The Present Past

An Introduction to Anthropology for Archeologists

Ian Hodder

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Archaeology
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781473819542
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

This updated edition of Professor Ian Hodders original and classic work on the role which anthropology must play in the interpretation of the archaeological record.There has long been a need for archaeologists and anthropologists to correlate their ideas and methods for interpreting the material culture of past civilisations. Archaeological interpretation of the past is inevitably based on the ideas and experiences of the present and the use of such ethnographic analogy has been widely adapted and criticised, not least in Britain.In this challenging study, Ian Hodder questions the assumptions, values and methods which have been too readily accepted. At the same time, he shows how anthropology can be applied to archaeology. He examines the criteria for the proper use of analogy and, in particular, emphasises the need to consider the meaning and interpretation of material cultures within the total social and cultural contexts. He discusses anthropological models of refuse deposits, technology and production, subsistence, settlement, burial, trade exchange, art form and ritual; he then considers their application to comparable archaeological data.Throughout, Professor Hodder emphasises the need for a truly scientific approach and a critical self-awareness by archaeologists, who should be prepared to study their own social and cultural context, not least their own attitudes to the present-day material world.

Contents

Acknowledgements

List of Illustrations

Introduction

Preface

1 The use of analogy

Problems with analogies

The proper use of analogy

Context

Conclusion

2 Ethnoarchaeology

Relations with experimental approaches in archaeology

History of the use of ethnographic analogies in archaeology

Ethnoarchaeological field methods

3 The formation of the archaeological record

Post-deposition

Deposition

Conclusion

4 Technology and production

Formal analogies

Relational analogies based on natural processes

Cross-cultural relationships

Relational analogies and cultural context

Conclusion

5 Subsistence strategies

Hunters and gatherers

Pastoralists

Agriculturalists

Bones and seeds

Conclusion

6 Social organisation

Settlement

Burial

Exchange

Levels of societal complexity

Conclusion

7 Ritual

Conclusion

8 Art, decoration and style

Art

Decoration

Style

Conclusion

9 Looking at ourselves

10 Conclusion: archaeological anthropology

Interpreting the past

A theory of material culture

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgements

The following publishers are acknowledged for permission to reproduce the illustrations appearing in this book.

Academic Press: fig. 22 from Steensberg A. 1980 New Guinea gardens.

George Allen and Unwin: fig. 41c from Heyerdahl T. and Ferdon E.N. (eds) 1961 Archaeology of Easter Island. Volume 1.

Athlone Press: fig. 41d from Evans J.D. 1971 The prehistoric antiquities of the Maltese Islands: a survey.

Barrie and Jenkins: figs 35, 36 and 37 from Rapoport A. (ed.) 1969 Shelter and Society.

Cambridge University Press: fig. 29 from Hugh Jones C. 1979 From the milk river.

Chapman and Hall Ltd.: fig. 16 from Clark J.G.D. 1952 Prehistoric Europe: the economic basis.

Jonathan Cape: fig. 41b from Renfrew A.C. Before Civilisation. The radiocarbon revolution and prehistoric Europe.

Hutchinson: fig. 39b from Phillips P. 1975 Early farmers of West Mediterranean Europe.

International African Institute: figs 33 and 34 from Africa Volume 50.

International Louis Leakey Memorial Institute for African Prehistory: fig. 21 from Leakey R.E. and Ogot B.A. (eds) 1980 Proceedings of the 8th Panafrican Congress of Prehistory and Quaternary Studies.

Kroeber Anthropological Society: fig. 11 from Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers, Volume 37.

Michigan Discussions in Anthropology: fig. 28 from Smiley F.E. et al (eds) 1980 The archaeological correlates of hunter gatherer.

Prehistoric Society: from the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, figs 2a and 3a from Volume 6, fig. 27 from Volume 5, fig. 3 from Volume 37, fig. 5 from Volume 32, fig. 40 from Volume 44.

Prentice Hall: fig. 41a from Sahlins M.D. 1968 Tribesmen.

Rex Features Ltd.: fig. 47 from York P. 1980 Style Wars.

Society of Antiquaries: fig. 39c from Antiquaries journal, Volume 51.

Thames and Hudson: fig. 1a from Megaw J.V.R. (ed.) 1976 To illustrate the monuments; figs 5 and 6 from Willey G.R. and Sabloff J.A. 1974 A history of American Archaeology; figs 42 and 43 from Clark J.G.D. 1967 The Stone Age hunters.

I wish also to thank Francoise for her help in surveying the relevant literature and for her advice. Parts of the typescript for this book were produced while a visiting Professor at the Van Giffen Institute of Pre-and Proto-history of the University of Amsterdam, and my debt to the patience and generosity of the members of that Institute is warmly acknowledged.

The illustrations

1 Archaeological and ethnographic stone axes

2 Circles of post-holes and round houses

3 The interpretation of four-post arrangements as granaries

4 Relationship between computer simulation, experimental archaeology and ethnoarchaeology

5 Burial ceremony of south-eastern American Indians

6 Major John Wesley Powell consulting an Indian, near the Grand Canyon

7 Hut collapse in Baringo district, Kenya

8 Pulling out posts in Mbunda village, western Zambia

9 Mud wall decay in Ghana

10 Pits in various stages of infill, western Zambia

11 Disposal of bones by scavengers and natural agencies

12 Interior of abandoned hut, Baringo district of Kenya

13 A broken pot used to collect rainwater, from western Zambia

14 Gypsy encampment in east of England

15 Interior of two Mesakin Nuba compounds where dirt and refuse are allowed

16 Clark’s comparison of wooden arrowheads

17 Different types of arrowheads, used by Lozi groups in western Zambia

18 Iron age artifacts termed ‘weaving combs’

19 Hair comb from Kenya

20 Making clay pots in Baringo district, Kenya

21 Ethnographic and archaeological evidence of iron smelting

22 Stone axes from contemporary New Guinea and Neolithic Denmark

23 House construction in Baringo district, Kenya

24 Njemps house in Baringo district, Kenya

25 Contemporary artifacts from Baringo district, Kenya

26 Uniform artifacts of the Tugen, Baringo area, Kenya

27 Typical camps and house types among Wikmunkan tribe, Australia

28 Wikmunkan seasonal use of the environment

29 Pirá-paraná long house

30 Different structures based on posts in a square

31 Granaries around edge of Lozi village, western Zambia

32 Pots produced by women in Lozi village, western Zambia

33 Symbolic dimensions of the Swazi homestead

34 Schematic summary of Swazi symbolic dimensions

35 The Pueblo

36 The Hogan

37 Schematic depiction of structural differences between Hogan and Pueblo

38 Axes from main quarries in New Guinea Highlands

39 Artifacts and behaviour termed ‘ritual’ by archaeologists

40 Neolithic causewayed-camp in east England

41 Easter Island as an analogy for prehistoric Europe

42 Palaeolithic cave painting from Ariege

43 Bison from Ariege

44 Historical analogy for a rock painting in South Africa

45 Examples of Nuba decoration

46 Child play in refuse

47 Johnny Rotten

Jacket illustration
Modern Baka pottery manufacture in Western
Equatoria. The decoration is made with the broken
ends of straws and is carried out prior to completing
the lip of the pot. All the objects around the potter are
used in the potting processes. (Reproduced by kind
permission of David Phillipson, Museum of
Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge)

Introduction

Ian Hodder 2012

Ethnoarchaeology has experienced a number of transformations and iterations since 1982 when this book was first published. For some it has come to be associated with a troubling set of assumptions and ethical considerations. To study contemporary societies in order to make comparisons with the past seems to place present-day societies in the past, to equate them with ‘the prehistoric’. This, of course, was the strategy of early European archaeologists who from the 16th century onwards came to the realization of the ‘antiquity of man’ through comparison with Native Americans and other aboriginal groups encountered through colonial and imperial expansion. The post-colonial critique today allows us to comprehend the dangers and unwarranted assumptions that lie behind any attempt to draw parallels between past and present. Understanding of cultural diversity requires in-depth historical and contextual study. From this perspective, any attempts to draw comparisons between past and present must be open to reflexive scrutiny in order to understand the assumptions that are imposed and in order to evaluate the impact on living communities. So, from this point of view, ethnoarchaeology is a difficult and often suspect pursuit that must be tied to careful reflexive evaluation (eg Nicholas and Kramer 2001) and a thorough understanding of context. The emergence of calls for ‘archaeological ethnography’ (eg Meskell 2005) provides a neat inversion of ethnoarchaeology. Rather than ethnography being used in the service of a colonial archaeology, archaeology and ethnography are re-balanced in relation to each other. The focus is placed on contributing to the understanding of contemporary peoples through archaeological research. Archaeological ethnography involves studying present and past in relation to each other, using both archaeological and ethnographic techniques within a frame strongly committed to ethical considerations.

For some, then, the troubling aspects of ethnoarchaeology have led to a flourishing of new types of relationships between past and present and between archaeology and ethnography. For others, however, ethnoarchaeology has gained traction precisely because it allows cross-cultural statements that contribute to a more secure understanding of the past. This trend has been especially prevalent within those approaches that espouse general theoretical frameworks based on ecology and optimization. Thus, for example, Human Behavioral Ecology has proved a rich vein of theoretical resources that can be mined to build general models that can be ‘tested’ in ethnographic contexts (eg Bird and Bird 2000). Behavioral Archaeology too has proved hungry in its search for ethnographic data that could prove or disprove its general assumptions (Skibo 2009). Research on contemporary technologies has allowed broader understanding of operational sequences (Stark 2003; Roux 2007; Beyrie...

Table of contents

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