Norw. Arch. Rev., Vol. 26, No.

2, 1993
ARTICLES

Why Indiana Jones is Smarter Than the

Post-Processualists *
JOHN BINTLIFF
Department of Archaeology, Durham University, UK
Post-Processualism's influence is waning in Britain, linked to the decline
of its parent Post-Modernism. Both lost credibility through attempting to
dominate discourse, and their negative implications for human rights. Mod-
ernism and its offspring Processualism had reflected the scientism and socio-
economic centralism that dominated the 20th century up until the 1970s.
Jameson and Harvey have exposed their Post-Modernism as a superficial
aesthetic movement spawned by Post-Fordist economics. Perceived from
the History of Ideas this temporal succession is the recurrent opposition
between Positivist and Idealist philosophies. Wittgenstein's philosophy
shows a 'third way' where objective and subjective approaches are comp-
lementary tools for scholarship. In Cognitive Processual archaeology a prag-
matic merger arises from these formerly competing traditions.

THE DECLINE OF THE sented in substantially its present form at that

POST-PROCESSUAL AND conference.
POST-MODERN MOVEMENTS The most recent TAG conference, just a
few months ago (at Southampton University
in December 1992), has confirmed the trend:
In a review article of the national conference
a much publicized 'Great Debate' between
of Theoretical Archaeology in Britain
Processualism (Binford, Renfrew) and Post-
(TAG) (held at Lampeter University in
Processualism (Tilley, Barrett) was almost
December 1990), I was led to comment
universally judged a disappointing rerun of
(Bintliff 1991) that Post-Processualism was
an old and tired argument. In the many and
triumphant as the leading discussion topic in varied symposia which constituted the real
British archaeological theory. Just one year 'main courses' of the conference, avowedly
later, on the occasion of the next TAG con- Post-Processualist contributions were mar-
ference (at Leicester University in Decem- ginalized and unimpressive. In contrast, it
ber 1991), I was to find my evaluation of the was a striking characteristic of many of the
situation dramatically changed; reading the most impressive and innovative papers that
auspices from current discussion and pub- they adopted an approach dubbed 'Cognitive
lication had led me to consider that the Processualism' by Renfrew (Renfrew 1981,
influence of the movement was already de- 1982, cf. Bintliff 1986).
clining, and there were abundant reasons to This rapid shift in Post-Processualism's
foresee its coming demise, albeit over a fortunes is a mirror of the crumbling edifice
period of several years. This paper was pre- of its intellectual parent Post-Modernism in
the Humanities. In both cases, it is para-
* A paper read at the Theoretical Archaeology Group doxically the success of these movements
conference in December 1991, at Leicester
University; revised January 1993. that has created the mechanism for their de-

_
92 John Bindiff

cline. The existence of an established body The Post-Modernist guru Derrida has col-
of books and papers by Post-Modernists and laborated with an architect (Tschumi at La
Post-Processualists has allowed scholars, in- Villette), but even those sympathetic to a
cluding advocates of the movements them- truly Post-Modern and even Deconstruc-
selves, the opportunity for mature reflection tionist Architecture admit that it is unlikely
on the concepts involved and their potential, to be very effective at putting a roof over
if any, for the future development of the rele- our heads, not to mention other 'functional'
vant disciplines. The judgement is increas- elements such as walls, doors and rooms
ingly negative. In every discipline Post- (Eddy 1990).
Modernism is patently under siege, its ideas As for Literary Studies, from where much
and practices being systematically taken of the Post-Modern agenda derives, the
apart by the growing number of its critics, chorus of criticism of Post-Modernist read-
not least those who some years ago espoused ings has become deafening. One striking
its cause and now condemn its failings. focus for attack is the self-promoting egotism
What should we now seek to salvage from of Post-Modern critics, who, in following
the wreck of Post-Modern archaeology? Un- their credo of 'The Death of the Author', set
til quite recently, I would have wanted to themselves up as more creative and inter-
rescue quite a few concepts and approaches esting than the writers whose works they are
from the Post-Processual era (indeed see supposedly illuminating. It was symptomatic
Bintliff 1991): in the writings of Ian Hodder of the increasing distancing of both writers
this would have included the importance he and critics from the Post-Modernist literary
has given to the role of the individual, and approach that Malcolm Bradbury and David
the increased awareness he has demanded Lodge, significantly both of them fine con-
for the different experiences of ethnic groups temporary creators of literature as well as
and women in the past. In the work of Chris professional teachers of the subject, recently
Tilley and Mike Shanks I would have seen a went on record (The South Bank Show,
future for their recurrent emphasis on re- 1991) as stating that Post-Modernism was a
vealing strategies of power and dominance movement inimical to the creation of any
both in past societies and in the organization new literature.
of modern archaeology. Let us note, then, that the Post-Modern
However, listening to current discussions individual, as in the deconstructionist slogan
in other disciplines, a clear picture is emerg- 'The Death of the Author', suffers loss of
ing of the PM agenda as inimical to the genu- autonomy and even total fragmentation as
ine interests of the individual, or to those the unwitting instrument of floating
peripheralized and subordinated sectors of discourses. Ethnic groups and women are
society such as women and ethnic minorities. likewise, in the Post-Modern approach, com-
partmentalized and effectively peripheral-
ized as 'the other', to be treated as an in-
CONCEPTUAL CRITIQUES
commensurate sphere outside of the male
First to fall has been the bastion of Post- sphere of socio-economic power and ration-
Modernist Architecture, indeed it has been alism; they are discouraged from unified ac-
convincingly argued that this always existed tion to assert their rights, as both group
more on the written page than it ever did in solidarity and political action are seen as
concrete or steel. A tower-block housing a white, male establishment tendencies.
multinational, even if playfully decorated As for the war on power structures, it has
with Post-Modernist references to historical been widely pointed out in every discipline
architectural styles, is behind its deceptively (for Geography, for example, see Curry
ironic facade, still a multinational monolith. 1991:223; and for Archaeology see the in-
 Why Indiana Jones is Smarter Than the Post-Processualists 93

vited comments in Shanks, Tilley et al. 1989) was his scathing review of Shanks and
that the gurus of Post-Modernism (PM) and Tilley's version of Post-Processualism in the
indeed Post-Processualism (PP) typically re- Norwegian Archaeological Review (Hodder
tain all the traits of establishment dominance 1989). Here he falls out with them on two
structures: they accept positions in the aca- accounts: first, for advocating what Hodder
demic teaching establishment, adopt tra- now feels to be futile, if mainstream Post-
ditional modes of talk-down lecturing, Modern ideas; secondly, for their total in-
cultivate establishment publishers, build up a consistency in promoting at one and the same
clientele of postgraduate acolytes (especially time, a relativistic approach to an unknow-
relying on the mind-closing strategy of bib- able past and present, and a thoroughly dog-
liographic exclusion), and using traditional matic, Marxist, prescriptive interpretation to
forms of belittling propaganda on behalf of both past and present. Hodder's increasing
their programme vis-à-vis the preceding es- disillusionment with Post-Modernism and
tablishment agenda, strive with noise and ag- his gradual retreat into Cognitive Processual-
gression to dominate the minds and bodies ism, and Shanks and Tilley's confused and
of the intellectual sectors of the academic inconsistent presentation of a Post-Modern
community. It is apposite to quote a review agenda, are revealing of the gradual dis-
of a collection of PM geographical writings integration of the Post-Processualist enter-
purporting to liberate the discipline from tra- prise.
ditional elitist theorists: 'let there be no mis- Considering the progressive collapse of
take: this book is for Mandarins, not for Post-Modernism, Hodder's pragmatic disen-
Gambian peasants or even run-of-the-mill gagement is timely if he wishes to preserve
geographers' (Tuan 1989, quoted in Curry his central position in future mainstream
1991:219). The reader of PP texts will doubt- archaeological theory. But what are we to
less find a resonance. make of the jarring contradictions he and
If we turn specifically to a consideration most other commentators have found in the
work of Shanks and Tilley, between their
of Post-Processualism, the dissolution of the
preaching of the open text of Post-Mod-
main pillars of that movement is becoming
ernism and a strident Marxist activism? Con-
readily apparent. Ian Hodder, happy to as-
sider these remarkable statements made by
sociate himself with the whole relativistic
those writers in this journal (NAR 1989): 'we
ethos of Post-Modernism in his Reading the [have] abandoned any attempt to create a
Pastoi 1986 (Hodder 1986), now admits that privileged or foundational discourse' (p. 7)
Post-Processualism has only posed critical and 'It is important to analyze . . . the mass
questions and failed to give answers or media, popular and fictional writing about
alternatives. His own more recent work, for the past, museum presentations, and the rap-
example The Domestication of Europe (Hod- idly growing heritage industry. It also means
der 1990) is Structuralist rather than Post- intervening in all these sectors, taking power,
Structuralist, dogmatically readable rather taking control' (p. 11) (Shanks et al. 1989,
than unprogrammed and rewritable: in es- my emphases). I can account for the muddle
sence, it is an exercise in Renfrew's 'Cog- of Shanks and Tilley's philosophy, and in
nitive Archaeology' (1982) that has tacitly doing so I shall also be indicating what I think
dropped the Post-Modern agenda. In a re- is worth saving from the Post-Modern,
cent lecture (Durham University, November Post-Processual movement, what their most
1990) Hodder significantly referred to the significant inheritance will be.
need for 'a modified objectivity', and at the
1992 Southampton TAG he publicly pre- THE CONTEXTUAL CRITIQUE
ached the importance of a Processual ap- Ironically (and Post-Modernism's favourite
proach to the past. Even more remarkable style is irony), we learn most from Post-Mod-
94 JohnBintliff
Modernism Post-modernism
romanticism/Symbolism paraphysics/Dadaism
form (conjunctive, closed) antiform (disjunctive, open)
purpose play
design chance
hierarchy anarchy
mastery/logos exhaustion/silence
art object/finished work proccss/performance/happcning
distance participation
creation/totalization/synthesis decreation/deconstruction/antithesis
presence absence
centring dispersal
genre/boundary text/intertext
semantics rhetoric
paradigm syntagm
hypotaxis parataxis
metaphor metonymy
selection combination
root/depth rhizome/surface
interpretation/reading against interpretation/misreading
signified signifier
lisible (readerly) scriptable (writerly)
narrative/grande histoire anti-narrative/pei/te histoire
master code idiolect
symptom desire
type mutant
genital/phallic polymorphous/androgynous
paranoia schizophrenia
origin/cause differcnce-differcnce/trace
God the Father The Holy Ghost
metaphysics irony
determinancy indeterminancy
transcendence immanence

Fig. 1. Schematic differences between Modernism and Post-Modernism (from Harvey, 1989, Table 1.1.
after Hassan 1985).

ernism by studying the very rise and flor- And yet Post-Modernism is a cultural mani-
escence of the Post-Modern movement festation fixed in time and space, or rather—
itself, if we conduct, as it were, an ar- given its esoteric and elitist tendencies (es-
chaeological investigation into its origins and sentially being a kind of 'Trivial Pursuit'
development. Post-Modern approaches to played mainly in university seminar rooms,
life, present and past, comprise a set of at- and galleries of art and photography)—a sub-
tributes which can be tabulated in contrast to culture. Like any other cultural trend Post-
those typical for the preceding Modernist Modernism is amenable to investigation from
(cf. in archaeology Processualist) ap- the standpoint of its contemporary historical
proaches (Fig. 1), bearing in mind that in- context. The rise of Post-Modernism in the
dividual Modernist or Post-Modernist 1980s is certainly not a chance event, the
writers may only utilize a selection of these autonomous discovery of a few clever people
concepts and moods. Clearly there is a locked away from the world, but can be shown
radical change of stated agenda, supporting to be a manifestation in the cultural sphere of
the belief of Post-Processualists that their an underlying sea change in the socio-econ-
adoption of Post-Modernist perspectives omic conditions of the leading industrial so-
represents a revolutionary shift in ways of cieties, and increasingly of the less developed
talking about human society. parts of the world.
 Why Indiana Jones is Smarter Than the Post-Processualists 95

JAMESON: THE INTELLECTUAL the times, making a virtue out of weakness

MALAISE OF LATE CAPITALISM and disillusionment. If we cannot make con-
If Post-Modernism can be said to have been tact with the forces that control the world
born with the much-publicized destruction of around us, have lost faith in ideologies that
a modernist housing estate in 1972 (Jencks promise us that degree of control, and life
1984), the key to its true nature was already seems an ever-changing superficial experi-
exposed in a now classic and perceptive ence, then that 'depthlessness' becomes a
discussion of the emergent phenomenon by philosophy of life, something to give way to.
Jameson in the New Left Review of 1984 A classic novel, or the results of an exca-
(Jameson 1984). vation, are merely the stage (Tilley 1989),
Jameson drew careful attention to the rather than the play, upon which we can each
close and logical relationship between the as reader or excavator imagine amusing per-
rise of the cultural aesthetic of Post-Mod- sonal fantasies without the risk of an author
ernism, and the rapid contemporary changes or a real lived past imposing constraints by
in everyday lived experience as the major in- voicing their beliefs and lives at us.
dustrial societies moved from what has been Ian Hodder, without recognizing this con-
termed the Fordist form of capitalism into a textual grounding to the Post-Modern move-
new era, from the mid-1970s, termed 'post- ment, has nonetheless intelligently seen
Fordist' capitalism. To simplify the contrast, through the essentially paralyzing nature of
Fordism is typified by centralized, regionally its tenets and begun his retreat to realist Cog-
bound, large plant economics, whether in the nitive Processualism. Shanks and Tilley,
private or state sector, closely mirrored by however, unwittingly provide us (Shanks,
centrist, interventionist planning from re- Tilley et al. 1989) with ideal case-study ma-
gional and national state authorities. Post- terial for documenting how two socially
Fordism is typified by decentralized, smaller- aware, politically committed, thinking in-
scale production centres, the fragmentation tellectuals of the 70s and early 80s, by jump-
of production, the loss of regional embed- ing on the academically chic bandwagon of
dedness, the demolition of central govern- Post-Modernism, have allowed themselves
ment interventionist programmes of the to become the unthinking mouthpieces of
'nanny-state' variety. The significance of the late capitalism and the New Right in the
mid-1970s for the rapid spread of post-Ford- 1990s. The conversion has been only partial,
ism and its cultural reflector, Post-Modern- producing that philosophical schizophrenia
ism, is due to the series of financial crises so typical of their publications.
experienced in all leading capitalist societies
HARVEY: FLEXIBLE
in this era, associated with monetary in-
ACCUMULATION AND THE
stability, the oil crisis and the development
DISSOLUTION OF COMMUNITY
of new capitalist competitors from outside of
the Europe-USA economic bloc. Jameson's highly influential paper
For Jameson, the emergence of Post- stimulated, and will now certainly be super-
Modernism was effectively a symptom of the seded by, a remarkable book published in
experience of societies where traditional cer- 1989 from Britain's acknowledged leading
tainties of time, place, community, political theorist in Geography, David Harvey. En-
commitment were being undermined by re- titled The Condition of Postmodernity (Har-
mote and seemingly incomprehensible forces vey 1989), its very name challenges the high
beyond one's sphere of meaningful engage- ground of the contemporary era by closely
ment. Submissive to this sense of instability following that of the classic Post-Modernist
and powerlessness, Post-Modernism seeks book by Lyotard—The Postmodern Con-
comfort by moulding itself to the mood of dition (Lyotard 1984).
96 John Bintliff

Harvey begins by reminding us of the well- sociated in a very positive way with the socio-
established causative relationship that linked economic advancement of the region, the na-
the dominance of Modernism and Positivism tion and the developed world.
throughout the first half of this century, with In crystal clear fashion, Harvey shows us
the reality and general ethos of technological how the 1970s crisis of capitalism, where
and scientific advance, and central large- growth or even stability of production and
scale planning in both state and business consumption patterns throughout the capi-
sectors (cf. Bintliff 1986). Building on Jame- talist world were thrown in the balance,
son's insights, Harvey then proceeds to docu- marked a decisive end to these traditional
ment in much more detail the historical ways of organizing citizens, labour and capi-
reasons for the massive redirection of tal. In the ensuing recession and the in-
government, commerce and industry during creasing threat of total market dominance by
the last 15 years, concentrating on the world more efficient and cheaper products from
economic crises of the 1970s and the de- Eastern Asia, a new mode of economic sur-
liberate decision by leading financial groups vival was born, the regime of Flexible Ac-
to restructure towards what is now being cumulation. Both company and state decks
called Flexible Accumulation or post-Fordist had to be stripped bare for action in what has
economics, a process tied closely to the become an accelerating race to corner ever
activities of conservative governments in more insecure and deflating markets or
dismantling statist controls over national and income.
regional capitalism and removing socio- For companies and their diminishing core
economic regulation. staff, the regional base is expendable: re-
Behind the Modernist trend of the period location at short notice, perhaps to a distant
to the 1960s lay an overall growth of pro- country, can dump a local workforce whose
ductivity for the leading industrial countries; existence is tied to that enterprise. For com-
world trade was expanding, a fact which pany management every stage of the pro-
could compensate for internal failings such duction and distribution process can be
as the progressive decline of those countries1 dissociated from a fixed workforce and even
traditional industries. Corporate wealth en- a fixed lower management: the trend is to-
abled employee wealth to rise, and govern- ward subcontracting with the most successful
ment tax revenue; these surpluses could be bidders and contract employees being taken
deployed to reinforce employee allegiance on for further employment. Ideal employ-
through bonuses and financial subsidies, or, ment, overhead, and investment conditions
in the case of the state, to fund state wel- for a company are those where anyone can
farism to succour those excluded from rising be dismissed at short notice or moved around
incomes. The open alliance of social wel- the country at will, and where failings at a
farism and corporate philanthropism was production or distribution point, not least
strengthened by the regionalism shared by labour rumblings, no longer impact on com-
established businesses and the active contact pany fortunes since these units are replace-
points of local and central government (for able through cancellation of contract. (This
the latter in Britain, local councils, county is also a good description of the current em-
councils, hospitals and social security ployment structure of Professional Archae-
offices). This regionalism merged effortlessly ology in Britain today.) Meanwhile, in the
into most people's sense of personal root- public sphere conservative governments pro-
edness into regional communities. Particu- gressively take down those structures of com-
larly in the immediate postwar cross-party munity erected by prosperous welfarism,
welfarist initiatives in most capitalist de- reducing every possible organ of state to free
mocracies, individual fates were seen as as- enterprise.
 Why Indiana Jones is Smarter Than the Post-Processualists 97

Thus, from every direction the individual's Processual archaeology does not recognize a
identification with communal action and 'real past' (death of the historic actor as well
shared achievement is attacked; the infa- as the author?), decries the search for any
mous injunction by a British right-wing poli- kind of coherent social norms in the past,
tician to the unemployed to 'get on your bike' for links that tie people in the past with
situates the individual as an isolated ad- ourselves, and promotes excavation as
venturer pursuing self-centred goals, for, as theatre (Tilley 1989). We could indeed only
Margaret Thatcher told us, 'there is no such expect that Post-Processualism would be
thing as society'. The result is, predictably, characterized by a self-promotion and ex-
not a more democratic and more compre- pressionism in the presence of the past that
hensively affluent society—the rich get denies previous societies their genuine voice:
richer, and the poor get poorer. attitudes that Post-Modern literary critics are
Harvey takes us further, into the totally now being so justly ridiculed for.
disorientating effects of the accelerating com-
pression and indeed negation of time and CONTEXTUALIZING
space that has accompanied the shift to post- POST-PROCESSUALISM AND
Fordist economics: finance no longer sits tied PROCESSUALISM IN 20th-CENTURY
to heavy machines in mills that dominate their HISTORY
dependent community, it flows restlessly Now, if, as we have argued, the Processual-
around the world in money markets that are ism of New Archaeology was in a significant
open 24 hours a day. way the unwitting offspring of that centralist,
In parallel with the rapacious stripping techno-scientific state and commercial power
down of business, the accelerated economic which has dominated the first three gen-
competition set in motion by the 1970s crises erations of this century, and Post-Processual-
has led to strategies that strive to increase pro- ism equally the unconscious creation of the
duction turnover time and promote decentralized, flexible accumulation post-
consumerism as the centre of individual ex- Fordist world economic regime, character-
istence. We are encouraged to live only on the istic of the last 20 years, our first conclusion
surface, pursuing fashionable extravagances. has to be this:
Only in the privileged circles of secure aca- Behind the claims of Post-Processualism
demic employment and in the few remaining to liberate the individual, the gender-
subsidized research studentships could such disempowered, the ethnic peripheries, be-
disturbing, forced realignments of everyday hind the deconstruction of establishment
life become a subject for celebration, as it has dominance structures—we now see revealed
been in that submissive intellectual pawn of the hidden hand of vast, coldly manipulative
post-Fordist economics—the Post-Modern structures deployed by a new phase of crisis
movement. Post-Modernism is commonly capitalism. Post-Processualism is symptom-
summed up as 'depthlessness', a view of every atic of the ever-increasing remoteness of
experience in life as intangible, lacking fixed the individual from sources of power, rather
significance. The Emperor of classic Post- than the reverse.
Modernism has clothes—blurred images and Secondly, for those of us concerned with
word-games, but simply no body, no concept the understanding of long-term historic and
of common humanity, no moral groundings, prehistoric sequences, the archaeology of the
no desire to participate in politics, no sense of Post-Modern movement teaches us the op-
tradition, purposefulness. As befits a move- posite to its official dogmas: culture is not in
ment divorced from action, it is essentially an the least autonomous and self-creative, the
aesthetic movement, a mode of expression. right of every individual historic actor to alter
Little wonder then, that a genuinely Post- and rewrite ; culture, not least Post-Modernist
98 JohnBintliff

and Post-Proeessualist culture, is intimately not merely to be found by comparing the

bound up with the measurable mass tra- earlier part of this century with its final dec-
jectory of conditions of work, class, status, ades, but represents a polarization that has
and the control over the forces of produc- recurred in cyclical form throughout the his-
tion—a materialist interpretation is unavoid- tory of Western philosophy. Nietzsche in the
able. 19th century famously characterized the two
Yes—I have clearly nailed my colours to traditions (Nietzsche 1872) as the Apollonian
the mast by employing an analytical, single- and the Dionysian', in the Arts the earlier
minded perspective to my theme, revealing part of his century witnessed the supplanting
myself as an unregenerate positivist. My of one by the other in the replacement of
commitment to a continuation of Processual Classicism by Romanticism. At the least,
logic certainly originates in my critical ex- therefore, the 20th century mainstream para-
posure to the New Archaeology movement digms represent cyclical viewpoints whose
as both an undergraduate and postgraduate, separate appeal has validity for many dif-
during the time of its dominance in ar- ferent eras and societies. This is still com-
chaeological theory. In thus favouring Pro- patible with the suggestion that paradigm
cessualism, you might reasonably be change is mobilized by non-intellectual
encouraged to challenge me with the im- changes in socio-economic conditions.
mortal words of Mandy Rice-Davies: 'He
would say that, wouldn't he?'. WITTGENSTEIN AND THE 'THIRD
If we were to accept the preceding analysis WAY'
that located Processualism and Post-Pro- A rounded vision of how the Apollonian and
cessualism as, in essence, epiphenomena Dionysian, Modernist and Post-Modernist
towed along by the successive stages of socio- approaches can exist in useful com-
economic modes of production, who am I to plementarity can be found in the mature
privilege the preceding intellectual move- reflections of Ludwig Wittgenstein (Monk
ment over the current one? Despite the con- 1990), often viewed as the most influential
tinual claims by both Modernism and Post- philosopher of this century. Indeed, consider
Modernism to stand aside from the drift of the paradox that both Modernists and Post-
time and explain the nature of life for all Modernists claim him as a key figure in their
eras, it cannot really be denied that they are intellectual underpinnings. However, as re-
inexorably tied to specific historic contexts cent lively discussion of his works reveals,
and find their origin, meaning and indeed neither tradition does the breadth of his
demise from secular shifts in socio-economic thought full justice, but rather takes selec-
structures. I might seem at risk of ceding the tions of his insights to suit their narrower per-
battlefield at the moment of victory, if by spectives.
relativizing Processualism we opened the For Wittgenstein, philosophy ended its
way to that total relativistic perspective fun- work in his demonstration that disputes
damental to Post-Modernism. about the absolute 'truth' of propositions
were a meaningless exercise. In reality when
CONTEXTUALIZING we use certain concepts we are merely em-
POST-PROCESSUALISM AND ploying valid counters in legitimate moves
PROCESSUALISM IN THE HISTORY within specific language games; each sphere
OF IDEAS of discourse has its own set of terms, and
My first step to free us from that paradox is our use of words or concepts in one language
to point out that the contrast between ana- game is incommensurate with that appro-
lytical, objectivist, positivistic philosophy, priate to another. From this position Post-
and a relativistic, subjective emotionalism is Modernists claim Wittgenstein as a pioneer
 Why Indiana Jones is Smarter Than the Post-Processualists 99

of a purely relativistic view of concepts, but APOLLONIAN DIONYSIAN

only by disregarding the crucial commentary EMPIRICAL IDEALIST
POSITIVIST ROMANTIC
by Wittgenstein on language games: terms of
discourse are not free-floating mind-worlds
disconnected from reality but—Wittgenstein MODERNISM
stresses—words have no value at all deprived POST-MODERNISM
of action, and social action at that. The
meaning of terms is defined, reproduced and PROCESSUALISM
redefined purely in the context of group be-
haviour; it is what people do and say about POST-PROCESSUALISM
their doing that defines discourse.
For Wittgenstein the recognizable major
discourses in any society are bound to mutual
networks of action and behaviour; as we ARCHAEOLOGY AS A HUMAN SCIENCE OF
COMPLEMENTARY
have seen with Modernism and Post-Mod- DISCOURSES
ernism, the discourses of social planning or Fig. 2. The future of archaeological theory.
of aesthetics likewise operate in the ex-
perience of social everyday life. We can
therefore discuss the current state of society for the aggressive Will, and even into the
within the discourse of Feminism, or Marx- blood and soil mysticism of the Third Reich.
ism, situating the observed social world
around us within those terms of debate ap- CONCLUSION
propriate to such ideal, morally founded We can and must complement our dis-
ideological projections; but we can equally courses, and cannot expect them to displace
well plot the distribution of power, residence each other permanently; better to value their
and wealth from a modernist pattern-seeking different angles of view and the different pur-
perspective, utilizing dynamic models to poses they serve. What use are wonderful
account for variability in the data culled statistical correlations if we cannot use the
eclectically from every conceivable source of past to serve the present? On the other hand,
theory; the two activities would be equally what credit can we give to a view of the past
valid but not commensurate, in Wittgen- which abuses its realities in the cause of bla-
stein's view; the reality of spatial patterning tant political propaganda? The future of ar-
is a positivistic discourse of one kind, the chaeological theory (Fig. 2), if hopefully
nature of the ideal society is quite another Wittgensteinian in the proper sense of a full
language game. understanding of his theories, will acknowl-
Modernism claims less: in the end its es- edge these complementary spheres of analy-
sence is a methodology for recognizing and sis in archaeology, give scope to the
creating order, and this has variously served recognition of obscure species by a patient
totalitarian regimes and social welfarism. palynologist and the disciple of Foucault
The Dionysian, Idealist position claims spiralling into verbal vortices over the odd
more: it eschews rational analysis in favour word in an antique letter to the Society of
of inspiration; it is a discourse of emotional Antiquaries. This will be Archaeology as a
release which has led to a progressive self- Human Science.
awareness of the potential of the individual The present paper was presented in es-
human spirit, but also, as might be seen in sentially its present form at the 1991 TAG
the case of Martin Heidegger, can encourage conference. Since then, as noted in my in-
an obsession with the concept of 'being' that troduction, another TAG, in fact a 'EU-
is too easily perverted into fervent support ROTAG' with a record 750 delegates, has
100 John Bintliff

met at Southampton. The most remarkable And that's why, gentle reader, Indiana
feature of this latest conference was the way Jones is smarter than the Post-Processualists.
in which speaker after speaker, British and
Continental, displayed a total disregard for
affiliation to 'Processualist' or 'Post-Pro- REFERENCES
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Gaffney, C. F. (eds.), Archaeology at the in-
20 years. Yet equally consistently, this mer-
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ger of formerly oppositional traditions within Bintliff, J. L. 1991. Post-modernism, rhetoric and
a new pragmatics of practice, saw the scholasticism at TAG: the current state of
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Processualism' (cf. Renfrew 1981, 1982): in Association of American Geographers 81, 210-
recognizing this, we are also surely seeing the 228.
first steps towards a hybrid 'Human Science Eddy, D. H. 1990. Review of Postmodern Sophis-
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SPECULATIONS OF INDIANA JONES University Press, Cambridge.
Now it seems pretty clear to me that the Hodder, I. 1989. Comments on archaeology into
world's most famous archaeologist, the 1990s. Norwegian Archaeological Review
Professor Indiana Jones, is a follower of 22(1), 15-18.
Wittgenstein. Although he has not left us Hodder, I. 1990. The Domestication of Europe.
such an impressive philosophical oeuvre as Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
the Cambridge luminary, we do possess a Jameson, F. 1984. Postmodernism, or the cultural
rare statement of Professor Jones's com- logic of late capitalism. New Left Review 146,
53-92.
mitment to the key propositions of the
Jencks, C. 1984. The Language of Post-Modem
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and the Architecture. London.
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In an admittedly rare classroom scene dur- Manchester University Press, Manchester.
ing that memorable biopic Indiana Jones and Monk, R. 1990. Ludwig Wittgenstein. Jonathan
the Last Crusade, our hero is seen addressing Cape, London.
a large class of adulating students. The Nietsche, F. W. 1872. Die Gehurt der Tragödie
theme: nothing less than 'The Nature of Ar- aus dem Geiste der Musik. Leipzig.
chaeology'. After commenting that the disci- Renfrew, C. 1981. Space, time and man. Trans-
pline is 95% library work (an assertion which actions of the Institute of British Geographers
the rest of the film makes no attempt to sup- N.S.6, 258-278.
port, if we except the scene where Indiana Renfrew, C. 1982. Towards an Archaeology of
Mind. Cambridge University Press, Cam-
and his attractive assistant are engaged in
bridge.
skullduggery beneath a library floor), Pro- Shanks, M., Tilley, C. and Invited Comments
fessor Jones throws out a culminatory 1989. Archaeology into the 1990s. Norwegian
aphorism: 'Archaeology is about Facts; if Archaeological Review 22(1), 1-54.
you want the Truth, go next-door to the Phil- Tilley, C. 1989. Excavation as theatre. Antiquity
osophy Department!' 63, 275-280.