Network Epistemologies in Archaeology

Abstract

Abstract In this chapter we argue that network approaches can bridge the divergent epistemologies through which relations are addressed in the discipline of archaeology. We identify three poles of divergence: explanation (Erklären) vs. understanding (Verstehen); formalism vs. relationalism; and big (fast) vs. small (slow) data. Each of these can be linked with perspectives in archaeology that can be loosely understood as processual and post-processual respectively. We suggest that network approaches, although associated by some scholars with the former set of “values” (i.e. explanation, formalism, big/fast data, and processualism) can effectively occupy a more intermediate epistemological ground. The potential for this bridging role is being demonstrated in a series of recent studies that engage with both more formal network ideas and more relational ones drawn from sources such as entanglement or assemblage theory. Notwithstanding the considerable epistemological divide that is still apparent in divergent archaeological perspectives on relations, we conclude that network thinking in our discipline has started to do some significant bridge-building to narrow the gap.