A New Kind of Relevance for Archaeology

Abstract

Traditional ways of doing archaeology impact the world in a variety of ways, but despite recent efforts the practical relevance of archaeology has remained limited. In this paper, I discuss why this is the case and suggest how archaeology can achieve greater practical relevance. I argue, first, that the traditional focus of archaeology on reconstructing the past is valuable but is unlikely to expand its practical relevance because the results are too context-specific. Second, I suggest traditional responses to the problem of historical contingency are also inadequate because the results are too general to connect to the specific issues and solutions society needs. Finally, I make a surprising and perhaps radical suggestion: that a productive way forward is to resuscitate and reformulate elements of the New Archaeology that were never realized by its proponents. I use the example of settlement scaling theory to illustrate that this is both possible and productive, and that additional work in this spirit would enhance the practical relevance of our field.

Why archaeology's relevance to global challenges has not been recognised

“…A growing number of archaeologists now believe that our work has relevance for issues and disciplines beyond archaeology (e.g. Smith 2010a; Kintigh et al 2014;Ortman 2019;Kerr 2020), but putting this belief into action requires hard work (Stump 2010;Kohler & Rockman 2020). We must convince scientists and scholars in other disciplines that our data and models are useful and relevant to broader issues, and we need to be able to collaborate in transdisciplinary research from an appropriate scientific baseline.…”

Weather Landscapes and Archaeology: Material Weathering Practices and Tangible Climates

“…Archaeology has made great strides in community archaeology and engagement (Atalay, 2019a(Atalay, , 2019bAtalay et al, 2019;Pikirayi & Schmidt, 2016), but its relevance remains questioned in many geographical, social and scientific contexts (Chirikure, 2021;Kohler & Rockman, 2020;Ortman, 2019;Richer et al, 2019). To address this, the knowledge and skills from community engagements should be utilised more explicitly in climate communication, storytelling, and efforts to get policymakers, other specialists, and different stakeholders to take action.…”

A manifesto for palaeodemography in the twenty-first century

“…Archaeological alternatives to 14 C-based proxies include; settlement residency estimates-for example, numbers of assemblages, densities of archaeological material, size of sites and catchments areas-whose implementation varies considerably between mobile [35,39] and sedentary societies [40]; tree-ring dating ( [41] this volume) and; historical documentation including death registers, population censuses and epigraphy [42,43]. Combining one or more of these diverse datasets with date assemblages provides useful controls on the limitations of radiocarbon summaries mentioned above [44].…”