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The Case Study in Archaeological Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 February 2022

Gavin Lucas Open the ORCID record for Gavin Lucas [Opens in a new window]  and
Bjørnar Olsen
Gavin Lucas*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
Bjørnar Olsen
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, History, Religious Studies and Theology, UiT, Artic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
*
([email protected], corresponding author)
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Abstract

The case study is a familiar yet generally taken-for-granted element of archaeological theory. Typically, it is viewed as a kind of “proof of concept,” an essential way to demonstrate the value of a particular theoretical approach, if not theory in general. In this article, we examine the case study as it has been used in archaeology, exploring its different manifestations and situating them within a wider discussion of the role of cases and examples within the humanities and social sciences. Offering our own “example”—a rereading of Bonnichsen's Millie's Camp experiment from the 1970s—we argue for a different role of the case study in relation to archaeological theory.

En arqueología teórica, el caso de estudio es un elemento familiar pero que generalmente se da por hecho. Se suele ver como una especie de “prueba de concepto”, una forma esencial de demostrar el valor de una determinada aproximación teórica —o incluso de la teoría en general. En este artículo examinamos la forma en que el caso de estudio se ha usado en arqueología, exploramos sus diferentes manifestaciones y lo situamos dentro de la discusión más amplia sobre el papel de los casos y los ejemplos dentro de las humanidades y las ciencias sociales. A partir de nuestro propio “ejemplo”, una relectura del experimento de Millie's Camp de Bonnichsen, llevado a cabo en los años 70, defendemos un papel diferente del caso en relación con la teoría arqueológica.

Keywords

case studyexampletheoryarchaeologyestudio de casoejemploteoríaarqueología
Type
Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 87 , Issue 2 , April 2022 , pp. 352 - 367
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American Archaeology

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