On Theoretical Realism in Archaeology

Abstract

In the 1960s the American New Archaeology recommended a logical empiricist, positivist research programme. But in philosophy positivism was by then already out of date. Also in archaeology it was much criticized, and some post-processualists ended up in total relativism. It has been maintained that we cannot attain any objective truth about the past, but have to form a subjective picture of it. But archaeology does not have to choose between positivism and relativism. A new philosphical school, theoretical realism, allows archaeologists to speak of the prehistoric past as a reality, not as a construction or a fiction. The research strategy observed by all good archaeologists since the beginning of our science in the 1830s is good and will lead to thrustworthy results.