TY - JOUR
T1 - Archaeology and the New Materialisms
AU - Witmore, Christopher
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - This article revisits the object of archaeology in light of the New Materialisms. Orienting recent work around three propositions with respect to the reality and definition of things- that is, things are assemblages, things are participants, and things are things-it lays out the core features of the New Materialisms and goes on to address some compelling methodological issues. Ultimately, this article raises a challenge; that New Materialist perspectives reveal a self-definition for archaeology, not as the study of the human past through its material remains, but as the discipline of things, as an "ecology of practices" that approaches the world with care and in wonder.
AB - This article revisits the object of archaeology in light of the New Materialisms. Orienting recent work around three propositions with respect to the reality and definition of things- that is, things are assemblages, things are participants, and things are things-it lays out the core features of the New Materialisms and goes on to address some compelling methodological issues. Ultimately, this article raises a challenge; that New Materialist perspectives reveal a self-definition for archaeology, not as the study of the human past through its material remains, but as the discipline of things, as an "ecology of practices" that approaches the world with care and in wonder.
KW - Assemblages
KW - New Materialisms
KW - Ontology
KW - Participants
KW - Things
KW - Wonder
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84949508917&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1558/jca.v1i2.16661
DO - 10.1558/jca.v1i2.16661
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84949508917
SN - 2051-3429
VL - 1
SP - 203
EP - 224
JO - Journal of Contemporary Archaeology
JF - Journal of Contemporary Archaeology
IS - 2
ER -