Explanation in Archaeology: (Social Archaeology)

What is archaeology, and can it be called a science? What should it be about? What is the importance of past peoples, environments and cultures to archaeology? What is its relationship to anthropology, history and the natural sciences? What methods and techniques should archaeological research employ, and what are the problems peculiar to it? What is the role of theory, explanation, prediction and observation in archeology? These are some of the questions addressed here. The author begins with a clear introduction to logical positivism, a conception of science intended to rid it of metaphysics and ground it in rock-hard observation. He then goes on to describe the flaws in positivism highlighted by the assault upon it mounted by Thomas Kuhn, Steven Toulmin and Paul Feyerabend amongst others. These first two chapters of the book form the background against which Guy Gibbon sets his account of New Archaeology. This was a movement, which found favour with a significant number of archaeologists during the 1960s and early 1970s to make archaeology truly scientific. Traditional archaeological practice was felt to lack the power to explain archaeological data, it was little more than curio-collecting antiquarianism. Yet, the author argues, New Archaeology was doomed to failure for several reasons. He reveals New Archaeology's flaws, and considers the extent to which its successor, Realist Archaeology, is better equipped to reveal the structures and processes of past societies which have produced the archaeological record. Dr. Gibbon concludes with a discussion of a series of general questions concerning the history and methodology of archaeology, and the relationship between archaeology, the philosophy of science and the anthropology of knowledge.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction ; 2. The Philosophical Foundations: Logical Positivism and Logical Empiricism ; The Logical Positivist/Empiricist Research Program Other Definitions of Positivism Implications of Logical Empiricism for Social Research ; 3. Problems with Logical Positivism/Empiricism ; Internal Criticism External Criticism Postpositivist Philosophy of Science ; 4. The New Archaeology ; The Early Phase The Late Phase Practicing Archaeology on Logical Empiricist Assumptions ; 5. Problems with New Archaeology ; Internal Criticism External Criticism The Legacy of New Archaeology ; 6. Why did New Archaeologists Adopt Logical Empiricism? ; The Strong Program in the Sociology of Knowledge Positivism and American Social Science Logical Empiricism and New Archaeology ; 7. Realist Archaeology ; The Realist Theory of Science; The New Heuristic in the Social Sciences Practicing Archaeology on Realist Assumptions ; 8. Archaeology, Philosophy of Science, and the Anthropology of Knowledge ; Can the Philosophy of Science Help Archaeology? Archaeology and the Anthropology of Knowledge.