Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (340 page)
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Authors: Timothy Darvill
BOOK: Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology
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interpretive archaeology
[Th].
[Th].
An approach to archaeology that builds out of
POST-PROCESSUAL
thinking as a simple reaction to
PROCESSUAL ARCHAEOLOGY
and instead sees interpretation as a creative process with a number of key characteristics: in the foreground is the person and work of the interpreter; archaeology is a material practice in the present which makes knowledge and narratives from the material traces of the past; archaeology is social practice which is to do with meanings and making sense of things; the interpretive process is an ongoing one in which there can be no final or definitive account of the past; that interpretations are less concerned with explanations than with making sense of things that were probably never certain in the first place; that interpretation is multivocal in the sense that different interpretations of the same thing are possible; and that there can be plurality of interpretation in which each strand is suited to the different purposes, needs, and desires of a different constituency.
POST-PROCESSUAL
thinking as a simple reaction to
PROCESSUAL ARCHAEOLOGY
and instead sees interpretation as a creative process with a number of key characteristics: in the foreground is the person and work of the interpreter; archaeology is a material practice in the present which makes knowledge and narratives from the material traces of the past; archaeology is social practice which is to do with meanings and making sense of things; the interpretive process is an ongoing one in which there can be no final or definitive account of the past; that interpretations are less concerned with explanations than with making sense of things that were probably never certain in the first place; that interpretation is multivocal in the sense that different interpretations of the same thing are possible; and that there can be plurality of interpretation in which each strand is suited to the different purposes, needs, and desires of a different constituency.
interrupted ditch enclosure
[MC].
[MC].
interstadial
[Ge].
[Ge].
A short warmer and milder interlude within a glacial phase of insufficient duration to allow major changes in sea level or vegetation patterns. Compare
INTERGLACIAL
.
INTERGLACIAL
.
intervallum
[Co].
[Co].
A Latin term used to describe a space between the rear of the rampart and the
VIA SAGULARIS
. More generally, it is the space between a rampart of a fort or camp and the building-lines or tent-lines within.
VIA SAGULARIS
. More generally, it is the space between a rampart of a fort or camp and the building-lines or tent-lines within.
intrados
[De].
[De].
The interior curve of an arch.
intramural
[De].
[De].
Located within the confines of a settlement; outside such a site is
extramural
.
extramural
.
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