Dating and Cultural Processes: Interpretative Potential and Scientificity

Abstract

Since the beginning of archaeology as a discipline, the control of time, or in other words the placement of specific phenomena in a certain time frame has represented the basis of all research. Despite criticism of the concept of time in archaeology as limitedand linear, it is still prevalent. Absolute dating methods, as they are becoming more precise and available, are being widely used to thepoint that, no matter the subject matter, there are practically no scholarly articles that do not present in detail the results of dating multiplesets of samples. Simultaneously, methods of relative dating are not losing significance, so typology still represent the mainmethodological procedure with which archaeological finds are culturally and chronologically identified. On the other hand, however,scientific questions of the past are becoming more complicated. Numerous processes (which can either be long-lasting or relatively short episodes) are inextricably linked with dating, but it is not always clear how it contributes to the complete understanding of saidprocesses. This is where processes of technological innovation and of cultural transmission, which, in addition to temporally, can be spatially limited, come to light. This is why it is important to question the nearlyuniversally received stance, according to which dating methods have interpretative potential and, relating to that, whether they are always crucial for understanding the mechanisms of cul- tural processes. In other words, do the results of dating represent an illusion of scientificity as a substitute for weakness in interpretation.