features: assemblage issue 3

In our Features section, we bring you two critical reflections on the theory and practice of archaeology.

Adrian Chadwick (Sheffield) writes on 'Archaeology at the Edge of Chaos: Further Towards Reflexive Excavation Methodologies', drawing on experiences gained during many years in the field. Bringing an informed theoretical approach to fieldwork has never been easy, but through ample illustration he argues that the way we think about archaeology should be thoroughly embedded in the methodologies that we use to record and interpret the past. Focusing on the pioneering work of the Çatalhöyük project in Turkey, in which he participated this summer, Chad asks us to think critically about the way we work and presents the most recent revisions in practice being considered by archaeologists in the field.

In 'Textual Imaginations: Vitruvius in Archaeological [Re]constructions', Daniel Millette (British Columbia) takes a critical look back through the ages at the way in which one text -- Vitruvius' treatise on architecture -- has been used, reinterpreted and rewritten, throughout the Classical period and the Renaissance, up to the present day. Arguing that we should scrutinize the contexts in which such texts are written and the different agendas people have brought to these pieces of material culture, he reveals the transformation of the text from reflection to authority and its re-emergence as a guide for archaeological reconstruction. He suggests that all too often, archaeologists use textual evidence in an uncritical manner, regarding it as a source of authority whilst being unaware of the history of the document itself.

Both authors thus urge us to think not only about the ideas behind our work but the methodologies and sources we use as archaeologists. Theory and practice -- what more could you want for Christmas ?

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