Reconsidering Archaeological Fieldwork

Reconsidering Archaeological Fieldwork

Author: Hannah Cobb

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-03-07

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1461423376

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Digging, recording, and writing are the three main processes that archaeologists undertake to analyze a site, yet the relationships between these processes is rarely considered critically. Reconsidering Archaeological Fieldwork asserts that each of these processes involves at least a bit of subjective interpretation. As a group of archaeologists work together to reconstruct an objective view of the past, at a particular time, at a particular site, their field methods and subjective interpretations affect the final analysis. This volume explores the important nature of the relationship between fieldwork, analysis, and interpretation. Containing contributions from a diverse group of archaeologists, both academic and professional, from Europe and the Americas, it critically analyzes accepted practices in field archaeology, and provide thoughtful and innovative analysis of these procedures. By combining the experiences of both academic and professional archaeologists, Reconsidering Archaeological Fieldwork highlights key differences and key similarities in their concerns, theories, and techniques. This volume will incite discussion on fundamental questions for all archaeologists, both old and new to the field.


Reconsidering Archaeological Fieldwork

Reconsidering Archaeological Fieldwork

Author: Hannah Cobb

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-03-06

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1461423384

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Digging, recording, and writing are the three main processes that archaeologists undertake to analyze a site, yet the relationships between these processes is rarely considered critically. Reconsidering Archaeological Fieldwork asserts that each of these processes involves at least a bit of subjective interpretation. As a group of archaeologists work together to reconstruct an objective view of the past, at a particular time, at a particular site, their field methods and subjective interpretations affect the final analysis. This volume explores the important nature of the relationship between fieldwork, analysis, and interpretation. Containing contributions from a diverse group of archaeologists, both academic and professional, from Europe and the Americas, it critically analyzes accepted practices in field archaeology, and provide thoughtful and innovative analysis of these procedures. By combining the experiences of both academic and professional archaeologists, Reconsidering Archaeological Fieldwork highlights key differences and key similarities in their concerns, theories, and techniques. This volume will incite discussion on fundamental questions for all archaeologists, both old and new to the field.


Critical Approaches to Fieldwork

Critical Approaches to Fieldwork

Author: Gavin Lucas

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2002-01-04

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1134564317

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This work takes as its starting point the role of fieldwork and how this has changed over the past 150 years. The author argues against progressive accounts of fieldwork and instead places it in its broader intellectual context to critically examine the relationship between theoretical paradigms and everyday archaeological practice. In providing a much-needed historical and critical evaluation of current practice in archaeology, this book opens up a topic of debate which affects all archaeologists, whatever their particular interests.


Understanding the Archaeological Record

Understanding the Archaeological Record

Author: Gavin Lucas

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-02-06

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1107010268

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This book explores the diverse understandings of the archaeological record in both historical and contemporary perspective, while also serving as a guide to reassessing current views. Gavin Lucas argues that archaeological theory has become both too fragmented and disconnected from the particular nature of archaeological evidence. The book examines three ways of understanding the archaeological record - as historical sources, through formation theory, and as material culture - then reveals ways to connect these three domains through a reconsideration of archaeological entities and archaeological practice. Ultimately, Lucas calls for a rethinking of the nature of the archaeological record and the kind of history and narratives written from it.


Archaeological Theory in the New Millennium

Archaeological Theory in the New Millennium

Author: Oliver J. T. Harris

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-06-26

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1317497457

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Archaeological Theory in the New Millennium provides an account of the changing world of archaeological theory and a challenge to more traditional narratives of archaeological thought. It charts the emergence of the new emphasis on relations as well as engaging with other current theoretical trends and the thinkers archaeologists regularly employ. Bringing together different strands of global archaeological theory and placing them in dialogue, the book explores the similarities and differences between different contemporary trends in theory while also highlighting potential strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. Written in a way to maximise its accessibility, in direct contrast to many of the sources on which it draws, Archaeological Theory in the New Millennium is an essential guide to cutting-edge theory for students and for professionals wishing to reacquaint themselves with this field.


Archaeological Situations

Archaeological Situations

Author: Gavin Lucas

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-09-02

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1000649377

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This book is an introduction to theory in archaeology – but with a difference. Archaeological Situations avoids talking about theory as if it was something you apply but rather as something embedded in archaeological practice from the start. Rather than see theory as something worked from the outside in, this book explores theory from the inside out, which means it focuses on specific archaeological practices rather than specific theories. It starts from the kinds of situations that students find themselves in and learn about in other archaeology courses, avoiding the gap between practice and theory from the very beginning. It shows students the theoretical implications of almost everything they engage in as archaeologists, from fieldwork, recording, writing up and making and assessing an argument to exploring the very nature of archaeology and justifying its relevance. Essentially, it adopts a structure which attempts to pre-empt one of the most common complaints of students taking theory courses: how is this applicable? Aimed primarily at undergraduates, this book is the ideal way to engage students with archaeological theory.