Tales of the Unexpected. Creativity in Archaeological Interpretation
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2021-04-05

In this lecture, I consider the nature of archaeological theory in a post-paradigm era and re-flect  especially  on  the  function  of  creativity  in  archaeological  interpretation.  Much  of  the  debate about archaeological knowledge, especially in the late 20th century, was caught up in issues of evaluation, objectivity and relativism, while the new millennium has seen a greater focus on describing knowledge-making practices, especially at the coalface, i.e. fieldwork. Certainly, knowledge production, as a practice, is inflected by issues of plausibility and con-viction, but such issues have also tended to monopolize much of the debate. Yet equally im-portant to knowledge production is the problem of novelty. Interpretations don’t just have to be convincing; they also have to tell us something we don’t already know. The question I want to  address  in  this  lecture  concerns  how  new  knowledge  comes  about;  how  do  we  compre-hend epistemic novelty and how is it nurtured? Such questions also deal quite directly with issues  facing  every  archaeologist  as  they  routinely  relate  to  their  data:  how  do  I  go  about  interpreting it? Beyond methods, beyond theoretical paradigms, what is the x factor behind a creative and innovative interpretation?


Gavin M. Lucas