The Past is Tomorrow. Towards an Archaeology of the Vanishing Present

This paper arises from a dissatisfaction with the 'Great Divides' created between past and present, self and others, people and material culture in the context of ethnoarchaeology. While conducting ethnoarchaeological research in Spain, Ethiopia and Brazil, I have been faced with the theor...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Norwegian archaeological review 2006-10, Vol.39 (2), p.110-125
Main Author: González-Ruibal, Alfredo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Generalities
Organisation and history of research
Prehistory and protohistory
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper arises from a dissatisfaction with the 'Great Divides' created between past and present, self and others, people and material culture in the context of ethnoarchaeology. While conducting ethnoarchaeological research in Spain, Ethiopia and Brazil, I have been faced with the theoretical and practical shortcomings of this field, which is too deeply rooted in modernist concerns and prejudices. I propose a reconsideration of ethnoarchaeology as archaeology tout court - an archaeology of the present - which has to be symmetrical in character. This means that present and past must not be hierarchically conceived - the former in the service of the latter or vice versa - nor strictly separated ontologically, and the relations between humans and things have to be properly problematized.
ISSN:0029-3652
1502-7678
DOI:10.1080/00293650601030073