Rock Art Research
ARCHAIC MODERNITY VS THE HIGH PRIESTHOOD: ON THE NATURE OF UNSTABLE ARCHAEOLOGICAL/ PALAEOANTHROPOLOGICAL ORTHODOXIES
(1)
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Criminology, University of Northern Iowa, United States
Abstract
In this article, the author presents a dialogue regarding various aspects of ‘modernity’ as it is conventionally expressed in the archaeological and palaeoanthropological literature. The structure of the Africanist model of ‘behavioural modernity’ is used to illustrate some very troubling aspects of American academics: the construction and use of temporary ‘unstable orthodoxies’ as means of economic niche construction by the same professionals who also function to police much of archaeological and palaeoanthropological publishing, hiring and grant-reviewing.