Time, Culture and Identity: An Interpretive Archaeology

Annotation. This groundbreaking work considers one of the central themes of archaeology--time, which until recently has been rarely discussed. It considers how time is used and perceived by archaeology and also how time influences the construction of identities. The book presents case studies, for example, the transition from hunter gathering to farming in the early Neolithic period, to examine temporality and identity.

Drawing upon the work of Martin Heidegger, Thomas develops a way of writing about the past in which time is seen as central to the emergence of the identities of peoples and things. He questions the modern western distinction between nature and culture, mind and body, object and subject, and argues that in some senses the temporal structure of human beings, artifacts and places are similar.