NATIONALISM, IMPERIALISM, AND COLONIALISM
IN ARCHAEOLOGYIn this book it is argued that archaeology is not a value-free and neutral social
science as previously presumed. I will argue, therefore, that for a correct
understanding of the history of archaeology it becomes essential to evaluate
the impact of the framework in which it developed. It is only when this is
done that a more critical and deconstructive history of archaeology becomes
possible. The perspective adopted in this volume, therefore, contrasts with
that taken in other major overviews of the history of archaeology, from
Michaelis’ early study,Die archa ̈ologischen Entdeckungen des 19. Jahrhunderts
(A Century of Archaeological Discoveries, 1908), to Glyn Daniel’sA Hundred
Years of Archaeology(Wrst published in 1950, later published asA Hundred
and Fifty Years of Archaeology), and Gran Aymerich’s more recentNaissance
de l’Arche ́ologie Moderne(The Birth of Modern Archaeology, 1998). These
syntheses focus on the internal development of the discipline, centring their
attention on the role of particular individuals in the evolution of ideas and the
progress of the discipline. They generally pay little attention to external
circumstances—the political, social and cultural context which shaped the
practice of archaeology. The exception to this is when moments of crisis are
discussed, particularly during the totalitarian regimes of National Socialist
Germany and Fascist Italy. Implicitly, the assumption is that archaeology
is normally isolated from political or social realities except sporadically,
in extreme cases, and that the consideration of external factors is not indis-
pensable to comprehend the development of the discipline. There are authors,
however, who have adopted a more critical line, from Kristian Kristiansen
(Kristiansen 1981) to Tom Patterson (Patterson 1995b), and many recent
thinkers who will be mentioned in the pages of this book.
This volume aligns itself with the latter group of scholars and argues that
taking into consideration external factors—the socio-political context in
which archaeology developed—is key to the understanding of the processes
that underpin the changes within the discipline. In this volume archaeology is
seen as a social science, that is, a discipline that studies human aspects of the
world, often making use of quantitative and qualitative methods. Archaeology
is described as a historical and cultural product, a socially created set of
practices and body of work that cannot be isolated from the contemporary
socio-cultural and historical framework in which it is and was formed. It is
considered that the archaeological past interpreted by scholars at any particu-
lar time is mediated by their own experiences as individuals. The study
undertaken in this volume aims to dissect the changes taking place in
4 Archaeology in the Nineteenth Century