History and Theory of Archaeology

The course discusses the history of archaeological scientific thinking and practices (from Antiquity till modern times) and fundamental epistemological questions of archaeological discipline (the object of archaeology, basic tools and their cognitive scope, archaeological practices in concrete sociohistorical contexts, contemporary conceptual apparatus). The subject is composed of three parts:
a) the history of discipline (the emergence of historical thinking in Antiquity and archaeological elements within it; mediaeval idea of history; collecting antiquities in the renaissance and the age of enlightenment as a practice and basis of knowledge about objects from the past, three-age system and typological and chronological tools; Cultural-historical paradigm; processual archaeology; post-processual and postmodern archaeology);
b) development and use of basic conceptual tools (material culture, chronology, typology, culture in archaeological interpretation, social systems, structures and changes),
c) key cultural-anthropological concepts in archaeology (theory of culture, theory of exchange, theory of kinship).