Hermeneutics and Archaeology: On the Philosophy of Contextual Archaeology

Abstract

In this paper we situate and discuss critically Ian Hodder's contextual archaeology in relation to a broader tradition of philosophical hermeneutics. We argue that Hodder's position comes close to the romantic conception of interpretation developed by German philosophers and historians. Central to this position is the equation of meaning and intention, context and origin, making historical understanding a transaction between the creative consciousness of the prehistoric agents and the receptive or reconstructive consciousness of the archaeologist. Drawing on Gadamer's critique of early hermeneutics we argue that Hodder's contextual archaeology disregards the dialectic between past and present horizons, a dialectic embedded in past material culture itself lying before us as present traces of a past.