Typology (archaeology)
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- For other types of typology, see typology
In archaeology a typology is the result of the classification of things according to their characteristics. It is based on a view of the world familiar from Plato's metaphysics called essentialism. Essentialism is the idea that world is divided into real, discontinuous and immutable ‘kinds’. This idea is the basis for most typological constructions, particularly of stone artefacts where essential forms are often thought of as ‘mental templates’, or combinations of traits that are favoured by the maker. Variation in artefact form and attributes is seen as a consequence of the imperfect realization of the template, and is usually attributed to differences in raw material properties or individuals' technical competences.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries archaeological typologies were usually constructed using a combination of empirical observation and intuition. With the development of statistical techniques and numerical taxonomy in the 1960s, mathematical methods (including Cluster analysis, Principal components analysis, correspondence analysis and Factor analysis) have been used to build typologies. During the 1990s archaeologists began to use phylogenetic methods borrowed from Cladistics.
In the middle of the twentieth century, German photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher raised typology to an art form by photographing countless similar architectural features including water towers, workers' houses and industrial landscapes. They documented their work in books.
[edit] References
- Dunnell, R.C. (1986) Methodological issues in Americanist artifact classification. In M.B. Schiffer (ed.) Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory. Pp.35-99. New York: Academic Press.
- Hill, J.N. and R.K. Evans (1972) A model for classification and typology. In D.L. Clarke (ed.) Models in Archaeology. Pp.231-274. London: Methuen.
- Whallon, R. and J.A.Brown (eds) (1982) Essays on Archaeological Typology. Evanston: Center for American Archaeology Press.
