La arqueología como ciencia del espíritu: Relaciones entre la arqueología, la hermenéutica filosófica y las consecuencias prácticas de las interpretaciones

Abstract

In this paper I relate Philosophical Hermeneutics, particularly Heidegger and Gadamer's version with Hodder's Contextual Archaeology in its initial phase and in his latest work. The goal is to consider the adjustment between both, and the degree to which Contextual Archaeology takes the proposals of Philosophical Hermeneutics. In its first stage, I argue that Hodder's project takes several key elements from Hermeneutics, although he pretends to retain a degree of objectivity in interpretations. This doesn't fit with the Hermeneutics theoretical-methodological framework. In a second stage, Hodder moves away from this project to a more symmetrical stance that produces a "concealment" of the interpreter. In the final section, I evaluate both Hodder's proposals regarding their practical consequences in the present, and finally I argue that Hermeneutics is a useful method to achieve a Relational Archaeology that mitigates epistemic violence including a dialog between other epistemes in past interpretations.