Are We There Yet? Archaeology and the Postmodern in the New Millennium

Abstract

The present text discusses the significance of the post- modern condition in contemporary archaeology. Five themes associated with postmodernism are discussed
 (a) the relativization of truth, knowledge, and mean- ing, (b) the fragmentation of the grand narrative, (c) the relation between agency and discourse, (d) plural- ism, multivocality, and heterogeneity, and (e) rhetoric and styles of writing. In contemporary debate it has been suggested that postmodernism is a past phase and that these contested issues have become less im- portant. It is, however, argued here that these are by no means resolved, but rather bypassed by shifting focus to archaeology as a contemporary practice or, in theoretical terms, towards particularistic neo-ma- terialist ontologies.