An Introduction to Failure in the Archaeological Record

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Failure" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeological theory has engaged little with failures, at least at certain scales. In this introduction, we attempt to lay out issues with the anthropological definition of failure while also drawing attention to issues of scale. While archaeologists readily identify “Big F” failures, such as social collapse and site abandonment, they less frequently consider “small f” failures (mistakes and blunders) that plague the everyday. How can we reinsert failure into “trowel’s edge” interpretations? Not doing so, we argue, has serious consequences for appreciating the humanity of past peoples.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Archaeology of Failure   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39185.0