Temporalising the house: exploring alternative perspectives on time and the archaeological record within Danish settlement archaeology

ABSTRACT

This article calls for a renewed debate on the role played by time and temporality within Danish settlement archaeology. Recent theoretical debate has challenged the conventional way of thinking about time in archaeology by drawing attention to the multitemporal character of the archaeological record. In the article, the temporalisation of the archaeological record of the house is discussed based on a critical review of the archaeological process. The analysis shows how basic excavation and archiving practices favours a temporalisation of the house based on the chronological date and, at best, downplays other temporalities. The inherent temporalities of the archaeological record of the house, particularly the posthole, are discussed, and it is argued that the posthole should both be perceived as an object and a process in order to create space for alternative temporalities. Instead of seeing stratigraphy as a property of the posthole, the posthole should be seen as an assemblage made up of the events and materials that created the stratigraphy, a process which is directly related to the life history of the house. It is argued that a multitemporal perspective is a prerequisite for new and fruitful ways to understand the house as an archaeological and cultural phenomenon.

KEYWORDS:

• Posthole
• house
• excavation methods
• archiving methods
• archaeological data
• temporalisation
• multitemporality
• assemblage

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Louise Felding, Mette Svart Kristiansen, Gavin Lucas and Tim Flohr Sørensen for fruitful comments on previous versions of this paper. Also the relevant comments from two anonymous peer reviewers have helped to improve the text. Any mistakes and misunderstandings remain my own though.