Post-Processual Theory: A Theoretical Perspective For Archaeology

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For this paper, I will first explain my theoretical perspective then discuss my archaeologist and his work.
My Theoretical Perspective
For my theoretical perspective, I consider myself to be a subjective, post-processual inclined theorist. I am subjective in my belief that theory should not only use data but also interpretations to explain phenomena. I am post-processual inclined because I relate most to the ideas of post-processual theory. Post-processual theory centers around the idea of studying the internal changes within culture through social relations. In my opinion, to understand culture, archaeologists should understand the social aspects of culture that affected people’s daily lives.
I believe that I am close to the hermeneutic side …show more content…

562). This means that for archaeologists, anyone could interpret an artifact as something and not be considered completely false. To the processual theorists, this would be proving post-processualism to be faulty. Yet, the fact that post-processualism concentrates on understanding social relations within research is too important to be cast aside for a more objective perspective. Despite the hindrance of having multiple interpretations for data, I still believe post-processual ideas can benefit historical archaeology. Post-processualism is also criticized for rejecting the scientific method and laws, but Shackel and Little point out that post-processualists recognize general theories and grounded data (Shackel and Little, 1992, pg. 6). Unlike objective processualism, post-processualism does not follow strict rules of the scientific method and general laws because of its subjectivity through interpretation of …show more content…

Civic engagement is how people in a community participate in activities that improve the conditions of the community and shapes its future (Adler and Goggin, 2005, pg. 236). For archaeology, the public can be able to interact with archaeologists and exhibits archaeologists’ provide to learn about their community’s history that can be applied to the present (Shackel, 2007, pg. 243). The perspective of the public community can serve as another form of interpretation of the past that could apply to their present and future conditions. Typically, the community gets involved with archaeological work through exhibits provided by excavators like the ones at the Archaeology in Annapolis program (Shackel, Mullins, and Warner, 1998, pg.

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