Humans

Open AccessEditorial

Recent Reflections on the Sociology of Archaeology: Introduction

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Humans 2023, 3(2), 60-63; https://doi.org/10.3390/humans3020007 - 24 Mar 2023

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Nothing in the past 60 years has nullified the impact of the social positioning of archaeologists and the discipline in the creation of archaeological knowledge [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Reflections on the Sociology of Archaeology)

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Seeing with the Strong Programme

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Alice B. Kehoe

Humans 2022, 2(4), 219-225; https://doi.org/10.3390/humans2040014 - 12 Oct 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1006

Abstract

Using the Strong Programme developed in Edinburgh in the 1970s clarifies how to do sociology of science freed from Enlightenment paradigms of testing for Truth. This paper uses, as an example, the case of Lewis Binford and his wife (in the 1960s) Sally [...] Read more.

Using the Strong Programme developed in Edinburgh in the 1970s clarifies how to do sociology of science freed from Enlightenment paradigms of testing for Truth. This paper uses, as an example, the case of Lewis Binford and his wife (in the 1960s) Sally Rosen, revealing Rosen’s work to make Lewis’s writing clear and persuasive. Rosen’s work was the efficient cause of Lewis Binford’s success with the New Archaeology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Reflections on the Sociology of Archaeology)

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Professional Archaeology in the UK under COVID-19

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Kenneth R. Aitchison

Humans 2023, 3(1), 36-46; https://doi.org/10.3390/humans3010005 - 01 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1302

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic had serious effects on the delivery of commercial archaeology in the United Kingdom during 2020 and 2021. This article presents a contemporary history of two years of practice and political developments. Because of commercial archaeology’s place within the broader construction [...] Read more.

The COVID-19 pandemic had serious effects on the delivery of commercial archaeology in the United Kingdom during 2020 and 2021. This article presents a contemporary history of two years of practice and political developments. Because of commercial archaeology’s place within the broader construction sector, it became a ‘protected’ industry, resulting in a massive increase in the amount of work undertaken. Archaeology adapted remarkably well to the difficult and dangerous conditions of the pandemic, while encountering new challenges in staff recruitment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Reflections on the Sociology of Archaeology)

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Bending the Trajectory of Field School Teaching and Learning through Active and Advocacy Archaeology

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Shawn P. Lambert

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Carol E. Colaninno

Humans 2023, 3(1), 10-23; https://doi.org/10.3390/humans3010002 - 15 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1374

Abstract

Many individuals practicing field-based research are subjected to sexual harassment and assault. This fact holds true for people engaged in archaeological field research and may be true for students who are just learning field methods while enrolled in an archaeological field school. We [...] Read more.

Many individuals practicing field-based research are subjected to sexual harassment and assault. This fact holds true for people engaged in archaeological field research and may be true for students who are just learning field methods while enrolled in an archaeological field school. We review some of our current research on the means of reducing and preventing sexual harassment and assault at archaeological field schools, as well as ways to create safer, more inclusive learning spaces. Additionally, we suggest that for the discipline to advance field school teaching and learning, we, as field directors, must situate ourselves as active and advocacy anthropologists: an approach that puts our students as a central focus when developing field-based pedagogy. As the authors of this work, we review our identities and positionality in conducting this research and in making meaning from the data we have collected. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Reflections on the Sociology of Archaeology)

Open AccessEssay

Class Barriers to Merit in the American Professoriate: An Archaeology Example and Proposals for Reform

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Michael J. Shott

Humans 2023, 3(1), 1-9; https://doi.org/10.3390/humans3010001 - 22 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 963

Abstract

Consumers and academics alike perceive a status hierarchy among American universities. By this perception, professors are placed in the status hierarchy befitting their scholarly merit. However, a recent study of the archaeology professoriate found no consistent correlation between faculty placement and merit. This [...] Read more.

Consumers and academics alike perceive a status hierarchy among American universities. By this perception, professors are placed in the status hierarchy befitting their scholarly merit. However, a recent study of the archaeology professoriate found no consistent correlation between faculty placement and merit. This essay identifies reasons for the lack of meritocracy, some unique to archaeology and others common to many fields. Archaeology, similar to the American academy at large, ignores class as a bias that handicaps some while favoring others. Notwithstanding challenges of definition and measurement, class should be treated equally with race, gender, and other biases in an academy’s pursuit of true meritocracy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Reflections on the Sociology of Archaeology)

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

African Archaeological Journals and Social Issues 2014–2021

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Cheryl Claassen

Humans 2023, 3(1), 25-35; https://doi.org/10.3390/humans3010004 - 30 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 922

Abstract

The two waves of reflexivity in archaeology are the identity politics of archaeologists and stakeholder politics. These social issues are considered in this article through the perspective of three African archaeological journals produced from 2014 to 2021. Identity politics is examined through a [...] Read more.

The two waves of reflexivity in archaeology are the identity politics of archaeologists and stakeholder politics. These social issues are considered in this article through the perspective of three African archaeological journals produced from 2014 to 2021. Identity politics is examined through a quantitative analysis of authorship, book reviewing, and the countries covered. I conclude that parity of gender authorship—assuming 61% male and 39% female archaeologists—has been achieved by the African Archaeological Review, Journal of African Archaeology, and Azania. In book reviewing, this is less so. The geographical coverage across the three journals shows lacunae. Stakeholder politics is most visible in book reviews and special issues. Journal ethics and goals and the final topics of open access and other ways of broadening the pool of authors, reviewers, and accessibility are offered. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Reflections on the Sociology of Archaeology)

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

From the Trowel’s Edge to the Scholarly Sidelines: Community-Based Research in Academic Archaeology, 2012–2021

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Alice P. Wright

Humans 2022, 2(4), 277-288; https://doi.org/10.3390/humans2040018 - 01 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1047

Abstract

Community-based approaches in archaeology are poised to make an important contribution to the decolonization of the discipline. Archaeologists who are committed to this agenda are undoubtedly aware that community archaeology is a vibrant and growing research area, but the extent to which the [...] Read more.

Community-based approaches in archaeology are poised to make an important contribution to the decolonization of the discipline. Archaeologists who are committed to this agenda are undoubtedly aware that community archaeology is a vibrant and growing research area, but the extent to which the practical aspects and interpretive impact of community archaeology are known beyond its adherents is unclear. This article reviews recent publication trends in highly ranked, international archaeology journals to determine if and what kind of community archaeology is reaching a discipline-spanning audience. The main finding of this analysis is that community archaeology occupies a dynamic but narrow niche within general archaeological scholarship. I argue that this pattern must be confronted and reversed if the transformative potential of community-based research is to be realized in archaeology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Reflections on the Sociology of Archaeology)

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Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Local Knowledge in American Archaeology: A Study in High Context Communication

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Lawrence E. Moore

Humans 2022, 2(4), 251-258; https://doi.org/10.3390/humans2040016 - 24 Nov 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 968

Abstract

Over the course of twenty five years, approximately 1990 to 2015, American archaeologists grew to accept the regular use of local knowledge, in the form of Native American and local community knowledge, in their development of archaeological knowledge and in cultural resource management. [...] Read more.

Over the course of twenty five years, approximately 1990 to 2015, American archaeologists grew to accept the regular use of local knowledge, in the form of Native American and local community knowledge, in their development of archaeological knowledge and in cultural resource management. This change mostly pushed archaeologists to engage with groups of people that would have been ignored previously. This transformation is part of a larger process of Modernism becoming Post Modernism via the expanded use of high context communication, a concept from Communications Studies, throughout American culture. This paper briefly describes the use of local knowledge and summarizes structural changes in cultural resource management, especially consultation practices, that highlight a wider usage of high context communication. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Reflections on the Sociology of Archaeology)

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Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

A Case for Buried Culture: From an Unknown Known to a Known Unknown

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Assaf Nativ

Humans 2022, 2(3), 74-94; https://doi.org/10.3390/humans2030006 - 14 Jul 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1600

Abstract

This paper makes a case for Buried Culture—humanly modified packages of sediments and artifacts. Specifically, it argues that Buried Culture amounts to an a-social, literally posthuman, cultural being. The argument proceeds through three main steps. Firstly, drawing on the prototypical example of landfills, [...] Read more.

This paper makes a case for Buried Culture—humanly modified packages of sediments and artifacts. Specifically, it argues that Buried Culture amounts to an a-social, literally posthuman, cultural being. The argument proceeds through three main steps. Firstly, drawing on the prototypical example of landfills, it demonstrates that while ontically solid, Buried Culture is epistemically vacuous. Secondly, placing it between sedimentology and archaeology, a diagnosis is offered: The epistemic vehicles at our disposal either acknowledge Buried Culture’s existence as a proper being or appreciate its cultural qualities, but not both. Thirdly, an aesthetically oriented approach is proposed, adopting the analytical reasoning of the art critic as a means to straddle this gap. To illustrate this, a small-scale case study is presented, concerned with an early 20th-century landfill near Tel Aviv, Israel. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Reflections on the Sociology of Archaeology)

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