The dark abyss of time : archaeology and memory / Laurent Olivier ; translated by Arthur Greenspan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Olivier, Laurent, 1958-

Series:

Archaeology in society series

Standardized Title:

Sombre abîme du temps. English

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Archaeology and history.

Archaeology--Philosophy.

Archaeology.

Memory.

Time.

Material culture.

Cultural property.

Physical Description:

xviii, 211 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : AltaMira Press, [2011]

Summary:

The field of archaeology continues of face a major crisis of interpretation. The traditional view is that the basic business of archaeology is of reconstruct the history of cultures and civilizations through their material productions. Laurent Olivier challenges this view with a new approach to archaeological remains based on the works of French theorists such as Foucault, de Certeaux, and Derrida, with insight from Darwin and Freud. His thesis is that archaeology does not study the past itself, but rather what materially remains of the past in our present. Olivier also develops an interpretation of material culture based on Aby Warburg's and Walter Benjamin's work in the anthropology of art. With wider implications for history and all social sciences, The Dark Abyss of Time is a major contribution to the theory of time, memory, heritage, and archaeology. This flawless translation makes Olivier's elegantly written work available in English for the first time. Book jacket.

Contents:

In the Beginning

When Once There Was a Once Upon a Time

Pages Written in Earth

An Archaeology of the Present

A Field of Ruins

Ragmen of the Past

Palimpsests and Memory-Objects

A Biology of Forms.

Notes:

Translated into English from the French.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780759120457

0759120455

OCLC:

744302416