This book aims to show through a series of examples that an interpretative archaeology dealing with past meanings can be applied in practice to archaeological data, and that it can also contribute effectively to modern social practice.
Seven of the nineteen papers included have been specifically written for this volume to act as an overview of the way archaeology has developed over the last ten years. Yet Ian Hodder goes beyond this: he aims to break down the separation of theory and practice and to reconcile the division between the intellectual and the 'dirt' archaeologist. Faced with public controversy over the ownership and interpretation of the past, archaeology ungently needs a clear image of itself, able to gain funding, win public confidence and manage the heritage professionally yet sensitively. This image, however, is often clouded by the theory/practice debate, a division all too often encouraged by the separation of universities and heritage management. Hodder emphasises the importance of finding the right balance. Archaeologists, he asserts, cannot afford to ignore general theory in favour of practice any more than they can afford to shut themselves away in intellectual ivory towers. Theoretical debate is important to any discipline, particularly in archaeology if it is not to become complacent, self-interested and uncritical.
Theory and Practice in Archaeology captures and extends the lively debate of the 1980s over symbolic and structural approaches to archaeology. It will be essential reading for students of archaeology and for those involved in and responsible for heritage management.