Examining the history of archaeology from medieval times to the present, this book places the development of archaeological thought and theory within a broad social and intellectual framework. The successive but interacting trends apparent in archaeological thought are defined and the author determines the extent to which these trends reflect the personal and collective interests of archaeologists. He argues that while subjective influences have been powerful, the gradual accumulation of archaeological data has exercised a growing constraint on interpretation. In turn this has increased the objectivity of archaeological research and enhanced its value for understanding the entire span of human history and the human condition in general.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Bruce Trigger's new book is an important step towards an alternative version of the history of the subject....He has surveyed a wide sweep of archaeological history, and many will find this book the best guide available." Timothy Champion, Times Higher Education Supplement
"Over more than two decades Bruce Trigger has produced a series of thoughtful, sometimes provocative, and always valuable articles and books on the history of archaeology. The present book, something of a distillation of these earlier works, constitutes a reasoned comment on the nature of anthropological archaeology. It not only describes the main currents of the discipline's development but reviews critically its current state, in which rapidly developing excavation strategies and theoretical orientations often vie with one another...In such a comprehensive and thoughtful account one can, of course, find particulars and points of view that are arguable. That is the nature of good history; and in raising such questions and providing the material for their consideration, Trigger has performed a service for us all." Science
"This volume makes a significant contribution to the critical consideration of the nature and importance of archaelogy, adding yet another voice to the continuing dialog that Leone, Hodder, Miller, Handsman, and others have begun." American Antiquity
"A History of Archaeological Thought is a landmark work and should be required reading for all archaeologists as well as historians of both the historical and social sciences....This book is the product of first-class scholarship and contains a number of important insights into the nature of modern archaeological thinking and its development, particularly in the past century." Philosophy of Science
"Over more than two decades Bruce Trigger has produced a series of thoughtful, sometimes provocative, and always valuable articles and books on the history of archaeology. The present book, something of a distillation of these earlier works, constitutes a reasoned comment on the nature of anthropological archaeology. It not only describes the main currents of the discipline's development but reviews critically its current state, in which rapidly developing excavation strategies and theoretical orientations often vie with one another...In such a comprehensive and thoughtful account one can, of course, find particulars and points of view that are arguable. That is the nature of good history; and in raising such questions and providing the material for their consideration, Trigger has performed a service for us all." Science
"This volume makes a significant contribution to the critical consideration of the nature and importance of archaelogy, adding yet another voice to the continuing dialog that Leone, Hodder, Miller, Handsman, and others have begun." American Antiquity
"A History of Archaeological Thought is a landmark work and should be required reading for all archaeologists as well as historians of both the historical and social sciences....This book is the product of first-class scholarship and contains a number of important insights into the nature of modern archaeological thinking and its development, particularly in the past century." Philosophy of Science
Book Description
In its original edition, Bruce Trigger's book was the first ever to examine the history of archaeological thought from medieval times to the present in world-wide perspective. Now, in this new edition, he both updates the original work and introduces new archaeological perspectives and concerns.
--This text refers to an alternate
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An essential historigraphy of archaeological theory.,
By
This review is from: A History of Archaeological Thought (Hardcover)
Trigger's comprehensive synthesis traces the origins and developement of archaeological theory from antiquity to post-processualism. With a global perspective, Trigger explorers the philosophical and scientific milestones that altered or redirected archaeological thought throughout its history. An excellent and readable reference.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The most detailed history of archaeology available to date,
By History Fan (Fort Worth, TX) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A History of Archaeological Thought (Paperback)
This is by far the most thorough and complete history of the development of archaeological theory. At times, the material is rather dense (certainly not for the lay armchair archaeologist), but it is informative none the less. All students of archaeology should read this text.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Critical To Understanding Archaeological Theory,
By
This review is from: A History of Archaeological Thought (Paperback)
Trigger's work, first published in 1989, is one of the best syntheses available on the history of archaeology as a discipline and on the theoretical perspectives which have accompanied each stage of the development of the discipline.
Trigger carefully links each of the theoretical perspectives - such as unilineal evolution, cultural materialism, Marxism, postprocessual and historical theory - with the historic and cultural developments in archaeology and in Western and world society that each perspective is based on. Besides the value of this work to archaeologists, members of the general public who want to gain an understanding of why archaeologists "do" archaeology and anthropology should read Trigger's work as well. Very well done, and highly recommended.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Since the 1950s archaeology, especially in North America and Western Europe, has shifted from a seemingly complacent culture-historical orthodoxy to ambitious theoretical innovations. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
inferring human behaviour, archaeologists arc, archaeology arc, interpreting archaeological data, unilinear evolutionism, individual archaeologists, processual archaeologists, archaeological cultures, direct historical approach, archaeological interpretation, settlement archaeology, cultural chronologies, behavioural significance, historical particularism, processual archaeology, new archaeologists, neighbouring societies, archaeological record, cultural evolutionism, archaeological publications, artifact types, archaeological thought, other archaeologists, prehistoric archaeology, ethnographic analogies Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Near East, North America, New Archaeology, Bronze Age, Soviet Union, Iron Age, World War, Central Europe, Stone Age, Upper Palaeolithic, New Zealand, Lower Palaeolithic, Great Zimbabwe, Communist Party, Cambridge University, David Clarke, Industrial Revolution, Central Asia, Glyn Daniel, Grahame Clark, Midwestern Taxonomic Method, Most Ancient East, Valley of Mexico, Bureau of American Ethnology New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Since the 1950s archaeology, especially in North America and Western Europe, has shifted from a seemingly complacent culture-historical orthodoxy to ambitious theoretical innovations. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
inferring human behaviour, archaeologists arc, archaeology arc, interpreting archaeological data, unilinear evolutionism, individual archaeologists, processual archaeologists, archaeological cultures, direct historical approach, archaeological interpretation, settlement archaeology, cultural chronologies, behavioural significance, historical particularism, processual archaeology, new archaeologists, neighbouring societies, archaeological record, cultural evolutionism, archaeological publications, artifact types, archaeological thought, other archaeologists, prehistoric archaeology, ethnographic analogies Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Near East, North America, New Archaeology, Bronze Age, Soviet Union, Iron Age, World War, Central Europe, Stone Age, Upper Palaeolithic, New Zealand, Lower Palaeolithic, Great Zimbabwe, Communist Party, Cambridge University, David Clarke, Industrial Revolution, Central Asia, Glyn Daniel, Grahame Clark, Midwestern Taxonomic Method, Most Ancient East, Valley of Mexico, Bureau of American Ethnology New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
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100
books
cite this book:
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- Ancient Society (Classics of Anthropology) by Lewis Henry Morgan on page 119, page 225, and Back Matter
- A History of American Archaeology by Gordon R. Willey on page 4, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Great Zimbabwe (New Aspects of Archaeology) by Peter S. Garlake on page 134, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Man Makes Himself (New Thinker's Library) (New Thinker's Library) by V. Gordon Childe on page 256, and page 257
- Harvard University: Off the Record (College Prowler) (College Prowler: Harvard University Off the Record) by Dominic Hood on page 175, and Back Matter
See all 100 books this book cites
- Men among the Mammoths: Victorian Science and the Discovery of Human Prehistory [Science and Its Conceptual Foundations Ser.] by A. Bowdoin Van Riper on 6 pages
- Whose Pharaohs?: Archaeology, Museums, and Egyptian National Identity from Napoleon to World War I by Donald Malcolm Reid on 4 pages
- Merovingian Mortuary Archaeology and the Making of the Early Middle Ages by Bonnie Effros on 4 pages
- The Future of the Past: Archaeologists, Native Americans and Repatriation by Tamara L. Bray on 4 pages
- A Prehistory of the North: Human Settlement of the Higher Latitudes by John F. Hoffecker in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
See all 100 books citing this book
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