New Archaeology

A movement which began in America in the 1960s, aimed at making archaeology more scientific, now more often called processual archaeology. It was suggested that explanations be based on carefully designed models of human behavior and emphasized the importance of understanding underlying cultural processes. This new approach was controversial and is commonly associated with Lewis R. Binford and his students. Binford's "New Perspectives in Archaeology" in 1968 stressed the following ideas: the use of new techniques such as the computer for statistical and matrix analyses of data and concept of the ecosystem for the understanding of the economic and subsistence bases of prehistoric societies; an evolutionary view of culture; the use of models of cultures viewed as systems incorporating the evolutionary view of culture and a close relationship between archaeology and anthropology. Although the proponents of the new archaeology have been criticized by more traditionally minded scholars their basic principles are now widely accepted.

The name sometimes given to the innovations in archaeology associated especially with the names of Lewis Binford in the USA and David Clarke in the UK and introduced from the late 1960s onwards. The premises of the New Archaeology are the need for both an explicit theory and a rigorous methodology, involving the principles of the scientific method (especially hypothesis testing). Although the proponents of the New Archaeology have been criticized by more traditionally minded scholars for dehumanizing archaeology and their use of ‘jargon’, they have had wide influence and the basic principles they outlined are now widely accepted.