Typology (archaeology)

In archaeology a typology is the result of the classification of things according to their characteristics. The products of the classification, i.e. the classes are also called types. Most archaeological typologies organize artifacts into types, but typologies of houses or roads belonging to a certain culture may be set up as well. A typology helps to manage a large mass of archaeological data. According to Doran and Hodson (1975, p. 158) [Doran, J.E. and Hodson, F.R. (1975). "Mathematics and Computers in Archaeology". Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-85224-250-6.] , "this superficially straightforward task has proved one of the most time consuming and contentious aspects of archaeological research".

Philosophical background

Typology is based on a view of the world familiar from Plato's metaphysics called essentialism. Essentialism is the idea that world is divided into real, discontinuous and immutable ‘kinds’. This idea is the basis for most typological constructions, particularly of stone artefacts where essential forms are often thought of as ‘mental templates’, or combinations of traits that are favoured by the maker. Variation in artifact form and attributes is seen as a consequence of the imperfect realization of the template, and is usually attributed to differences in raw material properties or individuals' technical competences.

History

In the 19th and early 20th centuries archaeological typologies were usually constructed using a combination of empirical observation and intuition. According to Eggers [Eggers, Hans-Jürgen (1986). "Einführung in die Vorgeschichte". München: Piper Verlag, pp.88-95. ISBN 3-492-00393-1] , most archaeologists give Oscar Montelius the credit for the first application of the typological method, but in Eggers' view, his contemporary colleague from Stockholm, Hans Hildebrand made important contributions to the development of the methodology as well. Hildebrand published a fundamental paper on the development of fibulae in the 1870s using the typological method, whereas Montelius at the same time went to international congresses and published smaller papers on this method. Another early example is the typology published in 1899 by Flinders Petrie for the objects (mainly pottery) found in 900 prehistoric Egyptian graves [Kendall, D.G. (1971). "Seriation from abundance matrices". In "Mathematics in the Archaeological and Historical Sciences". Edited by F. R. Hodson, D. G. Kendall, and P. Tautu, pp. 215-252. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-85224-213-1.] . This typology formed the basis for his manual seriation of the graves.

tatistical methods for creating a typology

With the development of statistical techniques and numerical taxonomy in the 1960s, mathematical methods (including Cluster analysis, Principal components analysis, correspondence analysis and Factor analysis) have been used to build typologies. During the 1990s archaeologists began to use phylogenetic methods borrowed from Cladistics.

Non-archaeological typology as an art form

In the middle of the twentieth century, German photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/026202277X Bernd and Hilla Becher, "Water Towers", The MIT Press, 1988] ] raised typology to an art form by photographing countless similar architectural features including water towers, workers' houses and industrial landscapes. They documented their work in books.

Notes

References

*Dunnell, R.C. (1986) Methodological issues in Americanist artifact classification. In M.B. Schiffer (ed.) "Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory". Pp.35-99. New York: Academic Press.

*Hill, J.N. and R.K. Evans (1972) A model for classification and typology. In D.L. Clarke (ed.) "Models in Archaeology." Pp.231-274. London: Methuen.

*Whallon, R. and J.A.Brown (eds) (1982) "Essays on Archaeological Typology." Evanston: Center for American Archaeology Press.

ee also

*Taxonomy
*Seriation (archaeology)
*Lithic analysis