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Theory

Main article: Archaeological theory


Archaeologists dig in the dirt very carefully so they won't miss anything import
ant.
Sign at Lubbock Lake Landmark in Lubbock, Texas
There is no one singular approach to archaeological theory that has been adhered
to by all archaeologists. When archaeology developed in the late 19th century,
the first approach to archaeological theory to be practiced was that of cultural
-history archaeology, which held the goal of explaining why cultures changed and
adapted rather than just highlighting the fact that they did, therefore emphasi
zing historical particularism.[18] In the early 20th century, many archaeologist
s who studied past societies with direct continuing links to existing ones (such
as those of Native Americans, Siberians, Mesoamericans etc.) followed the direc
t historical approach, compared the continuity between the past and contemporary
ethnic and cultural groups.[18] In the 1960s, an archaeological movement largel
y led by American archaeologists like Lewis Binford and Kent Flannery arose that
rebelled against the established cultural-history archaeology.[19][20] They pro
posed a "New Archaeology", which would be more "scientific" and "anthropological
", with hypothesis testing and the scientific method very important parts of wha
t became known as processual archaeology.[18]
In the 1980s, a new postmodern movement arose led by the British archaeologists
Michael Shanks,[21][22][23][24] Christopher Tilley,[25] Daniel Miller,[26][27] a
nd Ian Hodder,[28][29][30][31][32][33] which has become known as post-processual
archaeology. It questioned processualism's appeals to scientific positivism and
impartiality, and emphasized the importance of a more self-critical theoretical
reflexivity.[citation needed] However, this approach has been criticized by pro
cessualists as lacking scientific rigor, and the validity of both processualism
and post-processualism is still under debate. Meanwhile, another theory, known a
s historical processualism has emerged seeking to incorporate a focus on process
and post-processual archaeology's emphasis of reflexivity and history.[34]
Archaeological theory now borrows from a wide range of influences, including neo
-evolutionary thought,[35][35][35] phenomenology, postmodernism, agency theory,
cognitive science, structural functionalism, gender-based and feminist archaeolo
gy, and systems theory.

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