Artefact Categories, Artefact Assemblages and Ontological Alterity

Abstract

Joan Gero argued that archaeological interpretation is not the accumulation of truth but rather an ideological construct. Post-colonial studies building on Gero's work critique notions of universal value, that aspects of human cultural heritage hold value for all peoples. However, these studies are not specific about what a post-colonial analysis of the archaeological record might look like, particularly involving material culture categories. What appear as fundamental artefact classes remain and so appeal to a form of universal value. Here we employ a novel application of the ontological turn, specifically Holbraad's method of ontography, to break away from conventional approaches to stone artefact categorization and interpretation. We use Lucas’ discussion of materialization to develop an alternative approach to artefact categories considering two assemblages of artefacts from the North Island of Aotearoa. Both feature large numbers of obsidian artefacts. The obsidian provides the means to investigate levels of historical use, since the material is identifiable to geological source, analysable technologically and retains traces of use. Using the results of obsidian analyses, we investigate the concepts on which archaeologists have based assessments of the relationships among material culture items, suggesting ways in which archaeologists might consider creating space for post-colonial ontologies.