Cognitive-processual archaeology

SUMMARY: Chapter 12, in Renfrew & Bahn's textbook (Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice), covers early explanations using migrations and diffusion to explain change, and more recent approaches and explanations such as processual archaeology, Marxist archaeology, and evolutionary archaeology, providing explanations for change (e.g., monocausal versus multivariate explanations), post-processual approaches (interpretive explanations), cognitive archaeology, agency, and other attempts to explain change in the past.  In my view, this is one of the best college textbooks available, and is invaluable for students, archaeologists, and the public in general, to obtain a top notch overview of approaching and interpreting the archaeological record. UPDATED April 2021: Various edits.

Récemment, l'archéologie sous-marine, de par sa forme unique de patrimoine culturel, a considérablement évolué, de telle sorte qu’elle en vient désormais à saisir des intérêts tangibles au-delà de ses disciplines très spécialisées. À mesure de sa maturation méthodologique et technologique, nous constatons que le domaine s’est de plus en plus caractérisé à travers les préoccupations juridiques et éthiques croissantes que soulève la protection de son patrimoine immergé. Le présent guide a pour but de familiariser l'archéologue terrestre à ce domaine académique pionnier, quelques fois encore empreint d’ésotérisme. Pour ce faire, notre étude dresse un aperçu des menaces, des mesures d'urgence, ainsi que de l'un de ses adages les plus prometteurs pour l'Archéologie au sens large : celui de ses modèles interprétatifs, comme le « Paysage culturel maritime » de C. Westerdahl.

It is only recently that Underwater Archaeology and its unique form of cultural heritage has grown to encompass more tangible interests from outside its very specialized disciplines. With the long time coming of its methodological and technological maturation, the field has been increasingly characterized by the growing legal and ethical concerns raised by the protection of its heritage. This introductory guide aims to familiarize the land-based archaeologist to this budding, if not still somewhat esoteric academic domain. In doing so, the discourse of this study seeks to grant some insight as to the threats, contingency measures, as well as some of its most promising adage for Archaeology as a whole: that of its interpretative models, such as C. Westerdahl’s “Maritime Cultural Landscape”.

The Central Cattle Pattern (CCP) is the dominant model to interpret
the Iron Age of southern Africa. Protagonists of theCCPargue that the
model can be traced back to the Early Iron Age, when the first farmers
settled in the region. In this paper, I suggest that the spatial features of
the CCP are not diagnostic, and not restricted to patrilineal, Eastern
Bantu-language speakers. The spatial features addressed include hut
shape and village layout, centrally positioned livestock kraals, storage
pits and burial data. The spatial features of the CCP, when applied to
Early and Middle Iron Age sites, are inappropriate and mimicked by
other cultures.