Archäologie und Ethnologie: Welche gemeinsamen Grundlagen?

Abstract

Anthropology and archaeology have much more in common than might be expected from a rapid look at current research and teaching practices. In particular, they share common foundations in the concept of culture, stemming from the first half of the 19th century. At that time, and in contrast to the usage of the notion in later times, culture was predominantly thought of as a universal: all humans are characterized by the fact of having culture. Only after 1850 was the idea of distinctiveness through cultures promoted by the idea, among others, of the evolution of societies. After 1850 systematic empirical methods were established in both anthropology and archaeology, and the concept of culture as a container was thereby operationalized. Cultures were thought of as distinctive and autonomous units that should be investigated separately. However, with the emergence of globalization, the concept of culture has changed again. Connections between cultures and societies have been pushed into the foreground of research. It is not by accident that both archaeology and anthropology have experienced a real boom during these years. Their roots give them reason to claim to be experts in worldwide and universal connections as well as in the diversity of cultures. The current challenge is whether both disciplines will find a way to make the shared potential explicit and design new research paradigms with reference to it.