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Reviving the grand narrative: archaeology and long-term change: The Second David L. Clarke Memorial Lecture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Andrew Sherratt
Andrew Sherratt*
Affiliation:
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2PH, Great Britain
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Abstract

This contribution, in memory of the Cambridge archaeologist and cultural theorist, David Clarke (1938–76), investigates the possibility of a coherent description of long-term change on an archaeological time scale. It rejects an earlier (‘processualist’) synthesis based on ecology; but, rather than retreat into an introverted and fragmented post-modernism, it asserts the continuing value of a ‘grand narrative’. It identifies the problems of the neo-evolutionary conception prevalent in the 1960s and early 1970s, and in particular a division into stages, and emphasis on autonomous development, and the priority given to production. In contrast, this presentation emphasises the importance of social interaction and cultural encounter. This interactionist approach is exemplified in new descriptions of the ‘Neolithic’, ‘Urban’, and ‘Industrial’ Revolutions, and discussed as a means of conceptualising some general properties of long-term change.

Der vorliegende Beitrag, der dem Gedenken an den Cambridger Archäologen und Theoretiker David Clarke (1938–76) gewidmet ist, untersuch die Möglichkeit, Langzeitwandel innerhalb eines archäologischen Zeitrahmens kohärent zu beschreiben. Die früher vorgeschlagene ‘prozessualistische’ Synthese, die auf der Äkologie baseirte, wird dabei abgelehnt. Statt aber den Rückzug in einen introvertierten und in sich zerrissenen Postmodernismus anzutreten, wird hier der Wert eines übergreifenden Erklärungmodells bekräftigt. Der Beitrag arbeitet die Problmeme des neoevolutionären Konzeptes der 1960er und 70er Jahre heraus, insbesondere die Unterteilung in Entwicklungsstufen, die einsetige Betonung eigenständiger Entwicklung und die Priorität, die dem Produktionsbereich zugemessen wurde. Im Gegensatz dazu stellt der vorliegende Beitrag die Bedeutung von sozialer Interaktion und Kulturkontakt heraus. Dieser ‘interaktionistische’ Ansatz wird beispielhaft in neuen Beschreibungen der neolithischen, der städtischen und der industriellen Revolution vorgeführt, und seine Anwendung zum Verständnis einiger allgemeiner Eigenschaften von Langzeitwandel wird erörtert.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of European Archaeology , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , Spring 1995 , pp. 1 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © European Association of Archaeologists 

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