This
is the third of three posts on my view of a “scientific archaeology.” The first
two were, “Science, social science, and archaeology: Where do we stand?”, and “Why is itimportant to strive for a more scientific archaeology?”
I
will give four reasons why a scientific archaeology is hard to achieve:
1.
The new archaeologists picked the wrong model of explanation, and we are still
paying for their mistake
2.
Confusion about “archaeological science” and “scientific archaeology”
3.
Ignorance of the social sciences
4.
A widespread commitment to abstract and philosophical social theory
Reason
1: The new archaeologists picked the
wrong model of explanation, and we are still paying for their mistake
Lewis
Binford and the New Archaeologists latched onto the covering law model of
explanation, as promoted by Carl Hempel and the other logical positivists. This
is a very restrictive model that does not work in the social sciences.
Explanation consists of subsuming a particular case under a general or
universal law. But the new archaeologists could not identify any general laws
that would help, other than trivialities famously labeled “Mickey Mouse laws”
by Kent Flannery. Philosophers of science had already shown the limitations of
covering laws for the social sciences, even before the new archaeologists
started promoting Hempel. A philosopher of science pointed this out in an
archaeology journal (Morgan 1973). The
archaeologists replied that Morgan was not an archaeologist and didn’t
understand archaeology, and so his critique did not count (Watson et al. 1974)!
A
number of archaeologists were highly critical of the covering law approach (Flannery 1973; Sabloff et al. 1973), but they
did not have a viable alternative model of explanation. For a while it seemed
that systems theory might fill the gap. When I was in graduate school in the
late 1970s, systems theory was the cool new thing, and I even published a paper
with boxes and arrows (Smith 1983). I
published it in Mexico, in Spanish, figuring I could help spread the word on
systems theory. Later, I was slightly embarrassed about the paper, glad it was published
in an obscure journal!
Explanation
via causal mechanisms didn’t become popular until ca. 1990 (Elster 1989; Stinchcombe 1991). But it should
be obvious to anyone interested in the archaeology of social processes or in social
history that causal mechanisms provide a far more appropriate and satisfying
account of explanation than covering laws (see the quote from Charles Tilly in my prior post). This table, from Hedström (2005),
contrasts covering laws, mechanisms, and statistical explanations.
Strangely,
some archaeologists have continued until recently to argue in favor of
explanation by covering laws (Kuznar and Long
2008). But covering laws are most often encountered today either in
historical accounts of archaeology, or in works by archaeologists who want to
critique natural-science epistemologies as a basis for archaeological
argumentation (e.g., Martinón-Torres and Killick
n.d.). Get over it, folks. Covering laws are dead. They were superseded
by causal mechanisms over 30 years ago!
Reason
2: Confusion about “archaeological science” and “scientific archaeology”
Riddle:
What is called “science” but is not science?
Answer:
Creation science and “archaeological science.”
That
riddle is not entirely fair, but it does bring out an important issue in the
way the term “science” is used in archaeology. Consider two dichotomous schemes.
The first is one I have talked about several times in this blog (original discussion; see also here). I talk about Science-1 to refer to archaeology with
a scientific epistemology and Science-2
describes the use of techniques from the natural sciences, whether or
not employed within an overall scientific epistemology. I point out the irony
of using the term scientific for non- and anti-scientific archaeological
epistemologies, even if used by scholars who employ “scientific” techniques.
The
second scheme, as described by Martinón-Torres and Killick (n.d.) distinguishes “scientific archaeology”
(the use of a natural-science epistemology in archaeology) and “archaeological
science” (the use of natural-science techniques by archaeologists). These are
parallel schemes, but quite distinct in their implications. Do you see the
difference?
These
authors write from the perspective of high-level, abstract social theory. To
them, “scientific archaeology” describes the bad guys—new archaeology,
behavioral archaeology, and evolutionary archaeology—all of whom are accused of
being neo-positivists under the spell of Hempel et al. I don’t want to speak
for those three approaches, but from my perspective, the scheme of
Martinón-Torres and Killick ignores the kind of social-scientific epistemology
that I am promoting.
Their
second concept, “archaeological science,” is ironic when describing archaeometric
work by archaeologists who fail to follow a scientific epistemology. Martinón-Torres and Killick give an extended
discussion of how “archaeological science” has helped further high-level
abstract social theory in archaeology (e.g., materiality, social constructivism).
But those applications are not science; that is, they do not follow a
scientific epistemology. Perhaps the simplest “litmus test” of the scientific
status of an argument is to pose the question “How would you know if you are
wrong?” (Smith 2015); based on Haber (1999). Look at archaeological papers on
materiality or poststructuralism, and see if they pass this litmus test.
I want to be clear here. I do NOT claim that any work that invokes high-level abstract theory is unscientific by definition. It is entirely possible to use such theory within a paper that also includes lower-level empirical theory in a scientific fashion. But if the ONLY theory on the table is abstract social theory, then it is very unlikely that a scientific epistemology is being followed. I'd love to be proven wrong here, but I don't see it.
I
apologize if you are sick of reading the term “epistemology.” But I find it
necessary to navigate these waters where non-scientific arguments and research
design can be labelled scientific, and scientific approaches are omitted from descriptions of "scientific archaeology."
Reason
3: Ignorance of the social sciences
My
graduate training was quite isolationist about archaeology and other
disciplines. Classical archaeology was portrayed as silly and irrelevant. I
remember when this bubble was popped for me. Shortly after I started teaching,
at Loyola University of Chicago, I attended a workshop on survey archaeology in
the Mediterranean at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Having been socialized
that Mesoamerican survey archaeology was the best in the world, I was
flabbergasted to learn that some of the Classical archaeologists had better
methods than we used in Mesoamerica! More rigorous collections, better
calculation of surface counts and densities, and a more rigorous and intensive
approach to surface archaeology. This was not silly or irrelevant! (Alcock and Cherry 2004; Barker and Mattingly
1999-2000).
A
second component of disciplinary isolation was the message that other social
sciences were not of interest to archaeology. We were part of anthropology, the
story went, and anthropology stood alone as the light through the forest of
nonwestern and ancient cultures. Archaeology got its theory from anthropology
(remember the nonsense about archaeology not having any theory of its own, we
got it all from anthropology? Good for a laugh today). Disciplines like
sociology and political science, I was told, were irrelevant. When I started
working on comparative imperialism in the 1990s, it quickly became clear that
political scientists and comparative historians had better things to say about
empires than did anthropologists (surprise, surprise). But when my interests turned strongly to
urbanism, there was no contest. Anthropology had very little useful theory or
comparative data (with some notable exceptions, such as urban ethnography in
the developing world in the 1960s-1970s), whereas other fields were full of
extremely worthwhile material. See my paper on urban theory (Smith 2011) for examples of relevant
theoretical perspectives that are mostly non-anthropological and entirely
non-philosophical, non-abstract, and non-highlevel.
There
is no excuse in 2016 for remaining ignorant of the social sciences. To claim
that the choice offered by C.P. Snow in 1959—natural science or humanities—is
still relevant is absurd. Killick (2005:186)
does point out, in a historical discussion, that “Snow himself acknowledged
that he had overlooked the role of the social sciences as a bridge between the
humanities and the sciences.” But in his other writings (Killick 2015; Martinón-Torres and Killick n.d.), there is little
indication that he identifies social science as a “third culture” (Kagan 2009), not just something vaguely “intermediate”
between natural science and the humanities, but fully distinct from those two
approaches to knowledge. I apologize for dumping on Martinón-Torres and
Killick’s paper so much here. It is not an especially egregious example of the
problems I am discussing; its views seem pretty widespread. But it does discuss
major issues clearly and explicitly, making it easier to pinpoint some of the key
epistemological points.
If
you have any doubt about the relevance or the usefulness of the social sciences
for archaeology, see my prior posts. Check out some of the works cited in those
posts. Go read some Charles Tilly.
Reason
4: A widespread commitment to abstract and philosophical social theory
In
case you hadn’t noticed, I have a strong antipathy toward high-level, abstract
social theory (also called grand theory) in archaeology. It is not that I think there is anything
inherently wrong with this type of theory. Rather, an obsession with this
material by archaeologists has slowed progress in the development of
archaeology as a social science. Let me try to express my views here as clearly
as I can. I will describe five propositions and three conclusions.
First, there is an
epistemological hierarchy, as illustrated in the above diagram. This should not be
controversial, although some postprocessualists have argued that all theory
exists on the same level (See Smith 2011 for citations). But the overwhelming
consensus in the social sciences and in the philosophy of science is that the notion
of a hierarchy of levels of theory is useful and relevant. I review some of
this material in Smith (2011) and will
not repeat it here. The number of levels, their specific labels, etc. can vary,
but the basic idea of an epistemological hierarchy is fundamental. Here is a simlar scheme, from Alexander (1982), and included in Abend (2008).
Second, different levels
of theory are useful for different goals. The clearest expression of this
principle I am aware of is Gabriel Abend’s (2008)
paper on the meaning of “theory” in sociology. I discuss Abend’s analysis
in an earlier post. It is a brilliant paper. Abend identifies seven different
ways that sociologists use the term “theory.” He is not claiming that there are
seven types of theory that exist in the world, but that the varying definitions
and meanings of theory by scholars tend to fall into seven clusters. Each has
its uses.
Third, high-level,
abstract social theory is useful for making sense of the world. Abend’s
Theory-3 consists of statements about the meanings of social phenomena. Theses
accounts provide an “interpretation,” a “reading, or a “way of making sense.”
His Theory-5 consists of an overall perspective from which to view, and
interpret, the world. His examples include postmodern theory, poststructuralist
theory, feminist theory, critical theory, Marxist theory,
structural-functionalist theory, and rational choice theory. High-level social
theory, of Abend’s types 3 and 5, is fine for abstract thinking about the
social world on a very general, conceptual level.
Fourth, because of its
very generality and abstractness (see the diagram)—high-level social theory
cannot provide accounts of concrete, on-the-ground social events, processes, or
conditions. It cannot account for social variation on the level of individuals
and institutions. If you doubt this, check out the quotes from sociologist C.
Wright Mills and archaeologist Kevin Fisher on page 168 of Smith (2011). Check Roy Ellen’s (2010) discussion of this issue. High-level
abstract social theory cannot be proven wrong, and thus fails to conform to a
scientific epistemology.
Fifth, the kind of social
theory that DOES provide explanations of on-the-ground social events,
processes, conditions, and institutions is called “middle-range theory” (do I
need to say it? Mertonian middle-range theory, not Binfordian middle-range
theory, which is fine but is something completely different) Again, I have an extensive discussion of this
in Smith (2011), where I identify several bodies of such theory that are useful
for analyzing ancient cities. Abend includes this domain under his Theory-1 (a
general proposition about the relationship between two variables) and Theory-2
(an explanation of a particular social phenomenon). This latter is the kind of
account provided by causal mechanisms. These are the kinds of theory that are
used in conjunction with a scientific epistemology. This is what we should be
doing in archaeology.
When
I examine these five propositions in relation to the current state of theory in
archaeology, I draw three conclusions:
First, many
archaeologists seem unaware of causal mechanisms and kinds of middle-range
theory needed to generate causal explanations of social phenomena in the deep
past. This is a direct consequence of Reasons 1, 2, and 3 above.
Second, many
archaeologists apparently believe that high-level abstract social theory is the
only kind of theory that matters. Or, more precisely, it is the only kind of
theory that they write about.
Third, until there is a
more widespread recognition of the value of a scientific epistemology, of middle-range
theory, and of causal explanations, archaeology will to find it hard:
-
To
create a corpus of rigorous scientific knowledge that can be built upon and
expanded as new research is done;
-
To
develop accounts of patterns and change in the past that are acceptable to other
social scientists, and potentially contribute to general social-science
knowledge; and,
-
To
communicate to the public just what we are up to, in words that most people can
understand. The public loves archaeology. Wouldn’t it be great if they
appreciated our ideas and results as much as they do our spectacular finds? Abstract
social theory will not accomplish this.
References
Abend,
Gabriel
2008 The Meaning of
"Theory". Sociological Theory
26: 173-199.
Alcock,
Susan E. and John F. Cherry (editors)
2004 Side-by-Side Survey: Comparative Regional
Studies in the Mediterranean World. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Alexander, Jeffrey C.
1982 Theoretical Logic in Sociology, Volume 1: Positivism, Presuppositions, and Current Controversies. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Barker,
Graeme and David Mattingly (editors)
1999-2000 The Archaeology of Mediterranean Landscapes.
5 vols. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Ellen,
Roy
2010 Theories in
Anthropology and "Anthropological Theory". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 16: 387-404.
Elster,
Jon
1989 Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences.
Cambridge University Press, New York.
Flannery,
Kent V.
1973 Archaeology with a
Capital S. In Research and Theory in Current Archaeology, edited by Charles L.
Redman, pp. 47-58. Wiley, New York.
Haber,
Stephen
1999 Anything Goes:
Mexico's "New" Cultural History. Hispanic
American Historical Review 79: 309-330.
Hedström,
Peter
2005 Dissecting the Social: On the Principles of
Analytical Sociology. Cambridge University Press, New York.
Kagan,
Jerome
2009 The Three Cultures: Natural Sciences, Social
Sciences, and the Humanities in the 21st Century. Cambridge University
Press, New York.
Killick, David
2005 Is there Really a
Chasm betwen Archaeological Theory and Archaeological Science? Archaeometry 47 (1): 186-189.
2015 The awkward
adolescence of archaeological science. Journal
of Archaeological Science 56: 242-247.
Kuznar, Lawrence A. and Kenneth Long
2008 Deductive-Nomological
vs. Causal-Mechanical Explanation: Relative Strengths and Weaknesses in
Anthropological Explanation. In Against the Grain: The Vayda Tradition in
Human Ecology and Ecological Anthropology, edited by Bradley B. Walters,
Bonnie J. MacKay, Paige West, and Susan Lees, pp. 159-173. AltaMira, Lanham,
MD.
Martinón-Torres, Marcos and David Killick
n.d. Archaeological
Theories and Archaeological Sciences.
In Oxford Handbook of Archaeological
Theory, edited by Andrew Gardner, Mark Lake, and Ulrike Sommer. Oxford
University Press, New York.
Morgan, Charles G
1973 Archaeology and
Explanation. World Archaeology 4 (3):
259-276.
Sabloff, Jeremy A., Thomas W. Beale, and Anthony M. Kurland,
Jr.
1973 Supplement: Recent
Developments in Archaeology. Annals of
the American Academy of Political and Social Science 408: 103-118.
Smith, Michael E.
1983 El desarrollo económico y la expansión del
imperio Mexica: Una perspectiva sistémica. Estudios
de Cultura Náhuatl
16: 135-164.
2011 Empirical Urban
Theory for Archaeologists. Journal of
Archaeological Method and Theory 18: 167-192.
2015 How can
Archaeologists Make Better Arguments? The
SAA Archaeological Record 15 (4): 18-23.
Stinchcombe, Arthur L.
1991 The Conditios of
Fruitfulness of Theorizing About Mechanisms in Social Science. Philosophy of the Social Sciences 21:
367-388.
Watson, Patty Jo, Steven A LeBlanc, and Charles L Redman
1974 The covering law
model in archaeology: Practical uses and formal interpretations. World Archaeology 6 (2): 125-132.
