A survey of Ph.D dissertations on the history of prehistoric archaeology

A list of Ph.D dissertations about the history of prehistoric and protohistoric archaeology. Updates can be sent to Sébastien Plutniak.

Contents of this article

• Quantitative overview
• Dissertations by year
• Abstracts

Quantitative overview

Dissertations by year

2022

• Moullé-Prévost, Clémence. 2022. Transmettre un patrimoine dispersé. Le cas des vestiges archéologiques chypriotes depuis 1960 : processus, enjeux actuels et nouvelles orientations [Transmitting a dispersed heritage. The case of Cypriot archaeological remains since 1960: processes, current issues and new directions], Université de Rennes 2, Rennes, France. [abstract]

2021

• Reimond, Grégory. 2021. L’Ibérie s’illuminant des reflets radieux de l’Hellas. Pierre Paris (1859-1931), un passeur de frontières entre hellénisme et hispanisme, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France. [abstract]

2020

• Ballesteros, Danel Andrea. 2020. Trans-Pacific Contact: A History of Ideas on the Oceania- Americas Connection. Australian National University, Australia. [abstract] [DOI: 10.25911/5fbf766211a2b]
• Duray, Anne. 2020. The Idea of Greek (Pre)history: Archaeological Knowledge Production and the Making of ‘Early Greece,’ c. 1950-1980. Stanford University, U.S.A. [abstract]
• Farguell Magnet, Josep. 2020. L’associacionisme arqueològic a Catalunya en el segon franquisme i la transició. Estudi del cas del Grup de Prehistòria i Arqueologia del Museu de Berga. Universitat de Girona, Girona, Spain. [abstract] [permalink]
• Favin Lévêque, Jean-Claude. 2020. L’idée de guerre à la Préhistoire dans l’anthropologie française (1859-1996) : étude historique et mise en perspective (France/monde anglo-saxon) [The concept of war in prehistoric times as interpreted by French anthropologists (1859-1996): historical study and historical perspective between France and British-american anthropology]. Museum national d’histoire naturelle, France. [abstract]
• Haddow, Eve Katharine Ettershank. 2020. Excavating Eden: Missionaries, material culture, and migration theories in the history of Pacific archaeology, 1797-1940. Australian National University, Australia. [abstract] [HDL: 1885/210464]
• Melander, Victor. 2020. The Coming of the White Bearded Men: The Origin and Development of Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki Theory. Australian National University, Australia. [abstract] [HDL: 1885/202135]
• Oddo, Maria Emanuela. 2020. Measuring time. Histories of chronology building in archaeology. Scuola IMT Alti Studi Lucca, Italy. [abstract] [DOI: 10.6092/imtlucca/e-theses/315]

2019

• Bundi, Marc-Ervin. 2019. Museums, Memory and Meaning: Politics of Identity and Representation in Sudanese Archaeological Museums. Université de Neuchâtel-Humbold-Universität zu Berlin. [abstract]
• Cataldi, Maddalena. 2019. Découvrir, comprendre et interpréter des gravures pariétales. Une histoire de la science archéologique à travers l’histoire de l’étude scientifique du Mont Bégo (1868-1947). [Discovering, understanding and interpreting rock engravings. A history of archeological science through the study of Mount Bégo (1868–1947)]. EHESS, France. [abstract]
• Fux, Peter. 2019. Archäologie Schweiz – Weltweit. Potenzial und Herausforderungen einer komparativen Archäologie. Eine Studie mit wissenschaftstheoretischen Grundlagen und empirischen Projektbeispielen mit Bhutan und Peru. Universität Zürich, Switzerland.[abstract] [DOI: 10.5167/uzh-171562]
• Hussain, Shumon. 2019. The French-Anglophone divide in lithic research. A plea for pluralism in Palaeolithic archaeology. Leiden University, Netherlands. [abstract] [HDL: 1887/69812]
• Lepiller, Ségolène. 2019. Sortir de la caverne, entrer dans la grotte : étude épistémologique sur l’art paléolithique et la préhistoire, au carrefour des sciences naturelles et humaines [Out of the cavern, into the cave: an epistemological study on palaeolithic art and prehistory, where sciences of nature and humanities meet]. Université de Paris, France. [abstract] [permalink]

2018

• Aguilera Durán, Tomás. 2018. Bárbaros y héroes: recepción de la Iberia prerromana en la España moderna. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. [abstract] [HDL: 10486/684254]
• Linetty, Jakub. 2018. Kształtowanie się podstaw naukowych archeologii w Wielkopolsce do 1918 roku [The beginnings of archaeology in Greater Poland region since 1918]. Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland. [abstract] [HDL: 10593/23976]
• Malara, Roberta. 2018. Paesaggio e rovina. Lettura critica del rapporto tra beni archeologici e paesaggio [Landscape and Ruin. Critical reading of the relationship between archaeological heritage and landscape]. Università Roma 1, Italy. [abstract] [HDL: 11573/1113385]
• Polak, Gabriela. 2018. Los legados documentales en la historiografía arqueológica española: el CeDap de la UAM y el ejemplo de Juan Cabré Aguiló (1882-1947). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. [abstract] [HDL: 10486/683957]
• Saint-Raymond, Léa. 2018. Le pari des enchères : le lancement de nouveaux marchés artistiques à Paris entre les années 1830 et 1939 [Betting by bidding: the launching of new artistic markets at auction in Paris (1830s-1939)]. Université Paris 10, France. [abstract] [permalink]
• Sánchez Salas, Francisco. 2018. Las relaciones internacionales entre la Arqueología española e italiana en la historia de la Arqueología española (siglo XX). Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. [abstract] [HDL: 10803/666894]
• Trif, Alina. 2018. La culture de Cucuteni dans le discours de l’archéologie préhistorique, de 1889 jusqu’en 1937. Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. [abstract] [HDL: 2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/276735]

2017

• Dominguez Gregorio, Ignacio. 2017. Historia de la antropología americanista española (1892-1992). Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. [abstract] [permalink]
• Marín Hernández, Carlos. 2017. Hacer arqueología en la Extremadura contemporánea. La Comisión Provincial de Monumentos Históricos y Artísticos de Cáceres (1844-1982). Universidad de Extremadura, Spain. [abstract] [HDL: 10662/5678]
• Marshall, Sylvia Gertrude. 2017. “Which Way to Magna Hungaria?” The Application of Social Stratigraphic Mapping and Analysis to an Ethnic Origin Theory. Australian National University, Australia. [abstract] [DOI: 10.25911/5d67b53076926]
• Plutniak, Sébastien. 2017. L’opération archéologique. Sociologie historique d’une discipline aux prises avec l’automatique et les mathématiques. France, Espagne, Italie, 2e moitié du XXe siècle [The archaeological operation. A sociohistorical perspective on a discipline faced with developments in automatics and mathematics. France, Spain, Italy, in the second half of the 20th century]. EHESS, France. [abstract]
• Proust, Clotilde. 2017. Les ateliers du Musée des Antiquités nationales : aux origines de la restauration en archéologie. Université de Paris I, France. [abstract] [HAL: tel-01717238]
• Zurinaga Fernández-Toribio, Salomé. 2017. La arqueología del oasis. España en la campaña de salvamento de la Unesco en Nubia, 1960-1972. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. [abstract]
• Walker, Elizabeth Anne. 2017. Collecting the Past: Aspects of Historiography and Lithic Artefact Analysis for the Creation of Narratives for the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Archaeology of Wales.  University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK. [abstract] [link]

2016

• Castañer Llinares, Antonino. 2016. El padre Belda (1890-1969). Arqueólogo. Universidad de Alicante, Spain. [abstract]
• Coltofean-Arizancu, Laura. 2016. Zsófia Torma și așezarea de la Turdaș, punctul Luncă, județul Hunedoara [Zsófia Torma and the settlement of Turdaș-Luncă (Hunedoara County)]. Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania. [abstract]
• Defrance-Jublot, Fanny. 2016. Être préhistorien et catholique en France (1859-1962). [The experience of being prehistorian and catholic in France (1859-1962)] EPHE, France. [abstract]
• Gómez Gonzalo, María Paz. 2016. Las controversias generadas en torno a las investigacions de Adolf Schulten en Numancia. Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. [abstract] [HDL: 10803/394085]
• Henares Guerra, Maria Teresa. 2016. Las colecciones arqueológicas de la Universidad de Sevilla (1850-1950). Estudio historiográfico y arqueológico. Universidad de Sevilla, Spain. [abstract] [HDL: 11441/38562]
• Norton, Elizabeth, Jane. 2016. Polished axes: object biographies and the writing of world prehistories. University of Southampton, U.K. [abstract] [permalink]
• Millán, Francisco Javier. 2016. El Cerro de los Santos. Historia política, repercusión patrimonial del primer yacimiento de la cultura ibérica. Universidad de Murcia, Spain. [abstract] [HDL: 10201/47848]
• Palacio Pérez, Eduardo. 2016. Construcción y transformación del concepto de arte paleolítico: las bases teóricas de una idea. Universidad de Cantabria, Spain. [abstract] [HDL: 10902/8409]
• Pizzato, Fedra Alessandra. 2016. Fossili della nazione. Paletnologia, antropologia e nazionalismo in Italia (1871-1915). Università Ca’Foscari, Italy & Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. [abstract] [HDL: 10579/8836]
• Soler Segura, Javier. 2016. La conformación del registro material de Lanzarote. Historia e historiografía de la arqueología aborigen desde el siglo xix a la actualidad. Universidad de La Laguna, Spain. [abstract]

2015

• Carandell Baruzzi, Miquel. 2015. Orce Man. A Public Controversy in Spanish Human Origins Research 1982-2007. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain. [abstract] [HDL: 10803/313233]
• Engström, Elin. 2015. Eketorps veckningar. Hur arkeologi formar tid, rum och kön. [The Folds of Eketorp: How Archaeology Shapes Time, Space and Gender]. Stockholm University, Sweden. [abstract] [URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-116288]
• Matskevich, Svetlana. 2015. “Off the Record”. Recording Systems for Archaeological Excavations in the Levant: Past and Future. Hebrew University, Israel.
• Ozguner, Nimet Pinar. 2015. Archaeological entanglements: People, places, and politics of archaeology in Turkey. Boston University, USA. [abstract] [link]
• Varouhakis, Vassilios. 2015. L’archéologie enragée. Archaeology & national identity under the Cretan State (1898–1913). University of Southampton, U.K. [abstract] [eprint: 381861]
• Woźny, Marzena. 2015. Włodzimierz Demetrykiewicz (1859-1937). Prehistoryk z przełomu epok [Włodzimierz Demetrykiewicz (1859-1937). A prehistorian from the turn of the eras]. Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Poland. [abstract]

2014

• Alcaraz Castaño, Manuel. 2014. La transición del Paleolítico Medio al Superior en el contexto de la historia disciplinar del Paleolítico (1852-1980). Un análisis historiográfico integral. Universidad de Alcalá, Spain. [abstract]
• Daroogheh-Nokhodcheri, Rana. 2014. Nationalism, Politics, and the Practice of Archaeology: The Case Study of Iran. Durham University, U.K. [abstract] [permalink]
• Delley, Géraldine. 2014. Au-delà des chronologies. Des origines du radiocarbone et de la dendrochronologie à leur intégration dans les recherches lacustres suisses. Université de Neuchâtel, Switzerland. [abstract]
• Joly, Rachel. 2013. Henry Corot (1864-1941) et ses correspondants, les acteurs de l’archéologie préhistorique sous la IIIe République [Henry Corot (1864-1941) and his correspondents, the players of the protohistoric archaeology in the Third Republic]. Université Paris 1, France. [abstract] [permalink]
• Kobiałka, Dawid. 2014. Archeologia Józefa Kostrzewskiego z perspektywy współczesnej refleksji metodologicznej [The Józef Kostrzewski’s archaeology from a perspective of contemporary methodology]. Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Poland. [abstract] [HDL: 10593/9879]
• Loiseau, Jean-Patrick. 2014. François Bordes (1919-1981) et la construction de la Préhistoire dans la seconde moitié du XXe siècle. [François Bordes (1919-1981) and the construction of Prehistory in the second half of the 20th century]. Université de Bordeaux, France. [abstract] [HAL: tel-01149174]
• Ramírez Galicia, Alfonso. 2014. Historia de la construcción del campo epistémico de la prehistoria en México (Elementos teóricos e históricos preliminares). Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, México. [abstract] [link]
• Valiant, Seonaid. 2014. Two Automobiles from Teotihuacan: Archeology and Ornamental Nationalism in the Porfirian Era, 1876-1911, The University of Chicago, US. [abstract] [link]

2013

• Gallego Lletjós, Núria. 2013. El Mesolítico en la Península Ibérica. Historia crítica de la investigación y estado actual del conocimiento. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. [abstract]
• Kostrhun, Petr. 2013. Prehistorie v období Československé republiky. Rozvoj moravské paleolitické archeologie mezi léty 1918 – 1938 [Prehistory in the Czechoslovak Republic. Development of the Moravian Paleolithic archeology between the years 1918 – 1938]. Masarykova univerzita, Czech republic. [Abstract] [permalink]
• Müller, Martin. 2013. Civilization, culture, and race in John Crawfurd’s discourses on Southeast Asia : continuities and changes, c. 1814-1868. European University Institute, Florence, Italy. [abstract] [permalink]
• Stabrey, Undine. 2013. Archäologische Untersuchungen. Über Temporalität und Dinge, Universität Bern, Switzerland. [abstract] [permalink]

2012

• Davey, Christopher. 2012. The foundation of the Australian Institute of Archaeology and the origin of its Ancient Near Eastern museum collection. La Trobe University, Australia. [abstract] [HDL: 1959.9/514487]
• Hardy-Smith, Tania. 2012. “Another dimension of seeing…” Exploring artistic responses to antiquity and the effect on the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. La Trobe University, Australia. [abstract] [HDL: 1959.9/522567]
• James, Mac Eugene. 2012. “Who is to say they will not demand our shirts next…” A review of the Loan Collection housed in the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Liverpool 1904-1930. University of Liverpool, U.K. [abstract]
• Lanzarote Guiral, José María. 2012. “Prehistoria Patria’. National identities and Europeanisation in the construction of prehistoric archaeology in Spain (1860-1936). European University Institute, Florence, Italy. [abstract] [HDL: 1814/20737]
• Lippé, Renaud. 2012. Nature, culture et progrès. Histoire comparative du concept de transition entre paléolithiques moyen et supérieur en archéologie préhistorique. Université de Bordeaux 1, France. [abstract] [HDL: 1866/13599]
• Modzelewski, Darren John. 2012. Constructing Native American Identity within the Context of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation. University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A. [abstract] [permalink]

2011

• Bogdanović, Igor 2011. La instrumentalització del passat en el present. La construcció de les identitats col.lectives dels Balcans centrals en la història de l’arqueologia sèrbia. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain. [permalink]
• Dubois, Sébastien. 2011. Émergence et développement de l’archéologie préhistorique en Midi Toulousain entre 19e et 20e siècle. [Emergence and development of prehistoric archelogy in southern France between XIXth and XXth century]. Université Toulouse 2 Le Mirail, France. [abstract] [HDL: tel-00690340]
• Pruitt, Tera Corinne, 2011. Authority and the production of knowledge in archaeology. University of Cambridge, United-Kingdom. [abstract] [DOI: 10.17863/CAM.15966]
• Grunwald, Susanne. 2011. Die diskursive Konstruktion der archäologischen Burgwallforschung in Sachsen (1900-1961). Universität Leipzig, Germany.
• Villalobos Acosta, César 2011. Archaeology in Circulation. Nationalism and Tourism in Post-Revolutionary Mexican Coins, Notes, Stamp and Guidebooks. Durham University, U.K. [abstract] [permalink]

2010

• Beusing, Ruth. 2010. Archäologie im Schaukasten. Untersuchungen zur Präsentation vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Archäologie in deutschen Museen. Universität Marburg, Germany.
• Contandriopoulos, Christina. 2010. Retour au monolithique : Jacques-Antoine Dulaure (1755-1835 ) et la territorialisation de l’architecture primitive. Mc Gill University, Canada. [abstract]
• Cooper, Anwen. 2010. Transformations in British prehistoric research practice, 1980-2010: a multi-stranded approach. University of Reading, U.K. [abstract]
• Rohrer, Wiebke. 2010. Frühpiastische Bestattungen mit Waffenbeigabe. Ihre ethnische Interpretation in der deutschen und polnischen Frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie seit 1900. Universität Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
• Szczerba, Adrianna. 2010. Problem ochrony zabytków archeologicznych na ziemiach dawnej Rzeczypospolitej pod panowaniem rosyjskim [The protection of archaeological objects of national heritage on the former area of Rzeczpospolita under the Russian rule]. Uniwersytet Łódzki, Poland. [abstract]

2009

• Abad de los Santos, Rafael. 2009. The Idea of ‘Prehistory’ in the Modern Japanese Archaeological Thought – from Shell Mounds of Omori (1879) by Edward Sylvester Morse, to Yûshi Izen no Nihon (1918) by Torii Ryûzô. Hokkaido University, Japan. [abstract]
• Canady Wargo, Melissa. 2009. The Bordes-Binford debate. Transatlantic interpretative traditions in Paleolithic archaeology. The University of Texas at Arlington, U.S.A. [abstract] [HDL: 10106/1766]
• Cañete Jiménez, Carlos. 2009. El origen africano de los íberosuna perspectiva historiográfica. Universidad de Málaga, Spain. [abstract] [permalink]
• Mahsarski, Dirk. 2009. Herbert Jankuhn (1905–1990). Ein deutscher Prähistoriker zwischen nationalsozialistischer Ideologie und wissenschaftlicher Objektivität. Universität Göttingen, Germany.
• Rahemipour, Patricia. 2009. Archäologie im Scheinwerferlicht. Die Visualisierung der Prähistorie im Film 1895-1930 [Spot on. Prehistory on film 1895-1930]. [abstract] [DOI: 10.17169/refubium-13401]
• Richmond, Jesse. 2009. Experts and australopithecines: credibility and controversy in the science of human evolution, 1924-1959. University California, San Diego, U.S.A. [abstract] [permalink]
• Romaní, Antonella. 2009. Los comienzos de la arqueología prehistórica en Italia en el contexto de formación del estado nacional. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. [abstract]
• Ojala, Carl-Gösta. 2009. Sámi Prehistories : The Politics of Archaeology and Identity in Northernmost Europe. Uppsala University, Sweden. [abstract] [permalink]

2008

• Carr, Lydia. 2008. Tessa Verney Wheeler: Women and Archaeology Before World War Two. Exeter College, Oxford, U.K.
• Gkiasta, Marina. 2008. The historiography of landscape research on Crete. Leiden University. [abstract] [HDL: 1887/12855]
• Ortman, Oscar. 2008. Se dösen och dö sen. Gentagelser av Åke Fredsjö och Västsvenskt Mesolitikum [See the Passage grave and Pass away. Repetitions of Åke Fredsjö and Mesolithic research in South-West Sweden]. Göteborgs universitet, Sweden. [abstract] [HDL: 2077/18368]
• Pyne, Lydia Virginia. 2008. The life history of Klasies River Mouth: A case study of archaeology and the history and philosophy of science. Arizona State University, U.S.A. [abstract]
• Roux, Philippe. 2008. Les « archives Mortillet » à l’Université de Sarrebruck. Parcours et stratégie scientifique de Gabriel et Adrien de Mortillet. [The “Mortillet Archives” at Sarrebruck University. Career and scientific strategy of Gabriel and Adrien de Mortillet] Université Paris I, France. [abstract]

2007

• Ferreira, Lucio Menezes. 2007. Territorio primitivo: a institucionalização da arqueologia no Brasil (1870-1917). Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil. [abstract]
• Kawelu, Kathleen Leinani. 2007. A sociopolitical history of Hawaiian archaeology: kuleana and commitment. University of California, Berkeley. [abstract]
• de Luna Filho, Pedro Ernesto, 2007. Peter Wilhelm Lund: o auge das suas investigações científicas e a razão para o término das pesquisas [Peter Wilhelm Lund: His scientific investigations and the reason he suddenly stopped his research]. Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. [abstract] [permalink]
• Suhr, Grietje. 2007. Eine Chance für neue Paradigmen? Theoretische Ansätze in der Archäologie Polens, der Tschechischen Republik und Ungarns [A chance for new paradigms?]. Universität Viadrina Frankfurt, Germany. [abstract] [URN: urn:nbn:de:kobv:521-opus-00086]
• Price, Elizabeth Megan. 2007. Town and Gown: Amateurs and Academics. The discovery of British prehistory, Oxford 1850-1900: A Pastime Professionalised. University of Oxford, U.K. [abstract] [permalink]

2006

• Moro Abadía, Oscar, 2006. Arqueología e historia de la ciencia: Hacia una historia crítica de la arqueología. Universidad de Cantabria. Spain. [abstract]

2005

• Roberts, Julia. 2005. Towards A Cultural History of Archaeology: British Archaeology Between the Wars. University of Wales, U.K. [abstract] [link]
• Ickerodt, Ulf F. 2005. Bilder von Archäologen, Bilder von Urmenschen – ein kultur- und mentalitätsgeschichtlicher Beitrag zur Genese der prähistorischen Archäologie am Beispiel zeitgenössischer Quellen. Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. [abstract] [DOI: 10.25673/2544]
• da Silva, Glaydson Jose. 2005. Antiguidade, arqueologia e a França de Vichy: usos do passado. Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil. [abstract]

2004

• Hurel, Arnaud. 2004. L’institutionnalisation de l’archéologie préhistorique en France métropolitaine (1852-1941) et l’Institut de paléontologie humaine Fondation Prince Albert Ier de Monaco. [The institutionalization of the prehistoric archaeology in metropolitan France (1852-1941) and the Institute of Human Paleontology Prince Albert of Monaco Fondation]. Université Paris 4, France. [abstract]
• Mante, Gabriele. 2004. Die deutschsprachige prähistorische Archäologie: Eine Ideengeschichte im Zeichen von Wissenschaft, Politik und europäischen Werten. Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Germany. [abstract]
• Nanta, Arnaud. 2004. Débats sur les origines du peuplement de l’archipel japonais dans l’anthropologie et l’archéologie (décennie 1870-décennie 1990). Université Paris 7, Paris, France. [abstract]
• Nivart, Anne. 2004. De la fouille au musée : les musées de préhistoire : nouveaux lieux, nouvelles fonctions. Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, Paris, France. [abstract]
• Lundbeck-Culot, Karin. 2004. Recherche sur la fondation de l’archéologie danoise : une réflexion sur les influences réciproques entre le Danemark et la France [Research on the foundation of Danish archaeology: a reflexion on the mutual influences between Denmark and France]. Université Paris 1, France. [abstract]
• Smith, Pamela Jane. 2004. A Splendid Idiosyncrasy: Prehistory at Cambridge 1915–50. Cambridge University, U.K. [abstract]

2003

• O’Connor, Anne. 2003. The making of the British early Palaeolithic, 1880-1960. Durham University, U.K. [abstract] [permalink]
• Mehling, Almut. 2003. Bilder zwischen Fakten und Fiktion. Zur Visualisierung des Menschen in der Archäologie [Images between fact and fiction. On the visualization of man in archaeology]. Universität Tübingen, Germany.
• Molin, Torkel. 2003. Den rätta tidens mått : Göthiska förbundet, fornforskningen och det antikvariska landskapet [Signs of the times: Göthiska förbundet, antiquarian research and landscape]. Umeå universitet, Sweden. [abstract] [permalink]

2002

• Jensen, Ola W. 2002. Forntid i historien. En arkeologihistorisk studie av synen på forntid och forntida lämningar, från medeltiden till och med förupplysningen [The past in history a study of the perception of antiquity and antiquities during medieval times up to the mid-eighteenth century]. Göteborgs universitet, Sweden. [abstract] [HDL: 2077/15507]
• Kaeser, Marc-Antoine. 2002. L’univers du préhistorien : science, foi et politique dans l’œuvre et la vie d’Édouard Desor : 1811-1882. EHESS, France. [abstract]

2001

• Gillberg, Åsa. 2001. En plats i historien. Nils Niklassons liv och arbete [A place in history. The life and work of Nils Niklasson]. Göteborgs universitet [abstract] [HDL: 2077/15386 ]
• Gustafsson, Anders. 2001. Arkeologihistoria som historia och som arkeologi. Studier i arkeologins e genhistorier [The history of archaeology as history and as archaeology. Studies in the histories of archaeology]. Göteborgs universitet, Sweden [abstract] [HDL: 2077/15274]
• Zimmerman, Virginia. 2001. The grating roar of science: Victorian revisions of time. The University of Virginia, U.S.A.

2000

Guillaumie, Marc. 2000. Le roman préhistorique à partir des premiers romans préhistoriques français (1872-1914). Université de Limoges, France [abstract].

1998

• Andresen, Marc. 1998. Wissenschaftsgeschichtsschreibung in der prähistorischen Archäologie als heuristisches Prinzip zur Entwicklung methodologischer Konzepte. Universität Kiel, Germany.
• Maier Allende, Jorge. 1997. Jorge Bonsor (1855-1930): personalidad y significación de un pionero de la Arqueología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.

1996

• Kaczmarek, Jarmila E. 1996. Organizacja badań archeologicznych i ochrony zabytków w Poznaniu (1720-1958) [Organization of archaeological research and monument protection in Poznań (1720-1958)]. Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Poland.
• Vatan, Anne. 1996. Histoire de l’archeologie celtique en Champagne. Des origines à 1941 [The history of the celtic archeology in champagne. Since the origins to 1941]. EPHE, Paris, France. [abstract]

1994

• Gran-Aymerich Prehu, Évelyne. 1994. L’archéologie française en Méditerranée et au Proche-orient. L’élaboration d’une science dans le contexte international (1798-1945) [French archaeology in mediterranean and near eastern countries (1798-1945)], Université Paris 4, Paris, France. [abstract]
• Steinacker, Johannes. 1994. Menschliche Urgeschichte als Thema der modernen Literatur. Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

1993

• Borstel, Christopher Lane. 1993. Constructing prehistory in the People’s Republic of China: An ethnography of state, society, and archaeology. Indiana University, USA. [abstract] [link]
• Coye, Noël. 1993. Des mythes originels à la recherche archéologique : sources, méthodes et discours de l’archéologie préhistorique en France avant 1950 [From original myths to archeological reserarch, soures, methods and discourse of prehistoric archeology in France before 1950]. Université Aix-Marseille 1, France. [abstract]
• Jiménez Díez, José Antonio. 1993. Historiografía de la Pre y Protohistoria de la Península Ibérica en el siglo XIX. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. [abstract]

1992

• Richard, Nathalie. 1992. La préhistoire en France dans la seconde moitié du dix-neuvième siècle (1859-1904). Université Paris 1, France. [abstract]
• Ayarzagüena, Mariano, 1992. La arqueología prehistórica y protohistórica española en el siglo XIX. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain.

1991

• Stoczkowski, Wiktor. 1991. Origine de l’homme : entre l’anthropologie nai͏̈ve et savante [Human origine: between the naive and the learned anthropology]. EHESS, France. [abstract]

1987

• Blombergowa, Maria M. 1987. Polscy członkowie rosyjskich towarzystw archeologicznych. 1839-1914 [The polish members of Russian Archaeological Societies in the period 1839-1914]. Uniwersytet Łódzki, Poland.
• Murray, Tim. 1987. Remembrance of things present: appeals to authority in the history and philosophy of archaeology, University of Sydney, Australia. [abstract]

1985

• Soulier, Philippe. 1985. La Société préhistorique française, 1904-1985 : vie et rôle d’une société savante au XXème siècle. Université Paris 1, France.

1979

• Junghans, Günther. 1979. Gabriel de Mortillet, 1821-1898, eine Biographie. Materialien zur Darstellung seiner Ideen und Beiträge zur Erforschung von Ursprung und Geschichte des Menschen, Universität Marburg, Germany. [abstract]
• Wrońska, Jolanta. 1979. Warszawskie środowisko archeologiczne w latach 1900 – 1918 [Warsaw archaeologists at the beginning of the 20th century]. Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland.

1974

• Gräslund, Bo. 1974. Relativ datering. Om kronologisk metod i nordisk arkeologi [Relative chronology. On dating methods in Scandinavian Archaeology]. Uppsala universitet, Sweden. [abstract] [permalink]

1968

• Bollmus, Reinhard. 1968. Das Amt Rosenberg und seine Gegner: Studien zum Machtkampf im nationalsozialistischen Herrschaftssystem, Universität Heidelberg. [DOI: 10.1524/9783486595543]

1966

• Kater, Michael H. 1966. Das ‚Ahnenerbe‘ der SS 1933–1945: ein Beitrag zur Kulturpolitik des Dritten Reiches. Universität Heidelberg. [DOI: 10.1524/9783486594683]

1957

• Laming-Emperaire, Annette. 1957. Documents sur la nature et les origines des recherches préhistoriques en France. Université de Paris, France.

1949

• Buch, Hans. 1949. Boucher de Perthes und die Vorgeschichte. Universität Mainz, Germany.

1948

• Rätzel, Wilhelm. 1948. Herder und die Frühgeschichte. Universität Mainz, Germany.

Abstracts

C. Moullé-Prévost, 2022

Transmitting a dispersed heritage. The case of Cypriot archaeological remains since 1960: processes, current issues and new directions

The archaeological heritage of Cyprus is one of the foundations of the territorial and cultural identity of a country that is still divided, yet it remains largely unknown outside the scientific community. However, the development of archaeological excavations since the 19th century has enabled the formation of various collections throughout Europe. These collections preserve and exhibit a scattered archaeological heritage, and its meaning is only partly accessible. Passing on this heritage relies on both the preservation and the display of the remains. Based on empirical investigations, the thesis draws up an up-to-date overview of this heritage. Thus, the means used to preserve and enhance it are analyzed, starting from 1960 –the date when Cyprus became an independent state and began implementing its own policy for protecting and enhancing its heritage– to the present day. To this end, a selection of sites and monuments is studied –they are representative of different periods of the island’s history– as well as a number of permanent exhibitions in Cyprus and in the major museums of Europe. This study invites questioning the history of archaeology and archaeological collections: it suggests comparing preservation and display methods, in order to highlight the current issues at stake. On the basis of this comparative and diachronic analysis, this thesis then proposes to explore the possible perspectives for giving meaning to this shared heritage. Lastly, the matter of the archaeological context is discussed in the final part of the thesis. Archaeological context is revealed as of crucial importance in the transmission of the heritage, promoting new visitor experiences.

G. Reimond, 2021

L’Ibérie s’illuminant des reflets radieux de l’Hellas. Pierre Paris (1859-1931), un passeur de frontières entre hellénisme et hispanisme

Our PhD thesis consists in writing an intellectual biography of Pierre Paris (1859-1931). He is mainly known for his work as a Hispanist: he was one of the first French scholars to devote himself to the study of Iberian Protohistory and one of the main architects of the foundation of the École des Hautes Études Hispaniques (1909) and the Casa de Velázquez (1928), both institutions he directed until his death. In reality, beyond this ever-present legacy, his career is much richer and more complex than it appears. We have attempted to reconstruct the full depth of this life story by exploring little-known aspects of his life, or by re-reading moments that have been studied more extensively, placing them in the long time span of a scientific career of almost fifty years. We have always tried to situate these successive moments of life in their contexts. Writing the story of a particular life obviously means recounting an individual career, but it also means writing the plural history of an era and a generation. Therefore, we relied on a corpus of sources that can be roughly divided into three groups of unequal importance and different nature: Pierre Paris’ publications, administrative archives and private archives. Some documents have taken on particular importance. The 1082 letters we have collected have been brought together in a volume consisting of their critical edition. The biography we have produced closely blends two complementary approaches: our work is a fragment of the cultural and intellectual history of France and Spain at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and it is also a study of the reception of Antiquity and the history of archaeology. In short, a bridge between Antiquity and the contemporary period.

A. Ballesteros, 2020

Trans-Pacific Contact: A History of Ideas on the Oceania-Americas Connection

This thesis brings together theories of pre-Columbian trans-Pacific contact between Oceania and the Americas and analyses them from a history of ideas perspective. Despite the limited factual evidence, trans-Pacific contact theories between the Americas and Oceania have been discussed in various forms since the sixteenth century and remain a persistent trope. To provide a context for the history of ideas of trans-Pacific contact involving the Americas and Oceania, this thesis addresses the changing conceptions of the Pacific according to scholars from Europe and the Americas, the development of science and later anthropology and archaeology in this region and in the Americas, and the growing understanding of the history of settlement of the Americas and the Pacific. The theories addressed herein include ideas about Polynesia (or other parts of the Pacific) being settled by Amerindians; ideas about the Americas being settled by Polynesians or other Pacific Islanders; crop and animal diffusion in either direction; and cultural diffusion and contact theories. An analysis of the history and current status of the trans-Pacific contact debate shows that new additions to scientific knowledge have been obscured and resulted in an inconclusive and repetitive intellectual trajectory. This thesis proposes a historiographical revision and contextualisation of the theories and evidence in order to contribute to a clearer progression of ideas for one of the most resilient debates in the history of archaeology: the problem of trans-Pacific contacts.

A. Duray, 2020

The Idea of Greek (Pre)history: Archaeological Knowledge Production and the Making of ‘Early Greece,’ c. 1950-1980

This dissertation investigates the relationships between archaeological practice and wider intellectual trends surrounding the study of the Late Bronze Age (LBA) – Early Iron Age (EIA) transition in Greece (c. 1200 – 1000 BCE), and, in doing so, presents a case study of the mechanisms of archaeological knowledge production in 20th century Greek archaeology. In recent years, the collapse of complex societies at the end of the LBA in the Mediterranean has received attention due to comparative interest—both to other ancient civilizations and to the present. In Greece, traditionally the LBA has been treated as “prehistory,” while the following period of the EIA has been framed as the beginning of Greek “history.” The question of the relationship between Greek prehistory and later Greek civilization has been in existence since the professionalization of the disciplines of both Aegean prehistory and classical archaeology in the late 19th century on account of interest in the origins of ‘Greek’ culture due to the significance of Hellenism in Western European political, cultural, and intellectual life. While this project builds upon current historiographies of Greek archaeology, it departs from the majority of these in scope and methodology through the inclusion of archival materials to illuminate the “science in the making” of archaeology. I conduct a contextual analysis of specific Anglo-American scholars, projects, and their networks from the 1950’s – 1970’s by drawing from both publications and a selection of archival collections, including personal correspondence and excavation materials in order to 1) trace this specific community of scholars, their networks, and development of research agendas from the early to mid-20th century, and then 2) evaluate how research questions which had emerged concerning the LBA-EIA were (or were not) transformed into field projects, as well as the relationship of methodologies to eventual interpretations on these projects. By focusing on case studies from the mid-20th century, I am able to both highlight legacies of late 19th and early 20th century intellectual frameworks and practices, as well as elucidate developments in these decades which continue to shape how archaeologists understand transitional periods. I demonstrate that the LBA-EIA transition was a focalization of the larger debate concerning the relationship between prehistoric and historic Greece, which developed in the late 19th century. The study of this period was therefore defined by not only divides and intersections among the disciplines for which “early Greece” was an object of study, but also evolving perceptions of culture, and cultural continuity, over the 20 th century. As cultural evolutionism and race gradually lost ground as indicators of cultural continuity in the mid-20th century after WWII, the interpretation of the archaeological record of the LBA-EIA transition was treated with a new empiricism but at the same time was increasingly beholden to historicizing narratives and models. While innovations in archaeological method contributed to the study of early Greece over the course of the 20th century, the reception and idealization of not only Classical Greece but Western civilization have continued to remain in the background of the Bronze Age to Iron Age transition.

J. Farguell Magnet, 2020

L’associacionisme arqueològic a Catalunya en el segon franquisme i la transició. Estudi del cas del Grup de Prehistòria i Arqueologia del Museu de Berga

The purpose of this research work is focused on the archaeological practice that was carried out from the archaeological associations in Catalonia. The Renaixença cultural movement claimed a glorious past in Catalonia during the formation of different European nations. The interest in the past led to the fact that in the late nineteenth and beginning twentieth centuries, archaeological associations were a reality in Catalonia. They were mainly organized around scientific hiking. These archaeological associations arrived to the culmination in the Second Republic. In the first so-called Franco regime, the Comisaría General de Excavaciones Arqueològicas, led by the falangist Julio Martínez Santa-Olalla, used the network of archaeological associations that Pere Bosch Gimpera had used for archaeological knowledge of the territory of Catalonia since the beginning of the 20th century. The Decree of December 2, 1955, abolished this commissary and gave birth to the Servicio Nacional de Excavaciones Arqueológicas. This date roughly coincides with what historiography identifies as the second Franco regime. It has been verified that the new organization of archaeology in this second Franco regime continued to use this network of archaeological associations. Each place in the Catalan territory had its own particularity and demanded an investigation by itself. In this work, the Grup de Prehistòria i Arqueologia del Museu Municipal de Berga is a case study, that since 1965 had direct permission from the Dirección General de Bellas Artes for the practice of archaeology in the territory of the Berguedà.

J.-C. Favin Lévêque, 2020

The concept of war in prehistoric times as interpreted by French anthropologists (1859-1996): historical study and historical perspective between France and British-american anthropology

his thesis is a study on the idea of war during prehistory in the French prehistoric science from the beginning to nowadays. With a method of structuring the scientific discourse on the subject, it proposes a story of this idea from 1859 to 1996, date of the last turning point in the reflexion. This story is put in perspective with a bigger scientific world, the anglo-saxon one, which is largely dominant on the subject. The main results of this work is, at first, a story of the idea of the prehistoric war divided in four periods, divided by three key moments, the Great War, the afterwards of the Second World War and the 1990’s decade. A strong evolution of the explanative theses on the origin of war is correlated with these periods. Moreover, the subject of the prehistoric war underlies specificities of the french scientific world, among which a strong difference of approaches between prehistory and ethnology and a few taboos which forbid to entry fields of research which are particularly dynamic in anglo-saxon anthropology. The conclusion proposes a projection in the present times and the trends of research in a medium-term future.

E. K. E. Haddow, 2020

Excavating Eden: Missionaries, material culture, and migration theories in the history of Pacific archaeology, 1797-1940

From the arrival of the London Missionary Society in the Pacific in 1797, Anglophone missionaries began to engage with the prehistory of the region. By offering observations and published accounts, collecting material culture, and recording oral traditions and language terms, they contributed to emerging theories of the prehistory and origins of Pacific people. Some missionaries also presented their own interpretations of the available data. This thesis considers the involvement of Anglophone missionaries in the development of archaeology in the Pacific through the 19th and early 20th centuries and explores how and to what extent they were influenced by local and global frameworks. These frameworks included local artefact and knowledge networks as well as scholarly contributions by individuals and scientific societies. The thesis is framed around two individuals: Reverend Frederick Gatherer Bowie, active with the Presbyterian Church in Vanuatu (then New Hebrides), 1896–1933, and Reverend Charles Elliot Fox, active with the Melanesian Mission in Solomon Islands, 1902–1973. Evidence is drawn from the artefact collecting activities and writing of both men, and from Bowie’s field photography. I demonstrate developments in missionary theories of prehistory over time, which can be traced alongside wider scholarly paradigm shifts and developing notions of ‘time’ as related to understandings of the human past. As well as exploring the agency of missionary researchers and their interlocutors, I seek to unravel the influence of interwoven knowledge networks on missionary engagement with Pacific prehistory, developing a narrative of the people and things involved. My research highlights the necessity of examining a range of actors and things circulating across different locales in the development of Pacific archaeology as a discipline. Such studies contribute to our understanding of how certain disciplinary concepts became popular and were replicated over time, and conversely how other theories fell out of favour. I argue that missionaries of different denominations, who may have previously been overlooked, have a place in this broader historical narrative. I also argue that missionary research resources have potential value for Pacific communities today, and that research presented in this thesis can facilitate access to such resources.

V. Melander, 2020

The Coming of the White Bearded Men: The Origin and Development of Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki Theory

From the late 1930s to his death in 2002, the Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002) relentlessly sought scientific acceptance for his controversial Kon-Tiki Theory. The theory separated the settlement of the Pacific into two different migrating races: the transatlantic culture bearers or white bearded men; and the originally Asiatic warrior race, the Maori-Polynesians. To date very little scholarly attention has been devoted to what influenced Heyerdahl to develop the intensely debated theory. Heyerdahl himself claimed that the theory came to him as an epiphany through encounters during his first journey to Polynesia in 1937. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the origin and development of Heyerdahl’s theory by focusing on his 1937 journey to Polynesia. This will be done particularly by targeting three distinguishable tropes of ethnographic travel writing detectable in Heyerdahl’s own narration of the theory’s origin. These include: Heyerdahl’s contrasting of the omniscient traveller and the armchair scientist; the connection he drew between a white race and advanced culture; and his emphasis on being there as the only means to extract knowledge. In Heyerdahl’s writing the latter trope also includes a second level which stressed the need to be there not only physically but mentally by performing primitivism. A central aim of this thesis is also to deconstruct Heyerdahl’s autobiography, to extract original chronologies and intentions masked by later improvements from secondary contexts and intentions. In addition to published sources, the thesis source material consists of archival material such as field-journals, letters and manuscripts. Through these sources the origin and the development of the theory will be analysed from the mid-1930s up until its final publication in 1952. The analysis will focus on the influence Norwegian scientific tradition and Heyerdahl’s student years at Oslo University had on the theory. It will also focus on Heyerdahl’s knowledge and perceptions of Polynesia prior to his Polynesian journey, and how these perceptions altered when he encountered the real Polynesia. Further, the influence on the theory of Heyerdahl’s discovery of material culture and archaeological sites in Polynesia will be considered, as well as how meetings and readings in Europe and North America in the period 1938-1952 influenced the development of the theory. This thesis concludes that Heyerdahl’s theory originated in the contrast between his pre-journey vision of humanity’s natural state and the Polynesia he encountered. This contrast sparked a racist interpretation of Polynesian prehistory, where the Polynesian people were detached from their own prehistory and replaced by a more advanced race. Heyerdahl further defined the origin of this race as the transatlantic white bearded men, through actively choosing to ignore research literature in favour of amateur studies and adventure stories when he developed the theory in Norway and the US. Heyerdahl sought acceptance of the theory by polarising his own knowledge achieved from being there against that of an outdated image of the scientist and scientific institutions, and finally by developing his own fields of specialisation by creating and performing various experiments without attachment to empirical material.

M. E. Oddo, 2020

Measuring time. Histories of chronology building in archaeology

Histories of archaeology are usually either cultural histories (i.e. histories of archaeological thought) or histories of progress describing the advancement of the discipline in a specific field or geographical area (e.g. histories of archaeological discoveries). Only a small number of histories of archaeological methods have been written. They are normally ‘histories of progress’ and do not leave great space to the investigation of the intellectual context in which methods where conceived and applied, or the academic milieu, in which their results were used and interpreted. My dissertation uses the approach of intellectual history to examine the historical development of a field of archaeological research – chronology – that usually generates expectations of objectivity. Analysing it from the perspective of its cultural and historical conditions of possibility is an entirely novel endeavour. This topic is inspected through four case studies, two of which regard long-standing chronological controversies, and two of which concern the invention and early adoption of dating methods. The research presented studied the main publications and excavation/laboratory reports against the backdrop of contemporaneous politics, propaganda and intellectual disputes. The four case-studies show how ideologies, political conditions, sub-discipline mindsets and intellectual identities are relevant to the invention and adoption of dating methods, to the selection of variables deemed to be time-dependent, and to the reliability assigned to different methodologies in different contexts.

M. Bundi, 2019

Museums, Memory and Meaning: Politics of Identity and Representation in Sudanese Archaeological Museums

This thesis traces the historical developments in Sudanese archaeology – from a discipline inflected by colonial commitments to a post-colonial, more problem-oriented archaeology – and presents the creation of major heritage museums in the Sudan against the background of shifting interpretive paradigms and related discursive formations. Two case studies, one from the Sudan National Museum, opened in 1971, and the other from the Kerma Museum, inaugurated in 2008, provide insights in the processes by which these museums were constituted, and explore the interplay between politics of display and processes of identity formation. Also addressed is the question of the museums’ ability to attract visitors and to adapt to processes of societal change.

M. Cataldi, 2019

Discovering, understanding and interpreting rock engravings. A history of archeological science through the study of Mount Bégo (1868–1947)

Nowadays, the Vallée des Merveilles archaeological site, in the Mercantur National Park (Alpes-Maritimes, France), preserves about 40.000 protohistoric engravings. These engravings are carved on the rocks of the valleys around Mount Bego, dated between the Chalcolithic and the Bronze Age (3300-1800 BC). Known since the 16th century, these engravings reappeared around the 1860s, in the framework of a recently established knowledge, prehistory. Our research examines how they have been characterized as a scientific object as well as the process that led to their protection as expression of the culture of the “primitive man”. The thesis analyzes, through an historiographical method, three moments of the redefinition of the value of the site, in order to describe how it is constituted at the intersection of the scientific debate, of the construction of the public opinion and his protection by national institutions.

S. Hussain, 2019

The French-Anglophone divide in lithic research. A plea for pluralism in Palaeolithic archaeology

In this provocative study, Shumon T. Hussain engages with the long-standing issue of French-Anglophone research conflicts in Palaeolithic archaeology. By examining a range of well-selected case studies and discursive contexts, the author shows that French and Anglophone approaches in lithic analysis are anchored in opposing cognitive frameworks. He argues that the mainstays of this division can be elucidated by calling upon the marginalised work of American philosopher Stephen C. Pepper, who captured the totality of credible Western thought in terms of four equitable world hypotheses. Based upon his insights, the dissertation demonstrates that French lithic research gravitates towards ‘contextualistic’ and ‘organicistic’ modes of inquiry, while Anglophone approaches tend to rely on ‘formistic’ and ‘mechanistic’ styles of reasoning. Hussain carefully lays out the implications of this condition for mutual understanding and critical practice. He contends that the French-Anglophone divide can only be overcome if scholars endorse scientific pluralism and begin to seriously take into consideration both the strengths and shortcomings of different cognitive frameworks, including their own.

P. Fux, 2019

Archäologie Schweiz – Weltweit. Potenzial und Herausforderungen einer komparativen Archäologie. Eine Studie mit wissenschaftstheoretischen Grundlagen und empirischen Projektbeispielen mit Bhutan und Peru

S. Lepiller, 2019

Out of the cavern, into the cave: an epistemological study on palaeolithic art and prehistory, where sciences of nature and humanities meet

Ever since Plato’s allegory the practice of philosophy has traditionally been linked to stepping out of a cavern. What this work aims at doing is to go in the very opposite direction, by examining with a philosophical approach the caves and ornamented artefacts which men ventured into and used in Europe before the end of the last ice age. This particular issue cannot be tackled without defining first what the sciences of prehistory consist in, as they can’t be confined to the study of what happened before the beginning of history. Another important issue to address is that of the unity of what has been labelled « Palaeolithic Art ». However, the double challenge laid down by the discovery of that form of art must be reckoned with, beyond all those conceptual considerations. Indeed, it has enabled researchers to ponder about man’s identity and origins on the one hand, and about what makes sciences of prehistory stand out from other scientific fields, and how they relate to those other sciences on the other hand. As regards the first question under scrutiny, the discovery of fossil men made it increasingly possible throughout the 19th century to consider that they lived at the same time as some now extinguished animal species, but the discovery of their artistic work raised initially a lot of controversy. However, it revealed then that those men had a sense of aesthetics, some spiritual abilities, and that they were, in a nutshell, fully-fledged human beings. As for the second issue, Palaeolithic Art has made the blurred status of research on prehistory both more blatant and more tangible, as such research intertwines various sciences, especially those of nature and Humanities. A deeper examination of the approaches and practices of researchers on prehistory shows that that field of studies can be considered as an experimental one, where different scientific model systems are driven to merge. Yet, the scientific approach of prehistory implies an underlying conception of mankind and sciences, which was challenged in the last decades of the 20th century, when new paradigms were introduced by naturalised anthropology. Since they stand at the junction point of sciences of nature and Humanities, the studies on Palaeolithic Art offer the opportunity to get a privileged insight into various ways to see the world, to understand mankind, and to define the principles of sciences.

T. Aguilera Durán, 2018

Bárbaros y héroes: recepción de la Iberia prerromana en la España moderna

Esta tesis analiza la recepción de los pueblos de la Iberia prerromana (celtíberos, lusitanos, cántabros, turdetanos, etc.) entre la Antigüedad clásica y finales del siglo XVIII. Desde un enfoque histórico-cultural de larga duración, se estudian las distintas formas de representación de aquellas culturas (literatura, arte, filosofía, etc.), incidiendo particularmente en la historiografía y atendiendo sobre todo a sus implicaciones ideológicas e identitarias. Por un lado, se aborda la manera en que la intelectualidad grecolatina caracterizó a las sociedades hispanas como una realidad periférica y barbárica en el contexto de su incorporación colonial por Roma. Por otro, se analiza cómo los estereotipos resultantes fueron interpretados, readaptados y asumidos en el proceso de definición de la identidad nacional en la España moderna. Estos planteamientos se desarrollan desde dos enfoques complementarios. En un bloque se presenta la cuestión de manera global y diacrónica, exponiendo en cuatro capítulos cronológicos (Antigüedad, Medievo, siglos XVI-XVII y siglo XVIII) los procesos de recepción generales en su contexto político y cultural. En el siguiente bloque la cuestión se desgrana en seis temas clave a través de sendos capítulos monográficos y transversales (dualidad civilización-barbarie, fidelidad, belicosidad, bandidismo, religión y sacrificio); se profundiza así en los elementos específicos esenciales que han caracterizado a la visión etnográfica de aquellas culturas, explorando cómo sus respectivas potencialidades, complicaciones y contradicciones fueron tratadas en cada momento. En general, el análisis se guía por dos premisas fundamentales: por una parte, que la definición etnohistórica de los pueblos hispanos ha estado predeterminada por una serie limitada de tópicos recurrentes y duraderos, adaptables, no obstante, a los distintos discursos; por otra, que el análisis del papel que ha cumplido la recepción de esa parte del pasado resulta muy revelador para comprender el proceso de construcción cultural de la identidad española, en tanto que atañe a la búsqueda de sus anclajes históricos ancestrales y su particularismo esencialista.

J. Linetty, 2018

The beginnings of archaeology in Greater Poland region since 1918

The work is devoted to the formation and beginnings of archeology as a modern scientific discipline in Greater Poland before 1918. Its scope covers issues such as archaeological discoveries, excavations, development of literature, theoretical reflection and the culture-creating impact of nascent archeology. The beginnings of archeological interests in the ancient world, in the Middle Ages, and in the early modern period are discussed. However, the most important period here is the nineteenth century, in which archeology shaped as a scientific discipline. This phenomenon was influenced by the growing avalanche archaeological finds, but also by Darwin’s theory, the system of three eras and the formation of a long chronology. All these elements enabled the creation of a coherent, scientific vision of the origins of humanity and human prehistory.

R. Malara, 2018

Landscape and Ruin. Critical reading of the relationship between archaeological heritage and landscape

Over the centuries, the relationship established between ruin and landscape in painting and literature has become essential for the design of gardens and landscapes. The Grand Tour marked the evolution of the perspective on historical and archaeological expeditions, such as Ercolano and Pompei, transformed the perception of the past up to then mainly based on literary sources, leaving room for direct investigations in archaeological sites, thus making the birth of a scientific methodology that leads to the creation and the conscious need for an archaeological park. In understanding how the archaeological landscape project is dealt with and how it related to the past today, we examine critically some archaeological parks in Southern Italy. I nthe delicate relationship between past and present, archeology takes the risk of recognizing itself more easily in the past, thus diminishing ties with contemporaneity, that necessarily works in the context of motivations and meaning returns. It is therefore important to act on the search for a reconciliation between the protection of the heritage of archaeological disciplines and the overcoming of their borders through the landscape project as a form of contemporary regeneration.

L. Saint-Raymond, 2018

Betting by bidding: the launching of new artistic markets at auction in Paris (1830s-1939)

This research investigates the Parisian auction sales from the 1830 until the interwar period, with a particular focus on the launching of new artistic markets. To do so, 2,126 auction catalogues were collected and transcribed, then matched with the minutes of the sales, curated at the archives de Paris. This data gathering led to global yet accurate set of 286 076 artworks – paintings, drawings, sculptures, antiques, Asian, Oriental, pre-Columbian and “primitive” artefacts – mentioning the description of the works, their hammer prices and the identity of both sellers and purchasers. In addition of this corpus, the auctioneers’ archives were analyzed, with a particular focus on their individual quitus or account statements. Reconsidering the history of taste, these sources allow to identify the new artefacts which were sold at auction, the players who bet on these novelties, their incentives, and the market mechanisms they used in order to promote them – with success or not. A transdisciplinary methodology, based on art history, economics, sociology and digital humanities, enables to answer these issues.

F. Sánchez Salas, 2018

Las relaciones internacionales entre la Arqueología española e italiana en la historia de la Arqueología española (siglo XX)

The importance of the History of Archaeology lies in the capacity to respond to the first question we should consider as archaeologists: how have we become what we are?. It is essential to study this past, and this research could be faced from different perspectives. Here we will focus on analysing the international relations inside the History of Archaeology, as part of the mechanism to understand our past in a period where borders between countries portray the personal and academic relations of scholars. In particular, the relationships between Spanish and Italian archaeologists of the 20th century will be examined due to the ignorance existing around this topic, compared to the studies about the relations with Germans scholars, and also, to a lesser extent, with British academics. The purpose of this thesis is to take a closer look at the impact that the relationships between researchers had in the Spanish Archaeology of the 20th century. With this, we have tried to break away from the clichés which were solidly established in the History of Spanish Archaeology, such as, the general belief that Spanish professionals were passive receptors of the newness that came from other countries, and the idea that, particularly during the Francoist period, the international isolation of the experts was practically total. Within this context, it has been specifically analysed the relations between Italian and Spanish archaeology from the beginnings of the 20th century to 1975, establishing this year as the closing date of the study. In our examination we have divided the period studied in two parts: before and after the Civil War. […]

A. Trif, 2018

La culture de Cucuteni dans le discours de l’archéologie préhistorique, de 1889 jusqu’en 1937

Nous avons intitulé notre recherche « La culture de Cucuteni dans le discours de l’archéologie préhistorique — de 1889 jusqu’en 1937 ». Ce travail vient s’ajouter aux abondantes recherches qui ont été menées au sujet de cette culture. Pour autant, il n’en remplace aucune. La dette est forcément grande et sa nouveauté est bien petite ; sauf, peut-être, la manière d’appréhender ce thème. Car dans cette analyse, nous nous proposons de revisiter les bases de notre savoir sur « la culture de Cucuteni » et de nous interroger sur ce qui nous est déjà bien connu. Le but de cette recherche est de prendre en considération le rôle joué par plusieurs acteurs dans la construction de cette catégorie nécessaire afin de donner du sens au nouveau phénomène archéologique — les découvertes de céramique peinte du nord de la Moldavie à la fin du XIXe siècle. De même, nous tenterons de comprendre la manière dont l’acceptation de cette nouvelle classification d’artefacts a pu, à son tour, influencer le processus historique même de sa construction.Au cœur de la motivation de notre travail se retrouve la question suivante : comment cette culture de Cucuteni s’est concrètement construite ? La question pourrait faire penser à tort à l’existence d’un objet fixe — « la culture de Cucuteni » — qui assurerait une continuation des conceptions passées et présentes. Notre intérêt est de tenter une analyse de la fabrication de ce nouveau « fait scientifique » comme un rapport entre plusieurs acteurs, venant de plusieurs champs scientifiques et sociaux qui ont appréhendé « la culture de Cucuteni » de façon différente pour satisfaire leurs propres intérêts. « La culture de Cucuteni » n’est pas conçue ici comme un artefact relevé par le travail scientifique, mais comme un produit d’une histoire. […]

I. Dominguez Gregorio, 2017

Historia de la antropología americanista española (1892-1992)

This thesis deals with the history of American studies in Spanish cultural anthropology in a historical period spanning one hundred years (1892-1992). It analyzes the slow introduction of this science in Spain thanks to the active participation of key figures in the intellectual world. Special attention is paid to the various currents and schools of thought involved in this process and how these various intellectual models are assimilated, complementing the ideological reality of Spain in each of the moments studied. The social and economic reality of Spain and links between material reality, ideologies, policies and science are analyzed. In this approach analogies between science and ideology are established, since all science is necessarily immersed in its own ideological framework, within the larger scope of society. However, there is no necessary primacy of material reality against ideological elements, as both aspects are studied as shaping each other. In this case foreign influences in thought are also important, serving in many cases to crack the dominant national paradigm in a given period. Moreover, the current thesis is not limited to analyzing the social, cultural and economic reality of Spain, but the broader context in which the country is located. Therefore, it investigates Europe’s ideological, philosophical and social framework, also from a broader historical perspective than that which is mentioned in the text’s title. Thus, modern precedents of key concepts that reach Antiquity and intellectual currents that prevail mainly in Europe since the dawn of Modernity are examined arnd analyzed. Such phenomena are important if we consider that Spain traditionally occupies a peripheral position both economically and intellectually regarding the West, so that the ideas from other geographical regions are those which mainly shape Spanish thought. As one is unable to study a discipline in isolation, this analysis takes into account the history of other related specialties such as physical anthropology, prehistory, history or archeology. Ultimately it examines by what means, processes and resistances, and to what extent Spain is integrated within the frame of the modern enlighted West, through the thread of American anthropological studies…

C. Marín Hernández, 2017

Hacer arqueología en la Extremadura contemporánea. La Comisión Provincial de Monumentos Históricos y Artísticos de Cáceres (1844-1982)

The projection of the Historiography of Archeology on the Provincial Monuments Commissions is one of the lines of research that gives more and better interests to the knowledge and thinking of the archaeological discipline. In this respect, the Provincial Monuments Commissions provide an outstanding opportunity to systematize the development of Archeology and its institutionalization, as a scientific subject, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, since the Provincial Monuments Commissions had almost exclusively, for a long time and protected by the Spanish State the greater competences of management and intervention on all the archaeological contexts of the country. In this way, we conceive the present research work within this line of research of the Historiography of Archeology, as it is to approach the nature of Archeology practiced in the province of Cáceres and the management of its Archaeological Heritage through the institutional perspective which offers the same Provincial Monuments Commission from its foundation in the mid-nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century, trying to locate this institution in the changing historical situation (local, regional, national and international) that covered it. Thus, we aim to fill a historiographic gap that supports the history of Archeology of Extremadura during the last two centuries.

S. Plutniak, 2017

The Archeological Operation. A Sociohistorical Perspective on a Discipline facing Automatics and Mathematics. France, Spain, Italy, Second half of the 20th Century

During the second half of the twentieth century, attempts at operational redefinitions of social activities increased, relying on the scientific and technical innovations developed during the Second World War and then strengthened by the generalization of automation. Scrutinizing the particular case of archaeology, this research addresses these attempts from an historical sociology perspective. During that period, archaeology showed an increasing process of disciplinarization and professionalization. The same happened for applied mathematics and then computer science: this study is precisely about the relationships between these three fields. At their intersection, methodological and conceptual innovations notably increased in France during the 1950’s and 1960’s. However, their scientific reception was relatively low afterwards. In this case, innovations related to applied mathematics and automatics did not led to the emergence of an archaeological specialty based on computation. Such a situation shows a striking contrast with what happened in other scientific disciplines or in archaeology in other countries, whereas the theoretical and methodological propositions of the “New Archaeology” trend spread worldwide. Three collective attempts to redefine the conceptual and methodological basis of archaeology are explored, respectively led by Georges Laplace, Jean-Claude Gardin and Jean Lesage, concerning both France, Spain and Italy. These main cases are supplemented by those of a set of actors who articulated both a career in engineering and in archaeology. Generally speaking, this study tackles the cognitive and social aspects of methodological contributions in the scientific activities. Three models of relationships between experts in formal methods and experts in the application domain are empirically identified and described. Effects of the introduction of mathematics and automated procedures on the division of labor and the distribution of recognition are analyzed. The success or failure of the reception of those methodological propositions are discussed with reference to several factors and models of scientific innovation. This work leads us to shade new light both on the roots and growth of rescue archaeology and on the use of digital technologies in human sciences. This study draws on 82 interviews, 23 archives and several bibliometric dataset (extracted from pre-existing databases of constructed for the purpose of this research). Mirroring the archaeological propositions under study, this research is also intended to illustrate a possible use of computing and formalized procedures in social sciences. The documentation and demonstrative principles underlying this work, implemented by using a Wiki and the methods of literate programming and reproducible research, are themselves analyzed.

S. G. Marshall, 2017

“Which Way to Magna Hungaria?” The Application of Social Stratigraphic Mapping and Analysis to an Ethnic Origin Theory

This dissertation provides the results of a study that reflected on how the creation and dissemination of knowledge about the past was handled by researchers in the late 18 th and 19th centuries – a period in history noted for extensive and profound political, social and economic changes all across Europe and the world. It pondered how living and working in an environment of major change may have impacted the researchers and their interpretations of archaeological data. The study examined this issue of ‘environmental’ impact on knowledge creation and dissemination through the prism of a case study on the impact of personal and professional influences on scholarly research within the field of ethnogenetic determination in Hungary. The study considered the processes by which one ethnogenetic theory – the ‛Finno-Ugric Uralian’ ethnogenesis theory (abbreviated to Uralic theory) – came to dominate scholarship in Hungary about the origins of its largest single ethnic group – the Magyars. Applying a new technique called ‛Social Stratigraphic Mapping and Analysis’ (an adaption of the Knowledge Management technique of ‘Social Network Analysis’), the associations of the scholars were profiled using historical biographical data coupled with psychological profiling, to determine those factors – personal, institutional and temporal – that may have affected their views and caused them to adopt a stance on the issue of Magyar ethnogenesis. The study found evidence of manipulation of data and biased views both in the reporting of the data, and in the treatment of the scholars themselves, and that the data manipulation and treatment of the scholars not only impacted on the reporting of the artefact assemblages in the period but has had a lasting impact on Hungarian research into ethnogenesis since that time.

C. Proust, 2017

The workshops of the National Museum of Antiquities : the origins of the archaeological restoration

The National Museum of Antiquities (MAN) was created at the instigation of Emperor Napoleon Ill in 1862. With the proposed creation of the museum has become the need to equip the workshops of molding and restoration. Abel Maître, a sculptor by training, is the first leader of workshop in the late 19th century. Indispensable part of the MAN, Il proved to be a !rue precursor of the restoration of archaeological objects as it conceives today. His successor, Benoit-Claude Champion, leads workshops throughout the first half of the 20th century and works to professionalize the discipline, at a time when the Issue of training for restorers is central to the debate. Through concrete example of MAN workshops, this research alms to show how archeology has emerged as a specialty in the highly artistic restoration, and how the development of this discipline is closely linked to International politics Heritage Preservation, which comes into its own after World war 1.

S. Zurinaga Fernández-Toribio, 2017

La arqueología del oasis. España en la campaña de salvamento de la Unesco en Nubia, 1960-1972

La Campaña de Salvamento de la Unesco en Nubia fue el mayor logro en materia de cooperación internacional durante los años sesenta del siglo XX, dedicándose al rescate de restos arqueológicos, antropológicos, etnográficos y al traslado de monumentos. España se unió a la llamada de la Unesco para salvar el patrimonio cultural que iba a ser anegado con la construcción de la presa de Asuán. Participó enviando equipos multidisciplinares a lo largo de seis años en los que trabajaron en varias campañas con una marcada estacionalidad en una veintena de yacimientos, algunos de ellos inéditos aún hoy. La cronología abarca desde la Prehistoria hasta época medieval (yacimientos del Grupo C, faraónicos, meroíticos, postmeroíticos y cristianos). En las concesiones de la nubia sudanesa (Argin y las islas de Kasr Ico y Abkanarti) y la nubia egipcia (Masmas y Cheikh Daud), trabajaron excavando iglesias, fortalezas, necrópolis, poblados y registrando manifestaciones de arte rupestre. La investigación realiza una reconstrucción historiográfica pormenorizada, a través del estudio de fuentes documentales custodiadas tanto en archivos públicos como en fondos personales, entre los que podemos destacar el Museo Arqueológico Nacional, la Real Academia de la Historia, el CSIC, el fondo Emiliano Aguirre o el Fondo Eduardo Ripoll; aportando una valiosa información inédita. Se partió de una serie de premisas que han tratado de verificar cómo ocurrieron los hechos estudiando todos los yacimientos excavados, se ha contextualizado el territorio, se han aportado discusiones académicas actuales sobre el propio concepto de Nubia, y se ha analizado el contexto socio-político en el que se insertaron los trabajos en una España altamente conservadora en el que el régimen apostó por la visibilidad en el exterior. Las excavaciones pusieron a España en el mapa internacional en la arqueología en el exterior, situándola al mismo nivel que potencias de arraigada tradición orientalista e introduciendo el nuevo concepto de nubiología.

E. A. Walker, 2017

Collecting the Past: Aspects of Historiography and Lithic Artefact Analysis for the Creation of Narratives for the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Archaeology of Wales

This submission for a PhD BY published work examines archaeological historiography and lithic artefact studies concerning aspects of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology of Wales. The critical analysis connects the published works through the theoretical approach of biography. It draws out themes of archaeological, straigraphic and museum context where appropriate. The critical analysis commences with an examination of publications concerning the history of research at Palaeolithic cave sites in Wales. It identifies the sources and methodologies used then analyses their effectiveness for presenting histories of caves. The historiography of lithic artefact studies is then examined before an analysis is offered of the methodological approaches of technology, chronology, typology and the chaine operatoire as used in the published works. By applying the concept that artefacts have biographies, the archaeological context for individual and surface assemblages of lithic artefacts is explored. This leads to a discussion of archaeological projects and examines the fieldwork techniques adopted in the publications to elucidate archaeological context.There is an examination of the factors that influence the resulting archive and a discussion of its use as a resource for determining past work at archaeological sites. By exploring thesetopics the concept of biographies of people, places , artefacts and projects emerges. These biographies are drawn together into an assessment of their use for presenting archaeological narratives for regions of Wales. The final conclusions draw the aims of the critical analysis of the published works together before offering concluding thoughts about the continuation of antiquarian traditions in collecting lithic artefacts across Wales.

A. Castañer Llinares, 2016

El padre Belda (1890-1969). Arqueólogo

José Belda Domínguez (1890-1969), presbítero y arqueólogo -El Padre Belda-, es, por varios motivos, uno de los personajes más emblemáticos de la arqueología alicantina en el periodo comprendido entre 1925 y 1964, si bien tanto su vida, como su obra y sus trabajos, son a fecha de hoy prácticamente desconocidos. La Tesis, de carácter historiográfico, desarrolla la vida y la obra del que fue, entre otros cargos, Párroco de La Torre de les Maçanes (1925-1951), Colaborador local de la Comisión Provincial de Monumentos de Alicante desde marzo de 1930; Agregado del Centro de Cultura Valenciana (sección de Prehistoria y Antropología) desde febrero de 1931; Organizador-fundador del Museo Provincial de Alicante desde el 31/10/1931; Académico correspondiente provincial de la Real Academia de la Historia en Madrid desde el 14/2/1933; Vocal de la Comisión Provincial de Monumentos Artísticos e Históricos de Alicante desde el 26/6/1933; Subdirector del Museo Provincial desde el 26/2/1935; Vocal del Patronato Provincial para el fomento de Bibliotecas, Archivos y Museos Arqueológicos desde octubre de 1938; Director interino y reorganizador del Museo Arqueológico Provincial desde el 10/9/1940; Miembro de la Sociedad Española de Antropología, Etnografía y Prehistoria de Madrid desde julio de 1941; Director titular del Museo Arqueológico Provincial de Alicante desde el 3/12/1943; Asesor Provincial de Artesanía desde 1944; Miembro de la Sociedad Española de Estudios Clásicos desde 1954; Fundador y Vicepresidente del Centro Excursionista de Alicante desde 1955; Director honorario del Museo Arqueológico Provincial desde el 30/11/1955; Colector delegado en Alicante de la Sección de Paleontología del Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales desde el 2/2/1956; Miembro del Instituto Diocesano Valentino “Roc Chabàs”; etcétera. El trabajo se centra en el periodo comprendido entre su nacimiento (1890) y el momento de su traslado a Alicante (1931), con una adenda posterior a la Guerra Civil Española. Incluye además, un anexo con sus principales publicaciones en dicho periodo -la gran mayoría inéditas-; otro con trabajos relacionados con la investigación; y una catalogación de los yacimientos prospectados/excavados en esos años. Se concluye afianzando su importancia como una de las principales figuras de la arqueología alicantina de la primera mitad del siglo XX. La tesis incorpora 1.527 referencias bibliográficas y archivísticas.

L. Coltofean-Arizancu, 2016

Zsófia Torma and the settlement of Turdaș-Luncă (Hunedoara County)

Zsófia Torma (1832-1899) was a pioneering Hungarian archaeologist from nineteenth-century Transylvania. Today, she is known among archaeologists for her archaeological collection and the researches she undertook at the site of Turdaș – Luncă. However, little is known about her life. From the information we have today, she is the first female archaeologist in Austria-Hungary, as well as in today’s Romania and Hungary. In her time, Transylvania was part of Austria-Hungary, which is why her activity must be analyzed and discussed in the context of Hungarian archaeology. Zsófia Torma had a significant role in the development of prehistoric archaeology in Transylvania, especially through the researches she carried out at the prehistoric settlement of Turdaș – Luncă, located in Hunedoara County. Due to its large size and richness of finds, Turdaș – Luncă is one of the most important archaeological sites in today’s Romania and even Europe. Thanks to Zsófia Torma, this site, which was for a long time associated with Troy, became very famous in Europe beginning with the 1880s. Zsófia Torma is the first person who excavated this site, starting with the autumn of 1875. She discovered numerous artifacts which allowed her to create an impressive archaeological collection in her house, in the town of Orăștie. Soon, her collection became renowned not only in Hungary, but also internationally. Towards the end of her life, this collection that is now hosted by The National History Museum of Transylvania consisted of more than 10000 objects. For all these reasons, Zsófia Torma’s scientific activity and experiences in a field that was at the dawn of its development, in a society where women’s scientific preoccupations were disregarded, are very important for the history of Hungarian, Romanian and European archaeology. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to reconstruct Zsófia Torma’s scientific biography in the cultural, social and political context of nineteenth-century Transylvania. […]

F. Defrance-Jublot, 2016

The experience of being prehistorian and catholic in France (1859-1962)

In the second part of the XIXth century in France, the context of secularization created a dividing line between theological and scientific discourses about human origins. In spite of this, several archaeologists publicly displayed their Catholic faith during this period. These archaeologists felt a connection, rather than a boundary, between their faith and their scientific research. They viewed the Bible as symbolic rather than literal and sought in prehistoric remains proofs that supported their Catholic beliefs. Thus, their faith had a certain influence on their interpretations of prehistoric man. Although several facts seemed to testify against historicity of Genesis, Catholic archaeologists always tried to resolve incoherencies and establish acceptable scenarios. They did this for themselves and to support fellow Catholics alarmed by anticlerical objections. I examine these connections but also another boundary: what could be said and what could not be said in the French Catholic community about prehistoric origins in the context of the Modernist crisis.

M. P. Gómez Gonzalo, 2016

Las controversias generadas en torno a las investigacions de Adolf Schulten en Numancia

This thesis is devoted to the analysis of the controversies that came with the excavations performed by the historian A. Schulten in Numancia over a hundred years ago. Such controversies have persisted through time and are present in recent publications. In order to accomplish this goal we not only have reviewed the available literature, press and the already known epistolary documentation, but we have also incorporated numerous unpublished documents found in Barcelona, Madrid and Erlangen (Germany). These documents are unpublished correspondence between Schulten and both L. Pericot and the Marquis of Cerralbo and they belong to files kept in the University of Erlangen and to several archives of Madrid. The corresponding press has been systematically researched as well. In the first part we deal with the documentary bases used by Schulten, dating back to the Greco-Roman literary sources and reviewing the location history of Numancia in Garray. We have also studied the social environment of Soria at that moment, the circumstances that accompanied the arrival of Schulten, the activities of the Spanish Excavation Commission and the work done in the Roman camps. The second part has led us to analyze the activity of Schulten after Numancia, since that stage conditioned his controversial image through other peninsular scenarios. The third part focuses on the core of the controversy: the appropriation of the discovery of Celtiberian Numancia and the projection that Schulten had in the literature, especially after his death. The contrasted sources allow us to verify erroneous attributions. This confirms the initial hypothesis: modern criticism goes back to already overcome elements of the controversy and mixes them with other criticisms taken from other environments that, in the light of our analysis, become meaningless when applied to Numancia.

M. A. Henares Guerra, 2016

Las colecciones arqueológicas de la Universidad de Sevilla (1850-1950). Estudio historiográfico y arqueológico

Desde mediados del siglo XIX, la Universidad de Sevilla contó con varias colecciones arqueológicas, de diferentes características, pero con la misma finalidad: ser vehículos de investigación y docencia. Hoy en día, lo que queda de ellas es una serie de piezas que, tras pasar casi medio siglo almacenadas, y descontextualizadas al desaparecer los museos universitarios que las albergaron, forman una parte del conjunto del Patrimonio Histórico-Artístico de esta universidad. Dentro de ese conjunto se individualiza a comienzos del presente siglo una Colección Arqueológica, reuniendo todos los materiales arqueológicos existentes y, de alguna manera, rescatando la memoria y herencia de una colección precedente. No obstante, ni todas las piezas que componen la colección actual son parte de la colección histórica, ni ésta era una colección única. Esta tesis identifica, documenta y dota de contexto a las colecciones históricas. Para ello, se ha llevado a cabo un estudio arqueológico e historiográfico, organizado en tres partes, atendiendo a cada uno de los antiguos museos en cuyo marco se desarrollaron las colecciones. Cronológicamente, el estudio abarca las décadas entre 1850 y 1950, siglo en el que las colecciones arqueológicas históricas de la US, cual organismos con vida propia, nacen, crecen y se extinguen.

F. J. Millán, 2016

El Cerro de los Santos. Historia política, repercusión patrimonial del primer yacimiento de la cultura ibérica

“El Cerro de los Santos”, located in Montealegre del Castillo (Albacete), is considered the most important archaeological site of the Iberian culture due to its historical significance, its numerous literature and the quantity and quality of its sculptures. Besides, it was responsible for making a civilization and a purely Hispanic nation, the Iberian world, known. Since its discovery in 1860, by Juan de Dios Aguado y Alarcón, more than six hundred sculptures, many of them still unpublished, are part of both Spanish and foreign museums; “Gran Dama Oferente” being one the most well-known sculptures. After a thorough analysis of bibliographical sources, different kinds of files, unpublished documents and oral testimonies, a historiographical review has been done. Such review includes unpublished and original contributions such as the recognition of the work of people like Juan de Dios Aguado, José Biosca, Julián Zuazo Palacios and Pablo Picasso. In this respect, the latter was inspired by the pieces of “El Cerro de los Santos” to create Cubism. In addition, by means of the media, published studies and Universal exhibitions where such pieces have been shown, both international and national impact has been confirmed. Although “El Cerro” has been widely analyzed throughout its more than 150-year history, I decided to resume its research and, after 33 years, to make new archaeological excavation. Thus, a research team led by The University of Murcia carried out the 2013, 2014 and 2015 campaigns successfully. As a result of this archaeological excavation, this site has been placed at the forefront by rejecting the theories and hypotheses which certified its exhaustion. Thanks to such excellent results, an ambitious Project of Patrimonial Recovery of “El Cerro de los Santos” has been developed. It entails greater protection, dissemination and analysis; recovery and compilation of pieces and of all the archaeological material appeared at the site along its history; preservation through the archaeological-catalogue letter of goods of the cultural heritage of Castilla-La Mancha and the Local Ordinance Plan; prospecting and excavation; and the design and construction and of a Museum-Centre of Interpretation.

E. Palacio Pérez, 2016

Construcción y transformación del concepto de arte paleolítico: las bases teóricas de una idea

This doctoral dissertation constitutes a critical reflection on the way in which Palaeolithic images were conceptualized from the end of the 19th century to the last decades of the 20th century. From the standpoint of the history of ideas and the history of mentalities, I examine two different periods in the history of the conceptualization of Paleolithic images. In the first place, I study the origins of the concept of Paleolithic art as this idea was formulated at the end of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century (1864-1958). In the second place, I analyze the moment in which the so-called «structuralists» archaeologists established a new paradigm that oriented the interpretation of Paleolithic images from 1960s to 1980s. In short, my work seeks to explore how a number of Western conceptions on «art» and «primitive» people established a theoretical framework that oriented research on Paleolithic art from 1864 to 1985.

E. Norton, 2016

Polished axes: object biographies and the writing of world prehistories

Polished axes have become an iconic tool representing the Neolithic in the archaeological record. Polished axes are unusual as they are similar in form and design across space and time, found internationally in both archaeological and ethnographic contexts. This meant they have become an easily recognisable item for collectors and have been found in public and private collections from the 18th Century onwards. A common component in many diverse collections, tracing the history of polished axes allows the investigation of the networks of people and artefacts which built the collections of the British Museum. These networks were also crucial in the sharing of information, which especially in the mid – 19th Century may have had a significant impact in the way in which world prehistories were written. The research has focused on the British Museum’s collection of polished axes from Oceania, and Europe. Objects associated with the axes, including hafts, labels, diaries, letters and catalogues have been used to reconstruct the ‘biography’ of each collection of artefacts. This makes it possible to show how the British Museum’s collections of polished axes were built and how they have been used to write the prehistory of the world from a Western perspective. There are three main aims to my research. Firstly I aim to better understand how the British Museum acted as a site of knowledge making during the construction of prehistory as a concept and the construction of archaeology as a discipline. Secondly, I aim to show how ethnographic and archaeological artefacts have been used together, both inside and outside the British Museum, to write world prehistories. Finally, I will show how polished axes have been used to write world prehistories which have influenced archaeologists for generations and to show object biographies may inform world prehistories in the future.

F. Pizzato, 2016

Fossili della nazione. Paletnologia, antropologia e nazionalismo in Italia (1871-1915)

L’obiettivo generale della tesi è analizzare i rapporti tra paletnologia e antropologia e il nation building process italiano tra 1871 e 1915. Per fare questo il lavoro si è svolto su due fronti, corrispondenti a due parti della tesi. Una prima parte dedicata alle strategie di autopromozione degli scienziati e alla costruzione di diverse teorie sulle origini nazionali e alle relazioni che intercorrevano tra queste e diverse anime del nazionalismo italiano. I casi di studio analizzati in questa sezione sono in particolare quelli delle figure e delle opere di Giuseppe Sergi e Luigi Pigorini. Una seconda parte della tesi è invece dedicata alla divulgazione di tali idee e ad alcune significative modalità di interazione tra mondo scientifico, società e politica. In questa prospettiva si affrontano alcune questioni relative alla nascita dei musei nazionali e locali; si riflette sul tema dell’associazionismo borghese; si discute il problema del Trentino e della definizione dei confini nazionali dal punto di vista degli scienziati.

J. Soler Segura, 2016

La conformación del registro material de Lanzarote. Historia e historiografía de la arqueología aborigen desde el siglo xix a la actualidad

Esta Tesis Doctoral pretende contribuir a la delimitación del marco general en el que se ha basado el proceso de conformación del conocimiento arqueológico del pasado aborigen de Lanzarote. Intenta, utilizando una aproximación historiográfica y de análisis de fuentes primarias (documentales y arqueológicas), evidenciar las pautas generales de dicho proceso, con el fin de ofrecer un conocimiento más consciente y complejo de la realidad empírica manejada por los actuales arqueólogos que se aproximan al estudio de la Isla. Busca, en primer lugar, contribuir al análisis general de la historia de la investigación arqueológica de Canarias y, más concretamente, la de Lanzarote, pues, a excepción de unas breves síntesis o estudios muy específicos, se carece actualmente de una aproximación historiográfica mínimamente crítica. En segundo lugar, rastrear los referentes teóricos empleados por los distintos autores en sus explicaciones del pasado, con el fin de aproximarse a las concepciones que, de la disciplina arqueológica, manejaron dichos investigadores, detallar la metodología empleada, y valorar las repercusiones que esas concepciones implicaron para su interpretación del pasado. Y, en tercer lugar, delimitar las fronteras conceptuales de las evidencias empíricas puestas en uso en cada momento histórico, ya que serán éstas las que conformen el bagaje empírico que se ha heredado, pues establecen, de forma consciente o no, los límites en que se mueven las interpretaciones y explicaciones históricas actuales. El análisis historiográfico que se ofrece parte de la recopilación que Sabino Berthelot elaboró sobre Lanzarote, a principios del siglo XIX, ya que será entonces cuando la Arqueología comience a conformarse, en Canarias, como disciplina científica. Se abordarán, así mismo, los trabajos empíricos que René Verneau realizó en la Isla, así como las diversas síntesis que desde finales del siglo XIX a principios del XX insertaban el pasado aborigen en los marcos de referencia generales. Con dicho bagaje documental se atiende al paulatino incremento del registro arqueológico lanzaroteño, estudiando en detalle las distintas concepciones que de él se manejaron durante la Comisaria Provincial de Excavaciones Arqueológicas y a lo largo del proceso de profesionalización de la disciplina. Así, se rastrearán sus cambios y evoluciones, con el fin de comprender cuáles fueron las causas que llevaron a considerar relevantes unas y no otras evidencias materiales. Una vez caracterizadas, se propone una síntesis crítica de las recientes investigaciones que sobre el periodo aborigen de Lanzarote se realizan en las últimas décadas, con el fin de valorar sus aportaciones y contribuir en lo posible a ahondar en el conocimiento actual de dicha etapa histórica. Para ello se abordan tres temáticas que ejemplifican la manera en que se interpreta el registro arqueológico en la Isla: los enclaves sepulcrales, las manifestaciones rupestres y la controversia sobre el primer poblamiento de Lanzarote.

M. Carandell Baruzzi, 2015

Orce Man. A Public Controversy in Spanish Human Origins Research 1982-2007

This PhD thesis deals with the so-called Orce Man controversy. The Orce Man is a 8 centimetres cranial fragment attributed to a hominid and discovered in the Venta Micena site, in Orce, Granada, Andalusia, southern Spain. The fossil was unearthed in 1982 by three young Catalan palaeontologists, Josep Gibert, Salvador Moyà-Solà i Jordi Agustí, from the Institut de Paleontologia de Sabadell. Apparently the discovery could be scientifically revolutionary as it was attributed to the earliest European hominid. The three scientists brought the discovery to the politicians in charge of their institution. Together with the Andalusian politicians, a public presentation of the discovery was organized for June 1983. When it was announced, the internal part of the bone was still attached to a rock and, therefore, remained invisible. The Orce Man attracted a great media following with coverage from several newspapers, magazines, and television channels. The political situation in Spain, with democracy just emerging after 40 years of dictatorship, was a crucial factor in the way that this discovery was disseminated. After a year, the internal part of the fragment was cleaned and a strange crest appeared. The crest seemed to indicate that the fragment was not from a hominid but that it belonged to an ancient equine. The new information was first made public on the front page of the El País newspaper. With this, a very public controversy broke out. Only one of the three discoverers, Josep Gibert, stuck to his stance, maintaining that the Orce fragment was indeed a hominid. This dispute lasted for at least 23 years until 2007 when Gibert died. By developing a chronological narrative of the controversy, this thesis wants to explore the interactions between scientists, journalists, the general public, and politicians. In this analysis, several general remarks emerged. First, the importance of the geographic situation of scientists and sites and how this affected the way that knowledge was presented to society. Second, the significant role that the Orce scientists¿ discourses and strategies that make certain claims credible or not for both the scientific community and the general public. Third, the necessity to consider the similarities between the Orce Man story and other scientific successful stories, in order to detach from Orce the label of a exception in scientific practice that often is attributed to this controversy. Fourth, the prominent role of politicians in this controversy that let us think about the several ways in which politics are related to science. Finally, this thesis aims to highlight the extent to which scientific practice is related to these so-called `publics¿ of science. In the Orce Man story we can perfectly see how the shape that scientific knowledge took place was completely determined by its public stance. To sum up, the Orce Man public controversy is a perfect example to understand how scientists claims are developed, negotiated and finally accepted (or rejected) in public, and, therefore, involving the general public as well as politicians and other actors.

E. Engström, 2015

The Folds of Eketorp: How Archaeology Shapes Time, Space and Gender

This thesis examines the history of the cultural heritage site of Eketorp, a prehistoric ring-fort, on the island of Öland, Sweden. The archaeological excavations at Eketorp, which began in 1964, lasted for a decade and soon turned into one of the largest archaeological research projects in Sweden. The scale and the implementation of the excavations, as an interdisciplinary and international research project, fostered a whole generation of archaeologists and resulted in numerous research publications. After the excavations the archaeological site was transformed into a full-scale archaeological reconstruction by the Swedish National Heritage Board. Since the mid-1980s the site has been a popular tourist attraction and open-air museum.
The history of the site itself connects to several academic fields, including archaeology, history of archaeology, cultural heritage and museum studies. Through Ludwig Fleck’s concept thought collective and Donna Haraway’s situated knowledge, which are used as analytical tools, the aim of this thesis is to explore how these different fields interacted throughout the history of Eketorp. Further, the analytical tools are used to highlight how these interactions have generated notions of time, space, and gender.
The study takes an interdisciplinary approach with the history of Eketorp analysed in three analytical chapters, each of them with different chronological and empirical focus. First, Eketorp is explored as a contemporary museum space through ethnographic fieldwork. Second, archive material is used to analyse how the archaeological excavation and the following archaeological reconstruction were conducted during the 1960s and onwards. Third, scientific texts are used to analyse how interpretations of Eketorp as a prehistoric site has changed. The concluding chapter integrates the results of the three chapters in order to critically examine how notions of time, space and gender interconnect between these fields. Illustrated by a wide chronological and interdisciplinary approach, the central argument of the thesis is thus that the Eketorp thought collective and thought style, intimately connected to hierarchies in academic practice, were created, performed, and maintained through several scientific and heritage institutions.

N. P. Ozguner, 2015

Archaeological entanglements: People, places, and politics of archaeology in Turkey

In this dissertation, I illustrate how the governance of archaeology in Turkey from the beginning of the modern state until the present day has shaped knowledge about the past. I analyze development plans, laws, repatriation efforts, UNESCO World Heritage Site nominations, and the distribution of research permits as tools of governmental policies. I also investigate educational structures to demonstrate how state policies have shaped public understanding of the value of archaeology. In its earliest years, as part of its nation building efforts, the Republic encouraged research on cultural diffusion at major Bronze Age sites. Witnessing the use of similar approaches to justify racist claims during World War II, archaeologists in Turkey distanced themselves from political agendas. Throughout the 1950s, practitioners focused solely on studying the human past without privileging other agendas. From the late 1960s–1990s, state policies emphasized archaeology’s touristic value, treating cultural heritage as an economic good. This meant a continued focus on impressive architectural monuments found primarily at Classical sites. Requests to investigate other eras and cultures, including Islamic and Turkish sites as well as regions with multi-ethnic pasts such as southeastern and eastern Anatolia and the Black Sea coast, were limited to restoration and rescue projects. After 2002, the Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (Justice and Development Party) government continued to link archaeology with tourism via World Heritage nominations. It also moved deliberately to use archaeology as a tool of political authority by limiting permits and funds to certain sites and by connecting foreign research permits with strong-arm repatriation tactics. While the number of excavations in previously under-explored areas of the country increased, government policies positioned archaeological sites as strategic chips in international diplomacy. In today’s Turkey, archaeology is both an economic and a diplomatic commodity. I demonstrate how the ideal of the discipline as the scientific study of the human past has been exploited to serve political ends. This study serves as both a full historical analysis and also a cautionary tale, illustrating how powerful forces can frame, occlude, and ultimately undermine our collective ability to understand the past.

V. Varouhakis, 2015

L’archéologie enragée. Archaeology & national identity under the Cretan State (1898–1913)

This thesis deals with the parallel threads of colonial politics, nationalism and archaeology in the Cretan State (1898 – 1913), a semi-autonomous, semi- colonial regime, established on the island of Crete by some of the “Great Powers” of the time (Great Britain, France, Russia and Italy). This polity ended 250 years of direct Ottoman rule, in a region inhabited by both Christians – the majority – and Muslims. Some of the most significant archaeological projects began during that period, mainly directed by western archaeological missions. Amidst this setting, a local elite of intermediaries supported Greek irredentism and demanded a nationally “pure” present, heir to an equally “pure” past. At the same time, an obedient stance towards the occupying forces and their archaeological demands secured their individual and collective interests. Both stances lead them to clash with Western archaeologists, Greek archaeologists, and especially the local peasantry, whose behaviour towards antiquities they considered ignorant and non-patriotic. How did the colonial foundations of Cretan archaeology affect its relationship with Greek nationalism? How was modern archaeology received and “consumed” by the Cretans of the time? In order to answer these questions, I organise my chapters by focusing upon different “groups” of people related to my subject (the Western archaeologists, the local archaeological elites, the Cretan peasants etc.) and studying how their intermingling evolved regarding the management of the material past. Most of my resources are of an archival nature, some of them never published before. They come from personal collections, memoirs, correspondence between key figures, press articles and administrative records. My findings clearly highlight how the Westerners managed to incorporate successfully the Cretan archaeological production within their identity-building, focused on the origins of the European civilisation. This material bond subsidised their collective, “civilised” identity, allowing them the privilege to colonise the world beyond their perception. At the same time, Crete was occupied by the Greek national imagination. The new archaeological narrative was used by the local elites in order to remodel the Cretan society, particularly the most “unruly” parts of it, the rural population, into obedient national subjects. The Cretan peasants reacted to these practices with a remarkable flexibility and resistance, which was evident in both their narrative and activity related to the material remains of the past. The outcomes of my research have wider relevance, especially for studies that may include, among others, topics such as the social history of Crete, archaeology and the politics of identity, ethnocratic applications of archaeology, memory destruction and reconstruction, conflict archaeology and archaeology “from below”.

M. Woźny, 2015

Włodzimierz Demetrykiewicz (1859-1937). A prehistorian from the turn of the eras

Włodzimierz Demetrykiewicz was the most important Polish prehistorian at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century. He had a great influence on archaeo- logy in Poland – both in the scientific and organizational aspects. Thanks to him, already in 1905 (not much later than in Vienna, Prague or Budapest) prehistoric archaeology became the subject of university lectures in Kraków. It is necessary to emphasize that among his merits, apart from academic achievements, is his work in the preservation of monuments of art and archaeology, and the pedagogical activity – the formation of new staff of Polish prehistory. His students called him “the right creator of Polish archaeology”.
The book reproduces the activities of the scholar against the background of his time and existent situation in Kraków (later also in independent Poland), where he developed his work as a conservator of monuments, a member of several academic committees of the Academy of Arts and Sciences (Polish abbr. AU; later the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, abbr. PAU), curator and director of the AU and PAU Archaeological Museum and the first professor of prehistoric archaeology in Kraków, both on the basis of archival materials and scholarly literature. […]

M. Alcaraz Castaño, 2014

La transición del Paleolítico Medio al Superior en el contexto de la historia disciplinar del Paleolítico (1852-1980). Un análisis historiográfico integral

En esta Tesis Doctoral realizamos un análisis historiográfico de una de las problemáticas más atendidas en la disciplina paleolítica durante las últimas cinco décadas: la transición entre el Paleolítico Medio y el Superior. La metodología utilizada combina el análisis epistemológico de la historia disciplinar, el cual supone la base del estudio, con una línea de análisis externalista que evalúa las potenciales influencias que factores ideológicos y sociopolíticos pudieron presentar en la formulación de las interpretaciones. Esta metodología nos ha permitido desarrollar un estudio historiográfico integral, encaminado a examinar la importancia relativa de factores epistemológicos, condicionantes externos y datos empíricos en la articulación, aceptación, mantenimiento y abandono de las interpretaciones sobre la transición entre el Paleolítico Medio y el Superior. El ámbito temporal objeto de nuestro estudio ha sido la historia disciplinar del Paleolítico desde 1852 a 1980. En este período histórico hemos definido una serie de programas de investigación siguiendo la Metodología de los Programas de Investigación Científica del filósofo de la ciencia Imre Lakatos. Estos programas han constituido las unidades analíticas fundamentales de nuestro análisis historiográfico. El alcance geográfico de nuestro estudio ha comprendido la producción científica desarrollada en el período señalado a escala europea, y a escala global a partir de mediados del siglo XX. Asimismo, hemos prestado una especial atención al desarrollo histórico de la disciplina en España, donde hemos potenciado una línea de análisis externalista centrada en el estudio de los contextos sociopolíticos, ideológicos e institucionales. Los resultados obtenidos nos han permitido proponer una reconstrucción histórica del desarrollo de la problemática en la que se destaca la retroalimentación entre factores epistémicos, condicionantes externos y datos empíricos como motor fundamental del desarrollo de las interpretaciones. Esta configuración multifactorial, aunque presente en todos los programas de investigación y bajo todos los contextos históricos analizados, adquiere sin embargo distintas versiones a lo largo de la historia disciplinar. En líneas generales, se advierte una evolución, no siempre lineal, desde contextos interpretativos fuertemente dominados tanto por las características epistemológicas de los programas de investigación como por los factores externos en los que éstos se formulan, hacia otros en los que el descubrimiento de nuevos datos empíricos y el desarrollo de nuevos métodos de investigación adquieren una mayor importancia. Asimismo, las conclusiones obtenidas nos han permitido plantear algunas reflexiones y críticas generales sobre las metodologías más actuales en la Historia de la Prehistoria y la Arqueología. A partir de ellas, defendemos un tipo de análisis historiográfico integral basado en el realismo científico y contrario a las tesis posmodernistas más extremas, como aquellas propuestas por el constructivismo social.

R. Daroogheh-Nokhodcheri, 2014

Nationalism, Politics, and the Practice of Archaeology: The Case Study of Iran

Since the first pillars of the discipline of archaeology were laid in the nineteenth century, archaeologists have been aware of the potential employment of their research for political purposes. Despite the recognition of the role of archaeology in politics, and specifically in the instigation and promotion of different brands of nationalism, there have been few studies that focused on Iran. To fill this lacuna, this thesis aims to examine the close relationship between the rise of nationalism and its impact on the birth and development of Iranian archaeology. It is argued that during different political periods, in particular during the Qajar, Pahlavi and post-Revolutionary Administrations, various aspects of Iranian history and identity were selected to assist the construction of new State-sponsored narratives. The utilisation of archaeological sites to support the competing brands of nationalism promoted by each of these Administrations is analysed in this thesis through the selection of three case studies that represent the Prehistoric (Sialk), pre-Islamic (Persepolis), and Islamic (Friday Mosque of Isfahan) archaeological periods. Following an interpretive analysis of the internalist and externalist dimensions that fostered the foundation and development of Iranian archaeology, it is concluded that the discipline was born out of nationalistic traditions, and remains exploited as a potential instrument of legitimisation. It is further argued that during certain periods of modern Iranian history, the employment of archaeology to authenticate particular aspects of Iranian identity resulted in the institutionalisation of the discipline. In contrast, during periods when authenticity was sought in ‘charismatic leadership’ or ‘populism’, archaeology was cast aside as a pseudoscience to legitimise the ‘tyranny’ of Iranian dynasties or, alternatively, employed for populist projects to assert a particular impression of Iran as the protectorate of Shi’a Muslims across the globe. This thesis aims to demonstrate that it is only through such analyses of the fluid nature of Iranian archaeology and the review of the history of attempts at its politicisation that Iranian archaeologists can begin to address the potential challenges to their discipline and raise caution against the instrumental application of archaeology as a political tool in service of different political administrations and their nationalistic policies and resume a focus on the outstanding research questions and preservation challenges.

G. Delley, 2014

Au-delà des chronologies. Des origines du radiocarbone et de la dendrochronologie à leur intégration dans les recherches lacustres suisses

Since the latter half of the 19th century, research on ancient Swiss lake-dwellings has involved intensive exchanges between prehistory and natural sciences. In some cases, these collaborations have led to the development of observation and analysis tools that contributed to the specialization and emancipation of the concerned disciplines. Based on the elo- quent case of Swiss lake-dwelling research, this publication examines how radiocarbon and dendrochronology, dating tools originating in nuclear and botanical research, became accepted dating methods in prehistoric research.
This work first traces the history of the development of these tools, from the United States where they were con- ceived, to their first applications in the domain of Swiss wetland archaeology in the early 1950’s. The dating method based on the measurement of the disintegration of the isotope 14 of carbon ( 14C) was refined in American nuclear research in the 1950’s. At this time, numerous American laboratories implied during the Second World War in the “military-in- dustrial complex” had to find new applications that were not limited to the military domain. Energy production, medi- cal and agronomic research, as well as isotopic dating, were among the new fields. It is in this context that Willard Frank Libby – a former collaborator on the Manhattan project, which led to the refinement of the atomic bomb – developed the 14C dating method, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1960. […]

J.-P. Loiseau, 2014

François Bordes (1919-1981) and the construction of Prehistory in the second half of the 20th century

F. Bordes brand of its print the construction of Prehistory in second half of the 20th century. An analysis set of themes of its work in three parts makes it possible to clarify its principal aspects. A first part, entitled “a normative approach” is devoted to the approach of F. Bordes which is characterized by a methodological renewal. A second part, entitled ”lithic industries like wire of Ariane”, is devoted to interpretations of F. Bordes concerning the evolution of the prehistoric cultures and with its research to reconstitute the material daily life during the Paleolithic. A third part, “the construction of a school of thought”, analyses the particular place of F. Bordes within the community of the prehistorians. F. Bordes is also Francis Carsac, a science fiction writer, whose stories study makes it possible to provide supplementary illumination on its concerns. In conclusion of this thesis, a look is carried what it remains of his scientific contribution.

A. Ramírez Galicia, 2014

Historia de la construcción del campo epistémico de la prehistoria en México (Elementos Teóricos e históricos preliminares)

Quelle a été l’histoire concrète du champ épistémique de la préhistoire dans ce territoire qui – à partir des ruines de l’ancien monde colonial de la Nouvelle Espagne – allait devenir la nation mexicaine moderne, au XIX^e et XX^e siècles ? Le champ épistémique de la préhistoire est cette nouvelle empiricité (ou territoire empirique) qui comprend la dimension de l’histoire humaine située au-delà de toute mémoire orale ou écrite, et qui se concentre – par conséquent – sur le langage des traces matérielles produites par les actions humaines, depuis les origines de la culture (plongées dans l’antiquité du temps géologique) jusqu’à nos jours. Mais ce champ est aussi l’ensemble de l’outillage conceptuel et méthodologique développé pour étudier ce langage nouveau de la préhistoire. Le champ épistémique de la préhistoire est né en Europe occidentale – au milieu du XIXe siècle – à l’intérieur de discussions étroitement liées (à l’origine) avec la révolution darwinienne et visant à construire une vision séculaire, désacralisée et progressiste de l’histoire humaine ; en raison de sa position marginale entre sciences de la nature et sciences humaines il a suivi un parcours plutôt conflictuel au sein de l’histoire des savoirs modernes. L’histoire du champ épistémique de la préhistoire est relativement bien connue en ce qui concerne l’Europe occidentale et surtout les « foyers hégémoniques » de la connaissance préhistorique – c’est-à-dire, la France, l’Angleterre et les États-Unis. Cependant, cette histoire est mal connue (voire complètement méconnue) dans le cas des mondes non-occidentaux. Faisant partie d’un projet d’écriture de l’histoire du champ épistémique de la préhistoire au Mexique (du XIX^e siècle à nos jours) cette thèse est une tentative d’énonciation des éléments théoriques et historiques préliminaires pour entreprendre l’écriture de l’histoire des connaissances préhistoriques dans l’un de ces mondes non-occidentaux : celui des peuples indigènes de l’Amérique. Partant d’une synthèse de l’état actuel des études préhistoriques en Amérique (du nord et du sud) nous soulignons la centralité du défi intellectuel posé par l’altérité des indigènes américains aux modèles créés à partir des certitudes du savoir occidental. L’originalité des peuples américains doit-elle être réduite aux modèles universels, ou, au contraire doit-elle être exaltée en détruisant ces modèles au profit de l’idée de la pluralité de l’histoire ? Quelles implications politiques posent ces alternatives intellectuelles dans la relation des peuples indigènes et les États-nation modernes des Amériques ? Ensuite, nous remontons dans le passé pour essayer de comprendre l’origine et l’histoire du défi posé par les indigènes américains : d’abord aux savants européens intéressés dans les problèmes des origines et de l’histoire ancienne des populations américaines, puis, ensuite aux savants des nations américaines nouvelles préoccupés par la construction des états modernes et par l’intégration des indiens dans la nation, au démarrage du XIX^e siècle. La relation des peuples indigènes des Amériques avec les états modernes américains, et de ces états avec l’Europe a donc été l’un des axes polémiques fondamentaux qui ont influencé l’histoire de la préhistoire en Amérique, du nord et du sud, et particulièrement dans le Mexique, des origines à nos jours. Nous essayons d’écrire cette histoire intellectuelle en suivant cet axe dans l’entrecroisement de la science, la société et la politique, ainsi qu’entre les contextes locaux et globaux.

Joly, 2014

Henry Corot (1864-1941) and his correspondents, the players of the protohistoric archaeology in the Third Republic

The general introduction sets up a state of research on three themes : history and epistemology of archaeology, biographical genre, archives and scientists correspondences. Next, there is a presentation of thesis subject and its problematic. The first part is about Henry Corot’s biography (1864-1941). He was an emblematic figure in prehistoric and protohistoric archeology in Bourgogne area. His life and his work are apprehended thanks to the study of his archives containing hundreds of working folders and a correspondence of 2500 letters. The second part focus on H. Corot’s correspondents. A biographic directory includes biographical information and all publications of 490 French and foreign archaeologists. To follow, this thesis centers on: the geographical and sociological recruitment of these archaeologists, the topic of sociability at the time of H. Corot through the analysis of his correspondence, and the examination of the publications of these archaeologists (corpus of 1300 references). To conclude, this thesis allows, through the H. Corot’s singular biography, to consider a broader view, the collective biographies, which in turn make it possible the enlargement at history and epistemology of research in prehistory from the Third Republic and fill an important gap in the academic production about archaeology history.

D. Kobiałka, 2014

Archeologia Józefa Kostrzewskiego z perspektywy współczesnej refleksji metodologicznej

The thesis is about Józef Kostrzewski (1885-1969), one of the most influential Polish archaeologists. However, today he is usually approached only as part of the history of Polish archaeology. I claim in the thesis that sometimes there is nothing more innovative and progressive than returning to the past. Methodology is usually understood as a set of rules that allow to get reliable knowledge. According to such perspective, methodology is a way of seeing and approaching scientific problems. Within such comprehension of methodology lies Carlo Ginzburg’s idea of the conjectural paradigm. To simplify, the conceptual paradigm relies on the idea that details, irrelevant clues and so on tell more than the obvious facts. One of the most well-known examples of the conjectural paradigm is Sherlock Holmes himself. He was always ready to discover the truth basing on, what seems to appear as, irrelevant details (facts). I try, in my PhD thesis, to broaden the conjectural paradigm to approach the archaeology of Józef Kostrzewski. Sherlock Holmes is a part of popular culture. I presuppose that if archaeology is about relations between past and present, it should be possible to approach archaeology through popular culture as well.

S. Valiant, 2014

Two Automobiles from Teotihuacan: Archeology and Ornamental Nationalism in the Porfirian Era, 1876-1911

Mexican national archaeology is currently a central part of Mexican cultural identity, but this connection did not always exist. In the Porfirian era (1876-1911), scholars and politicians worked to build a nationalist narrative connecting Porfirian political power with the history of indigenous peoples, particularly the Aztecs. My dissertation explores how archaeology, nationalism, and the professionalization of the sciences intersected during the Porfirian era (1876-1911). In the first portion of my dissertation, I trace the increasing importance of archeological and indigenous (especially Aztec) images in fashioning Mexican national identity during the Porfiriato. I address the political uses of such images; their propagation through national monuments, museums, stamps, postcards, and international expositions; and the ideological contradictions that such images both reveal and attempt to resolve. For example, the Mexican state identified itself with the historical legacy of the Aztecs, particularly their embodiment of strong, centralized political authority, while simultaneously engaging in the disavowal and systematic oppression of contemporary indigenous populations. Moreover, the image of the “cannibalistic” Aztec carried strongly negative associations for many in the international community, and a process of ideological cleansing and reinvention of such images (not always successful) was necessary if Mexico was to present itself to the world as a modern, progressive nation. I address how these tensions are articulated in a number of different contexts, with particular attention to the Aztec Palace at the 1889 World’s Fair. In the second half of my dissertation, to explore in more depth how these issues are contested, I focus on the career of the first Inspector General and Conservator of Archaeological Monuments, Leopoldo Batres, and his conflictive relationship with the emerging community of professional scholars and researchers both within Mexico and abroad. As the first Inspector General, Batres fought to enforce antiquities laws, control which scholars had access to archaeological zones, and to assert the authority to interpret archaeological findings. He was met with persistent opposition by local and foreign scholars, who frequently attacked Batres for his course personality and lack of professional scientific training. Tracing in detail Batres’s ongoing confrontations with one of his chief critics, the Harvard-funded anthropologist Zelia Nuttall, provides a microcosm of the struggle between the political and bureaucratic authority of the Mexican state and the academic and scientific authority of (largely European) professional societies, universities, and museums. The dialog between Batres and his critics articulates the connections between ornamental nationalism, the struggle to professionalize archaeology, and the ideological uses of scientific discourse in the late nineteenth century.

P. Kostrhun, 2013

Prehistory in the Czechoslovak Republic. Development of the Moravian Paleolithic archeology between the years 1918-1938

Dissertation follows the development of Paleolithic archeology in Moravia in 1918-1938. The text follows the development of archeology in a European context. Evaluate the importance of theoretical paradigms and important personalities of archaeological research in Europe and Moravia. Briefly reviewed the development of archeology in Poland, Austria and the Slovak Republic. The work draws on unpublished archival Moravian scholars.

N. Gallego Lletjós, 2013

El Mesolítico en la Península Ibérica. Historia crítica de la investigación y estado actual del conocimiento

Mesolithic studies have increased significantly in the past decades in the Iberian Peninsula, as archaeological evidence from this period has multiplied. Nevertheless, the information is very fragmented and unstructured, to such an extent that the period lacks clear definition. This thesis has been written in order to provide a systematising, critical, global and specific perspective on the Mesolithic of the Iberian Peninsula, thus far unpublished, to account for the current state of knowledge and contribute to laying the foundations for future research. Specifically, the following objectives have been established: First of all, to analyse how prehistoric archaeology has studied and defined the Epipaleolithic-Mesolithic. For this, an exhaustive and critical analysis was carried out on the bibliography devoted to the time period between the end of the Upper Palaeolithic and the start of the Neolithic in Spain, from the very beginnings of the prehistoric research in the mid-nineteenth century until now. Secondly, this thesis presents the state of the research and current knowledge of the Mesolithic in the different areas of the Iberian Peninsula (including Spain and Portugal), in order to establish common elements and regional differences. The last of the specific objectives is the synthesis of the archaeological information currently available on the Mesolithic in the Iberian Peninsula. In this regard, a database was built for systematically collecting data published from sites considered Mesolithic. Apart from these objectives, given the critical nature of the analysis presented, a cross-sectional study was carried out to delve deep into some problems with definition and archaeological practice. So this thesis contribute not only to understanding what the Mesolithic is, what is known about this period, and the circumstances and causes which explain the state of knowledge of the period at each historical point in time -including the current one- but also to lay the foundations for a more responsible and more accurate approach to the socio-historical processes which occurred during this time period of our past.

M. Müller, 2013

C. Davey, 2012

Civilization, culture, and race in John Crawfurd’s discourses on Southeast Asia: continuities and changes, c.1814-1868

In this dissertation I examine the uses of the notions of civilization, race, and culture within a set of British 19th century discourses on especially Southeast Asian societies, their present state and history. Taking the point of departure in John Crawfurd’s (1783-1868) publications, it contains a study of the many debates on economic, ethnological, historical, and linguistic issues in which he participated throughout six decades and to which he contributed significantly. Through this approach I aim at providing a densely contextualized analysis of the colonial, intellectual, political, and socio-cultural aspects of Crawfurd et al’s knowledge production, its routes of transmission, receptions, and appropriations. The analytic focus is directed at the evaluative-descriptive qualities attributed to the terms civilization, race, and culture, and immanent in the concepts they refer to; on the surface claiming to be primarily descriptive, they nonetheless were normatively cogent in their inherent hierarchal and classificatory structures, as well as in providing a theoretical template delineating the naturalized historical trajectories. Arguing that the notions of civilization, race and culture were pivotal key concepts in this colonial knowledge production, I chart the intertwined dynamics between these notions / both in their conceptual framings and contextualized uses. During this quest I endeavour to demonstrate the interpretive primacy of the concept of civilization throughout the entire period, even though racial concerns clearly were on the ascendancy and by the 1860s constituted the major theme of discussion and dissent. Common to all the analysed discourses is that they were hinged upon these three fundamental notions and their ability to address the universal as well as the particular, their capacity to encompass the past, present and future within one interpretive framework, and not at least their provision of a conceptual common ground which also, however, facilitated the possibilities of fundamental dissent within the actual interpretations.

The foundation of the Australian Institute of Archaeology and the origin of its Ancient Near Eastern museum collection

This dissertation aims to explain the establishment of the Australian Institute of Archaeology (the Institute) in the context of archaeological and theological environments up to the mid-twentieth century. It seeks to understand the principles behind it and to discover how they were applied during its first twenty-four years of operation. It also seeks to discover the origins of its Ancient Near Eastern collection of artefacts and to assess their role in this enterprise. Walter Beasley, a business man, evangelical Christian and amateur archaeologist, established and endowed the Institute in 1946. The context of his work is explored by tracing the origins of evangelical theology and the history of evangelical societies in Australian universities. The beginnings of antiquarianism are also discussed together with the nature of archaeological societies and the patterns of funding archaeological fieldwork. Any references to the Bible are examined. Drawing on literary records, family documents, letters, minutes, media reports and oral history, an archaeological biography of Beasley’s life is developed. The structure of the Institute is discussed and its operation until 1970 is sketched. A chapter is devoted to Beasley’s relationship with James Stewart who became Professor of Archaeology at the University of Sydney. The conclusions highlight the way Beasley’s religious agenda and his controlling character shaped the Institute and by 1970 brought it close to disaster. It is finally suggested that the dogmatic religious position adopted by Beasley and the Institute may have in fact been counter-productive.

J. M. Lanzarote Guiral, 2012

Prehistoria Patria’. National identities and Europeanisation in the construction of prehistoric archaeology in Spain (1860-1936)

This thesis analyses the construction of prehistoric archaeology in Spain from a transnational perspective. Drawing influence from several historiographical fields, such as history of science and nationalism studies, I argue that the constitution of prehistory as a fully institutionalised discipline can only be acceptably explained as a social and cultural history of entangled scientific practices. This focus on the personal agency is firstly used to overcome the limitations of traditional histories of archaeology, understood as pure history of ideas and discovery accounts, and secondly to articulate a research project, in which several trends of analysis converge. While dealing with the birth of prehistory in the 19th century, crucial questions pertaining to history of science are studied, such as Darwinism and the conflict between religious and scientific interpretations on the origins of humanity. These subjects, which are analysed in light of the complex process of secularisation of European societies in modernity, have been considered with regard to the Spanish case but from a transnational perspective; the construction of prehistory is marked by the tensions created within an international scientific community in formation, that of the prehistorians, by the nation-state building process. Presented as the first chapter of national histories, prehistory became enmeshed, especially in the first half of the 20th century, in the cultural construction of national identities in Europe. For these reasons, this histoire croisée of prehistory has paid particular attention to the role of cultural and scientific transfers across European borders in the shaping of the discipline. By so doing, I set out to deconstruct nationalist narratives, such as the alleged “Spanish scientific backwardness” and the “colonial archaeology” of the French and German scholars in Spain. Summing up, this research is not about Spanish protagonism or particularism, but about Spain’s participation in a cultural and scientific phenomenon that, animated by either emulation or competition, was essentially transnational.

T. Hardy-Smith, 2012

“Another dimension of seeing…” Exploring artistic responses to antiquity and the effect on the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians

Since the 1990s, the gradual revelation of shared histories and shared identities has lead to an awareness that the histories of Aboriginal Australia and of non-Indigenous Australians are entwined and mutually influential. In the case of archaeology, making a contribution to the writing of histories of Aboriginal Australia since 1788 has become an important research goal for practitioners and others, as narratives previously formulated within narrow ethnographic or anthropological frameworks have become less relevant for contemporary issues of cultural revitalisation and reconciliation. From the late 19th century, information about Aboriginal society became increasingly accessible to non-Indigenous Australians, and nascent archaeological exploration began demonstrating that there was at least the possibility of high human antiquity. This was coincident with the emergence of a general desire to develop a unique Australian identity, spearheaded by literary and visual artists advocating for an idiosyncratic language that expressed a deeply personal and symbolic understanding of place. The antiquity and symbolic complexity of Aboriginal ceremony and culture, and the lengthy connection to land was inspirational for some non-Indigenous Australians, and they sought to creatively interpret the relationship with Indigenous Australia through metaphorically adventurous means. Such emotional engagement was transformative as it altered the language of understanding from a previously static and personally dissociated observation of a past culture into an expression of a contemporary cross-cultural interaction and dynamism previously unimagined. This dissertation explores the symbolism inherent in archaeological knowledge and how it inspires creative interpretation in an examination of the opera Batavia, then applies the findings to a study of two episodes in the cultural history of Australia where alternative creative responses to knowledge were transformational for the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and therefore for Australian identity.

M. E. James, 2012

“Who is to say they will not demand our shirts next…” A review of the Loan Collection housed in the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Liverpool 1904-1930

This thesis examines the origins and development of the Loan Collection at the Institute of Archaeology (I of A) from 1904 to 1930, at the University of Liverpool. It presents primary material collected from various archives in order to establish how the Loan Collection was assembled, how it developed, and how it changed over the time period under consideration here. As part of this study, a short history of the I of A is presented in order to contextualize the Loan Collection. Points of connection with other university collections are identified and explored in order to help explain the methods used to acquire the artifacts in the Institute’s collection. Equally, this work discusses how financial issues that affected the Institute of Archaeology had an impact upon the Loan Collection. Further, this historiography outlines an attempt that was made to takeover the Institute of Archaeology and its Loan Collection in 1906. The thesis shows that this incident required the Institute to define its relationship with the University, besides the collection that it housed. It is also seen that this attempt at a takeover brought into question what the Institute referred to as a ‘Museum’ between 1904 and 1906. Similarly, this thesis explores a later proposal in 1910 that endeavored to create an alliance between the I of A and the city of Liverpool’s Public Museum. Both this latter attempt and the incident that occurred in 1906 are reviewed here as a means of aiding in defining and further contextualizing the Loan Collection. The argument put forward in this thesis is that the Loan Collection held by the Institute of Archaeology was not a museum, and that the way in which the collection was created and assembled over the years under study never provided the space for it to become one.

R. Lippé, 2012

Nature, culture et progrès : histoire comparative du concept de transition entre paléolithiques moyen et supérieur en archéologie préhistorique

This thesis’ main object is to study on an historical level a long-lasting scientific controversy in Prehistoric archaeology, the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, by attempting to explain the persistence of that debate in terms of construction and transformation of antagonistic models of explanation, and by showing how that controversy had play a role on the acquisition of knowledge, to elucidate how the debate itself had change since its origin. On a chronological scale, the evolution of some epistemological elements inside the confrontation of opposed hypothesis could be contrasted with conservative notions. To make that process clear, it is necessary to characterize what constitute that specific controversy for prehistorians with the tool given by the history of sciences, and what kind of analytical methodology can be call upon for doing so. Then, it will be possible to link those elements with the scientific problem itself to establish a structural model of this debate’s theoretical positions of the protagonists. This methodology could then be use to separate the history of that debate in three sections, each with its specific research axis, each phase in three structural level (data and methods, paradigms, meta-paradigm) to create a general model of the evolution of that controversy. The ambition of that thesis is to use history of science’s contribution as a way to clarify on a theoretical level the goals of that debate, and its implication on the study of cultural change for prehistorical archaeologists community, and to initiate for science’s historians a historical and structural model of scientific controversies, and their weight on conceptual change base on a specific case study.

D. J. Modzelewski, 2012

Constructing Native American Identity within the Context of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA) established a mechanism for repatriating ancestral Native American human remains and three other categories of special objects already curated by federally funded institutions. NAGPRA is undoubtedly an important piece of human rights legislation recognizing the historical mistreatment of Native American dead. Yet, the process of repatriation, arguably the most salient piece of NAGPRA, highlights larger questions about the construction of tribes, as an analytic category through archaeological and ethnographic evidence. Indeed, this federal law changed the nature of the archaeo-legal landscape. […] The goal of this dissertation is to better understand the empirical footings for cultural affiliation within American archaeology. Specifically, I ask two related questions: can we discover cultural differences in the archaeological record and how might dynamic cultural interaction and between-group differences be remodeled to better understand border interactions and group identity? To do this, I address two sets of interrelated issues. First, I examine the theoretical underpinnings for cultural affiliation and examine how data were used to construct and reify a certain notion of cultural boundaries. Second, I reflect on the ways in which cultural interaction and between-group differences might best be represented. I ask how complex social relationships, especially in border areas, can be remodeled so they better incorporate and interpret the variation that often exists among archaeological, linguistic, and ethnohistoric evidence. This, I hypothesize, could provide the foundations for more nuanced archaeological and legal understandings of identity.

G. Polak, 2018

Los legados documentales en la historiografía arqueológica española: el CeDap de la UAM y el ejemplo de Juan Cabré Aguiló (1882-1947)

El arqueólogo Juan Cabré Aguiló (1882-1947) es una figura indispensable para la Historia de la Arqueología española de la primera mitad del siglo XX. La presente tesis doctoral permite, a través de su archivo personal Legado documental familia Cabré, abordar el estudio de su figura. Dicho Legado fue donado en los años 2006 y 2014 por la familia Cabré a la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. La peculiaridad de un archivo personal implicaba, para el cumplimiento de los objetivos propuestos en la tesis, la aplicación de una metodología propia que permitiera, por un lado, conocer en profundidad el contenido del legado y, por otro, realizar el análisis histórico de los documentos, ambas actuación indispensables para desarrollar la biografía. A su vez planteamos como objetivo ofrecer un modelo de tratamiento archivístico que sirva como propuesta básica para otros trabajos similares. Los trabajos llevados a cabo de ordenación y catalogación han permitido el estudio 17 738 documentos que recogen más de 40 años de sus trabajos de investigación. Dentro del conjunto documental hemos escogido la correspondencia como hilo conductor para trazar su biografía, por ello, presentamos el exhaustivo estudio de la correspondencia y el catálogo de 1 326 cartas. El análisis y estudio de esta correspondencia ha permitido ofrecer una biografía renovada de Juan Cabré, si bien, sobre este personaje se habían realizado anteriormente trabajos puntuales, con objeto de homenajes o de diferentes conmemoraciones, pero que no pretendían ahondar en su biografía, sino más bien realizar un recorrido de sus actividades más destacadas. Las cartas nos proporcionaron el contenido imprescindible que nos iba revelando y completando los datos ya conocidos de la vida y obra de Juan Cabré, otros, novedosos e inéditos de las actividades por él realizadas, además de permitirnos modificar datos erróneos e inexactos. Pero, sobre todo, el conjunto de la correspondencia nos proporcionó el contexto global en la que desarrolló sus actividades arqueológicas entre 1902 y 1947. Por consiguiente como resultado de esta tesis doctoral podemos ofrecer una biografía completa y renovada de Juan Cabré Aguiló. Además, todo este trabajo de investigación, de organización y catalogación de documentos, así como los resultados del mismo, permiten dejar planteadas nuevas líneas de investigación que quedan abiertas en diversos campos de la Arqueología, la Historiografía y el Patrimonio documental. Palabras clave: Juan Cabré Aguiló (1882-1947), legados documentales, Historiografía de la Arqueología Española, CeDAP de la UAM, biografía

S. Dubois, 2011

Emergence and development of prehistoric archelogy in southern France between XIXth and XXth century

Dès le milieu du XIXe siècle, Toulouse apparaît comme un pôle dynamique du développement des études en archéologie préhistorique. « Laboratoire » d’expériences institutionnelles de la jeune discipline, enseignements universitaires, revues, sociétés savantes et musées toulousains favorisent en effet l’implantation d’une communauté scientifique dont l’examen sociologique révèle l’ampleur des réseaux à différentes échelles, notamment à travers l’étude des correspondances et archives personnelles de ces premiers préhistoriens.Parmi les nombreuses personnalités scientifiques ayant participé à ce développement et favorisé l’essor des recherches en ce domaine, la figure d’Emile Cartailhac (1845-1921) apparaît comme emblématique de cette communauté savante. La longue et prolifique carrière de ce scientifique provincial, son engagement dans la structuration de la communauté locale, ses relations avec les savants français et étrangers ainsi que son implication active dans les grands débats de son époque le placent au cœur d’une problématique visant à redéfinir le rôle de ces érudits locaux dans la constitution des savoirs entre XIXe et XXe siècle. Ce travail propose donc à travers l’étude de la pensée et de la production de ce préhistorien toulousain, notamment par l’examen de ses archives personnelles, une lecture de l’histoire de la discipline et des apports de ces savants d’envergure « secondaire ».

T. Pruitt, 2011

Authority and the production of knowledge in archaeology

This thesis examines the role of authority in the production of archaeological knowledge. It examines how fluid ideas and observations formed in the field become authoritative, factual, solid archaeological products, like scientific texts, reconstructions or museum displays. It asks, what makes a person, a thing or an account of history something that is authoritative? What makes someone an authority on the past? What is archaeological authority? This thesis deconstructs and exposes authority in archaeological practice. It targets how practitioners of archaeology actively enact, construct and implement authority in the process of producing knowledge. Formal representations of the past rely heavily on an underlying notion of the ‘authoritative account’. The entire process of reconstructing the past in archaeology is dependent on individuals and institutions existing as authorities, who actively or passively imply that artefacts, sites and final interpretations are ‘authentic’ or have ‘fidelity’ to the past. This study examines how authority and acts of legitimation are employed and distributed through the medium of science, and how they need to be actively performed in order to acquire and maintain status. This thesis not only argues that authority is embedded in every stage of the archaeological process, but importantly, it identifies how this authority manifests through the medium of scientific acts. This thesis is structured around two comparative case studies: one case of professional archaeology and one case of alternative archaeology. Both are archaeological sites that produce their own ‘authoritative’ accounts of the past through practices, publications and presentations. The first case is the professional archaeological project of Çatalhöyük in the Republic of Turkey, under the direction of Ian Hodder at Stanford University. This case offers insights about how the processes of inscription, translation and blackboxing establish and maintain authority in archaeological practice. It also addresses how physical and intellectual space, as well as issues of access in localised knowledge-producing social arenas, affect archaeological authority. The second case is the controversial pseudoarchaeological project in Visoko, Bosnia, commonly referred to as the Bosnian Pyramids. This project, under the direction of amateur archaeologist Semir Osmanagić, has successfully created an account of prehistory that has been received by the general Bosnian public as authoritative, despite objections by the professional archaeological community. This case demonstrates how authority can be constructed, mimicked and performed by drawing on academic arenas of scientific practice and by eager public participation. Specifically, this case study highlights the importance of socio-politics, authoritative institutions and performative behaviour in the construction of archaeological authority.

C. Villalobos Acosta, 2011

Archaeology in Circulation. Nationalism and Tourism in Post-Revolutionary Mexican Coins, Notes, Stamp and Guidebooks

It is common to see an image of the prehistoric past at least once in a normal day. Images of the best-known archaeological sites may appear at any moment, and they are used in a wide variety of contexts. Consider for a moment how references to the prehistoric past are used. They appear on TV, in museum brochures, in national symbols, logos of state and private companies, names of streets, tourist flyers, underground station imagery, theatrical plays, literature, films, and guidebooks. This ubiquitous presence of archaeology is possible precisely because the past has been transformed into a persuasive ideological and economic tool. Almost every modern nationstate has claimed its ancient heritage as a form of authenticity in which the past, particularly archaeological sites, represent lost glory but also the past as a subject of worship, devotion, polemic, and tourism. This thesis is centred on the analysis of the relationship that has emerged from the changing uses of archaeology, either for nationalist purposes or tourism, using post-revolutionary Mexico as case study (1920 onwards). In this country archaeological heritage has been widely used for both political and commercial ends. The presentation and commoditization of archaeology is particularly linked to both nation-building and the development of archaeological sites as powerful tourist attractions. In order to understand the development of this relationship, specific products with a massive national circulation: coins, banknotes, postage stamps and guidebooks are examined in depth. Reciprocal influence between the needs of the present and the ideological potential of the past has naturally driven archaeological heritage to be the subject of politicisation and commoditization.

C. Contandriopoulos, 2010

Retour au monolithique : Jacques-Antoine Dulaure ( 1755-1835 ) et la territorialisation de l’architecture primitive

This thesis traces the emergence of prehistoric archaeology in France and examines its overlaps and interference with early nineteenth century architectural and urban discourse. The discovery of ancient megalithic monuments, pierres-levées, pierres-branlantes, dolmens, menhirs, tumuli, cromlechs, etc., has, until now, been largely overlooked by art historians despite the fact that this discovery rewrote the origins of architecture and led to the emergence of a genealogical understanding of history. Central to this thesis are the writings of Jacques-Antoine Dulaure (1755-1835), an archaeologist of prehistory who was trained as an architect and geographer. Dulaure is best known for his monumental 10 volume History of Paris, for his pioneering work in French ethnography with the Académie Celtique and for his research on frontiers, phallic cults and primitive architecture. In 1805, he published the first complete and coherent work on early megalithic architecture. Combining methods from geology, archaeology, and ethnology, Dulaure territorialised the history of both architecture and the city. Rather than analyzing individual monuments, as did his predecessors, Dulaure reconstructed the entire primitive landscape and sets the great stone monuments within the territory. At the heart of Dulaure’s analysis is the concept of the frontier. He argues that the first examples of architecture were erected in frontier zones as markers that he calls “pierre-limitantes” or limiting-stones. Dulaure’s theory brought forward the key role of architecture in founding a sense of place and constructing a people’s identity. This interpretation resonated widely with the secular and collective ideals of his time. More broadly, by “objectivising” the origins of architecture, Dulaure’s work partook of the great epistemological rupture of the1800s’ and contributed to the birth of architectural history in its modern sense.

A. Cooper, 2010

Transformations in British prehistoric research practice, 1980-2010 : a multi-stranded approach

This study examines developments in British archaeology over the last 30 years, focusing in particular on transformations in prehistoric research. Ultimately it seeks to foreground the extent to which recent historical developments (at all levels of the discipline and in various working contexts) are implicated in contemporary research practices. Advocating the need for taking a multi-stranded and interdisciplinary approach, I have consulted a range of sources – digital archives, documentary and oral material – and have drawn on ideas from archaeology, sociology, anthropology and oral history. Through a detailed analysis of a leading disciplinary newsletter, I highlight key concerns which have shaped archaeological practice over this period, and how particular roles and relationships have been defined and developed. By examining records and primary research outcomes of British prehistoric fieldwork, I develop a thorough understanding of how both data production and accounts of British prehistory have transformed. Based on evidence from ‘life-history’ interviews undertaken with prehistorians across the discipline, I identify and explore themes which connected the diverse experiences of these practitioners: the notions that archaeology has undergone a process of ‘professionalisation’ over this period, and that it is chronically (and indeed increasingly) ‘fragmented’ socially. I consider not only the varied ways in which British prehistorians have understood these issues, but also how such beliefs actually operate to shape research practices.

A. Szczerba, 2010

The protection of archaeological objects of national heritage on the former area of Rzeczpospolita under the Russian rule

The issue of protection of archaeological objects of national heritage on the forme area of Rzecpospolita under the Russian rule has not been a subject of detailed research studies yet. The present study is an attempt to fill this gap, especially in the light of the fact that the Austrian and Prussian partitions have already been described in this respect. Moreover knowledge of this issue is important due to the fact that after 1918 Polish archaeologists used their experience in the area of conservation gained in the period of Partitions. Thanks to a social campaign and preparation of specialized human resources, it was possible to organize the state-governed conservation of historical monuments almost immediately after the independence was regained, and the State Group of Conservation Officers for Pre-Historic Objects (Państwowe Grono Konserwarów Zabytków Przedhistorycznych, 1918-1928) played a crucial role here. The present study is going to focus on the period between The First Partition of Poland and regaining independence by Polan, although while researching the genesis of historical monument conservation in Poland, I had to reach outside this time framework. […]

C.-G. Ojala, 2009

Sámi Prehistories : The Politics of Archaeology and Identity in Northernmost Europe

Throughout the history of archaeology, the Sámi (the indigenous people in northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in the Russian Federation) have been conceptualized as the “Others” in relation to the national identity and (pre)history of the modern states. It is only in the last decades that a field of Sámi archaeology that studies Sámi (pre)history in its own right has emerged, parallel with an ethnic and cultural revival among Sámi groups. This dissertation investigates the notions of Sámi prehistory and archaeology, partly from a research historical perspective and partly from a more contemporary political perspective. It explores how the Sámi and ideas about the Sámi past have been represented in archaeological narratives from the early 19th century until today, as well as the development of an academic field of Sámi archaeology. The study consists of four main parts: 1) A critical examination of the conceptualization of ethnicity, nationalism and indigeneity in archaeological research. 2) A historical analysis of the representations and debates on Sámi prehistory, primarily in Sweden but also to some extent in Norway and Finland, focusing on four main themes: the origin of the Sámi people, South Sámi prehistory as a contested field of study, the development of reindeer herding, and Sámi pre-Christian religion. 3) An analysis of the study of the Sámi past in Russia, and a discussion on archaeological research and constructions of ethnicity and indigeneity in the Russian Federation and the Soviet Union. 4) An examination of the claims for greater Sámi self-determination concerning cultural heritage management and the debates on repatriation and reburial in the Nordic countries.

R. Abad de los Santos, 2009

The Idea of ‘Prehistory’ in the Modern Japanese Archaeological Thought – from Shell Mounds of Omori (1879) by Edward Sylvester Morse, to Yûshi Izen no Nihon (1918) by Torii Ryûzô

The main objective of these theses is to elucidate the origins and initial development of modern archaeological thought in Japan, with special interest in the idea of “Prehistory”, in the period between the publication of Shell Mounds of Omori by Edward Sylvester Morse in 1879 (Meiji 10), and the publication of Yūshi Izen no Nihon by Torii Ryūzō in 1918 (Taishō 7). In the introduction, we first proceed to define the following basic concepts: “archaeology of Japan (Japanese archaeology)” (Nihon kōkogaku), “modern times” (kindai), “prehistory” (senshi), “thought” (shisō), and “history of thought” (shisōshi). Also que analyze the main currents and authors in the field of historiographic studies of Japanese archaeology, and explain the methodology used in this thesis. In chapter one, the content of the work Shell Mounds of Omori (1879) by the American zoologist E.S. Morse and its translation into the Japanese language by Yatabe Ryokichi are first analyzed, together with the work Kōkoseturyaku (1879) by Heinrich von Siebold and the definition of archeology in the Chambers Brothers Encyclopedia translated by Shibata Shokei (1877). After examining the introduction of Western archeology in Japan, we analyze the responses and reactions given by the local substrate to new academic ideas and concepts. In this sense, it is necessary to distinguish two groups: scholars who represent the Edo period’s intellectual traditions, and young researchers raised the new academic framework (University of Tokyo, Anthropological Society of Tokyo). In the former’s case, their reaction was essentially focused on the three-age system of Christian J. Thomsen, rather than on the idea of “Prehistory”. However, in any case, their reactions to modern archaeological thought were not homogeneous. In the latter case, their attitude was much more positive towards archaeology as a method of reconstruction of the past. However, the understanding and application of archaeological thought encountered severe translation problems. In the second episode, we analyze Nihon Shigaku Teiyō (1886) by the historian Miyake Yonekichi . Through this work, it is possible to know the construction of a new Japanese history model by applying the concepts of European historiography, and we observe the influence of the first modern archaeological and anthropological studies carried out in Japan by Westerners. In the analysis of this work special attention is paid to the term “taiko yushi izen”, the theory on the first settlers of Japan, and the problem of Stone Age chronology. Besides, we discuss in detail the establishment of terminology related to archaeological periodizations. In the third chapter, we analyze the work Nihon Kōkogaku (1902) by Yagi Shozaburō, archaeologist, member of the Tokyo Anthropological Society, and the Archaeology Laboratory of the Imperial University of Tokyo. This work was the first prehistoric and protohistoric archaeology manualwritten in Japan, and it condenses all the results of archaeological research carried out in the archipelago up to then. Here we discuss the periodization model proposed by Yagi and the influence it exerted on archaeological thought in the following decades, especially in two aspects: the disconnection between the “Japanese” and the culture of the “Stone Age” (now called Jōmon), and the establishment of the concept of “Age of ancient burial mounds” (kofun). The result was the formulation of a modern periodization that accepted the division Prehistory-Protohistory, but partially escaped Western criteria by applying the concept of “Stone Age” in an isolated way. Chapter four analyzes N. G. Munro’s Prehistoric Japan (1908). This work arises to present to the western reader the prehistoric culture of Japan. In it, Munro defends the idea that the first settlers of the archipelago were the Ainu ancestors. On the other hand, Munro thought that the “kofun” was evidence of a process of cultural diffusion that had brought a technologically superior culture from the continent, and that would lay the foundations of historical Japan. In chapter five, the work Yūshi Izen no Nihon (Prehistoric Japan) (1918) by anthropologist and archaeologist Torii Ryūzō is analyzed. Torii is known for having conducted research and excavations in Japan and countless territories in East Asia, which allowed him to propose a unique model integrating archaeological, anthropological and ethnographic data on the origins of the Japanese people. From the point of view of archaeological thought, the concept of “proper Japanese” is especially important, which he linked with the Yayoi pottery discovered in Japan. In this way, he defended the existence of two cultures of the Stone Age in Japan, Jōmon and Yayoi, and not just one, as had been thought until then. This model was extraordinarily popular in Japan in the Taishō period, being accepted by thinkers of diverse academic fields and political positions. Finally, we present a global analysis of the works studied in the thesis, clarifying their position within Japanese archaeology history.

M. Canady Wargo, 2009

The Bordes-Binford debate. Transatlantic interpretative traditions in Paleolithic archaeology

In the 1960s, Lewis Binford, a young American archaeologist, challenged François Bordes, a venerable French prehistorian, over the interpretation of a taxonomy Bordes had developed to describe stone tools of the European Middle Paleolithic period (Mousterian). Ostensibly about the meaning of variability in Mousterian stone tool assemblages, the Bordes- Binford debate exposed a deep rift in the field of archaeology about how the deep past should be studied and interpreted. The intellectual clash has been cast subsequently in dichotomous terms: old versus young, descriptive versus explanatory, idiographic versus nomothetic, Old World versus New World. The Bordes-Binford debate, however, was not merely a singular event in the intellectual history of Paleolithic archaeology. It is the main thesis of this work that the Bordes-Binford debate is emblematic of the differing traditions within the discipline of archaeology as it was practiced by American and French scholars and that an understanding of the debate furthers understanding of how archaeology developed and is practiced and conceptualized in those countries today. To that extent, the Bordes-Binford debate is best understood in its transatlantic context; that is, it grew out of an encounter and exchange between protagonists who were profoundly influenced by their respective national and cultural experiences. The debate and its aftermath changed the practice of Paleolithic archaeology on both sides of the Atlantic.

C. Cañete Jiménez, 2009

El origen africano de los íberosuna perspectiva historiográfica

La idea del origen común de las comunidades peninsulares y norteafricanas fue un paradigma central en el estudio de la historia hasta mediados del siglo XX. En los últimos años, desde disciplinas como la antropología, la prehistoria, la historia antigua o el arabismo, se ha planteado la necesidad de un análisis historiográfico que aporte las claves de la formación de dicho modelo. La presente tesis se ofrece como un estudio en profundidad de este paradigma desde el comienzo de su formación hasta su definitivo abandono. Hasta el momento, la explicación usual solía relacionar el modelo africanista con el inicio de una voluntad colonial hispana en el Magreb hacia finales del siglo XIX. Sin embargo, nuestro trabajo sitúa los primeros rasgos de este paradigma en las transformaciones políticas y epistémicas ilustradas. Su primera aplicación acompañaría al ejercicio intervencionista francés durante la primera mitad del siglo XIX y, en especial, a la serie de misiones científico-militares promovidas a lo largo del Mediterráneo. Tras esto se evalúa la reproducción del paradigma desde las sociedades científicas relacionadas con los estudios antropológicos. En España, la apropiación del paradigma puede relacionarse con los grupos políticamente renovadores que promovían tanto la acción modernizadora de la nación, como el intervencionismo civilizador al otro lado del Estrecho. Sumado a esto se encuentra su papel central como introductores de la ciencia antropológica que daba sentido a dicho modelo. De todo esto resulta una especial relación entre el africanismo y el pensamiento regeneracionista. Hacia final de siglo se estudia la relación del paradigma con las reflexiones acerca de la decadencia de la nación. Ya en el siglo XX se ofrece un panorama general de la aplicación del paradigma tanto en los estudios en la Península como en los desarrollados en la administración colonial del Protectorado. Por último, se trazan las objeciones que, desde los años treinta, llevaron al definitivo colapso del modelo. Este hecho no solo estaría relacionado con la creciente decepción acerca de la política colonial, sino que acompaña a un cuestionamiento general de las ideas que daban sentido al proyecto político y epistémico iniciado en la ilustración y que llevó a una transformación de la comprensión de las sociedades.

J. Richmond, 2009

Experts and australopithecines: credibility and controversy in the science of human evolution, 1924-1959

This dissertation investigates debates in the early and middle parts of the twentieth century over the significance of the Australopithecine fossils discovered in South Africa. The initial specimen, famously known as the “Taung Child”, was characterized by Raymond Dart in 1925 as a possible evolutionary ancestor of human beings, linking our species to a distant past in which our anatomical similarity to the apes was much more conspicuous. Most of the recognized scientific authorities disagreed with Dart’s assessment, instead seeing the specimen as a mere extinct ape, without any special place in humankind’s evolutionary history. My narrative examines the debates that ensued over the next three and a half decades, closely following the changing credibility of Dart’s initial claim, as well as subsequent claims by Dart and other scientists about the Australopithecines, through the shifting networks of objects, texts, people, practices and institutions that made up the infrastructure of paleoanthropological knowledge. The narrative demonstrates that the determinants of credibility in the Australopithecine debates were strongly tied to the particulars of local circumstances and personal relationships, and cannot be reduced to any normative, a priori account of how credibility is or ought to be achieved in science

P. Rahemipour, 2009

Spot on. Prehistory on film 1895-1930

Since the earliest history of archaeology it has been subject of public presentation in diverse media. These are presentations in literatur, on paintings, through newspapers and magazines and last but not least on film. Today archaeology on film is something unique which unsually has nothing to do with the scientific archaeology. Several stereotypes and cliches are presenting only a few of the archaeological fields, for example the stone ages or ethnic groups like the celts. More seldom , not by archaeological proof, but in public use are for example the early middle ages. When prehistoric archaeology became a science at the end of the 19th century it was already part of a film in 1897, so these two namely film and archaeology came so to say together very soon. But what is the reason for this early alliance, how came that older stereotypes where taken over by film, and last but not least is there proof for influence by other media on the development of prehistory as science only in one direction or vice versa also. Did the kind of presentation of prehistoric archaeology in public also influence the development of the science of prehistoric archaeology? Subject of this dissertation are the films which deal with prehistoric, not antique topics, in the early time of film. To see, if the history of archaeological science was influenced by public presentation, the author divided her work into two parts. The first part shows how the „Selbstbild“ of prehistory was invented in close connection to the specific development of this archaeological subject beside the already existing classical archaeology. Between 1895 and until 1930, when tone on film was invented, several productions dealt whith prehistoric archaeology as sujet. In three main chapters, about bronceage archaeology in south-west Germany in film, about the film „Die Hermannsschlacht“ and about Stone Age comedys for example by Buster Keaton, the author shows how stereotypes were invented, if they are lasting, what kind of media did influence them and how the history of science was influenced by them. To integrate political and social surroundings in Germany during the Wilhelminian and Weimar epoc, only filmes which where screened in Germany are part of the examination.

A. Romaní, 2009

Los comienzos de la arqueología prehistórica en Italia en el contexto de formación del estado nacional

La tesis doctoral de Antonella Romani se ha planteado investigar la etapa inicial de la Arqueología prehistórica italiana en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX, puesta en relación con el proceso de Unificaciòn nacional y de formación del Estado moderno. Entre los aspectos más destacados de esta interesante etapa historiográfica de la Prehistoria italiana se recuerda el extraordinario desarrollo quer la nueva ciencia tuvo en toda la Península, su rápida institucionalización en el joven Estado nacional, como también los múltiples y significativos contactos que los estudiosos italianos establecieron con otros estudiosos europeos y su adhesión a los principios teóricos y metodológicos del Positivismo y del Evolucionismo. La Primera parte abarca una amplia perspectiva nacional y esta enfocada en la hipótesis del fuerte nexo ideológico que hubo entre la nueva ciencia prehistórica y el joven Estado unitario italiano: La Segunda parte presenta un nivel de análisis mas detallado con referencia a la Historia interna de la disciplina y a la primera conceptualización que las tres edades prehistóricas tuvieron en Italia. La Tercera y ultima parte de la tesis guarda relación con el desarrollo regional de la investigación prehistórica italiana, con el objetivo inaudito de dar a conocer la primera generación de prehistoriadores del Centro y del Sur de Italia. En cuanto al método, en esta tesis se ha planteado realizar una revisión crítica de las fuentes primarias de la Arqueología prehistórica italiana del siglo XIX. De hecho, el análisis sistemático de la producción científica de la Prehistoria decimonónica italiana es un trabajo inédito que responde a un planteamiento crítico y contextual y no simplemente descriptivo de la Historia de la disciplina. También, cuando ha sido posible, se han utilizado los datos de archivo para ampliar la perspectiva documental de la tesis.

M. Gkiasta, 2008

The historiography of landscape research on Crete

This study aimed to construct a historiography of archaeological landscape research on the island of Crete and evaluate the knowledge acquired through different approaches of over more than a century’s intense archaeological work. It provides a detailed analysis of relevant projects, which are seen within a wider historical framework of archaeological landscape research from the beginnings of the discipline (19th century) to the present day. The five (5) major ‘traditions’ or else ‘approaches’ of studying past landscapes that are identified, demonstrate certain common attributes in questions asked, methodology followed and interpretative suggestions. Analysis, however, has shown that these ‘traditions’ have been in a continuous interplay and have each their own limitations as well as worthy contribution to the study of the Cretan past. The assessment of archaeological landscape work on Crete and the use of landscape data in a case study area for the historical reconstruction of human activity, concluded on the need to be explicit regarding 1) the relationship between data and interpretations and 2) the kind of information we need to produce and publish from landscape research so that we promote archaeological knowledge and allow a higher level of communication within the archaeological community.

O. Ortman, 2008

See the Passage grave and Pass away. Repetitions of Åke Fredsjö and Mesolithic research in South-West Sweden

My thesis starts off with a contract, inspired by the writings of the Danish author Thorkild Hansen (1927–1989) and the Danish scholar in literature Poul Behrendt (1944-). This contract deals with two different levels. The first level is based on Hansens sentence: “It is the truth that this is a lie”. The second level is his use of the concept of “gentagelse” – repetition, in an almost contemplative way. In the beginning of this thesis I have made an agreement, a contract, with the reader. On one level there were two complementary aspects; a biographical and a mythographical aspect. The intention of the biographical aspect was to illuminate the life and research of the west Swedish archaeologist Åke Fredsjö (1913-1978). The aim was to study his research on west Swedish mesolithic and the circumstances in which it was carried out. The intention of the mythographical aspect on the other hand was to focus on how archaeological knowledge is produced; to show how the mode in which research is carried out affects the contents and the result of the research. Through the several “gentagelser” – repetitions that my case studies have been going through, layers by layers of information have been added to the picture. The story about the history of West Swedish Mesolithic research has become more and more intricate. This gave an opportunity to discuss biography writing, social studies of humanities and concepts like symmetry, mythography and “gentagelser” – repetitions. The transformation from a biographical study to a mythographical study took place through “gentagelser” – repetitions, where my reading of written and oral information about West Swedish Mesolithic gradually changed into another understanding. Focus is no longer on the content of the account but on how it was told.

L. V. Pyne, 2008

The life history of Klasies River Mouth: A case study of archaeology and the history and philosophy of science

This history of Klasies River Mouth is a case study for understanding the interplay among archaeology, paleoanthropology, and the history and philosophy of science. This dissertation shows how Klasies progresses from being a “place,” to an “event,” and finally an “icon” during different episodes of its life history. The defining event in the history of Klasies River Mouth was its excavation and the subsequent interpretation of its artifacts within the transformative paradigm of processual archeology in the 1960s-1970s. As this dissertation argues, this event built on several earlier episodes and intellectual traditions connected to Klasies as a “place.” The excavations and subsequent interpretations of Klasies coincided with changes in archaeological theory—this event actually was a break that represented a singularity, and many layers of context collapsed into one account of Klasies as an archeological site. This confluence of several historical contingencies was also the beginning of Klasies’ history as an “icon” within contemporary and historical literature in archaeology and paleoanthropology. The narrative of “the cave” presented supports the argument that it was the particular sequence of historical events and local contingencies that helped to turn Klasies River Mouth into its current status as an “Icon of the Middle Stone Age.” This study has demonstrated two things: (1) that narrative is a useful means of making sense of the intellectual history of an archaeological and paleoanthropological site, and (2) that focusing on one particular “entity” (in this case, the life history of Klasies River Mouth) is a way by which archaeology and paleoanthropology can be understood within history and philosophy of science. In summary, this dissertation has brought the various encounters of Klasies—as place, event, and icon—together by using the life history of the cave as an organizing device. It demonstrates the value of history and philosophy of science to understanding biological and cultural evolution as applied within the history of archaeology and paleoanthropology.

P. Roux, 2008

The “Mortillet Archives” at Sarrebruck University Career and scientific strategy of Gabriel and Adrien de Mortillet

The purpose of this PhD has been the bringing into light of the Mortillet archives (Nachlaß Mortillet) from the Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichte und Vorderasiatische Archäologie and the Saarländische Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek.
The inventory of the collection has been realised in files created to record the series of boxes. The description and the quantification of the archives restore the documentary volume, reflecting the scientific careers of Gabriel and Adrien de Mortillet from 1860 to 1931, date of Adrien’s death.
A particular attention has been paid to the history of the fund, which crossed the first and the second world war before reaching us with still a few unanswered questions.
Several points illustrate the scientific story of this family of palethnologists. Gabriel de Mortillet, the instigator of the institutionalisation of the discipline, appears as founder scientist, inheriting of the age of enlightenment. Adrien, the son with much know-how, sticks into an intensely close relationship with his father, when great inventories and global approaches give place to precise specialisation in this trend of prehistory which part of it started in the Vézère Valley (Dordogne) at the beginning of the XXth century. Prehistory passes then, through hectic debates, from an universal method towards a rationalization of converging disciplines. Mortillet fund represents an exceptional all, allowing a better understanding of certain mechanisms that led the researching orientation in prehistoric archaeology and offers many researching perspectives.

L. M. Ferreira, 2007

Territorio primitivo: a institucionalização da arqueologia no Brasil (1870-1917)

The dissertation studies the institutional history of archaeology in Brazil, from 1870 to 1917. This is carried out through the study of research activities at the Amazonian Botanic Museum, Paraense Museum and Paulista Museum. It is possible to conclude that there were three main influences in this process: scholarly globalization, nationalism and colonialism.

K. L. Kawelu, 2007

A sociopolitical history of Hawaiian archaeology: kuleana and commitment

One hundred years of Hawaiian archaeology lay before us, and it is appropriate to take stock of where we have been in order to guide us into the future. Histories of the discipline have emphasized the role of archaeological institutions, research questions, and practitioners in the development of Hawaiian archaeology; yet our understanding is incomplete regarding the sociopolitical factors contributing to this development. In this dissertation, I examine the sociopolitical history of Hawaiian archaeology, focusing on the interpersonal relationships between native Hawaiian people and archaeologists working in Hawai`i. My research is an ethnography of archaeology, an investigation of the practice of archaeology in the Hawaiian Islands. Through interviews with archaeologists and native Hawaiians, whose personal knowledge of and experiences with the discipline of archaeology extends back to the 1940s, I examine past and present relationships between people interested in the protection, perpetuation, and preservation of Hawaiian culture. These interviews provide insights into the character of contemporary relationships as well as identify past events and practices contributing to present circumstances. Each individual speaks from a unique perspective and presents an understanding of the world through narratives. Using narrative analysis to recognize themes embedded in the personal accounts of individuals, I was able to look at past events significant in the development of native Hawaiian/archaeology relations to isolate issues and concerns present there. Taken collectively these narratives echo ideas shared amongst several individuals to create a larger narrative on Hawaiian archaeology. While the colonial impact of United States policies underlie many of the personal accounts, one of the overarching narratives speaks of the varying levels of archaeological investment to the discipline, the field of Hawaiian archaeology, and to native Hawaiian descendant communities. The narratives of the native Hawaiians I spoke to express an appreciation for archaeologists respectful of contemporary native Hawaiian peoples, the living culture, in their pursuit of knowledge. Present day native Hawaiians seek a commitment from archaeologists to past and present societies, while archaeologists seek more of an appreciation from native Hawaiians for the legal parameters of historic preservation under which most archaeology is practiced today.

E.M. Price, 2007

Town and Gown: Amateurs and Academics. The discovery of British prehistory, Oxford 1850-1900: A Pastime Professionalised

This investigation into the origin of a collection of nineteenth century lanternslides revealed evidence of the social, intellectual and cultural importance of various scientific societies in Oxford, and the contributions made by those involved, particularly the creator of the lanternslides, H. M. J. Underhill, (1855–1920). Evidence gathered from primary sources showed a fluidity of relationships between the supposed ‘town and gown’ in late nineteenth century Oxford which consisted of a community of citizens, amateurs and academics, all of whom were linked by a growing interest in the real and mythological British past. Following a discussion of the key intellectual and social influences in Britain during the latter half of the nineteenth century, including the implications of the emerging evidence of an ancient human past, the thesis focuses on individual case studies. They illustrate the roles of overlooked or neglected individuals whose work contributed to the growth of today’s discipline of British prehistory. Several people, now forgotten, including Underhill were contemporaries of Arthur Evans and Edward Tylor whose social circumstances made it easier for them to become prominent academics. The results of this research indicate that a new approach is required in the history of archaeology; one that would draw attention to the vital contributions made by forgotten or overlooked individuals, societies and popular publications. Further attention to these issues will shed new light on the way that prehistoric archaeology moved from an antiquarian pastime to an academic discipline between 1850 and 1900.

P. E. de Luna Filho, 2007

Peter Wilhelm Lund: His scientific investigations and the reason he suddenly stopped his research

The Danish naturalist Peter Wilhelm Lund (1801-1880), also called “Brazilian Paleontology’s father”, was a proponent of the Catastrophism theory formulated by Georges Cuvier. In search of a proof for this theory, Lund excavated thousands of fossils from the some 200 caves of Lagoa Santa (MG) between 1835 and 1844, eventually describing dozens of extinct Pleistocene species. Meanwhile, Lund found fossilized skeletons of some 30 human individuals, that became known as the “People of Lagoa Santa”. Soon after that, Lund sent his collections to Denmark and put an end to his fieldwork. But he never returned to his country, remaining in Brazil until his death. A major question that remains about Lund’s life, and the object of this work, is to know why after all he stopped his research? Lund’s himself wrote that lack of money was responsible for it. But his biographers choose as scapegoat his physical and intellectual tiredness after years of uninterrupted work in the caves. The answer, however, is to be found in Lund’s letter collection, archived at the Copenhagen Royal Library. The present work is the result of the study of a small part of this correspondence. By analyzing the naturalist’s life and his relations to his family, masters and colleagues both in Brazil and Denmark, my hope was to identify the reason for the end the research of one of the most influent scientists of Brazil in the Nineteenth century.

G. Suhr, 2007

A chance for new paradigms?

Die Vor- und Frühgeschichte Polens, der Tschechischen Republik und Ungarns wird vom kulturhistorischen Ansatz dominiert. Dennoch werden – wenn auch von einem sehr überschaubaren Personenkreis – theoretische, meist aus dem angloamerikanischen Raum entlehnte, Konzepte berücksichtigt und angewandt. Die in diesen drei Ländern am intensivsten unter Verwendung theoretischer Ideen diskutierten Themen werden vorgestellt, darunter die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Positivismus in Polen, die Diskussion über Besonderheiten archäologischer Quellen oder die praxisorientierte Anwendung räumlicher Modelle sowie umweltarchäologischer Fragestellungen. Anhand von Experteninterviews wird hinterfragt, welche Faktoren in einem forschungsgeschichtlich bedingt theoriearmen Umfeld zur Beschäftigung mit Theorie führen, warum diese Konzepte keinen größeren Personenkreis erreichen und ob sich die Situation mit dem Ende des Kommunismus änderte.

O. Moro Abadía, 2006

Arqueología e historia de la ciencia: hacia una historia crítica de la arqueología

La presente tesis examina las relaciones entre Arqueología e Historia de la Ciencia. Tomando como referencia dos de los grandes debates de la historia dela ciencia (la controversia a propósito del presentismo y el debate entre internalistas y externalistas), el presente trabajo pretende determinar como se ha escrito la historia de la Arqueología durante el último siglo.

U. Ickerodt, 2005

Bilder von Archäologen, Bilder von Urmenschen – ein kultur- und mentalitätsgeschichtlicher Beitrag zur Genese der prähistorischen Archäologie am Beispiel zeitgenössischer Quellen

AIM of the STUDY. A qualitative and quantitative study of the influence of archaeology on western civilization as recorded in contemporary media, i.e. as pictures or mention of archaeologists and/or prehistoric Man in scientific publications, adverts, art, the press, books, films, and comics. RESULTS. Archaeology is seen as one of the factors that helps to shape the modern age, whose development is very closely related to the emergence of the economic thinking and social structures that characterise western civilization. Images of the archaeologist and prehistoric Man, in view of their many-faceted treatment by contemporary western society, basically reflect the values and norms of western societies. METHODS. Taking images of the archaeologist and prehistoric Man portrayed in the various media, it is possible to demonstrate the integrating effect (e.g. national identity) that archaeological research has had and still has on western societies. THESIS. Acceptance of the results of archaeological research constitutes a very specific portion of western perception of space and time and helps to provide a framework for present-day human behaviour, which is primarily based on ideas of progress and evolution. SOCIAL FUNCTION. Images of the archaeologist and prehistoric Man are apparently used as a social inspiration (Leitbild), whose integrative potential is concerned with the search for an identity at all levels, a process that is based on the past but concerns the future. In the western world, this process is rooted in the historisation of the landscape (which is part of the processes of secularisation and laizism). The western quest after origins is seen as a consequence of this. Since this quest hangs together with a certain legitimatisation of one’s own society, it is invariably politically tinted (e.g. national archaeology, Marxism etc.) and even sometimes transcendental (Druid cult, biblical archaeology, New Age, etc.). SOCIAL INSPIRATION. With the help of a social inspiration (Leitbild) based on archaeology, social constraints can be removed and make social relations and communication more flexible, particularly at the present time when western society as a whole is disintegrating. Against the background of acceleration of the process of differentiation in western society, inspiration has its effect on both the national and international levels. With its help the increasingly unstable social structure can be adequately explained, since in a globalised world social hierarchy in the western world is becoming based on evolutionary biology, geology and archaeology instead of religious beliefs. The popular modern argument in this connection is the principle of unequal equality, which is based on progress-oriented thinking. The social consequence of this thinking is expressed as the dogma of inequality.

G. J. da Silva, 2005

Antiguidade, arqueologia e a França de Vichy: usos do passado

The purpose of this research work is to analyze the uses of the ancient world by the fields of History and Archaeology as a way to establish understandings of the present world. As ancient studies are very close to present time collective representations, this study proposes a reflection on the role of past in strategy and identity affirmation games. It has as a premise the notion that knowledge of the past, its writing and its interpretations, are powers and create powers. In terms of subject, this study focuses on the appropriation of the Gaul, Roman and Gaul-Roman past during the Vichy Regime (1940-1944). It also analyzes the subject within a greater European frame, for it focuses on the “instrumentalizations” of Antiquity by the Nazi and Fascist regimes. It analyzes, especially from the 19th century on, the characterizations of Gaul and Gaul people in French historiography. It focuses on historians’ status while they related to State powers, as in the case of Jérôme Carcopino, remarkable scholar in Roman studies, who was Minister of Education under the Vichy regime. As Antiquity is present everywhere in modern French society, this research work also analyzes the different forms of appropriation of the ancient world by extreme Right parties, represented in the text by the Front National party and the Terre et Peuple group.

J. Roberts, 2005

Towards A Cultural History of Archaeology: British Archaeology Between the Wars

This thesis is an attempt to write a different history of archaeology to the ones we have, in effect to amplify those histories. I felt that the general histories of archaeology concentrated too much on the published works of archaeologists and too little on the archaeologists themselves. I wanted to get behind the written work, not to create a series of biographies, but to see if it was possible to write a history which placed archaeology in its social context, which looked at how archaeologists experienced their lives, at what they did to become archaeologists, and what that term meant to them. I chose the inter-war period for a variety of reasons. This was the time, I felt, when archaeology was moving from being a hobby to a potential career. Obviously there were archaeologists employed before the 20s and 30s, and part-time or amateur archaeologists for many years afterwards, but by the inter-war period it was possible to study archaeology, to train as an archaeologist, and for a select few, to pursue archaeology as a career. When I was an undergraduate this period was portrayed almost as an heroic age, there was Collingwood, Childe, Wheeler, Clark, Piggott, and Hawkes, men whose thinking, I was told, transformed archaeology. Yet, when I read about this time in the histories I was disappointed, I wanted to know more about these figures, how and why they became archaeologists, what being an archaeologist had meant to them, what they thought archaeology was and should be. I also wanted to know where the women were, why in this list of heroes there were no women. In part this reflected the type of archaeology I had studied, my degree concentrated on British archaeology so Kathleen Kenyon and Dorothy Garrod were not mentioned. But, I wanted to know more about the people who were just names on reports and books, C.M. Piggott, A. Fox, and T.V. Wheeler, and why they were not included in that list of ‘greats’.

K. Lundbeck-Culot, 2004

Research on the foundation of Danish archaeology: a reflexion on the mutual influences between Denmark and France

En 1643, Worm établit un classement des monuments préhistoriques du Danemark et une belle collection de curiosités. Lié à Lapeyrère, il offre des manuscrits islandais et calendriers runiques à Mazarin. Au XVIIe siècle, les ceuvres de Montfaucon et de Caylus restent des références, les Académies et les Sociétés savantes ignorent les Antiquités nationales. À partir de 1750, au Danemark, un système des trois âges se dessine d’après la stratigraphie de fouilles par Pontoppidan. Legrand d’Aussy s’inspire des travaux des antiquaires danois pour établir une chronologie relative basée sur les tombes en France. À la Révolution, A Lenoir établit le Musée des Monuments Français. En 1807, à Copenhague, R. Nyerup réfère à A. Lenoir en créant le Musée National des Antiquités du Nord. C. J. Thomsen l’organise et élabore le système des trois âges basé sur les fouilles. En 1861, le roi Fréderic VII offre une collection d’antiquités à Napoléon III l’incitant à créer le Musée des Antiquités Nationales.

G. Mante, 2004

Die deutschsprachige prähistorische Archäologie : Eine Ideengeschichte im Zeichen von Wissenschaft, Politik und europäischen Werten

Ist die deutschsprachige prähistorische Archäologie tatsächlich eine Wissenschaft, die nur Scherben zählt? War sie jemals frei von politischen Werten? Wie haben die Ideen von Marx und Engels die ostdeutsche Forschung beeinflusst? Und was hat Gott mit der Deutung der prähistorischen Relikte zu tun? Diese und andere Fragen beantwortet dieses Buch.
Es beschreibt den Spagat einer Disziplin, die auf der einen Seite “objektive”, empirische Wissenschaft betreiben und auf der anderen Seite gesellschaftlich relevant sein möchte. Das Buch ist gleichzeitig als ein weiteres Fallbeispiel dafür zu lesen, dass die Autonomie der Kulturwissenschaften nichts als eine Illusion ist. Es richtet sich neben den in Forschung und Praxis tätigen Wissenschaftlern vor allem auch an die Studierenden der Archäologie und der Kulturwissenschaften.

A. Nanta, 2004

Débats sur les origines du peuplement de l’archipel japonais dans l’anthropologie et l’archéologie (décennie 1870-décennie 1990)

The formation of the nation-state during the 19th century saw the rising of the question of the identity of these new national communities. This thesis relates the filiation of these discourses in anthropology and archaeology in japan, discourses that come under interactions between science, politics and society. We may consider three paradigms of identity: 1/ race substitution and alterity: 2/mixity and common origins: 3/ insularity and race continuity. The japanese identity did oscillate between the idea of discontinuity and those of continuity. The first paradigm correspond to the construction of the nation-state (1870-1910), and is characterized by discourses not concerning the japanese themselves but systematically the alterity. The second one does cover the imperialism and expansion (1905-1940),that are led according to an annexionist thought. Finally, a third period corresponds to the post-war years (1940-1985), that see the identity being rethought in term of “insularity”. The objective of this thesis was first to study the functioning of theses discourses in the modern and contemporary japan society and secondly to understand their historicity as research […]

A. Nivart, 2004

De la fouille au musée : les musées de préhistoire : nouveaux lieux, nouvelles fonctions

Since 1970’s, excavations are increasing in France and thus the mass of artefacts to be studied and preserved. Archaeological objects follow an operational sequence going from excavation to museum. Development of new dedicated storage buildings seems to correspond to intermediate stages recognition. Function of excavation deposits are to store the objects the time necessary for their study. These places tend to get permanent depending of scientific, economic and cultural contexts. New executives jobs have been created for archaeologists. The museum, positioned at the end of to the operating chain, is presented as a logical outcome. The two curation main possibilities are the devolvement to an existing museum, or the creation of a new museum ex nihilo. In this second prospect, a selection was made of French prehistory museums including archeo-parks. The question was to analyze the creation and stabilisation process of museums. Two different orientations leads to the museum position in operating chain: a subordination of the objects to research or an emancipation in a cultural and patrimonial vision.

P. J. Smith, 2004

A Splendid Idiosyncrasy: Prehistory at Cambridge 1915–50

In this thesis, I ask and answer questions as to how and why a set of ideas and practices becomes articulate, systematic and professionalised within a university setting. The oldest school of prehistoric archaeology in a British university is at Cambridge. Because of its central importance, prominence and location, the history of Cambridge prehistory offers a clear example of the successful establishment of a new academic subject. Three different theoretical approaches were used in the course of the inquiry. Investigations into the success and failure of research schools, geography-of-knowledge analyses and results of gender and science studies were all shown to have both salience and limitations when applied to this case study. The thesis focused on three central personalities, one key figure for each decade described. The research school approach was least relevant when applied to Miles Burkitt and to the early establishment of academic prehistory during the 1920s. Before there were formalised controls over recruitment and institutionalised avenues of entry, religious beliefs, motivations, philosophies, gendered relationships and informal settings such as tea-rooms were clearly significant. In contrast, J.B. Morrell’s (1972) research school material worked well for Grahame Clark as an example of a male, university-based, intellectual entrepreneur during the 1930s. Morrell’s (1972) and G.L. Geison’s (1981) list of ingredients for academic achievement — a strong coherent set of research questions and methods, exploitable techniques, an avenue for publication, a pool of recruits and an ability to establish administrative support — was found to be important. Personal reminiscences and unpublished correspondence revealed that the Museum tea-room became a central knowledge-making place and that interpersonal relationships of trust fostered innovative thought. Gender and science studies illuminated Dorothy Garrod’s difficult experiences in the 1940s as the first woman and first prehistorian elected to a professorship at Cambridge University. Changing gender definitions, student creativeness, the collegial nature of knowledge production and the informality and flexibility of social and academic relationships were considered as possible additions to Geison’s and Morrell’s list. Based on this study of prehistory, it would appear that small, informal and intimate groups may create splendid university subjects.

A. Hurel, 2004

L’institutionnalisation de l’archéologie préhistorique en France métropolitaine (1852-1941) et l’Institut de paléontologie humaine Fondation Prince Albert Ier de Monaco

Contrary to the other human sciences, the institutionalization of the prehistoric archaeology in France, that is its conversion of a social reality in a regulated structure, evolves by stages which, in their nature and their chain, go beyond those whom we hold traditionally for the other scientific disciplines. While, from the end of the first half of the XIXth, the community of the prehistorians begins to be scientifically recognized, it does not find academic position and refuses any rule of the excavations. Nevertheless, since the Revolution, the notion of national interest was led bit by bit as regards the archaeological heritage. In 1910, the French prehistorians oppose even firmly to the first bill conceived in order to protect deposits and they claim an exclusive and own right on their activities. The same year, the creation of the Institute of human paleontology by Prince Albert of Monaco represents the first attempt of professionalization of prehistorian’s activity. The Second World War is going to pass beyong these oppositions and to impose the law of September 27th, 1941 as well as an official research structure by the C. N. R. S. and the University.

A. O’Connor, 2003

The making of the British early Palaeolithic, 1880-1960

This historical study explores the character of interpretations of the British Palaeolithic record between c. 1880 and c. 1960, focusing on attempts to classify and order the Early Palaeolithic industries. Interpretations were developed through complex interactions between individuals and groups, who were influenced by a range of aims, expectations and research opportunities. The impact of their contributions was partly dependent upon academic standing and the style of approach taken within the competitive arena of day-to-day research. General expectations of industrial patterning were founded upon the Early Palaeolithic industrial sequence from Western Europe, particularly the chronological succession from the Somme Valley, France, where the hand-axe was the most notable artefact. The assumption of progression and the use of prominent type-fossils such as the hand-axe in classifying and ordering industries coloured interpretations of the British Early Palaeolithic sequence. This is evident even in the approaches to the naturally-fractured stones known as ‘eoliths’. The idea of a single, progressive line of industries also fuelled argument over the position and affinities of the flake-rich Clactonian industry in the 1910s and 1920s. In the wake of rising uncertainties, the parallel culture scheme proposed by Henri Breuil achieved great popularity in the 1930s. The value of the Palaeolithic industrial sequence as a relative Quaternary chronology encouraged a complex interdependence between interpretations of the Palaeolithic and of the Quaternary sequence which helped to promote and to reinforce the new range of expectations that had been generated by Breui’s scheme. However, by the mid. 1940s, the rigid chronological order of industries proposed by Breuil had been weakened. By the late 1940s, researchers doubtful of the accuracy, scale and value of his scheme, expressed a desire to move away from the constraints of chronology and typology and towards more ecological and anthropological interpretations.

T. Molin, 2003

Signs of the times: Göthiska förbundet, antiquarian research and landscape

The ideas that flourished among a small group of former Uppsala students that became the Göthiska förbundet on February 16, 1811, set in motion a process that changed views on why and how Sweden should manage its historic sites. This process of change achieved its goal with the passing of the new antiquities legislation in 1828. Their archeological research also left its mark. In this area, the brotherhood went much further than they themselves had actually imagined possible when they formulated their description of the ideal state consisting of free, independent farmers, which they believed was the case up until the introduction of Christianity into the Nordic countries. It was this period that they attributed the brotherhood’s virtues that they wished to instill in modern Swedes, and it was this image that would become part of the Swedish cultural heritage. Their archeological research, though, took them even further back in time. Geijer’s history books were admirable, but Magnus Bruzelius went the furthest. Starting with a study of historic sites, he extended the time period about which one could comment at great length, going as far back as to a period that did not even have a name, a period he called the Stone Age. As a result of this, their research demonstrated that the region’s oldest historic sites did not belong to sword-wielding free farmers, but rather to primitive Stone Age savages about whose living conditions Magnus Bruzelius could write because he was able to study their material remains and compare his findings with the commentaries by travelers to primitive peoples from other, more inaccessible parts of the globe. Accordingly, both time and research achieved new heights.

O. W. Jensen, 2002

The past in history a study of the perception of antiquity and antiquities during medieval times up to the mid-eighteenth century

The purpose of this thesis is twofold, on the one hand to discern how prehistory was perceived in Sweden from medieval times up to the mid-eighteenth century, and on the other how antiquities were physically and mentally approached. The study is concentrated on the views of the scholars of the time, but to some extent also popular beliefs. The study is based on published texts as well as archive material and illustrations. Pad I gives a theoretical outline. In order to understand different views on prehistory and antiquities, I emphasise their relations to Christian historiography, with its nuances and change over time. Instead of searching only for characteristics for certain periods, diverging opinions have also been looked for, in order to illuminate the pluralism of interpretation that existed. One significant theoretical inspiration in this study is the ideas of Ludwik Fleck. In Part II questions of how Swedish antiquity was looked upon during the period are explored. It is argued that there were different conceptions of prehistory which on the one hand, and basically, were based on different religious views, and on the other on subjective and on a smaller collective level shared interpretations. The Christian historiography and its influence on the interpretation of Swedish past is also emphasised and exemplified. Another theme that is looked deeper into is the tradition of perceiving prehistory as a Golden Age, and its link with the so called “göticism”. is stressed. In the final chapters the growing source criticism and the secular view of the past that can be discerned during the second half of the 17th century and early 18th century, is discussed. I point at several factors as being of importance in this process, such as the growing criticism of older authorities, a changed view of mankind and its role in history, an altered view of the run of history (from mundus senescens to a more progressive one), a growing interest in cultural history and in natural law at the expense of the theocracy, and above all the gradual marginalisation of God in history. In Part III the approach to antiquities during the period is explored; what was considered as antiquities, how they were interpreted, what terminology was used, how they were classified and perceived as sources for prehistory, how they were described in words and pictures, what criteria defined “old age”, the growing role of excavations, popular beliefs in the subject matter, etc. As in the rest of the thesis I’ve searched for characteristics for certain periods and changes through time, but also for diverging opinions. It is also emphasised that the same factors that influenced the conceptions of prehistory also had effect on the interpretations on antiquities.

M.-A. Kaeser, 2002

L’univers du préhistorien : science, foi et politique dans l’œuvre et la vie d’Edouard Desor : 1811-1882

From its very establishment as a theme of research, prehistory had far-reaching, political and metaphysical consequences. Innovativingly combining the humanities and the natural sciences, it furthermore mobilized very different domains of knowledge. It is my intention to show the intricacy of the parameters which governed the beginings of prehistoric archaelogy. To that end, I have opted for a biographical approach. Viewed as a form of “microhistory”, the scientific biography actually alloxs to concretely encompass the interactions between all the ideological, social, cultural, intellectual, hulan and spiritual components which are at stake in the construction of science. Thanks to the wealth of the related archival material, as well as to the nature of his career, the life of Edouard Desor offers numerous prospects. As a geologist, a palaeontologist and a prehistorian, a businessman, a politician and a religious official, Desor indeed constantly connected all these different undertakings which he understood as indissociable. A French, Swiss and German polyglot traveller, he also occupied strategical positions in the international scientific networks. Since he acted as a mediator between different, national, styles and traditions of research, he sheds new light on the presumed role of the raising, European nationalisms in the development of prehistoric archaeology. All in all, Desor’s path illustrates the contigent nature of the shape of the future discipline. In a historical perspective, most of the analytical categories of modern prehistory appear to proceed from forgotten and invalided debates, as well as from sociological, interpersonal circumstances of the past. In brief, the present discipline is moving within a framework which has been shaped for a very different use, in accordance with a very different context: prehistory is prisoner of an outdated intellectual legacy.

Å. Gillberg, 2001

A place in history. The life and work of Nils Niklasson

The aim of this study is threefold: 1) to discuss the role of biography in the history of archaeology, 2) to present and discuss an “obscure” (obemärkt) archaeologist and his work, and 3) to discuss the participation of the individual in the creation of archaeological knowledge. Chapter 2 forms the basis for the first aim, as it gives an outline of how the relationship between life and science has been treated from different perspectives since the 18th century. It is argued that science histories have tended to focus on the scientific hero and his/her success, while neglecting those individuals whose results are labelled as mistakes by present-day scientists. The term “obemärkt” (unnoticed, obscure) is introduced and discussed. Chapter 3 takes this discussion further into archaeology, as several archaeological biographies are analysed according to three criteria given by Donald R Givens. It is argued that most archaeological biographies deal with the archaeologist as hero, with an emphasis on excavations and spectacular finds (rather than administrative or institutionalised work). The analysis shows that although most authors try to avoid an extreme presentist stand, many biographies still deal with research results in terms of right and wrong. A biographical case-study is introduced in chapter 4, which forms the basis for discussions of the three aims of the text. The study presents a Gothenburg archaeologist, Nils Niklasson (1890-1966) and his work. It focuses on two decades, 1920-1940, which constitute Niklasson’s most active period and highlight two different research environments; Landesanstalt in Halle (Germany) and the archaeological department at the museum in Gothenburg (Sweden).. The emphasis is placed on Niklasson’s work, but with consideration of factors such as educational and social background, personality traits and life experiences. In the final chapter the theoretical observations of the first chapters are linked to the empirical material and the analysis of the case study in a discussion of the foundations of historical obscurity. It is argued that the role of the individual in the creation of archaeological knowledge needs to be further emphasised, as “mistakes” as well as successes form an integral part in this process.

A. Gustafsson, 2001

The history of archaeology as history and as archaeology. Studies in the histories of archaeology

The main objective of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of a central part of our archaeological practice – the ubiquitous historical accounts of our own scientific work. More specifically, the purposes of the thesis can be summarised as follows: 1) To present and discuss a set of key concepts related to the historiography of science, especially those relevant to disciplinary history. The concepts are mainly drawn from the field of science studies. 2) To analyse different forms in which the history of archaeology is practised, discuss various arguments for its utility, and show how some central historiographical problems have been debated in this field. Concepts such as Whig history, internalism, externalism and the legitimation of interests are focused. 3) To exemplify and illustrate the problems discussed through an analysis of three classic histories of archaeology. A central point in the thesis is that the histories of archaeology are diverse. Hence we need to discuss the intellectual foundations of different types of such histories. In order to do so, the field is divided into two general parts, ‘the history of archaeology in the form of archaeology’ and ‘the history of archaeology in the form of history.’ The latter term is used to describe studies with the explicit aim of contributing to the history of archaeology, such as biographies and general surveys. The former term refers to texts which are not intended to add to our historical knowledge, but which nevertheless contain information that is historically relevant. This genre comprises the kind of introductory research history found in academic texts, as well as other instances in which history is used to support the introduction of new theories and/or the promotion of some specific research tradition. Historiographically, it is argued, these two types of history of archaeology are fundamentally different. In the first case a symmetrical perspective ought to be adopted, which means that analysts should avoid committing themselves to any view whatsoever regarding the validity of the knowledge claims investigated. This position is known as methodological relativism. In the second case, it should be accepted that historical accounts constitute a resource in the doing of science, making up one of the tools in our methodological toolbox. The asymmetry and Whiggishness of this genre is justifiable, indeed inevitable. Crucially, however, this kind of history – history of archaeology in the form of archaeology, or archaeology in the guise of history – must not be claimed to constitute history proper.

M. Guillaumie, 2000

Le roman préhistorique à partir des premiers romans préhistoriques français (1872-1914)

Les romans dont l’action est censée se dérouler dans la Préhistoire reflètent fort peu, malgré le sérieux qu’ils affichent souvent, la science qui est celle des préhistoriens de leur époque. Ces romans mettent en œuvre des modèles et des « savoirs » très anciens, qu’ils combinent avec les stéréotypes fixes par une tradition iconique et romanesque, et les cliches qu’offre la mode. Tout cela prend sens au sein de tensions idéologiques modernes : à la fin du XIXe siècle en France, ces romans étaient marqués par l’anticléricalisme, le mépris de race ou de sexe, le colonialisme et l’esprit de revanche. Si les enjeux idéologiques sont aujourd’hui fort différents, ils sont loin d’avoir disparu. Les romans préhistoriques ne sont pas darwiniens. Ils sont principalement influencés par l’évolutionnisme de Herbert Spencer : les supposées « races », les langues, les institutions, la valeur du bien et du mal, sont en évolution comme les organismes, les espèces et les paysages. Le tout est ordonné suivant quelques axes bipolaires, en cohérence avec les structures modernes de l’imaginaire. Les schémas narratifs du roman préhistorique et les principales figures du récit (dans lequel les espèces animales et les tribus sont de véritables personnages) obéissent à un modèle contraignant, qui admet cependant des réalisations variables. La parodie, l’humour, l’absence de violence ou la dimension écologique par exemple, ne sont que d’apparentes transgressions du système et sont déjà fort anciens dans le roman préhistorique. La « culture médiatique » ressasse, bien au-delà du seul champ littéraire, les principaux traits de cette préhistoire de fiction, apparue avant toute science. Cela justifie certaines questions sur les rapports entre science et fiction, sur la reprise inlassable des mêmes images, et sur le positionnement littéraire et social complexe des auteurs et des œuvres qui relèvent de ce genre minuscule.

A. Vatan, 1996

The history of the celtic archeology in Champagne. Since the origins to 1941

The Champagne has been in the heart of the celtic archeology elaboration. In this region, the quantity of available materials for the research is considerable: about thirty thousand celtic graves have been found out since 1940. They are at the birth of many collections. But the value of an old collection is only worth if we can attest of its origins and of its documentation. We must for this take in consideration many factors : the evolution of the archeological knowledges, the methods employed for the discovery and the digging of the sites, the way in which these collections have been gathered and transmitted, the raisons of the men who have incited or made them. To prove and to explain these ideas, the book is composed in two parts. The first part is a history of the research in champagne, which teachs the birth and the evolution of the thought. The second part is a biographic list of champagne’s archeologists who have worked on the celtic epoq. This work is to help the present research.

É. Gran-Aymerich, 1994

French archaeology in mediterranean and near eastern countries (1798-1945)

This french history of archaeology deals with the mediterranean and near eastern countries, including egypt and occidental asia. The working out course of a science is studied from its origins to its completion: from the appearance of the archaeological object and the frist official works (1788, expedition to egypt) to the setting up of a scientifical archaeology studied inside specific institutions (1939 creating of the CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). The various archaeological subjects are considered as well as the links between them: classical, oriental, prehistoric and metropolitan archaeology. This history of archaeological science turns out to be an interdisciplinary one as far as the connections between the various antiquity sciences are studied: archaeology, philology, epigraphy, nunismatology. Whether abroad or in countries under the french administration, the international competition arises in the matter of archaeology. This history is endeavouring to clear up the links between archaeology and politics; moreover if the french science remains its main aim, the history and different aspects of archaeology in other european countries and the united states of america are studied as well. As a conclusion we determine how important the part of archaeology in the we determine how important the part of archaeology in the historical research is.

C. L. Borstel, 1993

Constructing prehistory in the People’s Republic of China: An ethnography of state, society, and archaeology

Archaeology is usually considered to be a branch of science or history that operates independently of any particular social or cultural context. In this view, the knowledge it produces about the past, though undoubtedly incomplete, is essentially factual and objective: only when the state or other political partisans engage in heavy-handed manipulation of the field and its processes of discovery does archaeological knowledge become mythologized. This dissertation adopts a somewhat different view. It regards archaeology as deeply embedded in its social milieu, and it views the social context of archaeology as shaping the knowledge it constructs about the past in subtle ways. Taking contemporary China as a case study, it is proposed that the questions Chinese archaeologists ask and the methods and evidence they use to investigate these questions are shaped to some degree by the social, political, and economic agendas of the state. Further, it views archaeology not just as a field of knowledge but also as an interest group composed of practitioners, who draw upon archaeological knowledge and practices as a source of symbols to constitute themselves. The dissertation is exploratory in its spirit. It seeks to raise issues concerning archaeology and it social context rather than resolve them. It also attempts to demonstrate the possibilities of an ethnography of archaeology. Chapter 1 describes the author’s discovery of the problem and of the potentials of the archaeology-ethnography interface. Chapter 2 explores notions of symbols and boundaries, outlines the several meanings of “archaeology,” and describes Chinese archaeology as a socially constituted activity. Chapter 3 focuses on archaeological fieldwork as an activity that is both a domain of scholarly practice and cultural practice. Chapter 4 sketches the many reasons the state is involved with archaeology. Chapter 5 looks at one particular archaeological narrative, which concerns the Neolithic period in Nanjing, to show the interaction between the state and the discipline in the creation of archaeological knowledge. Chapter 6 discusses the implications of the essay for understanding both China and the practice of archaeology, and it also proposes that the concept of community may be useful for further explorations of state, society, and archaeology.

N. Coye, 1993

From original myths to archeological reserarch, soures, methods and discourse of prehistoric archeology in france before 1950

À partir de la constatation de l’analogie entre la démarche du préhistorien décrite en 1964 par A. Leroi-gourhan et l’histoire de l’archéologie prehistorique telle que la retrace au même moment A. Laming emperaire, notre étude à adopté plusieurs points de vue complementaires. D’une part, elle a analysé, pour une période allant de 1800 à 1950, le travail du préhistorien. Menée à trois niveaux (perception du document, élaboration des schemas explicatifs et production du discours), cette analyse a montré la part importante que les cadres théoriques tiennent des la premiere phase et comment l’evolution des idees en prehistoire s’est opérée par la redefinition constante des rapports qu’entretiennent quelques concepts de base. D’autre part, notre étude a repris certains thèmes traditionnels de l’historiographie de l’archéologie préhistorique (mythologies, pierres de foudre, folklore mégalithique) qui ont été analysés dans leur contexte d’origine. Cette approche volontairement coupée de toute référence à l’archeologie a conduit à poser la question des motivations de l’historiographie traditionnelle telle qu’elle s’est developpée à partir du milieu du 19e siecle. Combinant un but utilitaire et une volonte apologétique, cette dernière entend avant tout légitimer les méthodes et le discours de la science dont elle fait l’histoire.

J.A. Jiménez Díez, 1993

Historiografía de la Pre y Protohistoria de la Península Ibérica en el siglo XIX

Es una historia de la prehistoria de la península ibérica en sus inicios, apoyada en las fuentes historiograficas publicadas en el siglo XIX, reunidas en nuestro catalogo historiografico, base de todo el estudio posterior. En la primera parte se lleva a cabo un estudio cuantitativo de las fuentes, incidiendo en las publicaciones periódicas y en las extranjeras que se manejan en la península durante esos años, tanto de prehistoria general como peninsular. Hacemos una aproximación al proceso de institucionalización de la prehistoria a través de las publicaciones de las instituciones científicas y culturales, de los congresos en que se trata de temas pre y protohistoricos, y sobre los museos arqueológicos o provinciales, la mayoría de los cuales se crean en ese momento. Terminamos con un estudio bibliometrico en las dos vertientes geográfica y cronológica para situarnos mejor en el entorno historiografico. En la segunda parte hacemos un estudio de los contenidos de las fuentes, iniciándolo con una clasificación temática de la que surgen los distintos temas de interés: concepto de prehistoria y periodizacion, origen del hombre, arte prehistórico, tratamiento de la prehistoria en las historias generales y protohistoria peninsular. Dedicamos un extenso capitulo a los estudios locales insistiendo no solo en las prehistoria regionales sino afianzando algunos aspectos de los puntos anteriores. La tercera parte la dedicamos a los autores siguiendo la pauta historiográfica de considerar que la historia es el quehacer de los historiadores, o sea, que se construye desde un presente que también hay que conocer; nuestro estudio lo hacemos agrupando a los autores según sus profesiones o sus puntos de interés científico: geólogos y paleontólogos, ingenieros de minas y caminos, antropólogos, naturalistas, arqueólogos, historiadores y otros. En el apartado de recapitulación, además de hacer un detenido resumen de todo el trabajo, se exponen algunas conclusiones que se deducen del mismo.

N. Richard, 1992

La préhistoire en France dans la seconde moitié du dix-neuvième siècle (1859-1904)

Entre 1859, date de la reconnaissance de l’antiquité de l’homme et 1904, création de la première société nationale spécialisée, la préhistoire s’est constituée en discipline. La première partie du mémoire examine le contexte immédiat de la reconnaissance de l’antiquité de l’homme. Trois courants traitent alors des données qui seront par la suite attribuées à l’homme préhistorique : l’histoire et l’archéologie nationales, la théologie naturelle et la paléontologie. Ils forgent des objets qui ne sont les ancêtres de l’homme préhistorique ni par l’Age qui leur est attribué, ni, le plus souvent, par la méthode qui sert à les étudier. Lorsqu’elle est reconnue par la science officielle, l’antiquité de l’homme est donc une nouveauté. Cette conception essentielle à la préhistoire est introduite par des micro-mutations qui affectent à la fois le sens donné aux vestiges et les lieux institutionnels ou se fait leur interprétation. Ce double mouvement de conversion et de fondation est étudié dans la seconde partie du travail. La troisième partie a pour objet de décrire le fonctionnement de la nouvelle discipline dans la seconde moitié du dix-neuvième siècle. Un égal intérêt est porte aux hommes, aux gestes de la pratique et aux grands débats intellectuels.

W. Stoczkowski, 1991

Human origine: between the naive and the learned anthropology

Prehistoric man was invented before being discovered, and the imaginary prehistory of olden times still permeates the scientific visions of the remote past. For more than two thousand years, european speculation about human origins activates the same cliches, which originate in a transformation of ancient mythical motifs. Our research trusto reconstruct the emergence of the naturalist reflection on the human origins. And to relate the survivals of this “naive anthropology” in modern conceptions of hominisation.

T. Murray, 1987

Remembrance of things present: appeals to authority in the history and philosophy of archaeology

Over the past twenty five years virtually every aspect of archaeology – from its nature as a discipline to its relationship with society – has been the subject of inquiry, debate and change. Not only has there been a great increase in the amount of archaeology being done, and the number of archaeologists doing it, the development of new techniques of dating and analysis have also helped to broaden and deepen the scope of the discipline itself. New methodological links have been forged with the human, earth, and life sciences, and practitioners have ranged far in search of approaches that will help to expand their understanding of the meaning and significance of the archaeological record. Not all of these changes have met with universal approval. Archaeology is now more disputatious than ever before as practitioners openly debate conceptual and epistemological issues which lie at the core of the discipline itself. Indeed, much that at the outset of the ‘new’ archaeology was considered to be stable or unproblematic, such as the goals of archaeology, or even the nature of the archaeological record itself, is now openly questioned. Archaeology exhibits such internal dissension that we are entitled to question whether there are any disciplinary ‘cultural norms’ left, whether there are norms and understandings that can survive such disputation. This study argues that such changes provide an opportunity to re-examine the nature, meaning and value of archaeological knowledge, especially the terms of the relationship between past and present, and the nature of archaeology as a distinct discipline. Some aspects of the history, philosophy, and sociology of prehistoric archaeology are investigated so that a clearer picture of the determinants of archaeological knowledge production can be gained. It is argued that these investigations can help us to develop a more coherent and consistent understanding of archaeological logic, epistemology and metaphysics, to assist in the building of archaeological theory at all levels and to foster strategies for dealing with current serious disputes in archaeology.

P. Soulier, 1985

La Société préhistorique française, 1904-1985 : vie et rôle d’une société savante au XXème siècle

G. Junghans, 1979

Gabriel de Mortillet, 1821-1898, eine Biographie. Materialien zur Darstellung seiner Ideen und Beiträge zur Erforschung von Ursprung und Geschichte des Menschen

In seiner Biographie Gabriel de Mortillets (1821-1898) geht Günter Junghans dem Leben und Wirken dieses vielseitigen französischen Gelehrten nach. Studien umfangreicher Originalquellen am Seminar für Vor- und Frühgeschichte sowie der Universitätsbibliothek in Saarbrücken und in der Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris lassen ihn aber nicht nur die bekannten Beiträge Mortillets zur Erforschung des Paläolithikums betonen, sondern diese Biographie konzentriert sich auch auf den “homme politique”.

B. Gräslund, 1974

Relative chronology. On dating methods in Scandinavian Archaeology

The book consists of two parts, one dealing with the analysis of concepts, the other with the history of scholarship. In both cases, the starting point is Scandinavian archaeology in theory and practice. In the introductory chapter, the author discusses, inter alia, the
special scientific problems involved when dealing with unwritten source material. […] In the present author’s opinion, contrary to current views, Darwinism has played only a minor rôle in the origin of typology. The analogy of typology and the biological doctrine of evolution would seem, primarily, to have developed mainly as a pedagogic illustration of the continuity of the sequence of cultures and to justify typology as a scientific method.

---

---