Supporting Argument 2

Abstract

Of all the fields to be reviewed, archaeology comes closest to my topic. Much of the more recent work reads almost like EBS (e.g., Binford 1981; Hodder 1982a; Kent 1984). This is because it is essentially history but by the nature of the evidence approaches it through material culture. In most cases, particularly in prehistory, material culture is all it can study. Thus, although it shares with history a concern with the past, chronology, and change, it is inevitably preoccupied with material culture (Hodder 1982b). In fact, of all the social sciences other than EBS it is the most sensitive to the important role of material culture in human behavior. It has also been described both as a bridge between the arts and sciences and as seeking knowledge in both humanistic and scientific ways.