Giorgio Buccellati, A Critical Theory of Excavation and Inference in Archaeology
Notes to Chapter 16. Hermeneutics

Home

General note on Chapter 16
16.1 The question of meaning
16.2 The premise of grammar
      16.2.1 Grammar and meaning
      16.2.2 Distributional and structural analysis
      16.2.3 The urgency of grammar
16.3 Semiotics within hermeneutics
      16.3.1 Mending the brokenness: semiotics for a broken tradition
      16.3.2 Distribution
      16.3.3 Linking
      16.3.4 The other side of semiotics: perceptual analysis
      16.3.5 Reconstituting perception
16.4 The possibility of meaning
      16.4.1 Presuppositions
      16.4.2 Clustering
      16.4.3 The structural trigger
      16.4.4 The hermeneutic risk
      16.4.5 Potential grammaticalization
      16.4.6 The coherence of the system
16.5 The retrieval of consciousness: cognitive archaeology
16.6 The two hermeneutics
      16.6.1 Hermeneutics as invention
      16.6.2 Hermeneutics as appropriation
      16.6.3 Hermeneutics of broken traditions
16.7 Archaeology and history
16.8 A pre-linguistic hermeneutics
      16.8.1 Para-perceptual communication
      16.8.2 The autonomy of the referent
      16.8.3 Levels of signification
16.9 Academic alignments and intellectual domains
      16.9.1 Epoché, emphathy, assent
      16.9.2 Social sciences and the humanities
      16.9.3 "Undiseased by hypotheis": the humanities and theory
      16.9.4 Culture and experience: mediation of patterns and immediacy of fruition


General note on Chapter 16

  1. The topics developed in this chapter were the subject of an intensive research project held at the Catholic University of Milan in 2014-15.
 Back to top

16.1 The question of meaning

  1. Dilthey: see Rodi 1998 Strukturzusammenhang
  2. Clifford Brown 2010 "Metaarchaeology"
  3. Cf. Schiffer & Skibo 2008. [August 2016]
  4. Hermeneutics: Hodder et al. 1995. [July 2016]
 Back to top

16.2 The premise of grammar

 Back to top
16.2.1 Grammar and meaning
  1. Dilthey: see Rodi 1998
  2. Critical archaeology see: Potter 1992
  3. European prehistory see: Bogucki 1985
  4. Morphology see: Propp 1958
  5. An interesting study by Anawalt 1996 "Aztec Capes" correlates a study of formal patterns with the explicit codification given by early outside observers.
 Back to top
16.2.2 Distributional and structural analysis
  1. How to derive interpretations from analogical inference Wylie 1995
  2. Read & LeBlanc 1978 analysis on site pattern, distribution of population (see appendix).
  3. Bogucki 1985 Settlement pattern as an efficent tool of distributional analysis. - [Esmeralda Agolli, October 2014]
 Back to top
16.2.3 The urgency of grammar
 Back to top

16.3 Semiotics within hermeneutics

 Back to top
16.3.1 Mending the brokenness: semiotics for a broken tradition
  1. Sagan 1978 Murmurs, anticipating the brokenness, reaches out to potential extraterrestrial beings.
  2. See Areshian 2003, 2006; Matejka & Titunik 1977; Preucel 2006. - [Laerke Recht, July 2016]
 Back to top
16.3.2 Distribution
  1. I have dealt with the question of Akkadian metrics, and with the methodological issues pertaining to the recovery of hidden systems of signification such as this, in Buccellati 1990 ("On Poetry") and 2000 ("Gilgamesh").
  2. A study on the relation between vessel shape and taste: Arakawa et al. 2015; cf. Piqueras-Fiszman & Spence 2012. - [Laerke Recht, July 2016]
 Back to top
16.3.3 Linking
  1. Cf. Preziosi 1979. [August 2013]
 Back to top
16.3.4 The other side of semiotics: perceptual analysis
  1. On opticality see Whitney Davis 2000 "Site" p. 111
  2. See David Seamon (EL-G) or "environmental and architectural pehnomenology" and for "humanistic geography"
  3. Sensory archaeology, see McMahon 2013; Thomason 2016. [August 2013]
 Back to top
16.3.5 Reconstituting perception
 Back to top

16.4 The possibility of meaning

 Back to top
16.4.1 Presuppositions
  1. On the concept of agency, see Dobres & Robb 2005; Gardner 2008. - [Laerke Recht, July 2016]
  2. On the concept of materiality, see Meskell 2005. - [Laerke Recht, August 2016]
 Back to top
16.4.2 Clustering
  1. On Hurrian ethnicity at Urkesh, see e.g. Buccellati 2010 and Buccellati 2013 - [Laerke Recht, March 2016]
  2. Ethnicity: Bahrani 2006. - [July 2016]
 Back to top
16.4.3 The structural trigger
  1. Panofsky 1955 Meaning
  2. Holly 1984 Panofsky; Holly 1996.
 Back to top
16.4.4 The hermeneutic risk
 Back to top
16.4.5 Potential grammaticalization
 Back to top
16.4.6 The coherence of the system
 Back to top

16.5 The retrieval of consciousness: cognitive archaeology

  1. Childe 1946 It brings together the culture historical approach (without diffusion) and the socio-cultural evolutionarists
  2. Renfrew 1980 The Great Tradition and the Great Divide
  3. Flannery 1982 A Parable of the Archaeology of the 1980's
  4. Renfrew 1994 "Cognitive Archaeology"
  5. Binford 2001 How to create the research query, the importance of the subject matter
  6. Renfrew 2012 Cognitive Archaeology
  7. Semiotics and cognitive archaeology: Overmann 2016; Preucel 2006; Renfrew & Zubrow 1994. [Laerke Recht, August 2016]
 Back to top

16.6 The two hermeneutics

  1. On the limits of scientific analysis and method, as outlined by Gadamer, see Marassi 1998 Gadamer.
  2. Vidal 1990 Herméneutiques des symboles
  3. On a fourfold hermeneutics, see Shanks & Tilley 1992, pp. 107f. [August 2016]
 Back to top
16.6.1 Hermeneutics as invention
  1. On the notion of "invention" see Golden and Toohey 1997 Inventing; Buccellati 2013 Alle origini and Buccellati 2013 "Conquista".
  2. On mimesis see Auerbach 1946 Mimesis; Loprieno 1988 Mimesis; Bahrani 2003 Graven Image.
  3. On tradition referentiality see Foley 1991 Immanent Art
  4. For the first hermeneutics see empathy.
 Back to top
16.6.2 Hermeneutics as appropriation
  1. see 16.3
  2. "Die naive Unschuld ist verloregegangen, mit der man die Begriffe der Tradition den eigenen Gedanken dienstbar machte" Gadamer 1986 GW 1, p. 4; Clarke 1968 Analytical; Clarke 1973 "Loss."
  3. refer to Gadamer about "breakage" and several other metaphors, referring to what has happened in the past (but without clearly facing the problem of a totally broken tradition
  4. Settis Futuro: breakage and epigonic
  5. On the "Great Divide" in archaeological thought, see Renfrew 1980 - [Laerke Recht, March 2016]
  6. Foucault: Webb 2013 - [August 2016]
 Back to top
16.6.3 Hermeneutics of broken traditions
  1. On "distance" (and the various pertinent terms) see Gadamer 1986 Wahrheit
  2. Sagan 1978 Murmurs, with a selection of a specific "canon," proposes an intentional "first hermeneutics" to potential extraterrestrial analysts of terrestrial culture.
  3. On tradition, see e.g. Eggert 2001. [July 2016]
 Back to top

16.7 Archaeology and history

  1. For a discussion on the nature of history and its relationship with archaeology, see Bloch and the theme history.
  2. Cf. Eggert 2001; Hodder et al. 1995; Shanks & Tilley 1992; Tilley 1990b. [July 2016]
 Back to top

16.8 A pre-linguistic hermeneutics

 Back to top
16.8.1 Para-perceptual communication
 Back to top
16.8.2 The autonomy of the referent
  1. Schleiermacher
  2. Gadamer WuM p. 612: "Nicht nur gelegentlich, sondern immer übertrifft der Sinn eines Textes seinen Autor. Daher ist Verstehen kein nur reproduktives, sondern stets auch ein produktives Verhalten"
  3. Hermeneutic claim: Gadamer 1986, p.612. [July 2016]
 Back to top
16.8.3 Levels of signification
  1. A striking visual example of the potential symbolic valence of a tool is the famous match cut in the initial scene of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, where a primitive man, pondering over a bone, throws it in the air realizing its effectiveness. Here the tool emerges as a symbol of the newly found ability to extend muscular power in the extra-somatic dimension.
 Back to top

16.9 Academic alignments and intellectual domains

 Back to top
16.9.1 Epoché, emphathy, assent
  1. Epoché in ancient Greek philosophy: Brittain 2008. - [[Laerke Recht, July 2016]
  2. Beginning of phenomenology: Husserl 1913. - [[Laerke Recht, July 2016]
  3. Empathy: Stein 1989; Stueber 2014. - [[Laerke Recht, August 2016]
 Back to top
16.9.2 Social sciences and the humanities
  1. On agency see Hegmon and Kulow 2005 "Painting".
  2. Anthropology and classics, Hodder 1982 - [July 2016]
 Back to top
16.9.3 "Undiseased by hypotheis": the humanities and theory
 Back to top
16.9.4 Culture and experience: mediation of patterns and immediacy of fruition
  1. On response as experience see Hegmon et al. 2014 "Human Experience."
 Back to top