Matthew Johnson's book "Archaeological Theory: An Introduction" offers a thorough
summary of the most important theoretical discussions in archaeology. It acts as an
introduction to the field, providing an explanation of the different theoretical stances that
have influenced it. Below is a synopsis of the primary material:
Chapter 1 of Matthew Johnson's book "Archaeological Theory: An Introduction" argues
that theory is crucial to archaeology and criticizes the over-reliance on "common sense."
Johnson starts out by showing how archaeologists frequently put up with tiresome,
difficult work but do not give up since archaeology is vital to comprehending the past,
which has a lasting influence on contemporary politics and identities. He poses the
question, "Why is archaeology important?" and connects it to theoretical issues regarding
identity and society.
According to the chapter, theory is the arrangement of facts. Johnson says that since
facts don't exist in a vacuum and need context and meaning, which theory offers, theory is
essential to interpretation.He criticizes the common-sense approach, pointing out that
something that is "common sense" in one culture or era might not be in another (for
example, some civilizations still believe in witchcraft).
Johnson draws attention to the problems with ethnocentrism—the notion that a person's
cultural standards are universal—and essentialism—the theory that some characteristics
of human nature are physically innate. He contends that these prejudices need to be
carefully considered since they have the potential to skew historical interpretations. For
example, using Western logic to reject witchcraft ideas as illogical ignores their
reasonableness in other cultural contexts.
The chapter also looks at how, whether they admit it or not, archaeologists invariably
apply theory. According to Johnson, even people who identify as "atheoretical" use
theoretical frameworks to determine the significance of the data or how to interpret the
results. He suggests that theoretical presumptions should not be passed off as "common
sense" and demands greater openness in the methods used by archaeologists.
Overall, Johnson argues that the activity of archaeology is theoretical by nature and that
validating theories through critical thought is necessary to provide historically accurate
and significant interpretations.
Chapter 2 of Matthew Johnson's "Archaeological Theory: An Introduction" explores the
1960s and 1970s movement known as "The New Archaeology," which questioned
conventional archaeology using a more methodical and scientific approach.
Origins and Dissatisfaction with Traditional Archaeology: The New Archaeology emerged
as a reaction to the "old" culture-historical methods, which primarily concentrated on
chronology creation and artifact classification. Lewis Binford and other proponents
attacked this, saying it was only descriptive and didn't provide any insight into the
mechanisms behind cultural change.
Important New Archaeology Themes: Understanding cultural processes and concentrating
on the how and why of cultural evolution was a priority for New Archaeologists. Rather
than focusing on simplistic diffusion models, which postulate that innovations propagate
like waves in water, they shifted their focus to understanding the fundamental processes
that influenced the evolution of culture.
