Archaeological Theory in a Nutshell

by Adrian Praetzellis

This book provides a brief, readable introduction to archaeological theory. Adrian Praetzellis demystifies a pile of tricky contemporary concepts for the theory-phobic undergraduate or beginning graduate student. This new edition adds chapters on Indigenous, cognitive, and behavioral archaeologies and now covers 15 contemporary theories from neoevolutionism to queer theory. Each chapter begins with a description of the concept, its origin and significance. Next up is an example of how an archaeologist has used the idea to understand their site, making the connection between the idea and the archaeology plain and unambiguous. Each chapter ends with discussion questions and suggestions for further reading. A glossary of postmodern discourse (including that word) concludes the book. Using plain English to clarify some of the more baffling ideas used in contemporary archaeology, this book is a vital resource for students studying archaeological theory and the discipline as a whole.

Genres: Archaeology

230 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2015

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does a good job of introducing the reader to the basics of archaeological and some anthropological theory. It does this through a humourful and enyable approach, reminds me of the style of writing of Anthropology of Religion: The Basics: The Basics by Bielo, though I think Praetzellis perfects his approach and makes reading about what can sometimes be a droll topic exciting. I wish sometimes that there were more detials, but there another book for that.

[Anna P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall it was a great book and the accessibility and ease made it all the better. I have some critiques on queer theory and the authors commentary about it being applicable to everything, when the queerness is a central part of queer theory. No mention of intersectionality either.

Thing theory I had a note or two, same with phenomenology, but overall it was a great introductory read to archaeological theory. Of course, the author tries to cover so much in limited space so it only makes sense to have some withdrawals.

[Mills College Library]

930.1 P8981 2015

[Travis Hamon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pleasent read

Praetzellis manages to make the exploration of archaeological theory entertaining. His exposition informs while his humor makes the journey jouissance.