Matthew Johnson - Archaeological Theory: An Introduction

Alan Sorrell, Falling Tower, date uncertain. Sorrell (190474) was a neo-Romantic artist known both for his reconstruction drawings of archaeological sites and depictions of past cultural life, and for his imaginative work, which was characteristically inspired by the monuments and images of the past.

For Jo,

who learnt to love theory

This second edition first published 2010

2010 Matthew Johnson

Edition history: Blackwell Publishing Ltd (1e,1999)

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Johnson, Matthew, 1962

Archaeological theory : an introduction / Matthew Johnson. 2nd ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4051-0014-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4051-0015-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. ArchaeologyPhilosophy. I. Title.

CC72.J65 2010

930.1dc22

2009039202

List of Figures

Preface: Youre a terrorist? Thank God. I understood Meg to say you were a theorist. From Culler (1997: 16)

Acknowledgements

The author and publishers gratefully acknowledge the following for permission to reproduce copyright material:

Acknowledgements

Preface cartoon Anthony Hadon-Guest; Crown copyright NMR.

The publishers apologize for any errors or omissions in the above list and would be grateful to be notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in the next edition or reprint of this book.

Preface: The Contradictions of Theory

This book is an introductory essay on archaeological theory. It tries to explain something of what theory is, its relationship to archaeological practice, how it has developed within archaeology over the last few decades, and how archaeological thought relates to theory in the human sciences and the intellectual world generally.

To many, theory is a dirty word both within and outside archaeology. Prince Charles earned almost universal approbation when he condemned trendy theorists in education; nobody however, including the Prince himself, seemed to be very clear precisely who he meant. When visiting an archaeological site a few years ago a suggestion of mine met with laughter and the response thats a typical suggestion of a theorist. I dont recall anyone telling me exactly why my suggestion was so absurd, and when I visited the site the following year the strategy had been adopted. For the meat-and-potatoes Anglo-Saxon world in particular, theory is an object of profound suspicion. It is a popular saying that for the English, to be called an intellectual is to be suspected of wanting to steal someones wife (sexism in the original). Theory, political correctness and being foreign stand together in the dock as traits to be regarded with hostility in the Englishspeaking worldand beyond; there is even a word for hostility to theory in German