Archaeological Situations Archaeological Theory from the Inside Out

This book is an introduction to theory in archaeology – but with a difference. Archaeological Situations avoids talking about theory as if it was something you apply but rather as something embedded in archaeological practice from the start. Rather than see theory as something worked from the outside in, this book explores theory from the inside out, which means it focuses on specific archaeological practices rather than specific theories. It starts from the kinds of situations that students find themselves in and learn about in other archaeology courses, avoiding the gap between practice and theory from the very beginning. It shows students the theoretical implications of almost everything they engage in as archaeologists, from fieldwork, recording, writing up and making and assessing an argument to exploring the very nature of archaeology and justifying its relevance. Essentially, it adopts a structure which attempts to pre-empt one of the most common complaints of students taking theory courses: how is this applicable? Aimed primarily at undergraduates, this book is the ideal way to engage students with archaeological theory.

Chapter 1. Who’s Afraid of Theory?; Chapter 2. Doing Fieldwork; Chapter 3. Making Records; Chapter 4. Writing Up; Chapter 5. Building a Case; Chapter 6. Doing Research; Chapter 7. Defining the Discipline; Coda: Theorizing without Theory.

Gavin Lucas is professor of archaeology at the University of Iceland. His main research interests are in archaeological method and theory and the archaeology of the modern world. He has published several books on archaeological theory, most recently Writing the Past (2019) and Making Time (2021), both published with Routledge.