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Archaeology will be just fine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2016

Artur Ribeiro
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Abstract

Many archaeologists are currently stuck in a mindset in which attention is paid exclusively to ideas that are ‘new’ and ‘revolutionary’. This fetishization of the ‘new’ leads us down a dangerous road as it promotes uncritical disdain of old ideas which remain valid and it advocates fads from neighbouring disciplines which are methodologically vapid and philosophically dubious. The objective of this paper is to question whether archaeology requires constant ‘paradigmatic change’ and my answer to this question is no. By constantly altering the status quo, archaeologists are promoting a culture in which theoretical ‘newness’ is given the spotlight and ideas are considered valid as long as they are original. Against this, I recommend a more critical view of new ideas and a revision of old ones – a culture which prioritizes the quality of archaeological theories regardless of whether they are new or old.

Keywords

theoreticalparadigmcritiquefadimprovementprogress
Type
Discussion
Information
Archaeological Dialogues , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , December 2016 , pp. 146 - 151
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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