Processual and Post-Processual Archaeology, Theories
Theory
a body of ideas telling us how the world works and why it works that way
Epistemology
a sort of toolkit containing theory and analytical methods for turning static items into dynamic people
Cultural Ecology
a term coined by Julian Steward
Good Theory
an example is the 3 Age Theory
Analytic Methods
are not techniques such as radiocarbon dating, but rather ways of evaluating whether or not theories/arguments are any good
Lower-Range Theories
are vital because if they're wrong, the other theories will screw up too
Cultural Ecology
asks questions like "why do civilizations develop into states?"
Middle-Range Research
began in 1970 to develop "transformation theories" that translated material remains into relatively objective statements into the past
Post-Processual Archaeology
can find a sort of "objectivity" by attempting to remove their own preconceptions (and acknowledging that they will always have some influence)
Post-Processual Archaeology
despite seeming unscientific, still tries to come up with ideas that make sense, uses a sort of "trial by jury" to allow interpretations to be continually refined through a process of always confronting earlier knowledge and never assuming a final solution has been reached
Post-Processual Archaeology
does not see adaptation and least-effort solutions as explaining everything, instead notes that people may well do whatever they want/believe they have to even if that isn't very efficient
Post-Processual Archaeology
does not see objectivity as easy to attain or even possible, noting that you may be left with no real truths but simple clouds of data
Post-Processual Archaeology
doesn't start from hypotheses but tries to understand cultures based on the context of archaeological artifacts
Post-Processual Archaeology
exchews scientific method for alternatives like the hermeunetic method (inductive vs. deductive)
3 Age Theory
explained not only how different materials were found in chronology, but also why some stone items and bronze items had similar styles (b/c they were at the beginning of bronze age/end of stone age)
Processual Archaeology
favours the lowest-effort solutions, assuming people are doing what's most efficient for them (and thus that different groups of people may come to the same solution separately)
Epistemology
finding out what you can know and how you can know it
Processual Archaeology
focuses on behaviour, not ideas
Post-Processual Archaeology
focuses on ideas, meanings and symbols, noting that people make their cultures somewhat deliberately
Post-Processual Archaeology
focuses on particulars, cultural differences, relativism (and even hyper-relativism, studying people instead of societies
Lower-Range Theories
if they're not good enough, it may be impossible to tell, for example, if a site's summer and winter houses means that it was being used year-round or that it was at first used only in the winter, and then only in the summer
Lower-Range Theories
include the law of superposition, radiocarbon dating and the three age theory
Higher-Range Theories
include theories about how cultures work, why they are similar/different, and why they change
Middle-Range Theories
include transformational theories, site-formation process theories, ethnoarchaeological theories, and experimental archaeological theories
Analytic Methods
include using multiple lines of independent evidence and using the scientific method
Post-Processual Archaeology
includes Americans such as Mark P. Leone and James Deetz, and British men such as Hodder, Tilley and Shanks
Experimental Archaeology
includes creation of stone tools and recreation of potential ancient construction methods
Middle-Range Research
includes experimental archaeology and ethnoarchaeology
Processual Archaeology
interested in explanation, generalization, culture process, and the pursuit of objectivity
Behaviour as an Extra-Somatic Adaptation
is an attractive way of explaining things because the archaeological record usually consists of technological data, and environmental data is similarly attainable
Culture in Post-Processual Archaeology
is not a rigid system, but something which is changed based on the goals of people even if the environment and technologies remain the same
Culture in Post-Processual Archaeology
is not seen as having systematically recognizeable parts
Culture in Processual Archaeology
is seen as a layer cake with a technological base (with the environment as a plate) supporting those things on top of them
Culture in Processual Archaeology
is seen as a rigid and well-integrated system where individuals are "prisoners"
Culture in Processual Archaeology
is seen as consisting of three subsystems: technological, sociological, and ideological
Good Theory
is testable and falsifiable
Post-Processual Archaeology
led by Hodder who was influenced by historian R.G. Collingwood
Culture in Post-Processual Archaeology
may have technology influencing ideology or ideologies influencing technologies
Processual Archaeology
may not realize its own biases because it believes so much in objectivity
Good Theory
not only explains known things, but predicts new things
Trading Systems: Trading Something Away, Getting The Same Thing In Return (Idealist View)
perhaps there was no functional purpose... people may have simply liked to have different styles of those tools for artistic reasons
Lower-Range Theories
relate to chronology and come from chemists, geologists and archaeologists
Higher-Range Theories
relate to cultural process and come from anthropologists
Middle-Range Theories
relate to cultural systems and come from archeologists, geologists and archaeologists
Shanks and Tilley
said that all people can really do is project the present onto the past and use it to justify what's happening in modernity
Kent Flannery
said you should look for the best explanation you can, but also recognize you'll probably be proven wrong at some point
Patrilineal and Matrilineal Systems in Hunter-Gatherer Societies
seen as being the result of technologies and environments, though this wasn't the greatest explanation
Processual Archaeology
sees archaeology as a science, often includes prehistoric archaeologists
Post-Processual Archaeology
sees archaeology as humanistic/historical
Processual Archaeology
sees behaviour as an extra-somatic adaptation, used to produce food and solve conflicts
Processual Archaeology
sees culture as part of the natural world, rational adapted to the material conditions of life (inspired by Lewis Binford/Leslie White)
Cultural Ecology
sees that technology and environment cannot account for social systems and ideologies themselves, but if put together they may well form a similar sort of society
Good Theory
simplifies a wide range of complicated things
Technological Subsystem
the "base" or "infrastructure" of culture as understood by Processualists, which relates people and their environments
Sociological Subsystem
the "structure" of culture as understood by Processualists, which relates people with each other
Ideological Subsystem
the "superstructure" of culture as understood by Processualists, which relates people with their world and cosmos, through not only religion, but also music, science, and dance
Boundary Conditions
the appropriate context for a hypothesis, recognizing that you should test things with all other things equal
Archaeological Signature
the physical marks/artifacts that a process leaves to be picked up by archaeologists in the future
Cultural Ecology
the study of human adaptations to social and physical environments
The Development of Early States
theoretically caused by the need for irrigation in dry environments and how its success relied on a complex decision-making network led by someone greater
Caches of Elaborate Stone Tools in N.A. (Materialist View)
these were mere caches, because the Clovis people didn't know if they would be able to find good raw materials for tools in their new country
Caches of Elaborate Stone Tools in N.A. (Idealist View)
they may have had some sort of sacred purpose
Trading Systems: Trading Something Away, Getting The Same Thing In Return (Materialist View)
this was a valuable way of creating social ties, what specifically was being exchanged wasn't important
Lewis Binford
thought it was impossible to determine what people thought, and didn't bother to try
Processual Archaeology
traditionally focused on only a particular deductive form of the scientific method, though it is now open to inductive methods as well
Processual Archaeology
uses a materialist, external approach that tries to understand from the outside
Post-Processual Archaeology
uses an idealist, internal approach that attempts to explain history from the viewpoint of those who lived it
Ethnoarchaeology
working with living peoples to see the material remains they create, etc.
