Reading the Past: Current Approaches to Interpretation in Archaeology

The mainstream archaeology of the seventies, 'processual archaeology', modelled itself on the natural sciences. It has been challenged in recent years by a 'post-processual' archaeology which draws upon the wider perspectives of history and social anthropology, insisting that account must be taken of the context and meaning of behaviour, and that the ideological uses of archaeology be recognized by practitioners. Ian Hodder, a leading figure in the new movement, argues in this book that in explaining the behaviour of past societies a concern with meaning must be joined to the study of ecological constraints and economic and social processes. This leads him to discuss systems theory and structuralist and Marxist approaches in archaeology. Post-processual archaeology is socially engaged and multivocal, since if material remains may be treated in some ways as texts, they lend themselves to divergent readings. Hodder suggests that archaeologists must bring a variety of perspectives to bear in the complex and uncertain tack of 'translating the meaning of past texts into their own contemporary language'.

Table of Contents:
Preface to the first edition; Preface to the second edition; 1. The problem; 2. The systems approach; 3. Structuralist archaeology; 4. Marxist archaeology, ideology and practice; 5. Archaeology and history; 6. An ethnohistoric example: reconsideration of ethnoarchaeology and middle range theory; 7. Contextual archaeology; 8. Post-processual archaeology; 9. Conclusion: archaeology as archaeology; Bibliography; Index.

Review :
'One of the most important and provocative recent contributions to the theory and philosophy of archaeology.' British Archaeological News ' … it strives honestly and purposefully not only to find a rationale for archaeology, the subject which alone can study most of the human past, but also for the place of that study among the intellectual endeavours of our own age.' The Times Literary Supplement ' … it is highly welcome … to have a short, comprehensible book which challenges many of the shibboleths of the New Archaeology, looks seriously but critically at Structuralism, Neo-Marxism and Critical Theory, and attempts to develop an original 'post-processual' and 'contextual' approach to the cultural meaning of things and to the significance of individuals and individual action in the past.' Antiquaries Journal ' … it will provide powerful stimuli for a necessary dialogue within archaeology, not only for how we view the past but also for how we view our roles in the present.' American Anthropologist