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History of Archaeological Thought FZ1203

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“A Beginners Guide To The History of Archaeological Thought”

The development of the archaeological science has been a journey over time, spanning from the employment of John Leland in 1533 by Henry VIII to the present day. This guide will address the key standpoints within the field of Archaeology: Antiquarianism, The 19th Century and Archaeology, Culture history, Processualism and Post-Processualism.

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Antiquarianism can be seen as the start of the Archaeological science; however, basic and simple the persons referred to as antiquarians methods were. Another trend within this period of time is the belief that the world was created in 4004 BC, This however was to be disproved in the 19th century. There is an overall feel in antiquarianism where there is a large romanticism of the past. Those that dwelled on the past were known

(Bbc.co.uk, 2018)

as antiquarians, These were usually gentlemen of a higher class who were well educated; education having a large part in studying classics. An example of one of these individuals is William Stukeley (shown right) born in 1687 and died 1765. He was mostly famous for visiting peculiar sites, his work also collided with Jonathan aubrey's (another famous antiquarian) drawings at avebury stone circles (Bahn, 1999). There was also many large archaeological discoveries in this time period, one of these known as the rosetta stone and the antiquarian responsible, Jean-Francois Champollion (Shown left) (1794-1880.) Champollion’s job was to translate the rosetta stone due to his experience with cartouche, an ancient egyptian practice whereby the royal name was related to an oval device. His translation was successful following two foreign expeditions. The first a tour of egyptian artifacts and (Grenobletourisme.com,

collections (1826) and again in (1828-1829) this time a systematic survey of hieroglyphics inscribed on monuments in Egypt. It should also

be noted that this was the first instance to conduct this type of survey. (Bahn, 1999)

Leading on from this we venture into the 19th century, This period of time is seen as important for Archaeology as within it there are three key developments: The Three age system, Improvement of excavation methods & Archaeology and the (geboren.am, 2018)

acceptance of deep time. Within the early 19th century you can start to see the development of Archaeology as a science, such as in more of an academic

context. (Trigger, 2009) Along with the acceptance of Christian Jürgensen Thomsen's (Left)

(Worsaae, 2018)

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(1788-1865) Three age system there is clear development in city expansion and with this growing population an increase in interest for the classics. One individual who was a part of this growing interest was Thomsens assistant: Jens Worsaae (Right) In 1847 he was the archaeologist Royal for Frederik VII and in 1854 the first professor of Archaeology at the university of copenhagen (Eskildsen, 2012). Seeing the development of academic positions within universities further reinforces Triggers suggestion with the development of Archaeology within this period of time. There is also factors such as the industrial revolution which not only transformed the industrial world but also the archaeological, this is due to an increase in transport and technology such as canals, railways and roads which led onto an improvement of methods and the way excavations were completed; which overall gave archaeologists a better understanding of the archaeological record. Following on from the 19th century we find ourselves in the word of culture history and Archaeology- an important chapter for the journey of Archaeology containing topics such as Diffusionism and Nationalism and various important persons. Culture history was mostly focused to the latter of the 19th century. Nationalism was such an important part of this era derived from an interest in ethnicity and racism, even with The Daily Beast. (2018)

some individuals claiming that their birth country was the origin of all mankind, this however was

disproved at a later date. One individual that was related directly to nationalism is the Napoleon III. (Left) Regarding his background and his election as president of the french republic it is surprising to find that Napoleon supported three major archaeological excavations relating to julius Caesar, This was due to napoleon aspiring to write a biography

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about Caesar. It is suggested that he wanted to do this for his admiration and inspiration by french monarchs. This is due to these monarchs relating themselves as the spiritual heirs of the roman imperial tradition (Trigger, 2009). Diffusionism however is a different story and also a different topic. The idea of diffusionism is the spread of cultural characteristics to other regions or peoples or in simpler terms the spread of ideas. The diffusionism of culture history related to Archaeology globally. Within this ideal pottery is a large factor as many archaeologists had made theories about pottery, One of these Archaeologists was known as Gordon Childe (Right) (1892-1957) (Bbc.co.uk, 2018) who used methods such as these to study culture groups like the Aryans who lived in northern india and persia around 2000 BC and through their material culture in excavations Child could use evidence and make assumptions to their way of life.

Succeeding Culture history is Processualism Archaeology, Widely known as the New Archaeology this is where many approaches to Archaeology are changed and we see procesual studies being used, trying to understand cultures from the inside; Done by determining different parts on systems (Trigger, 2009.) This is also the time where it is first seen that processualism and Functionalism are used in unison within the field of Archaeology. Within Processualism there is a huge development with anthropology. During this time and development Archaeology would now be classed as a science and with that we see other genres coming forward such as anthropology; The study of modern culture and relation to the past. We first see this in America with Lewis Binford (Left) (1931-2011) who was a pioneer of this ideal of Anthropology being classed as

(Thetimes.co.uk, 2018) (Malinowski, 2018)

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Archaeology and therefore in that context both topics would be classed as a science in any academics eyes. This is more to do so with american Archaeology as british Archaeology with processualism comes later. These many changes came about with certain developments such as that of radiocarbon dating- where the radioactive carbon isotope: carbon 14 is measured with things that were once living and can give us an estimation of when they died/ were alive this date however needs to be calibrated. We can overview this development by accessing some of the methods used within anthropology and why these relate to Archaeology, for example Middle range theory which was described as a bridge to the past from the present. This method used static data and past dynamics along with evidence found at excavations which may have been similar to tools or material culture that is used with modern indigenous peoples or tribes today and then through studying those modern persons it is easy to assume and interpret what life was like in the past using this evidence. (Johnson, 1999). Similarity in British Archaeology there were two Anthropologists Bronislaw Malinowski (Left) (1884-1942) and E. DR. Radcliffe-Brown (Right) (1881-1955) who claimed that human behaviour could be better understood in relation to modern social systems. There was also an emphasis on using ethnography with anthropology and the statement that anthropologists had to live in a society for at least a year to properly understand tradition and to then relate to the past. In this period we again see the return of Gordon Childe, however this time he had slowly taken a different approach to Archaeology and diverted from culture history and delved into processualism Archaeology. In this time he decided that Diffusionism was a factor within Archaeology but did not believe it to be as big as others thought. Child also embraced the idea of new techniques

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and technologies to help him with his research into the economic past. (Trigger, 2009)

Finally we touch into Post-Processualism Archaeology, This movement mainly took place in the 1980’s and this was essentially a reaction to the limitations within Processual Archaeology (ThoughtCo. 2018). This Trend in archeology was labeled post-Processual Archaeology by Ian Hodder, This was also predicted by Edmund Leach to This new trend related social anthropology of the Marxism’s to french anthropology in the hopes that they would compliment each other. In this period many anthropologists and archaeologists also agreed that humans were just passive beings who were being moulded by external factors. It is also a period where we broadly see the rise of anthropology as the priority and the decline of Archaeology, Meaning that if you wanted to study the past it was better to indulge into anthropology rather than the latter. (Tigger, 2009) It should also be noted that this era of time can be seen as very controversial due to the social dynamics and political points of this area. Following this we get up to speed with today's archaeological advancements and modernity. This is the end of the Journey over time and to do more would be to discuss modern Archaeology and the # that we may see in the future. However there are two individuals down below who were mentioned within this guide who should have more context provided of them. These two individuals will be Bronislaw Malinowski and Gordon Childe.

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Name: Bronisław Malinowski Born: poland, April 7 1884 Died: 16 May 1942 A Famous British Anthropologist who was a factor in the milestone of Processual Archaeology. He was also well known for his developments in field anthropology. He Also has many books published for example: Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922) as well as Crime and Custom in Savage Society (1926), The Sexual Life of Savages in NorthWestern (Malinowski, 2018) Melanesia (1929), and the posthumously

published

Magic, Science, and Religion and Other Essays (1948.) In 1910, he trained as a university teacher, travelled to London where he spent time doing research at the British Museum. He studied at the London School of Economics,, received his DSc in 1913, and his PhD in Science in 1916. (Nndb.com. 2018).

Name: Gordon Childe Born: Australia, 14 April 1892 Died: 19 october 1957 A British Archaeologist best known for his developments with culture history and Archaeology. Also known for his appearances on the TV show. “Animal, Vegetable, Mineral.” He built theories addressing big questions and created models for the “Neolithic revolution” and “urban revolution” a use of his own terms. He was also very left wing when it

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came to politics hence marxist approach to Archaeology and his ignorance to Diffusionism which he addressed. He marked milestones with his academic publications- mostly relating to culture-history which was seen as his speciality. He was the professor of European Archaeology at London university, then he retired in 1956. He then returned to Australia, He died in 1957 from falling off of a cliff in the Blue mountains and many people believe that he took his own life due to his health declining and that his academic abilities were slipping away. (Bbc.co.uk. 2018)

Bibliography

Antiquarianism

Bahn, P. (1999). The Cambridge illustrated history of archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.48-80.

Bbc.co.uk. (2018). BBC - History - Historic Figures: William Stukeley (1687 - 1765). [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/stukeley_william.shtml [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018].

Grenoble-tourisme.com. (2018). Promenade sur les pas de Champollion. [online] Available at: https://www.grenoble-tourisme.com/fr/decouvrir/lessentiel/visites-guidees/promenade-surles-pas-de-champollion/ [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018].

19th Century

Trigger, B. (2009). A history of archaeological thought. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ.

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Press. pp 40-77

geboren.am. (2018). 👤 Christian Jürgensen Thomsen (1788–1865). [online] Available at: https://geboren.am/person/christian-juergensen-thomsen [Accessed 4 Apr. 2018].

Eskildsen, K. (2012). The Language of Objects: Christian Jürgensen Thomsen's Science of the Past. Isis, 103(1), 24-53.

Worsaae, J. (2018). Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae FAQs 2018- Facts, Rumors and the latest Gossip.. [online] vipfaq.com. Available at: http://www.vipfaq.com/Jens%20Jacob %20Asmussen%20Worsaae.html [Accessed 4 Apr. 2018]. The Daily Beast. (2018). The (Second) Empire Strikes Back in the Must-See Show of Paris This Season. [online] Available at: https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-second-empire-strikesback-in-the-must-see-show-of-paris-this-season [Accessed 5 Apr. 2018].

Culture History

The Daily Beast. (2018). The (Second) Empire Strikes Back in the Must-See Show of Paris This Season. [online] Available at: https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-second-empire-strikesback-in-the-must-see-show-of-paris-this-season [Accessed 5 Apr. 2018].

Trigger, B. (2009). A history of archaeological thought. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. pp 211-311

Godfrey, L., & Cole, J. (1979). Biological Analogy, Diffusionism, and Archaeology. American Anthropologist,81(1), 37-45.

Bbc.co.uk. (2018). BBC - History - Vere Gordon Childe. [online] Available at:

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/childe_gordon.shtml [Accessed 6 Apr. 2018]

Sydney.edu.au. (2018). University Archives Mediabank - The University of Sydney. [online] Available at: http://sydney.edu.au/arms/archives/media/me_objects/178 [Accessed 6 Apr. 2018].

Processualism

Thetimes.co.uk. (2018). Lewis Binford. [online] Available at: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lewis-binford-z3s788gjxtz [Accessed 7 Apr. 2018].

Trigger, B. (2009). A history of archaeological thought. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. pp 314-480

Johnson, M. (1999). Archaeological theory : An introduction. Oxford ; Malden, Mass.: Blackwell.

En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Alfred Radcliffe-Brown. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Radcliffe-Brown [Accessed 7 Apr. 2018].

Malinowski, B. (2018). Bronislaw Malinowski. [online] Biography. Available at: https://www.biography.com/people/bronislaw-malinowski-9396361 [Accessed 7 Apr. 2018].

Post Processulism

ThoughtCo. (2018). How Did Post-Modern Theory Radicalize the World of Archaeology?. [online] Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-post-processual-archaeology172230 [Accessed 7 Apr. 2018].

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Trigger, B. (2009). A history of archaeological thought. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. pp 314-480

Alex-bentley.com. (2018). [online] Available at: http://alexbentley.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/ch09_Shanks.285230815.pdf [Accessed 8 Apr. 2018].

Text Boxes

Nndb.com. (2018). Bronislaw Malinowski. [online] Available at: http://www.nndb.com/people/320/000099023/ [Accessed 8 Apr. 2018].

Bbc.co.uk. (2018). BBC - History - Vere Gordon Childe. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/childe_gordon.shtml [Accessed 8 Apr. 2018]....