Between natural and human sciences: On the role and character of theory in socio-environmental archeology
| Autor: | Artur Ribeiro, Kim Kittig, V. P. J. Arponen, Johanna Brinkmann, Bernhard Thalheim, Konrad Ott, Lutz Käppel, Yannic Ole Kropp, Sonja B. Grimm |
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| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
Archeology
Global and Planetary Change 060101 anthropology History 060102 archaeology Ecology media_common.quotation_subject Paleontology Human science 06 humanities and the arts Reflectivity Archaeology Natural (archaeology) Character (mathematics) Socio environmental Natural science 0601 history and archaeology Evolutionary theory Earth-Surface Processes Skepticism media_common |
| Zdroj: | The Holocene. 29:1671-1676 |
| ISSN: | 1477-0911 0959-6836 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/0959683619857226 |
| Popis: | Prominent voices in archeology have expressed deep skepticism about the role of theory in archeology, while with new, exciting methods at its disposal, archeological science is occasionally perceived as not needing theory at all. This article reflects upon the debate about theory in archeology to arrive at a robust but critical middle-range concept of the role and character of theory in socio-environmental archeology. It is argued that archeology is a data-based science and, consequently, in order for theory to be meaningful in socio-environmental archeology, theory ought explicitly aim to make its qualitative concepts quantitative to establish a clear relation to data and its interpretation. On the turn side, theory plays an important role critically reflecting upon the use of concepts in archeological understanding and explanation, as well as their origins in particular paradigms, as examples of which certain debates in scientific archeology are discussed (aDNA and migration, evolutionism). We argue that such a model would serve archeology far more than the dismissal of theory on the one hand and the continued production of ‘high’ theory in absence of operationalization on the other. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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