Archaeological Theory

Recommended Prerequisites

It is recommended to take the course at the end of the grade, when the student is more in tune with the epistemological problems that archaeological interpretation may involve.

Teaching Methods

The expository classes will be intercalated by debate sessions and discussion of texts about the topics to be taught; In expository classes, keynote presentations will be used to transmit the content. Whenever possible, specific case studies will be used to clarify the issues in discussion.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the semester, the student must:
A: recognize the specificities of archaeology as a science;
B: understand why archaeology only emerged as a science at the beginning of the 19th century;
C: relate the evolution of archaeological thought to the coeval social, political and cultural context.
D: know the main stages in the history of archaeological theory, and particularly those that still make their impact felt today.
E: know the most widespread theoretical perspectives in the field;
F: Develop the ability to critically analyze discourses about the human past.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1: The specificity of Archeology as a science.
2: The Past and its material traces in the context of pre-modern ontologies.
3. Archaeology as a product of modernity.
4: The demonstration of the great antiquity of Humanity.
5: The paradigmatic case of the scientific recognition of Palaeolithic parietal art, as an example of the relationship between the dominant ideology and the acceptance of new paradigms.
6: Cultural evolutionism, the idea of progress, European nationalisms and colonial policies.
7: Culture-historical archeology
8: Processualist archaeology
9: Post-processualism criticism.
10: Marxist archaeology
11: Structuralist-inspired archaeologies.
12: Archaeology and post-structuralist hermeneutics.
13: The phenomenological approach in archaeology.
14: The ontological turn and archaeology.
15: Post-humanist archaeologies.

Head Lecturer(s)

André Tomás Pinto da Silva e Conceição Santos

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Exam: 100.0%

Bibliography

ALARCÃO, Jorge (2000), A Escrita do Tempo e a sua Verdade, Coimbra, Quarteto Editora.
BINFORD, Lewis R. (1991), Em Busca do Passado, Lisboa, Publicações Europa-América.
HARRIS, Oliver J. T. & CIPOLLA, Craig (2017), Archaeological theory in the new millenium. Introducing current perspectives, London and New York, Routledge.
HODDER, Ian (2002), Archaeological Theory Today, Cambridge, Blackwell Publishers.
JOHNSON, M. (2019), Archaeological Theory: An Introduction, 3rd edition, Hoboken, Wiley Blackwell.
RENFREW, Colin; BAHN, Paul (2020 [1991]), Archaelogy: Theories, Methods and Practice. 8th edition, Londres, Thames and Hudson.
THOMAS, Julian (2004), Archaeology and Modernity, London, Routledge.
TILLEY, Christopher (ed.) (1993), Interpretative Archaeology, Oxford, Berg Publishers.
TRIGGER, Bruce G. (2006), A History of Archaeological Thought (2nd ed.), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.