How did our current society come into being and how is it similar to as well as different from its predecessors? These key questions have transfixed archaeologists, anthropologists and historians for decades and strike at the very heart of intellectual debate across a wide range of disciplines. Yet scant attention has been given to the key thinkers and theoretical traditions that have shaped these debates and the conclusions to which they have given rise. This pioneering book explores the profound influence of one such thinker - Karl Marx - on the course of twentieth-century archaeology. Patterson reveals how Australian archaeologist V. Gordon Childe in the late 1920s was the first to synthesize discourses from archaeologists, sociologists, and Marxists to produce a corpus of provocative ideas. He analyzes how these ideas were received and rejected, and moves on to consider such important developments as the emergence of a new archaeology in the 1960s and an explicitly Marxist strand of archaeology in the 1970s. Specific attention is given to the discussion arenas of the 1990s, where archaeologists of differing theoretical perspectives debated issues of historic specificity, social transformation, and inter-regional interaction. How did the debates in the 1990s pave the way for historical archaeologists to investigate the interconnections of class, gender, ethnicity, and race? In what ways did archaeologists make use of Marxist concepts such as contradiction and exploitation, and how did they apply Marxist analytical categories to their work? How did varying theoretical groups critique one another and how did they overturn or build upon past generational theories?Marxs Ghost: Conversations with Archaeologists provides an accessible guide to the theoretical arguments that have influenced the development of Anglophone archaeology from the 1930s onwards. It will prove to be indispensable for archaeologists, historians, anthropologists, and social and cultural theor

Also available in hardback, 9781859737019 GBP50.00 (September, 2003)

About the Author
Thomas C. Patterson Professor and Chair of Anthropology,University of California at Riverside

Reviews
'Marx's Ghost successfully explains Marx's varied influences in the arcaeology of the formation of class and state structures...It is direct, clear and readily accessible to undergraduate audiences.'Anthropological Forum'As Marx might say: this book should change the field.'Mark P. Leone, University of Maryland'This is a wonderfully important work. Patterson's idea of wrapping the history of archaeological theory in the skeins of Marx's ideas can be seen at work in their trenches.'Carole Crumley, University of North Carolina'Patterson resurrects the lingering presence or 'ghost' of Karl Marx in archaeological discussions over the last 50 years or so Patterson's sensible overview can be profitably read by advanced undergraduates, graduate students and professional archaeologists alike.'Philip L. Kohl, Wellesley College'An important book on the many ways that archaeologists have been affected by the writings of Marx. Archaeologists are charged with developin



Book Information
ISBN 9781859737064
Author Thomas C. Patterson
Format Paperback
Page Count 220
Imprint Berg Publishers
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 408g