Introduction

The philosophy of archaeology, like the philosophy of other disciplines, such as art, law, and biology, asks philosophical questions about the discipline in question and applies the critical apparatus of philosophy to answer them. Philosophy of archaeology examines the definitions of basic archaeological concepts, the principles for how to classify archaeological materials, and the nature of archaeological knowledge. It also examines the ethical issues that arise in the conduct of archaeological investigations and dissemination of the information obtained from those investigations. Consideration of these foundational questions is not limited to professional philosophers. Archaeologists often don a philosophical hat to engage in critical examination of their discipline. Ideally, the philosopher of archaeology should have a foot in both fields, with enough knowledge of archaeology to understand its workings and enough critical philosophical ability to examine the arguments for various approaches to problematic issues and to write clearly about them.

Most archaeologists confront opportunities for philosophizing at various points in their careers. Introductory texts, for example, typically begin with an account of the nature and aims of archaeology. Such an account requires the archaeologist to step back from doing fieldwork, analyzing materials in a laboratory, reporting discoveries and other normal disciplinary activities. In a philosophical mode, the archaeologist considers instead such questions as whether archaeology is a science, how archaeology is related to history, and what methods work best to acquire and organize archaeological knowledge. Philosophical questions about standards of evidence and criteria for successful explanation also occur at the beginning of archaeological studies.