Archaeology Theory interpretation exercise

ANT 207: General Archaeology

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Group Exercise: Divide into groups of no more than 8 people. Pick an artifact carried by someone in your group. Suggestions: a cell phone, jewelry, a pen, a notebook, etc. As a group, write the technomic, sociotechnic, and ideotechnic meanings of your artifact onto one piece of paper per group containing ALL YOUR NAMES. What does this artifact tell you about our culture?

Essay: In class, you will be assigned a theoretical orientation. If you’re doing this as a makeup assignment, pick either culture history, processualism, or postprocessualism. Answer the following three questions in a 1-2 page essay, to be turned in during class on Wednesday, January 27.

1. Remember the exercise you did about the archaeological site as a classroom. How would you know it is a classroom? Would you?
2. Using your theoretical perspective, how would you approach this archaeological site?
3. How would you interpret it archaeologically, using your theoretical approach?