Thames a Hudson

COLIN RENFREW PAU L BAH N t/ Thames a Hudson ----_ I writing, the distinction between hìstor.y and prchlstory is a convenient dividing line that sirnply recognizes the If, then, archaeology deals with the past, in what way does it importance of thc written word in the modern world, bnt diffel from historyì In the br-oadest sense, just as alchaeol- in no way denigrates the nscful inforrnation containcd in ogy is an aspect ofanthropology, so too is it a part ofhistoly oral histories. - where we rnean the whole history of hurnankind lrom As will becorle abunclantly clear- in this book, archae- its beginnings over- 3 rnillion years ago. Indeed for more ology can also contribnte a great cleal to the understanding than 99 pe1'ccnt of that hr-rge span of time archaeology - even of thosc pcriods and places wher-e docnments, insc ìp- the study of past matelial culture - is the or.rly slgnificant tions, and other literaly evidence do exist. Quite often, it sonrce of information, if one sets aside physical anthropol- is the archaeologìst who unearths such evidence in the ogy, which focuses on our biological rather lhan cultnral fiLst place. Archaeology is partly the discovery ofthe tleasur.es of'the culture" has a specific and sornewhat different rreanìng, progress. Conventional histolical sou-r-ces begin only with past, pafily the rneticnlons worl< olt the scientific analyst, as explained in Chapter 3.) Anthropology is thus a broad the introcluction of written records alound Jooo BC in parlly the exercise ofthe clcative irnagination. It is toiling discipline - so broad that it is generally broken down into \^,cstern Asia, and much later in most other- par-ts of'the in the sun on an excavation in the cleselts of Centlal Asia, three srnaller disciplines: biological anthropology, cultural world (not rtntil ¡ro 1788 in Australia, for example). A com- Since the aim of archaeology is the unclerstanding of it is working wìth living lnuit in the snows of Alaska. It is anthropology, and alchaeology. rronly drawn distinction is between prehistory - the period hnmankind, ìt is a hr.rmanistic discipÌine, a hnmane stndy. dìving down to Spanish wrecks off the coast of Florida, and Biological anthropology, or physical anthropology as it before written records ancl history in the narlow sense, And since it deals with the human past it is a historical it is investigating the sewers of Roman York. But it is also nsed to be called, concer-ns the study of hum¿rn biological or rneaning the study of the past using written evidence. ln cliscipline. But it differs fiom the stucly of written history thc painstaking task of interpretation so that we collle to physicaì char:acteristics and how they evolvecl. some countries, "plehistory" is now considered a patron- - although it uses written histor:y - in a fundarnental way. jch understand what these things rnean f'or the human stor-y. Culturøl a.nthropology or social anthropology - analyzes izitg and derogatory telm wh implles that written texts The rnaterial the alchaeologist finds does not te1l us directly And it js the conservation of'the wor-ld's cnltural heritage - hrrrnarr culture and society. Two of its branches arc ethnog- are rnore valuable than oral histories, and which classifies what to think. Historical recolds make staternents, offer as \)Øestetn jr-rdgments againsl looting and against careless destruction. raphy lThe str-rdy at fìr'st hand of individual living cultures) their cultures inferior until the alrival of ways opinions, pass (even if those statemeltts and Archaeology, thcn, is both a physical activity out in the and ethnology (which sets ouL to colnpar-e cultures r-rsing of recording information. To archaeology, however, whicl-r judgments themselves need to be interpreted). The objects field, and an intellcctual pursuit in the stucly or labora- ethnoglaphic evjdence to derive general principles abor-rt studies all cultules and periods, whether with or without that archaeologists discover, on the other hand, tell us tory. That is part of its great attraction. The rich rnixtnre hutnan society). nothing directly in themselves . lI is we today who have to of danger and detective wolk has also rnade it the pelfèct Archaeology is the "past tense of cnltural anthropol- make sense of these things. In this t'espect the practlce of vehicle ftrr' fiction writers and fìlm-rnakers, fl'om Agatha ogy." Wheleas cultural anthropologists will often base archaeology is rather like that ofthe scientist. The scientist Christie wilh Murder in Mesopotamiø to Steven Spielberg their conclusions on tire experìence of actually living collects data (evidence), condr-rcts experiments, f'ormulates with lndiana Jones. However-fàr lì-orn reality such portray- within contemporary comnlunities, archaeologists study a hypothesis (a proposìtion to accolrnt for the data), tests als may be, they cap lure the essential truth that archaeology past hr-rrnans and societies primarily thr-ough their material the hypothèsis against mor-e data, and therì in conclusion is an exciting quest the quest for knowledge about our- remains - the buildings, tools, and other altifucts that con- devises a model (a description that seems best to summa- selves and our pàst. stitute what is known as Ihe materísl culture left over from rize the pattern observed in the data). The archaeologist has Br-rt how does archaeology lclate to disciplines such as former societìes. to develop a picture ofthe past, jr-rst as the scientist has to anthropology and history that are also concerned with the Nevertheless, one of'the most challenging tasks for the develop a coherent view ofthe natural wor1d. It is not found hurnan storyl Is archaeology itselfa scìencel And what are archaeologist today is to know how to interpret material ready made. the responsibilities of the archaeologist in today's wor1d, cultnle in human terrns. How were those pots used? Why Archaeolog¡ in short, is a science as well as a human- where the past 1s rnanipr-rlated for political ends and "ethnic a1'e some dwellings round and others squarel Here the ity. That is one of its fascinations as a discipline: it r-eflects cleansing" is accompanled by the deliberate destluction of methods of'ar:chaeology and ethnography overlap. Archae- the ingenuity of the modeln scientist as well as the the cultural heritageì ologists in lecent decades have developed ethnoørchaeology, modern historian. The technical methods of ar..chaeologl- where like ethnographers they live arnong contemporary ca1 science ale the rnost obvious, fi:om l-adiocalbon clating communities, but with the specific purpose of nnderstand- to studies of food residnes in pots. Eqr-rally important are ing how such societies nse material culture - how they scientific methods of analysis, of infelence. Sorne writers Anthlopology at its bloadest is the str-rdy of hurnanity - or-rr rnake their tools and \¡/eapons, why they brrild their settle- have spoken of the need to define a separate "Middle physical characteristics as animals, and our unique non- rnents where they do, and so on. Range Theory," r'eferring to a distinct body of ideas to biological characteristics that we call culture. Culture in Moreover, archaeology has an active role to piay in the bridge the gap between raw alchaeological evidence and this sense includes what the anthropoiogist Edward Tylor field of conservation. Heritage sf¿ldi¿s constitute a devel- *.... ,ô ,ô*t the general obser"vations and conclusions to be derived usefr-rlly summarized in r87r as "knowledge, belief, art, oping fie1d, where it is realized that the world's cultural ".... "J*" fi orn it. That is o1ìe \ /ay of looking at the matter. But we morals, 1aw, custom and any other capabilities and hablts heritage is a diminishi.rg ,:".o,.rr.", and one which holds see no need to make a sirarp distinction between theory acquired by rnan as a member of society." Anthropologists different meanings lor different people. The plesentation and method. Onr aim is to clescrìbe clearly the methods also use the term cnlture in a mor-e restricted sense when of the fìndings of archaeology to the pr,rblic cannot avoid and lechnic¡-res r-rsed by alchaeologists in investigating they refer to the culture ofa particular society, rneaning the difficult political issnes, and the museum curator and the the past. The analytical colrcepts ofthe archaeologist are non-biological characteristics nnique to that society which popularizer today have responsibilities which sorne can be as much a part of tliat battery of approaches as ale the distingr"rish it ftorn other: societies. (An "archaeological seen to have lailed. instrnments in the laboratory. t;i¡,1¡'¡1ii¡¡¡:,r i¡¡i I r¡rlttt:iir'¡¡ 1,: 1r: i''i,:i ttt ¡t¡ti /\,i¡;"; ¡¡i ,'t,1 It¡li rtLitt, itt¡t¡: I ltL' l\l,titlt L: ,tt¡ti ,/',tt¡¡:, itl /\,t I ll,t('t)li)(i\, atlocities, ingly used in the investigation of war crimes and Tþst Site, established in r95o as a continental iocation for monument in south Britain, and the failure of the UI( gov- studies whether in Bosnia, West Africa, or lrac1. Actualistic United States weapons testing, is similarly now the subject ernment to do anything effective about the situation over Today archaeology is a broad church, ellcompassing a in archaeology were pioneered in the Garbage Project set of archaeological research and conservation. many decades has brought genelal condemnation. Most rliffer- - nurnber of different "archaeologies" which ate lìevel:- r-rp by William L. Rathje, who studied the t'efi-rse of The archaeology ofthe zoth century even had its looters: serious ofal1, perhaps, is the connivance ofmajor museums theless united by the rnethods and apploaches outlined ellt sectors of the city of Trcson, Arizona, to give insights artifacts raised from the wreck of the Titønichave been sold in the looting ofthe world's archaeological heritage through in this book.

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