1st Edition

Evolutionary and Interpretive Archaeologies A Dialogue

Edited By Ethan Cochrane, Andrew Gardner Copyright 2011
    361 Pages
    by Routledge

    361 Pages
    by Routledge

    This collection of original articles compares various key archaeological topics—agency, violence, social groups, diffusion—from evolutionary and interpretive perspectives. These two strands represent the major current theoretical poles in the discipline. By comparing and contrasting the insights they provide into major archaeological themes, this volume demonstrates the importance of theoretical frameworks in archaeological interpretations. Chapter authors discuss relevant Darwinian or interpretive theory with short archaeological and anthropological case studies to illustrate the substantive conclusions produced. The book will advance debate and contribute to a better understanding of the goals and research strategies that comprise these distinct research traditions.

    one: Evolutionary and Interpretive Archaeologies; 1: Theoretical Concerns; two: Units of Transmission in Evolutionary Archaeology and the Role of Memetics; three: Action and Structure in Interpretive Archaeologies; four: ‘Style versus Function' 30 Years On; five: Intentionality Matters; 2: Contexts of Study; six: Interpretive Archaeologies, Violence and Evolutionary Approaches; seven: Violence and Conflict; eight: Tribes, Peoples, Ethnicity; nine: Cultural Selection, Drift and Ceramic Diversity at Bo?azköy-Hattusa; ten: Cultural and Biological Approaches to the Body in Archaeology; eleven: Missing Links; twelve: The Ambiguity of Landscape; 3: Future Directions; thirteen: Contrasts and Conflicts in Anthropology and Archaeology; fourteen: A Visit to Down House; fifteen: An Evolutionary Perspective on the Goals of Archaeology

    Biography

    Ethan Cochrane, Andrew Gardner