The Two Cultures and a World Apart: Archaeology and Science at a New Crossroads

Abstract

Within the past decade or so, archaeology has increasingly utilised and contributed to major advances in scientific methods when exploring the past. This progress is frequently celebrated as a quantum leap in the possibilities for understanding the archaeological record, opening up hitherto inaccessible dimensions of the past. This article represents a critique of the current consumption of science in archaeology, arguing that the discipline’s grounding in the humanities is at stake, and that the notion of ‘interdisciplinarity’ is becoming distorted with the increasing fetishisation of ‘data’, ‘facts’ and quantitative methods. It is argued that if archaeology is to break free of its self-induced inferiority to and dependence on science, it must revitalise its methodology for asking questions pertinent to the humanities.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This article is developed from two lectures given at the Centre for Textile Research at the University of Copenhagen in 2016. I am grateful for useful comments and critique at the events, in particular from Luise Ørsted Brandt, Jane Malcolm-Davis and Eva Andersson Strand. Moreover, Mette Løvschal and Juliane Wammen have contributed with valuable critique of a draft of this article in addition to comments from two peer reviewers. Views and errors in the article remain my own.

Notes

¹ http://dg.dk/en/centers-of-excellence-2/list-of-all-dnrfs-centers-of-excellence/ Accessed May 1, 2017.