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Archaeology and contemporaneity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2015

Gavin Lucas
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Abstract

This paper discusses the concept of contemporaneity as it is used in archaeology. In particular, two general usages are examined. The first concerns the idea of contemporaneity in the context of archaeological dating and chronology, the second relates to the characterization of the archaeological record as a contemporary phenomenon. In both cases, related concepts are explored, namely synchronism and anachronism respectively. The paper offers a critique of these conventional usages of the idea of contemporaneity and argues for an alternative, linking this with the concept of consociation, a term coined by the phenomenologist Alfred Schutz in the early 20th century.

Keywords

contemporaneitytimesynchronismanachronismconsociality
Type
Discussion Article
Information
Archaeological Dialogues , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , June 2015 , pp. 1 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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