To The Discussion of Archaeological Texts

The interpretation of archaeological artifacts is a complex procedure aimed at deter­mining the value of an object or an image that can become possible only if a combination of a number of disciplines related to archaeology is used. The described process is aimed at receiving a historical source. For this reason history can be considered both as the “order­ing party” for this procedure and the “sponsor” of this special interest in the archaeological artifact. However quite a noticeable decline (if not a complete disappearance) of some of its spheres, such as, for example, primitive history and culture attests to the existence of hid­den problems not only in science in general but also between different closely related fields of knowledge. If a tool artifact usually draws enough attention to it among the archaeo­logical community, then a “non utilitarian” artifact is pushed beyond its methodological limits and faces the necessity to find an acceptable subject area for it to be researched. In the author’s opinion, culturology presents an optimal zone for such a study. Its phenomenal convenience for this purpose stems from the fact that it is capable of playing the role of an intermediary between archaeology and history, giving a notional space to both disciplines consisting of their key categories, represented by the culture and text.

Keywords: artifact interpretation, methodological limits of archaeological interpreta­tion, the textual nature of an artifact, the relationship between the notions of “artifact” and “text”, culturological discourse as the basis for interpretation practice.

To The Discussion of Archaeological Texts