1st Edition

Time, Culture and Identity An Interpretative Archaeology

By Julian Thomas Copyright 1996

    Time, Culture and Identity questions the modern western distinctions between:
    * nature and culture
    * mind and body
    * object and subject.

    Drawing on the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, Julian Thomas develops a way of writing about the past in which time is seen as central to the emergence of the identities of people and objects.

    Introduction PART ONE: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY? 1 After Descartes: Archaeology, culture and nature 2 Time and the subject 3 Material things and their temporality 4 Place and temporality PART TWO: THREE HISTORIES 5 The descent of the British Neolithic 6 Later Neolithic Britain: Artefacts with personalities 7 Time, place and tradition: Mount Pleasant Afterword: Archaeology and meaning

    Biography

    Julian Thomas is Lecturer in Archaeology at Southampton University. He is the Secretary of the World Archaeological Congress. His previous publications include Rethinking the Neolithic(1991) and numerous articles on European prehistory and archaeological theory.

    '[It is] of profound importance ... This book is a good one to start a reader tapping into the thinking currently taking place.' - The LeyHunter Journal

    '...this book may well convert some previously 'doubting Thomas' to post-processualism.' - History Review