Archaeology: An Introduction - 4th Edition 2002
The
Online Companion: updated November 2007
CHAPTER 1 : The Idea
of The Past
> > CHAPTER
OVERVIEW
1.1. THE INTELLECTUAL
HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGY
1.2. THE EMERGENCE OF
ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHODS
1.3. THE RECOGNITION AND
STUDY OF ARTEFACTS
1.4. HUMAN ORIGINS
1.5. FROM HUNTING TO
FARMING
1.6. THE DISCOVERY OF
CIVILIZATIONS
1.7. ACHIEVEMENTS OF EARLY
ARCHAEOLOGY
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1.1. THE INTELLECTUAL
HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGY
1.1.1. Archaeology
and antiquarianism, prehistory and history
1.1.2. The problem
of origins and time
1.1. THE INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF
ARCHAEOLOGY
It is important that the benefit of
hindsight does not make us forget the constraints of the social and
intellectual context in which antiquarians lived and worked. We may learn a
great deal by examining how early antiquaries and archaeologists tackled the
formidable problem of making sense of the human past without the help of the
libraries, museums, travel and technical facilities available today. At the
same time we should not reduce early scholars to 'textbook cardboard' by
looking only at the origins of ideas we still consider important, and ignoring
the wider setting in which they were formulated.
- Studying
the History of Archaeology: excerpt from A
History of Archaeological Thought. 'In its original edition,
Bruce Trigger’s book was the first ever to examine the history of
archaeological thought from medieval times to the present in world-wide
perspective. Now, in this new edition, he both updates the original work
and introduces new archaeological perspectives and concerns. At once stimulating
and even-handed, it places the development of archaeological thought and
theory throughout within a broad social and intellectual framework.' (Cambridge University Press)
- Materials for teaching the History
of Anthropology 'We are making available for educational purposes
a large selection of articles published in the American Anthropologist on
the subject of the history of the discipline of anthropology. This is not
a selection of papers of historical significance, but papers on the subject
of the history of the field, along with some obituaries. Our goal is to
facilitate learning and teaching the history of anthropology.' (American
Anthropological Association Centennial Commission)
- Bad
Archaeology - an informative site with an ironic name created by Keith
Fitzpatrick-Matthews and James Doeser, including section on the History of Archaeology
1.1.1 Archaeology and
antiquarianism, prehistory and history
The concept of prehistory is perhaps
the most important single contribution made by archaeology to our knowledge of
humanity; furthermore, it was based almost exclusively on the interpretation of
material evidence. The emergence of prehistoric archaeology in the nineteenth
century, although it relied heavily upon natural sciences such as geology and
biology, was a remarkable episode that changed people's ideas about themselves.
1.1.2.
The problem of origins and time
A quest for origins is only possible
in an intellectual framework that has a well-developed concept of time, in
particular linear time that progresses from a beginning to an end rather than
going around in an endlessly repeating circle of life, death and rebirth. Many
societies have developed sophisticated mythologies which, in association with
religion, allow the physical environment to be fitted into an orderly system
where natural features may be attributed to the work of gods.
- UC-Berkeley Museum
of Paleontology Useful pages on geological time and evolution
- Human Prehistory: An
Exhibition 'The discovery of the evolution of man is attributed to
two scientists of the 19th century: Sir Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin'
(Demetris Loizos, Deree College, Athens)
- Fossil Hominids: the
evidence for human evolution '...an overview of the study of human
evolution, and of the currently accepted fossil evidence. It also contains
a very comprehensive treatment of creationist claims about human
evolution. If you are not interested in creationism, you can easily skip
those pages. If you are interested in creationism, you can go directly to
the pages on creationist arguments; they contain links to the fossils
under discussion when necessary.' (Jim Foley)
- Excavations
and finds from Boxgrove, Sussex Human remains c. 500,000 years old
were discoverd here in 1993 and 1995.
- NB: See also Chapter 3 1.1
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1.2. THE EMERGENCE OF
ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHODS
1.2.1. Greece and Rome
1.2.2. Medieval
attitudes to antiquity
1.2.3. From medieval
humanism to the Renaissance
1.2.4. Archaeology
and the Enlightenment
1.2.5. Antiquarian
fieldwork in Britain
:: John Aubrey (1626-97)
:: William Stukeley (1687-1765)
1.2.6. Fieldwork
elsewhere
1.2.7. Touring,
collecting and the origin of museums
1.2.8. Science and
Romanticism
1.2. THE EMERGENCE OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL
METHODS
1.2.1 Greece and Rome
Greek and Roman culture and commerce
grew from modest origins but eventually embraced the whole Mediterranean region
as well as parts of its hinterland. While Greek and Roman travellers might have
felt that an understanding of other peoples would give insights into their own
society, on a more practical level such observations were useful to other
travellers and colonial administrators. Such ideas were taken up again with
enthusiasm during the Renaissance and advanced to a stage where travel and
observation developed into archaeological fieldwork.
- Pausanias,
Description of Greece Account of travel around Greece in the
second century AD (English text from Perseus Digital Library)
- Herodotus,
History Written in the fifth century B.C., this history of Greece
contains some ethnographic and topographical information (eBooks@Adelaide 2004,
Translated by George Rawlinson)
1.2.2 Medieval
attitudes to antiquity
For most of its history, Christianity
has been founded on total belief in the Bible; to doubt its word offended not
only God, but also the political organisation of Church and State that enforced
its acceptance. Thus, independent thinking was discouraged by both intellectual
and social circumstances, and new ideas were likely to be treated as heresy.
- Historicity
of the Bible 'The Smithsonian's department of Anthropology has
received numerous inquiries in recent years regarding the historicity of
the Bible in general, and the Biblical account of Noah's flood in
particular. The following statement has been prepared to answer these
questions.'
1.2.3 From medieval humanism to the
Renaissance
The civilization that emerged from the
ruins of the former eastern Roman
Empire was very much a Greek
Christian culture. Much of Greece was ruled by Italian states in the final years before the
Turkish conquest, but they took little interest in its ancient monuments. In
western Europe monastic scholarship gradually drew upon a wider range of
ancient Greek and Roman writers until the rediscovery of pagan philosophers
such as Aristotle inspired new interest in science and the natural world during
the phase known as medieval humanism. The physical heritage of ancient Rome was understandably of particular interest during the
fourteenth- to fifteenth-century Italian Renaissance. Scholars, artists and
architects turned to pre-Christian Roman sources for largely forgotten ideas
and new inspiration - for example by imitating Roman building practice.
1.2.4 Archaeology
and the Enlightenment
The Enlightenment was the culmination
of increasing separation between science and religion among many philosophers
of the eighteenth century AD. This rift had been developing since medieval
humanists began to use the writings of Greek philosophers such as Aristotle in
which ideas of biological and social evolution were already emerging.
- Discovering
the world in the 18th century: 'The Enlightenment was an age of
reason and learning that flourished across Europe and America from about 1680 to 1820. ...
The Enlightenment Gallery is divided into seven sections that explore the
seven major new disciplines of the age: Religion, Ethnography, Archaeology,
Art history, Classification, Decipherment and Natural history. It was
opened in 2003 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the British Museum'
1.2.5 Antiquarian fieldwork in Britain
The work of antiquaries who engaged in
active field archaeology in Britain illustrates the aims and concepts of research into the past undertaken
after the diffusion of Renaissance thinking into northern Europe. Before the sixteenth century, historical writers
occasionally referred to monuments, but with little purpose other than to
display sheer wonder, or to add circumstantial detail to some actual or
invented episode in their works. The Tudor dynasty of the sixteenth century
coincided with an increase in national consciousness, underlined by the
Reformation and the establishment of the Church of England.
----- John Aubrey (1626-97)
Aubrey lacked the depth of education
of Leland or Camden, but participated in a new kind of scholarship that came
to prominence in the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. It was
characterised by a desire to approach any subject from a sound basis of classification
and comparison, whether astronomy, medicine, botany or antiquities. In addition
to antiquities, Aubrey included natural and artificial phenomena in accounts of
his beloved Wiltshire.
- John Aubrey
and William Stukeley on Avebury, Wiltshire: 'Prior to Alexander
Keiller's wonderful contribution in making Avebury what it is to-day two
names stand above all others when we trace the history of this fascinating
place.' (Avebury Web)
- John Aubrey (1626-97).
'Aubrey was not able to escape from the conundrum of dating ancient
monuments. Although he was right to place Stonehenge and Avebury in a ritual
context of pre-Roman date, he attributed Iron Age hillforts to Britons,
Romans or Danes with wild inconsistency.' (p. 20)
----- William
Stukeley (1687-1765)
Although the eighteenth-century
Enlightenment favoured Classical literature, art and architecture, it also
engendered reactions against a purely rational and secular outlook. By the
nineteenth century this had resulted in a Romantic movement which preferred
fanciful 'Gothic' buildings incorporating medieval features, and which
glorified primitive and exotic peoples. Stukeley reflected these changes in the
spirit of the age; his interpretations of sites such as Stonehenge, and its association with primitive religion, were very
much in tune with the sentiments of Romanticism. These interpretations never
affected the quality of his fieldwork, however.
- William Stukeley (1687-1765).
'It is noteworthy that Stukeley was already aware of the role of fieldwork
as part of rescue archaeology: he wanted to "perpetuates the vestiges
of this celebrated wonder & of the barrows avenues cursus &c for I
forsee that it will in a few years be universally plowed over and
consequently deface"d' (p. 23)
- William
Stukeley: Abury - A Temple of the British Druids 1743: 'A
full facsimile copy of William Stukeley's book ... has now been added to
the site. Although Stukeley's own exotic and academically inspired theories
dominate much of the text, for researchers it remains one of the most
important and essential sources of information about Avebury's past.' (Avebury
Web)
1.2.6 Fieldwork
elsewhere
Historians of ideas, science or
archaeology can point to early antiquarian work throughout Europe. In Scandinavia, Johan Bure and Ole Worm undertook
antiquarian research - with royal patronage - in the early seventeenth century,
and similar efforts were devoted to Roman and earlier antiquities in central Europe. A German pioneer of the systematic investigation of Roman
art and architecture in Italy, Johann Winckelmann, was a near contemporary of Stukeley.
An indigenous archaeological tradition had also emerged in America by the nineteenth century.
- DANGEROUS
ARCHAEOLOGY: Francis Willey Kelsey and Armenia (1919-1920) (Kelsey Museum of Archaeology (Ann
Arbor,
Michigan))
- Gertrude Bell 1868-1926 An
on-line archive about an adventurous woman and her travels in the Near East, including diaries and
stunning photographs
- Timeline
of American archaeology – 'From the moment of the discovery
of the New World questions of Native American origins and the nature of
the cultures discovered there were to captivate the minds of the
discoverers, the colonists and the members of European society' (from
Minnesota State University's EMuseum)
1.2.7 Touring, collecting, and the origin
of museums
In western intellectual circles, the
collection and study of objects ran parallel to the development of
archaeological fieldwork but did not become dominant until the nineteenth century,
when the expansion of agriculture, industry and (eventually) archaeological
excavations began to provide sufficient quantities of pottery, metal and stone
artefacts for advanced studies.
1.2.8 Science and Romanticism
Nineteenth-century Europe experienced a spectacular rate of change. Science had
moved on from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to become what we know
today - a discipline based upon laboratory observation and experiment, rather
than a term encompassing the pursuit of knowledge in general. Awareness of
rapid change probably boosted interest in causes and effects, and assisted in the
development of grand explanatory schemes.
- The
Social & Intellectual Context This fascinating website about amateur
antiquarian H.M.J. Underhill includes many illustrations of prehistoric
archaeological sites. 'The formal and informal links between amateurs and
professionals and their contributions to the development of the study of
British prehistory can be illustrated by the formation and membership of
new 'scientific' societies during the latter part of the nineteenth
century' (Institute of Archaeology Archives, University of Oxford
- Romantic view
of Stonehenge This dramatic view of Stonehenge by John Constable,
painted in 1836, is characteristic of Romantic perceptions of
archaeological sites in the landscape (Victoria and Albert Museum)
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1.3. THE RECOGNITION
AND STUDY OF ARTEFACTS
1.3.1. Scandinavia and the Three-Age System
1.3.2. Typology
1.3. THE RECOGNITION AND STUDY OF
ARTEFACTS
'Sophisticated prehistoric objects
made of cast bronze were commonly assigned to the Romans or Danes, because
antiquarians lacked a clear idea of what to expect from prehistoric material
culture. For these reasons the systematic study of objects began with simple
stone tools from very early periods. Casual finds of finely worked flint
arrowheads or polished axes must always have suggested human manufacture to
anyone who actually thought about them, and it would not have been difficult to
reach the idea that they might have been used before metals were known.'
- Stone Age
Reference Collection Institute of Archaeology, Art History and
Numismatics (I.A.K.N.) at the University of Oslo, Norway. The text and graphics link to
animated stacks illustrating processes such as flint knapping techniques
(pressure flaking, burin technique etc.) and some 'games' (eg. naming the
parts of a flint flake).
1.3.1 Scandinavia
and the Three-Age System
The archaeology of Scandinavia is particularly rich in finely made artefacts dating from
the prehistoric to Viking periods, and many of them are found in good condition
in graves. Increased building, agriculture and excavation in the nineteenth
century had provided a plentiful supply of discoveries.
- National Museum,
Denmark The National Museum (established in 1807) has one
of the oldest collections of prehistoric finds in Europe. The museum began when King
Frederik VI (1768-1839) set up a royal commission for the preservation of
antiquities. The key figure in dividing the antiquities into Stone, Bronze
and Iron Age categories was Christian
Jürgensen Thomsen (1788-1865).
1.3.2 Typology
Classification was an important part
of the Enlightenment approach to science; typology differs from classification
in that artefacts are arranged into sequences according to developments and changes
that may then allow them to be placed into a hypothetical chronological order.
This may not seem a particularly significant distinction until it is recognised
that before the nineteenth century there was a prevailing idea that the natural
world was fixed at the time of the Creation.
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1.4. HUMAN ORIGINS
1.4.1. Evidence for
human antiquity
:: John Frere and
Hoxne
:: Boucher de Perthes
1.4.2.
Catastrophists, Uniformitarians, and the impact of Darwin
1.4. HUMAN ORIGINS
1.4.1 Evidence for
human antiquity
In 1619 Lucilio Vanini was burned
alive for suggesting that humans originated from apes, while the great apes
were only classified as distinct (but related) species - as opposed to
degenerate forms of humans - in the eighteenth century, by Linné and Buffon.
Pioneers of geology and fossil classification such as Ray or Cuvier were not
able to contribute to this debate because neither fossil apes nor primitive human
remains were encountered until the 1830s.
----- John Frere
and Hoxne
Volume 13 of Archaeologia (published
in 1800) included a minor item, of which the full significance did not become
apparent for sixty years. Amongst an assortment of papers was a short letter
from John Frere, drawing attention to some observations made in a clay pit at
Hoxne in Suffolk. He reported flint weapons found at a depth of twelve feet
in a layer of gravel, overlain by a bed of sand containing bones of extinct
animals and, remarkably, shells and remains of marine creatures 'which may be
conjectured to have been once the bottom, or at least the shore, of the sea'.
- A
MEMORIAL TO JOHN FRERE - News of a long overdue memorial to a man
who might be considered the 'father of scientific archaeology'
- Hoxne handaxe –
axe from Hoxne published by Frere, which he thought to be from '...a very
remote period indeed'; it is now identified as Lower Palaeolithic, about
400,000 years old (British Museum)
----- Boucher de Perthes
By the time of Frere's death in 1807
Jacques Boucher de Perthes was already becoming interested in archaeology in France; he spent several decades studying the gravel quarries of
northern France. He was impressed by the great depth and variety of the
deposits of sediments and he felt that they were far too complex to result from
the biblical Flood, although he did not totally reject the authority of the Old
Testament.
- Boucher
de Perthes 'The French geologist Jacques Boucher de Crevecour de
Perthes, was born September 10, 1788 and was noted for being one of the
first academics to form the idea that archaeological history could be
charted using periods of geological time. (ArchaeologyExpert)'
1.4.2
Catastrophists, Uniformitarians, and the impact of Darwin
The recognition of authentic
associations between flint axes and the bones of extinct animals did nothing to
solve the problems of dating faced by geologists and historians: how long ago
did these humans and animals live?
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1.5. FROM HUNTING TO
FARMING
1.5.1. World
prehistory
1.5. FROM HUNTING TO FARMING
In some ways it is more difficult to
conceptualise the process by which people who had hunted wild animals and
gathered plants for food for several million years turned into settled farmers.
Nothing meaningful could be said about the actual origin of civilization(s)
until some understanding had been achieved of the earlier adoption of
agriculture by settled prehistoric communities
- First farmers
discovered 'The first farmers grew wheat and rye 13,000 years ago
in Syria and were forced into cultivating crops by a terrible drought,
according to UK archaeologists' (BBC Sci/Tech News)
1.5.1 World
prehistory
Developments during the twentieth
century in integrating archaeological and scientific evidence with
anthropological interpretation mean that world prehistory is now a meaningful
concept.
- World
Prehistory in New Perspective: details of a classic book by
Grahame Clark. 'The origins and development of human culture throughout
the world are re-examined in this new, generously illustrated edition of Clark's famous work. There is much
more detailed and up-to-date coverage of the various territories,
particularly America and Australasia...' (Cambridge University Press)
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1.6. THE DISCOVERY OF
CIVILIZATIONS
1.6.1. Greece and Rome
1.6.2. Egypt and Mesopotamia
1.6.3. The Aegean
Bronze Age: Schliemann and Troy
1.6.4. Greece and the Aegean: Evans and Knossos
1.6.5. India and Asia
1.6.6. Civilizations
in the Americas
1.6. THE DISCOVERY OF CIVILIZATIONS
It is important to remember that
civilization is a modern definition imposed upon the past from a western
intellectual perspective. The fact that the modern world is dominated by
sophisticated cities and states might encourage a view that the discovery of
civilizations was a more important archaeological achievement than the
revelation of human origins or the growth of the study of prehistory.
- Ancient
Civilizations: a sophisticated presentation that allows you to
pursue aspects of civilizations - 'The British Museum uses objects in its
collection to explore the cities, buildings technology, trade, religion
and writing of the ancient world'.
1.6.1 Greece and Rome
The Classical Mediterranean
civilizations of Greece and Rome received particularly close attention from the fourteenth to eighteenth
centuries AD. Their familiarity reduced the potential for Classical archaeology
to introduce new techniques and concepts, compared to the study of earlier
civilizations in Egypt or Mesopotamia, or prehistoric issues such as human origins.
- The
invention of Antiquity: An exhibition held in the Rare Book Room
of the Canaday Library, Bryn Mawr College, 2004: 'The recovery and
interpretation of long-neglected texts and monuments required great
intellectual discipline. At the same time, there was a pronounced element
of creative fantasy in classical studies. The idea of antiquity met a
present need. It would eventually enable a revision of the foundation myth
of modern Europe, establishing a robust Athens alongside Jerusalem at the origin of the West.'
1.6.2 Egypt and Mesopotamia
Some indications of the early history
and antiquities of Egypt and Mesopotamia could be gleaned from Classical writers, while even
earlier references abounded in the Old Testament of the Bible. Classical archaeology
had amplified written records about Greece
and Rome, and hinted at the origins of their civilizations;
investigations in Palestine and Mesopotamia therefore offered similar success in relation to the
Bible. Thus, a wide public could take a safe interest in news of discoveries
that promised to enrich and confirm one of the major formative elements of
European Christian culture.
- Jean
Francois Champollion: The Father of Egyptology '...provided the
foundation that scholars would need in order to truly understand the
ancient Egyptians. Even though he suffered a stroke, dying at the age of
forty-one, he himself added to our knowledge of this grand, ancient
civilization by translating any number of Egyptian texts prior to his
death.' (John Warren; one of many biographical articles from Tour Egypt)
- Giovanni
Battista Belzoni 1778-1823 'Belzoni was no intellectual scholar,
he was an amateur archaeologist. As an explorer he was motivated by
finding hidden treasure so that he could sell the artifacts to collectors.
His methods were often destructive and quite unorthodox but his discoveries
laid the foundation for the scientific study of Egyptology.' (MSU EMuseum)
- Sir
Austen Henry Layard 1817 –1894 'Layard’s excavations
at Nimrud and elsewhere provided crucial evidence of both the antiquity
and the cultural achievement of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Assyrian
civilization. Through two memorable travelogues of his excavations at the
Assyrian capital of Nineveh, Layard presented his archaeological
activities to readers in narrated forms lending a new depth to his
readers’ awareness of their collective past. ' (MSU EMuseum)
- DANGEROUS
ARCHAEOLOGY: Francis Willey Kelsey and Armenia (1919-1920) (Kelsey Museum of Archaeology (Ann
Arbor,
Michigan)). Contextual information about the expedition and individual photographs
is also provided.
1.6.3 The Aegean Bronze Age: Schliemann
and Troy
Part of the enduring appeal of
Schliemann's life-story lies in his rather dubious role as an outsider who took
on the academic establishment and outwitted the Greek and Turkish authorities
in the relentless and successful pursuit of his theories. However, Schliemann
was not the only archaeologist in Greece
or Turkey to pay attention to the recognition and recording of
stratification and finds during an excavation.
1.6.4 Greece
and the Aegean: Evans and Knossos
One of the final stages in revealing
the early civilizations of Europe and the Near East took place when Arthur
Evans investigated the origins of the Mycenaean civilization revealed by
Schliemann in Greece. Soon after the independence of Crete in 1898 John Evans
excavated the Minoan palace at Knossos, where a literate civilization had developed from around
2000 BC.
1.6.5 India
and Asia
Despite contacts through commerce with
the Roman Empire little was known in Europe about India or China before the sixteenth century. By the nineteenth century no
educated European could remain ignorant of the fact that civilization, measured
in western terms through its cities, art, architecture and systems of writing,
was not restricted to the ancient Near East and Mediterranean
region.
- Colonial
India Archaeological photography and the creation of histories.
Fascinating collection of engravings and photographs compiled by Sudeshna Guha, Cambridge University
- Ancient India
– a section of Minnesota State University's useful EMuseum
- China –
more from the EMuseum
1.6.6 Civilizations in the Americas
Spanish conquistadors and churchmen
reported the existence of sophisticated urban civilizations during initial
contacts in the early fifteenth century, but only recorded them in the course
of their destruction. Some churchmen wrote detailed accounts of Mayan
settlements, customs and religion; Diego de Landa (1524-79), first bishop of
Yucatán, also described and sketched remains of abandoned settlements.
Archaeological rediscovery began in the eighteenth century, but the literate
civilization of the Maya was first presented to a wider public by John Stephens
and Frederick Catherwood in the 1840s.
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1.7. ACHIEVEMENTS OF
EARLY ARCHAEOLOGY
1.7.1. Excavation:
the investigative technique of the future
1.7. ACHIEVEMENTS OF EARLY ARCHAEOLOGY
The rapid developments of the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries incorporated several preoccupations already
established during the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Pursuits that were
considered respectable in intellectual circles happened to include collecting artefacts
and recording ancient sites as part of the scientific study of natural history.
The efforts of individuals, usually amateurs and often eccentrics, established
the methods of fieldwork, and led to the opening of displays in museums that
had to be staffed and catalogued.
1.7.1 Excavation:
the investigative technique of future
Interest in material remains, and in
particular the concept of excavating sites for information rather than
treasure, developed well after the great period of descriptive study
characterised by antiquaries such as Aubrey. Although by the sixteenth century
the study of ancient ruins (accompanied by attention to coins and inscriptions)
was an indispensable companion to historical investigation of the past, the
idea of using systematic excavation lay far in the future.
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