Excavating Postprocessually – A Theoretical Utopia or a Practical Reality?

A Discussion of Barrows in Skärstad, Småland

Abstract

From two points of departure, a postgraduate seminar and the excavation of a barrow in Skärstad, Skärstad parish in northern Småland, the author asks whether it is possible to excavate an ancient monument in a postprocessual way and if theoretical changes affect the methods used in excavations. These questions are studied through the history of research done on Swedish barrows from the Late Iron Age. The terms processual and postprocessual archaeology are discussed for the latest research done on barrows. These terms are then viewed in connection with the more universal terms modernism and postmodernism. These terms and what they stand for may be crucial for the way the ancient monuments are apprehended. The questions one asks about the monuments, the way one understands the world and how one thinks it is possible to gain knowledge about it, are of great importance for the methods one actually follows in the field situation. The author comes to the conclusion that the postprocessual theories are already being practised at archaeological excavations and are not confined only to the study chambers at the universities.