What is contextual archaeology?

What is contextual archaeology?

The alternative Hodder proposes is “contextual archaeology,” an interpretative. strategy based on the claim that all understanding is historically and culturally situated.

Why is the concept of context important in archaeology?

Context is extremely important to the archaeologist; it is, in fact, what the discipline of archaeology is based on. When artifacts are pulled out of the ground without proper excavation and documentation, their context is irretrievably lost without ever being known.

What is Processual theory?

Processual archaeology (formerly, the New Archaeology) is a form of archaeological theory that had its genesis in 1958 with the work of Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips, Method and Theory in American Archaeology, in which the pair stated that “American archaeology is anthropology or it is nothing” (Willey and Phillips …

What is secondary context in archaeology?

Secondary Context – Context of an artifact that has been wholly or partially altered by transformation/site formation processes after its original deposit, as in disturbance by human activity after the artifacts’ original deposition.

How is GIS used in archaeology?

Predictive modeling is a vital application for GIS in archaeology. By incorporating historic map data, physical details of an area’s landscape and known information about past inhabitants, archaeologists can accurately predict the positions of sites with cultural, historical or agricultural relevance.

Do archaeological contexts change over time?

Once in the archaeological context, artifacts can continue to be moved and altered by a variety of natural site formation processes, including landslides, burrowing animals, earthworms, tree throw, and the actions of water and climate.

What is de facto refuse in Archaeology?

De Facto Refuse the refuse of abandonment. When locations of habitation or activity are abandoned, any refuse or material culture remaining behind is considered de facto De facto refuse is the closest thing we have to alteral record of human activity.

What are the main arguments of Processualism?

The processualists rejected the cultural-historical notion that culture was a set of norms held by a group and communicated to other groups by diffusion and instead argued that the archaeological remains of culture were the behavioral outcome of a population’s adaptation to specific environmental conditions.

What does context mean to archaeologists?

Context, to an archaeologist, means the place where an artifact is found. Not just the place, but the soil, the site type, the layer the artifact came from, what else was in that layer. The importance of where an artifact is found is profound.

What is an example of Archaeology?

The definition of archaeology is the study of human history, particularly the culture of historic and prehistoric people through the discovery and exploration of remains, structures and writings. An example of archaeology is examining mummies in tombs.

What is the introduction to archaeology?

Introduction to Archaeology. What is archaeology? Archaeology is the study of people in the past based on their material remains. This means that most archaeologists look at the ruins and rubbish which people discarded, or the objects and people which they deliberately buried.

What are the advantages of Archaeology?

The advantage and objective of archaeology is to study people, the environment and people’s societies within the environment deducing such matters from physical artefacts. You could argue that there are no disadvantages of using archaeology in that no study is hindered by additional data.