Ethnoarchaeology, Ethnographic Archaeology and Material Culture

Abstract

In this article, the concepts of ethnoarchaeology and archaeological ethnography are discussed. In the author’s opinion, both are problematic, the former because of its emphasis on analogy, the second because it is scarcely archaeological (in the sense of the study of material culture). If we reject analogy as the main foundation of ethnoarcaheology, then it is necessary to speak about archaeology, full stop. However, this forces us to look for a new basis for the study of present societies with an archaeological methodology. Here it is argued that this basis is material culture. The remainder of the article focuses on the question of materiality and what archaeology can contribute to understanding contemporary societies through it.