Modern Disturbances: On the Ambiguities of Archaeology

This paper discusses the relationship between modernity and archaeology from two directions. The first half examines the historical development of archaeology in relation to the concept of prehistory where prehistory is viewed not as a chronological period but an ontological condition, defined by a dialectical tension between discourse and materiality. The second half explores this dialectic through archaeological approaches to the modern world, especially the present, and argues for a greater need to frame archaeological practice as cultural performance. In particular, it is suggested that archaeology be viewed as an engagement with the unconstituted present, where historicity is affirmed as an act of cultural production which should be socially situated at all levels of practice.