Overview

How do archaeologists work with the data they identify as a record of the cultural past? How are these data collected and construed as evidence? What is the impact on archaeological practice of new techniques of data recovery and analysis, especially those imported from the sciences? To answer these questions, the authors identify close-to-the-ground principles of best practice based on an analysis of examples of evidential reasoning in archaeology that are widely regarded as successful, contested, or instructive failures. They look at how archaeologists put old evidence to work in pursuit of new interpretations, how they construct provisional foundations for inquiry as they go, and how they navigate the multidisciplinary ties that make archaeology a productive intellectual trading zone. This case-based approach is predicated on a conviction that archaeological practice is a repository of considerable methodological wisdom, embodied in tacit norms and skilled expertise – wisdom that is rarely made explicit except when contested, and is often obscured when questions about the status and reach of archaeological evidence figure in high-profile crisis debates.

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9781472525277

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Reviews

In the emerging 'engaged philosophy of science' literature, Robert Chapman and Alison Wylie's book sets new standards in its rigor, clarity of argument, and grounding in empirical research. The book is a must-read for everyone interested in scientific reasoning, philosophy of science, especially of social science, and archaeological practice. Julian Reiss, Professor and Co-Director Centre for Humanities Engaging Science and Society (CHESS), Durham University, UK In an important volume, Chapman and Wylie offer a perceptive and reflective critique of theory and method in archaeology focusing on how material evidence is constructed and used in archaeology (missing in much of the theory wars of the previous scholarly generation). Like their intellectual hero, David Clarke, they argue that archaeology is a distinct discipline and (retrospectively) thus foreground the current material turn. Sturt Manning, Goldwin Smith Professor of Classical Archaeology, Cornell University, USA

Author Information

Robert Chapman is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading, UK. Alison Wylie is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Washington, USA, and at Durham University, UK.

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