Description
Product Description
Examining the history of archaeology from medieval times to the present, this book places the development of archaeological thought and theory within a broad social and intellectual framework. The successive but interacting trends apparent in archaeological thought are defined and the author determines the extent to which these trends reflect the personal and collective interests of archaeologists. He argues that while subjective influences have been powerful, the gradual accumulation of archaeological data has exercised a growing constraint on interpretation. In turn this has increased the objectivity of archaeological research and enhanced its value for understanding the entire span of human history and the human condition in general.
Review
"Bruce Trigger's new book is an important step towards an alternative version of the history of the subject....He has surveyed a wide sweep of archaeological history, and many will find this book the best guide available." Timothy Champion, Times Higher Education Supplement
"Over more than two decades Bruce Trigger has produced a series of thoughtful, sometimes provocative, and always valuable articles and books on the history of archaeology. The present book, something of a distillation of these earlier works, constitutes a reasoned comment on the nature of anthropological archaeology. It not only describes the main currents of the discipline's development but reviews critically its current state, in which rapidly developing excavation strategies and theoretical orientations often vie with one another...In such a comprehensive and thoughtful account one can, of course, find particulars and points of view that are arguable. That is the nature of good history; and in raising such questions and providing the material for their consideration, Trigger has performed a service for us all." Science
"This volume makes a significant contribution to the critical consideration of the nature and importance of archaelogy, adding yet another voice to the continuing dialog that Leone, Hodder, Miller, Handsman, and others have begun." American Antiquity
"A History of Archaeological Thought is a landmark work and should be required reading for all archaeologists as well as historians of both the historical and social sciences....This book is the product of first-class scholarship and contains a number of important insights into the nature of modern archaeological thinking and its development, particularly in the past century." Philosophy of Science
Examining the history of archaeology from medieval times to the present, this book places the development of archaeological thought and theory within a broad social and intellectual framework. The successive but interacting trends apparent in archaeological thought are defined and the author determines the extent to which these trends reflect the personal and collective interests of archaeologists. He argues that while subjective influences have been powerful, the gradual accumulation of archaeological data has exercised a growing constraint on interpretation. In turn this has increased the objectivity of archaeological research and enhanced its value for understanding the entire span of human history and the human condition in general.
Review
"Bruce Trigger's new book is an important step towards an alternative version of the history of the subject....He has surveyed a wide sweep of archaeological history, and many will find this book the best guide available." Timothy Champion, Times Higher Education Supplement
"Over more than two decades Bruce Trigger has produced a series of thoughtful, sometimes provocative, and always valuable articles and books on the history of archaeology. The present book, something of a distillation of these earlier works, constitutes a reasoned comment on the nature of anthropological archaeology. It not only describes the main currents of the discipline's development but reviews critically its current state, in which rapidly developing excavation strategies and theoretical orientations often vie with one another...In such a comprehensive and thoughtful account one can, of course, find particulars and points of view that are arguable. That is the nature of good history; and in raising such questions and providing the material for their consideration, Trigger has performed a service for us all." Science
"This volume makes a significant contribution to the critical consideration of the nature and importance of archaelogy, adding yet another voice to the continuing dialog that Leone, Hodder, Miller, Handsman, and others have begun." American Antiquity
"A History of Archaeological Thought is a landmark work and should be required reading for all archaeologists as well as historians of both the historical and social sciences....This book is the product of first-class scholarship and contains a number of important insights into the nature of modern archaeological thinking and its development, particularly in the past century." Philosophy of Science
