hi helen,
what kind of end for archaeology ?
from an archaeological point of view, or from the braudelian Longue
Durée (to keep in mind western ways of thinking), i think there is only
little sense announcing the end of history. i think it is merely an
ethnocentric point of view born in the extreme period of western
capitalism. How native australians, native indians from chiapas, or
buddhist from Cambodia do perceive this spurious concept about the end
of history ?
but there is another way to talk about the end of archaeology :
One may consider archaeology as a methodology, a science of traces
(personal uncertain translation of a Marc Bloch's text quotation : "une
science de la trace") : there are no limits to archaeology whatever done
by processualists or post-processualists ; and i personaly believe that
most french archaeologists, often afraid of any theoretical framework,
share this idea.
On the opposite, one can argue that the inquiries, the data and the
methodologies of archaeologists are wholly absorded by the social
sciences practices (from the study of behaviour to hermeneutics via
sociology and so on) : in that way, there is no more archaeology in the
sense defined by 19th century's scholars (see tilley's paper in last
Antiquity issue n°277 p 691-693).
i do not share this point of view. In my opinion, there is something
more in archaeology : i think it is the relationships involved between
archaeologists and peoples from the past. This is the reason why
archaeology is politics.
Usually we hear people (non archaeologists, citizens and sometimes
archaeologists) talking about archaeology with words like "roots",
"ancestors" or "Cultural heritage"... We also know quite well the uses
of archaeology in nationalistic claims. It is not the real link between
archaeologists and the past (see also Paul Veyne's book about the
writing of history)
i think there will be no end to archaeology for a main reason :
archaeology doesn't explain us what we are, or where do we come from,
but tells us what we aren't anymore. In that's difference between the
past and us resides archaeology. We always change, archaeology won't
stop. (these are ideas are not completely mine (!) : you might find some
parallels with M. Foucault's genealogy concept ; some ideas too have
been said already by some french archaeologists).
The last way of talking about the end of archaeology is to talk about
the problems of rescue archaeology in France today. The end of
archaeology is also the destruction of hundreds of archaeological sites
each year. The end of archaeology still is the lack of a real law about
rescue archaeology financing and the lack of political actions to really
promote archaeological heritage. It is politics again !
(apologizes for my blurred english writting)
m.bailly
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