ISBN:
9781461423386
Language:
English
Pages:
Online-Ressource (X, 183p. 32 illus., 15 illus. in color, digital)
Series Statement:
SpringerLink
Series Statement:
Bücher
Parallel Title:
Buchausg. u.d.T.
Keywords:
Social sciences
;
Humanities
;
Archaeology
;
Social Sciences
;
Social sciences
;
Humanities
;
Archaeology
Abstract:
Philip Richardson
Abstract:
Digging, recording, and writing are the three main processes that archaeologists undertake to analyze a site, yet the relationships between these processes is rarely considered critically. Reconsidering Archaeological Fieldwork asserts that each of these processes involves at least a bit of subjective interpretation. As a group of archaeologists work together to reconstruct an objective view of the past, at a particular time, at a particular site, their field methods and subjective interpretations affect the final analysis. This volume explores the important nature of the relationship between fieldwork, analysis, and interpretation. Containing contributions from a diverse group of archaeologists, both academic and professional, from Europe and the Americas, it critically analyzes accepted practices in field archaeology, and provide thoughtful and innovative analysis of these procedures. By combining the experiences of both academic and professional archaeologists, Reconsidering Archaeological Fieldwork highlights key differences and key similarities in their concerns, theories, and techniques. This volume will incite discussion on fundamental questions for all archaeologists, both old and new to the field.
Description / Table of Contents:
Reconsidering Archaeological Fieldwork; Acknowledgements; Contents; Contributors; Chapter 1: Reconsidering Fieldwork, an Introduction: Confronting Tensions in Fieldwork and Theory; Introduction; Subjects Versus Objects in Archaeology; Archaeology as Modernity; The Conundrum; Subjects and Objects in Field Survey; A Return to the Conundrum; Conclusion; References; Chapter 2: How to Archaeologize with a Hammer; Theory and Practice; Brixham Cave; Prestwich Versus Babbage; Personal Testimony; Conclusion: Practice Against Theory; Notes; References
Description / Table of Contents:
Chapter 3: Often Fun, Usually Messy: Fieldwork, Recording and Higher Orders of ThingsIntroduction; The State We Are In?; Relations of Knowledge, Experiential Interpretation and Archaeological Data; The Praxis of Record: Recording, Hierarchies of Inference and Influence and Relations of Power; A Prognosis; Notes; References; Chapter 4: Where the Rubber Hits the Road: A Critical Analysis of Archaeological Decision Making on Highways Projects in Ireland; Background; Celtic Tiger Archaeology; The Anglo-Irish Disagreement; Public Benefit; Rumsfeldian Archaeology; Dead Generations; Fit for Purpose
Description / Table of Contents:
ConclusionReferences; Chapter 5: An Archaeology of Many Steps; Theory Versus Material; Middle Range Theory Once Again; Towards a Theory of Fieldwork; Creating Knowledge; When the Process Comes to a Halt; Stone-Covered Hillocks; Slash-and-Burn Cultivation; Communicating Knowledge; Interpretation and Theory; Bucket-Shaped Pottery; Deductive and Inductive Ways of Thinking and Working; Empiricism and Surprises; Same Place: Same Time?; An Archaeology of Many Steps; References; Chapter 6: Stepping into Comfortable Old Shoes: 'The Consequence of Archaeological Comfortability'
Description / Table of Contents:
Introduction: Making Yourself ComfortableThe Comfort Zone; Creature Comforts: Field Drains and Archaeology; Discussion: Are You Sitting Comfortably?; Conclusion: Stepping into Comfortable Old Shoes: The Consequence of Comfortability; Notes; References; Chapter 7: Walking the Line Between Past and Present: 'Doing' Phenomenology on Historic Battlefields; Introduction; Investigating Battlefields as Historic Places; The Marking of Battlefields; Battlefields as Cemeteries and Memorials; Battlefield Preservation; Investigating Battlefields as Places in the Present; Choosing Sites for Research
Description / Table of Contents:
Standing in Empty SpacesSt Albans, Hertfordshire, UK, 1455; Roundway Down, Wiltshire, UK, 1643; Corunna/Elviña, Galicia, Spain 1809; Answering Some Criticisms of Phenomenology; Trees and Buildings; Conclusion; Notes; References; Chapter 8: The Struggle Within: Challenging the Subject/Object Relationship on a Shoestring; Introduction; Struggling Within: The Ardnamurchan Transitions Project; Aims of the Project; ATP in the Field; Recording at ATP; Facing the Struggle in Practice; A Specific Example: Excavating a Ditch; The Tenacity of Dichotomies; Teaching, Learning and the Struggle Within
Description / Table of Contents:
Conclusion
Note:
Description based upon print version of record
DOI:
10.1007/978-1-4614-2338-6
Permalink
