Struggles to effectively explain change and variability in cultures over time.