THE HUXLEY MEMORIAL LECTURE 2009

will be given by

Professor Ian Hodder, Dunlevie Family Professor of Anthropology, Stanford University

Human - Thing Entanglement: Towards an Integrated Archaeological Perspective

Monday 2 November 2009 at 5.45 pm in the Stevenson Theatre, Clore Education Centre, the British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG

All welcome. Admission free without ticket. Refreshments afterwards.

Enquiries to: RAI, 50 Fitzroy St, London W1T 5 BT; tel 020 7387 0455; email admin@therai.org.uk

Abstract:

Over recent decades archaeology has experienced growth and fragmentation of theoretical perspective. This paper argues the potential for a synthetic approach centered on human-thing entanglement. The key components include human-thing co-dependence, human entrapment in relation to things, fittingness (different from fitness), and directional evolutionary (non-biological) change. The key ideas in this perspective derive as much from behavioural and materials analysis as from interpretive archaeology and theories of materiality. The approach is illustrated with studies of the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey.