Overview
"Since the 1960s, archaeologists have become increasingly concerned with how material evidence can be interpreted, and what it can genuinely reveal about the past. They are constantly faced with perplexing questions about their work: what is the meaning of an artefact? did prehistoric people think like we do? is the past just something constructed in the present? This work presents 16 articles of theoretical interest; provides an intellectual history of different approaches to archaeology which contextualizes the complex traditions of cognitive archaeology and post-processualism on which it focuses; organizes theories of archaeology, the meanings of things, the pre-historic mind and cognition, gender, ideology and social theory; and emphasizes research from the ""New World"", making archaeological theory especially relevant to students in North America."
Full Product Details
Author: David S. Whitley
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint: Routledge
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 1.90cm
, Length: 23.40cm
Weight: 0.498kg
ISBN: 9780415141604
ISBN 10: 0415141605
Pages: 364
Publication Date: 02 April 1998
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
Whitley has selected a fine series of articles to demonstrate both the range and the limitations of postprocessual archaeology, and he provides an excellent introduction to each section of the volume. Although this book will be of greatest interest to specialists and students of archaeology, much of the book's content is accessible to nonarchaeologists. In fact, it might be a good volume to scan for those who still somehow believe that archaeology is just digging for treasure from the past. Certainly, readers will come away with an understanding that archaeology needs to be both scientific and humanistic. <br>- The Key Reporter <br> David Whitley has assembled a very fine guide to the ideas that are changing archaeology. This book shows that we have surmounted the limitations of the new archaeology by presenting a colorful variety of new and older scholars who contribute to understanding mind and meaning from past cultures.. <br>-Mark Leone, University of Maryland, USA <br>
Author Information
David S. Whitley is the US representative of ICOMOS and lectures at UCLA. He is an internationally acclaimned expert on rock art, on which he has published widely.
