Reading the Past: Current Approaches to Interpretation in Archaeology
'One of the most important and provocative recent contributions to the theory and philosophy of archaeology.' British Archaeological News' ... it strives honestly and purposefully not only to find a rationale for archaeology, the subject which alone can study most of the human past, but also for the place of that study among the intellectual endeavours of our own age.' The Times Literary Supplement' ... it is highly welcome ... to have a short, comprehensible book which challenges many of the shibboleths of the New Archaeology, looks seriously but critically at Structuralism, Neo-Marxism and Critical Theory, and attempts to develop an original 'post-processual' and 'contextual' approach to the cultural meaning of things and to the significance of individuals and individual action in the past.' Antiquaries Journal' ... it will provide powerful stimuli for a necessary dialogue within archaeology, not only for how we view the past but also for how we view our roles in the present.' American Anthropologist