The New Archaeology Movement

With the evolution of available technologies and methodologies, some archaeologists became frustrated with the traditional ways of archaeology; they felt that the new technologies should be used to improve archaeology and the outcomes of professionals in the field. The New Archaeology was a movement that sought to contribute to the existing anthropological knowledge of human behavior by emerging as a science and separating itself from the historical approach. New archaeology did not merely incorporate scientific technology, but it also employed various scientific methods and approaches.

Lewis Binford was the most influential figure in New Archaeology; he considered that cultures were composed of “three interrelated subsystems: technology, social organization, and ideology” (Walsh 309). Because of this theory, he believed that finding physical remains that fell under a specific subsystem would help archaeologists interpret the significance of the artifact and in turn, would allow them to understand earlier civilizations. Binford was very eager to prove that archaeology was not just a mere subset of history, but that it had the potential of being a science that was just as important as anthropology. In order for archaeology to evolve, he believed that the field needed to implement a more scientific method of research.

With the guidance of Binford, New Archaeology employed scientific approaches for studying and interpreting past cultures and their remains. Traditionally, archaeologists relied on “historical explanation” to interpret the significance of artifacts; however, New Archaeology introduced the concept of implementing a scientific attitude and considering culture as a process (Renfrew and Bahn 41). Deeming culture as a pr...

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...ultures. He strongly believed that when archaeologists made conclusions or assumptions on early culture, they must provide evidence that proves their accuracy, because it was important to remain accurate and it would prove that archaeology is a serious and scientific field of study

Although certain ideas of the New Archaeology may have been useful, such as the employment of scientific technologies to assist with dating artifacts, the notion for science based archaeology was not kept. The New Archaeology, failed to take into consideration human agency and individualistic factors of different cultures. Furthermore, it assumed that cultures were processes that remained the same and were similar to other cultures. Although Binford was right in saying that archaeology is just as important as anthropology, his approach to archaeology as a science was not very effective.