Em Busca do Passado: a descodificação do registo arqueológico

by Lewis Roberts Binford

Como era a vida dos nossos antepassados primitivos? Como podemos interpretar e decifrar os padrões observados nos vestígios arqueológicos? E por que é que a humanidade efectuou a transição de um modo de vida de caçador-recolector para o de agricultor, e subsequentemente para vida civilizada, no espaço de apenas alguns milhares de anos?
É com estas questões em mente que o Professor Binford - um dos maiores teóricos do nosso tempo no campo da arqueologia e um dos fundadores da «Nova Arqueologia» nos EUA - examina o modo como olhamos o passado, fazendo ao mesmo tempo uma reavaliação de todo o percurso da evolução cultural da humanidade, desde o seu início, há milhões de anos, até às primeiras civilizações.

Genres: Archaeology, Anthropology, History, Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Lewis Roberts Binford (November 21, 1931 – April 11, 2011) was an American archaeologist known for his influential work in archaeological theory, ethnoarchaeology and the Paleolithic period. He is widely considered among the most influential archaeologists of the later 20th century, and is credited with fundamentally changing the field with the introduction of processual archaeology (or the "New Archaeology") in the 1960s. Binford's influence was controversial, however, and most theoretical work in archaeology in the late 1980s and 1990s was explicitly construed as either a reaction to or in support of the processual paradigm. Recent appraisals have judged that his approach owed more to prior work in the 1940s and 50s than suggested by Binford's strong criticism of his predecessors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Bi...

Reviews

[Lee Broderick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although some case studies are presented, this comes across as 'my life as a manifesto' as much as anything else. Binford eulogises himself as a heroic figure struggling to convert the arts and humanities legions of archaeologists to the new doctrine of archaeology as science.

Binford was an important figure in the discipline but here comes across as one arrogant enough to think that he was more important than he was: that, in the words of Jose Mourinho, he was "the special one."

[Alberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro que trata algunas incógnitas de la prehistoria desde una perspectiva muy analítica y estadística, utilizándolas como ejemplo de las aproximaciones metodológicas procesualistas expuestas por el autor en todo el libro. A veces te pierdes en los ejemplos, dada la inmensa cantidad de datos aportados, pero sin duda es de especial valoración la minuciosidad con la que fueron tomados, teniendo en cuenta que la mayoría de ejemplos son de elaboración propia (incluidas las fotografías y planos).

[Riversue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Binford makes a clear case for the use of ethnographic material to do comparatives with the archaeological record. An interesting read that covers the Mousterian period but also assess the theories around the move to agriculture and the reasons for the increasing complexity and evolution to complex societies.

[Andrés León Guacaneme · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set of different articles not very related but still useful

[Emerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this last year and I forgot to log it in lol