A Critique of Archaeological Reason

Giorgio Buccellati is Research Professor at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Professor Emeritus at the Departments of Near Eastern Languages and of History, UCLA, and Director of the Mesopotamian Lab, UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and The International Institute for Mesopotamian Area Studies, California. His intensive field work has included being Co-Director of the excavations at Korucutepe in Turkey, Director of the excavations at Terqa in Syria, and Co-Director of the excavations at Urkesh in Syria.

• 1. Introduction; Part I. Fundamentals: 2. Archaeology and grammar; 3. Categorization; 4. The search for objectivity; Part II. Analysis: 5. Stratigraphic analysis; 6. Typological analysis; 7. Integrative analysis; Part III. The Reassembled Construct: 8. The invention of a site; 9. The physical record; 10. The referential record; Part IV. The Privileged Venue: 11. Digital thought; 12. Digital text; 13. The archaeological record; Part V. The Wider Frame: 14. The relevance of structure; 15. The critical approach; 16. Hermeneutics; 17. Conclusion.

Winner, 2021 Balzan Prize for Art and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, International Balzan Prize Foundation