Philosophy of archaeology: Current issues

Recent literature reflects continuing concern with problems such as explanation, skepticism, and objective knowledge. Some authors urge archaeologists to abandon positivism in favor of new philosophical approaches, such as feminism, Marxism, hermeneutics, and critical theory. Ethical issues have received increased attention as archaeologists have become involved in determining public policy with regard to disposition of artifacts and uncovering of human burials.     

African archaeology: looking forward

The future of African archaeology has recently been a major focus of attention by African archaeologists. This article looks at anticipated major advances, and at the expectations and desires of young African archaeologists in the advancement of the discipline. The major constraints to research are identified and solutions to these problems are suggested.

---

Résumé Le futur de l'archéologie africaine est devenu récemment un sujet de préoccupation majeur pour les archéologues africains. Cet article passe en revue les progrès principaux que l'on peut en attendre ainsi que les espoirs et les souhaits des jeunes archéologues africains en ce qui concerne le développement de la discipline. Les principales contraintes affectant la recherche sont identifiées et des solutions sont proposées à ces problèmes.

     

Imperial boyhood: piracy and the play ethic

Representations of perpetual boyhood came to fascinate the late Victorians, partly because such images could naturalize a new spirit of imperial aggression and new policies of preserving power. This article traces the emergence of this fantasy through a series of stories about the relationship of the boy and the pirate, figures whose opposition in mid-Victorian literature was used to articulate the moral legitimacy of colonialism, but who became doubles rather than antitheses in later novels, such as R.L. Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and Joseph Conrad's "Lord Jim." Masculine worth needed no longer to be measured by reference to transcendent, universal laws, but by a morally flexible ethic of competitive play, one that bound together boyishness and piracy in a satisfying game of international adventure.     

Mozambican archaeology: past and present

After a brief survey of the development of archaeology in Mozambique, the results of the archaeological survey programme of 1976–1983 are summarized by region. Work currently in progress is evaluated in the light of archaeological and national priorities and the paper concludes with a discussion of the theoretical approach best suited to Mozambican conditions.

---

Résumé Suivant une brève étude de l'avancement de l'archéologie dans le Mozambique, les résultats du programme de reconnaissances archéologiques de 1976–1983 sont résumés par région. Les travaux actuellement en cours sont evalués à la lumière des priorités nationales et archéologiques et l'article se conclut avec une discussion sur la meilleure approche théorique convenant aux conditions actuelles.

     

Touchstones of archaeology

European archaeological collections record hundreds of thousands of stone artefacts from the Early Middle Ages described as whetstones. However, traces of non-ferrous metals, including precious metals preserved on a number of such artefacts. Many of the finds served in fact as touchstones – tools to test the quality of a particular metal. These artefacts are concentrated mainly in Vendel and Viking Age and Slavic coastal settlements and trade centres in the Baltic Sea basin, the coast and islands of Northwestern Europe, at Central and Eastern European fortresses and suburbia. Many finds also come from rural settings. In early medieval graves the touchstones join balance scales and weights as a sign of the buried individual’s access to precious metals. Especially the rural finds with traces of precious metal provide a strong reason for a revision of present views on the social stratification of the early medieval society in Europe. Chemical microanalysis allows identifying the composition of the alloys. Besides new perspectives on the fields of the social history and the circulation of precious metals, the method also provides new information for the field of archaeometallurgy.     

The archaeology of scattered wreck-sites: formation processes and shallow water archaeology in western Lake Huron

This paper explores the application of archaeological site formation theory to stranded wooden vessels and the scattered wreck-sites they produce. Shallow water wrecks and wreckage sites in the Au Sable Shores region of western Lake Huron are used to develop a preliminary classification of the processes operating on the breakup and deposition of wooden vessels.     

Tree-rings and archaeology: some problems explained

Some uncertainty amongst archaeologists about dendrochronology has prompted an explanation of some of the points which cause most concern. These include the probability of obtaining a date for a wood sample and the reliability and accuracy of that date. Uses of tree-ring analysis, other than for dating, are also mentioned.     

The archaeology of place

It is suggested that if archaeologists are to be successful in understanding the organization of past cultural systems they must understand the organizational relationships among places which were differentially used during the operation of past systems. This point is illustrated by observations made among the Nunamiut Eskimo. Against this background it is demonstrated that the two most common forms of archaeological systematics, “assemblage”- versus “type”-based systematics, are not appropriate for the study of places. In the latter case, it is not possible to analyze places as such, while one cannot see places with different “content” as part of a single system in the former. It is concluded that current archaeological systematics are totally inappropriate for studying past systems of adaptation and their evolutionary modification.     

Social inference in archaeology: Some progress

Charles L. Redman, Mary Jane Berman, Edward V. Curtin, William T. Langhorne, Jr., Nina M. Versaggi, and Jeffery C. Wanser, eds. Social Archeology: Beyond Subsistence and Dating. New York: Academic Press, 1978. xiv + 471 pp. $25.00.     

Guest editor's introduction: Nationalism and archaeology

In this introductory article an evaluation of the emergence and transformations of parallel discourses regarding the past in relation to the political nationalist context in which they were articulated will be offered. A chronological framework will be adopted, thereby acknowledging the importance of the changes nationalism underwent for understanding shifts in discourses on the past.     

Teaching with intent: The archaeology of gender

Este ensayo discute la relación de instruir sobre la expresión política, especialmente el papel de la crítica feminista en el desarrollo de la arqueología y el lugar de esta crítica en la clase.

---

Résumé Ce papier aborde la relation de l'enseignement et de l'expression politique, en particulier le r?le de la critique féministe dans le développement de l'archéologie et de la place de cette critique dans les salles de classe.

---

---

Every teacher must learn to stop teaching when it is time. That is a difficult art. Very few are able to let reality take over at the right time. Very few know when they are done teaching. However, it is difficult to watch how a pupil will make the same mistake that one has made oneself after one has tried to save him from making these very same mistakes. As hard as it can be not to receive any advice, it is as hard not to be allowed to give any such advice. (Brecht 1967:475)     

Views of traditional archaeology

Gordon R. Willey, ed. Archaeological Researches in Retrospect. Cambridge: Winthrop Publishers, 1974. xix + 296 pp. Maps, figures, illustrations, and glossary. $9.95 (cloth), $5.95 (paper).

Gordon R. Willey and Jeremy A. Sabloff. A History of American Archaeology. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1974. xix + 252 pp. Illustrations, maps, charts, bibliography, and index. $4.95 (paper).     

Ancient DNA in pre-Columbian archaeology: a review

Ancient DNA research from its inception in the 1980s is reviewed in the context of pre-Columbian archaeology. Changing approaches to the recovery of DNA from human remains are followed, and the accumulated records considered in the light of hypotheses about the post-Columbian depletion and augmentation of the New World gene pool.