Nature vs Culture in Transdisciplinary Lake Village Research: Theoretical challenges
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 03/02/2019

Current work on the Austrian pre-Alpine lakes aimed at enhancing understanding of spatial and temporal dimensions of the Mondsee Culture involves a series of complex theoretical and methodological challenges, especially in relation to causation and explanation of human action. These themes are philosophically complex in themselves (pace Collingwood and von Wright) without the addition of the kinds of filters and differences that typically operate on data capture within transdisciplinary prehistoric research. This paper reports on a series of interlinked projects which jointly involve dry-land and underwater remote sensing and archaeological excavation and on- and off-site coring and pollen/NPP analysis both on land and in lake sediments. These are generating rich data sets the chronological resolution (precision, accuracy, interval, etc.) of which nevertheless varies greatly and makes assessment of the distinction between anthropogenic impact on environment(s) and responses to natural change within environments hard to judge. We suggest that the classic distinction of nature and culture, and its embedding into conventional disciplinary terminologies (e.g. archaeology or palynology), while apparently analytical, often in fact pre-interprets different causalities. The distinction thus requires, at the very least, critique and redefinition.  

Timothy Taylor (Universitat Wien), C. Dworksy, J-N. Haas, K. Kowarik, J. Leskovar, J. Maurer, H. Pohl and C. Ries