An Ivory Tower in Archaeology? A Conversation with Leo S. Klejn

Abstract

During a conversation between Professor Leo S. Klejn from St. Petersburg in Russia and the author some controversial issues were discussed. These include aspects of feminist and gender archaeology, the nature and function of archaeological theory, the separation of archaeology and prehistory as scholarly disciplines, and the relation between archaeology and contemporary society. The latter issue leads to the question of whether or not we as archaeologists ought to build ourselves an ivory tower.