Artur Ribeiro
Biographic Data
| ID | 3584627 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Artur Ribeiro |
| GIVEN NAMES | Artur |
| FAMILY NAME | Ribeiro |
| SIGNATURE | RIBEIRO A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5608-4336 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 94 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 22 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Archaeologies of the Future or the Future of Archaeology
In recent decades, archaeology and heritage studies have included an increasing focus on the future, revealing an underlying anxiety in relation to major societal challenges. Although this discourse regards the future as a later temporal stage, the future is often conceived in terms of present imaginaries – i.e., the future as emerging in the present. The aim of this paper is to look at these imaginaries more critically. Whether they are utopian,…
The Writing of Archaeological Theory
Throughout the years there have been complaints that theory is written in a very complicated manner, relying on obscure terms and metaphors, leading the more practical archaeologists to the perception that theorists are privileged and pretentious. There is some truth to these complaints – archaeological theory could indeed be considerably simpler and more accessible. The aim of this paper is to explain what factors have influenced theorists to wr…
On Traces, Clues, and Fiction
In recent years, archaeological research has relied on large datasets, both temporally and geographically, with some archaeologists discussing that there should be a shift towards a more scientific form of conducting archaeological research called “macroarchaeology.” Ironically, and contradictorily, this shift towards large-scale research has involved the use of inductive approaches, which means that archaeological material needs to be converted …
On Class and Elitism in Archaeology
While archaeology is certainly a politically conscious discipline, with various members involved in political and activist movements, especially focusing on gender and race issues, little has been said, discussed, or done with regards to class and elitism. In fact, it seems that since the advent of postmodernity in the 1970s, class and elitism have become moot topics. The aim of this article is to reflect upon class-based discrimination and eliti…
Postmodernity
The term ‘postmodernism’ was evoked in the past to describe certain changes in archaeological practice and theory, in particular, certain ideas circulating in the postprocessual archaeology of the 1980s and 1990s. However, most of the ideas concerning postmodernism during this period focused primarily on knowledge claims and relied mainly on ideas from poststructuralism. These ideas discussed the validity of metanarratives, the past as a text to …
A conversation with Koji Mizoguchi. On globalization, Japanese archaeology and archaeological theory today
On the occasion of a short research trip to Japan, I had the opportunity to sit down with Professor Koji Mizoguchi in Kyushu University, Fukuoka, to discuss several topics, which you will find transcribed below. I was curious as to his thoughts that he - as the President of the World Archaeological Congress, a non-governmental and non-profit organization that promotes the exchange of archaeological results, training at a global scale and the empo…
Social Archaeology as the Study of Ethical Life
Potential responses and resilience of Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age societies to mid-to Late Holocene climate change on the southern Iberian Peninsula
In this investigation, we use a socio-environmental multi-proxy approach to empirically test hypotheses of recurrent resilience cycles and the role of climate forcing in shaping such cycles on the Iberian Peninsula during mid-Holocene times. Our approach combines time series reconstructions of societal and environmental variables from the southern Iberian Peninsula across a 3000 yr time interval (6000–3000 cal yr BP), covering major societal and …
Revisiting the Chinese Room
Posthumanist approaches in archaeology have given plenty of focus to things in the last decade. This focus on things is a reaction to the over-anthropocentric view of social life advanced by postprocessual archaeologists. Whereas agency of more than 10 years ago was about how individuals expressed purpose and identity, agency today is about how both humans and non-human objects affect one another in a symmetrical manner. It seems without doubt th…
Ontologies
Two cultures in the times of interdisciplinary archaeology. A response to commentators
We would like to begin by thanking the journal and the commentators for their time and attention
Science, data, and case-studies under the Third Science Revolution
The Third Science Revolution described by Kristian Kristiansen (2014) has been openly embraced and is currently underway in archaeology. It has brought considerable improvement in terms of scientific methods and approaches, but at the same time, it brings with it the risk of transforming archaeology into something that is methodologically uniform, inflexible, and oversimplified, or in other words, a methodologically monistic discipline. This is p…
Between natural and human sciences
Prominent voices in archeology have expressed deep skepticism about the role of theory in archeology, while with new, exciting methods at its disposal, archeological science is occasionally perceived as not needing theory at all. This article reflects upon the debate about theory in archeology to arrive at a robust but critical middle-range concept of the role and character of theory in socio-environmental archeology. It is argued that archeology…
Against object agency 2. Continuing the discussion with Sørensen
This paper expands upon some of the arguments and issues surrounding object agency that have been discussed in this journal (Lindstrøm 2015; 2017; Ribeiro 2016a; 2016b; Sørensen 2016; 2018). More specifically, it challenges Sørensen’s support of object agency in his latest discussion on the topic (2018). The paper is divided into three parts: first, it questions the relevance of replacing the conventional usage of ‘agency’, generally attached to …
Environmental determinism and archaeology. Understanding and evaluating determinism in research design
With the emergence of modern techniques of environmental analysis and widespread availability of accessible tools and quantitative data, the question of environmental determinism is once again on the agenda. This paper is theoretical in character, attempting, for the benefit of drawing up research designs, to understand and evaluate the character of environmental determinism. We reach three main conclusions: (1) in a typical pattern of research d…
Ontologies
Philosophy, archaeology and the Enlightenment heritage
Cartesian representationalism and the Enlightenment heritage more broadly continue to play a pivotal role in shaping the 21st-century human scientific theory and practice. This introduction to a special section on the topic surveys some aspects of that heritage
Death of the passive subject
In recent years some archaeological commentators have suggested moving away from an exclusively anthropocentric view of social reality. These ideas endorse elevating objects to the same ontological level as humans – thus creating a symmetrical view of reality. However, this symmetry threatens to force us to abandon the human subject and theories of meaning. This article defends a different idea. It is argued here that an archaeology of the social…
Against object agency. A counterreaction to Sørensen's 'Hammers and nails
This paper commends some ideas that Torill Christine Lindstrøm presented in this journal on the subject of 'object agency' (2015) and contends, against Tim Flohr Sørensen's reaction paper (2016), that object agency subsists on philosophically questionable premises. I argue that Sørensen relies on a definition of 'agency' which is too labile and virtually indistinguishable from 'cause'. Moreover, certain premises that Sørensen supports lead to som…
Archaeology will be just fine
Many archaeologists are currently stuck in a mindset in which attention is paid exclusively to ideas that are 'new' and 'revolutionary'. This fetishization of the 'new' leads us down a dangerous road as it promotes uncritical disdain of old ideas which remain valid and it advocates fads from neighbouring disciplines which are methodologically vapid and philosophically dubious. The objective of this paper is to question whether archaeology require…
Using the Capability Approach to Conceptualise Inequality in Archaeology
Understanding Rituals
The explanations of ritual practices observed in archaeological contexts often proceed on the representationalist basis that the human mind contains the social constituted ideas or representations that underpin the practice of rituals. Such a view remains widespread and, despite the often proclaimed rejection in contemporary theory of the Cartesian mind-body and other dualisms, it perpetuates the Enlightenment representationalist heritage accordi…
Environmental determinism and archaeology. Understanding and evaluating determinism in research design
With the emergence of modern techniques of environmental analysis and widespread availability of accessible tools and quantitative data, the question of environmental determinism is once again on the agenda. This paper is theoretical in character, attempting, for the benefit of drawing up research designs, to understand and evaluate the character of environmental determinism. We reach three main conclusions: (1) in a typical pattern of research d…
Against object agency. A counterreaction to Sørensen's 'Hammers and nails
This paper commends some ideas that Torill Christine Lindstrøm presented in this journal on the subject of 'object agency' (2015) and contends, against Tim Flohr Sørensen's reaction paper (2016), that object agency subsists on philosophically questionable premises. I argue that Sørensen relies on a definition of 'agency' which is too labile and virtually indistinguishable from 'cause'. Moreover, certain premises that Sørensen supports lead to som…
Archaeology will be just fine
Many archaeologists are currently stuck in a mindset in which attention is paid exclusively to ideas that are 'new' and 'revolutionary'. This fetishization of the 'new' leads us down a dangerous road as it promotes uncritical disdain of old ideas which remain valid and it advocates fads from neighbouring disciplines which are methodologically vapid and philosophically dubious. The objective of this paper is to question whether archaeology require…
Using the Capability Approach to Conceptualise Inequality in Archaeology
On Class and Elitism in Archaeology
While archaeology is certainly a politically conscious discipline, with various members involved in political and activist movements, especially focusing on gender and race issues, little has been said, discussed, or done with regards to class and elitism. In fact, it seems that since the advent of postmodernity in the 1970s, class and elitism have become moot topics. The aim of this article is to reflect upon class-based discrimination and eliti…
Science, data, and case-studies under the Third Science Revolution
The Third Science Revolution described by Kristian Kristiansen (2014) has been openly embraced and is currently underway in archaeology. It has brought considerable improvement in terms of scientific methods and approaches, but at the same time, it brings with it the risk of transforming archaeology into something that is methodologically uniform, inflexible, and oversimplified, or in other words, a methodologically monistic discipline. This is p…
Death of the passive subject
In recent years some archaeological commentators have suggested moving away from an exclusively anthropocentric view of social reality. These ideas endorse elevating objects to the same ontological level as humans – thus creating a symmetrical view of reality. However, this symmetry threatens to force us to abandon the human subject and theories of meaning. This article defends a different idea. It is argued here that an archaeology of the social…
Against object agency 2. Continuing the discussion with Sørensen
This paper expands upon some of the arguments and issues surrounding object agency that have been discussed in this journal (Lindstrøm 2015; 2017; Ribeiro 2016a; 2016b; Sørensen 2016; 2018). More specifically, it challenges Sørensen’s support of object agency in his latest discussion on the topic (2018). The paper is divided into three parts: first, it questions the relevance of replacing the conventional usage of ‘agency’, generally attached to …
Understanding Rituals
The explanations of ritual practices observed in archaeological contexts often proceed on the representationalist basis that the human mind contains the social constituted ideas or representations that underpin the practice of rituals. Such a view remains widespread and, despite the often proclaimed rejection in contemporary theory of the Cartesian mind-body and other dualisms, it perpetuates the Enlightenment representationalist heritage accordi…
On Traces, Clues, and Fiction
In recent years, archaeological research has relied on large datasets, both temporally and geographically, with some archaeologists discussing that there should be a shift towards a more scientific form of conducting archaeological research called “macroarchaeology.” Ironically, and contradictorily, this shift towards large-scale research has involved the use of inductive approaches, which means that archaeological material needs to be converted …
Postmodernity
The term ‘postmodernism’ was evoked in the past to describe certain changes in archaeological practice and theory, in particular, certain ideas circulating in the postprocessual archaeology of the 1980s and 1990s. However, most of the ideas concerning postmodernism during this period focused primarily on knowledge claims and relied mainly on ideas from poststructuralism. These ideas discussed the validity of metanarratives, the past as a text to …
A conversation with Koji Mizoguchi. On globalization, Japanese archaeology and archaeological theory today
On the occasion of a short research trip to Japan, I had the opportunity to sit down with Professor Koji Mizoguchi in Kyushu University, Fukuoka, to discuss several topics, which you will find transcribed below. I was curious as to his thoughts that he - as the President of the World Archaeological Congress, a non-governmental and non-profit organization that promotes the exchange of archaeological results, training at a global scale and the empo…
Revisiting the Chinese Room
Posthumanist approaches in archaeology have given plenty of focus to things in the last decade. This focus on things is a reaction to the over-anthropocentric view of social life advanced by postprocessual archaeologists. Whereas agency of more than 10 years ago was about how individuals expressed purpose and identity, agency today is about how both humans and non-human objects affect one another in a symmetrical manner. It seems without doubt th…
Between natural and human sciences
Prominent voices in archeology have expressed deep skepticism about the role of theory in archeology, while with new, exciting methods at its disposal, archeological science is occasionally perceived as not needing theory at all. This article reflects upon the debate about theory in archeology to arrive at a robust but critical middle-range concept of the role and character of theory in socio-environmental archeology. It is argued that archeology…
Philosophy, archaeology and the Enlightenment heritage
Cartesian representationalism and the Enlightenment heritage more broadly continue to play a pivotal role in shaping the 21st-century human scientific theory and practice. This introduction to a special section on the topic surveys some aspects of that heritage
Understanding Rituals
The explanations of ritual practices observed in archaeological contexts often proceed on the representationalist basis that the human mind contains the social constituted ideas or representations that underpin the practice of rituals. Such a view remains widespread and, despite the often proclaimed rejection in contemporary theory of the Cartesian mind-body and other dualisms, it perpetuates the Enlightenment representationalist heritage accordi…
Using the Capability Approach to Conceptualise Inequality in Archaeology
Against object agency. A counterreaction to Sørensen's 'Hammers and nails
This paper commends some ideas that Torill Christine Lindstrøm presented in this journal on the subject of 'object agency' (2015) and contends, against Tim Flohr Sørensen's reaction paper (2016), that object agency subsists on philosophically questionable premises. I argue that Sørensen relies on a definition of 'agency' which is too labile and virtually indistinguishable from 'cause'. Moreover, certain premises that Sørensen supports lead to som…
Archaeology will be just fine
Many archaeologists are currently stuck in a mindset in which attention is paid exclusively to ideas that are 'new' and 'revolutionary'. This fetishization of the 'new' leads us down a dangerous road as it promotes uncritical disdain of old ideas which remain valid and it advocates fads from neighbouring disciplines which are methodologically vapid and philosophically dubious. The objective of this paper is to question whether archaeology require…
Ontologies
Philosophy, archaeology and the Enlightenment heritage
Cartesian representationalism and the Enlightenment heritage more broadly continue to play a pivotal role in shaping the 21st-century human scientific theory and practice. This introduction to a special section on the topic surveys some aspects of that heritage
Death of the passive subject
In recent years some archaeological commentators have suggested moving away from an exclusively anthropocentric view of social reality. These ideas endorse elevating objects to the same ontological level as humans – thus creating a symmetrical view of reality. However, this symmetry threatens to force us to abandon the human subject and theories of meaning. This article defends a different idea. It is argued here that an archaeology of the social…
Two cultures in the times of interdisciplinary archaeology. A response to commentators
We would like to begin by thanking the journal and the commentators for their time and attention
Science, data, and case-studies under the Third Science Revolution
The Third Science Revolution described by Kristian Kristiansen (2014) has been openly embraced and is currently underway in archaeology. It has brought considerable improvement in terms of scientific methods and approaches, but at the same time, it brings with it the risk of transforming archaeology into something that is methodologically uniform, inflexible, and oversimplified, or in other words, a methodologically monistic discipline. This is p…
Between natural and human sciences
Prominent voices in archeology have expressed deep skepticism about the role of theory in archeology, while with new, exciting methods at its disposal, archeological science is occasionally perceived as not needing theory at all. This article reflects upon the debate about theory in archeology to arrive at a robust but critical middle-range concept of the role and character of theory in socio-environmental archeology. It is argued that archeology…
Against object agency 2. Continuing the discussion with Sørensen
This paper expands upon some of the arguments and issues surrounding object agency that have been discussed in this journal (Lindstrøm 2015; 2017; Ribeiro 2016a; 2016b; Sørensen 2016; 2018). More specifically, it challenges Sørensen’s support of object agency in his latest discussion on the topic (2018). The paper is divided into three parts: first, it questions the relevance of replacing the conventional usage of ‘agency’, generally attached to …
Environmental determinism and archaeology. Understanding and evaluating determinism in research design
With the emergence of modern techniques of environmental analysis and widespread availability of accessible tools and quantitative data, the question of environmental determinism is once again on the agenda. This paper is theoretical in character, attempting, for the benefit of drawing up research designs, to understand and evaluate the character of environmental determinism. We reach three main conclusions: (1) in a typical pattern of research d…
Ontologies
Social Archaeology as the Study of Ethical Life
Potential responses and resilience of Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age societies to mid-to Late Holocene climate change on the southern Iberian Peninsula
In this investigation, we use a socio-environmental multi-proxy approach to empirically test hypotheses of recurrent resilience cycles and the role of climate forcing in shaping such cycles on the Iberian Peninsula during mid-Holocene times. Our approach combines time series reconstructions of societal and environmental variables from the southern Iberian Peninsula across a 3000 yr time interval (6000–3000 cal yr BP), covering major societal and …
Revisiting the Chinese Room
Posthumanist approaches in archaeology have given plenty of focus to things in the last decade. This focus on things is a reaction to the over-anthropocentric view of social life advanced by postprocessual archaeologists. Whereas agency of more than 10 years ago was about how individuals expressed purpose and identity, agency today is about how both humans and non-human objects affect one another in a symmetrical manner. It seems without doubt th…
On Class and Elitism in Archaeology
While archaeology is certainly a politically conscious discipline, with various members involved in political and activist movements, especially focusing on gender and race issues, little has been said, discussed, or done with regards to class and elitism. In fact, it seems that since the advent of postmodernity in the 1970s, class and elitism have become moot topics. The aim of this article is to reflect upon class-based discrimination and eliti…
Postmodernity
The term ‘postmodernism’ was evoked in the past to describe certain changes in archaeological practice and theory, in particular, certain ideas circulating in the postprocessual archaeology of the 1980s and 1990s. However, most of the ideas concerning postmodernism during this period focused primarily on knowledge claims and relied mainly on ideas from poststructuralism. These ideas discussed the validity of metanarratives, the past as a text to …
A conversation with Koji Mizoguchi. On globalization, Japanese archaeology and archaeological theory today
On the occasion of a short research trip to Japan, I had the opportunity to sit down with Professor Koji Mizoguchi in Kyushu University, Fukuoka, to discuss several topics, which you will find transcribed below. I was curious as to his thoughts that he - as the President of the World Archaeological Congress, a non-governmental and non-profit organization that promotes the exchange of archaeological results, training at a global scale and the empo…
On Traces, Clues, and Fiction
In recent years, archaeological research has relied on large datasets, both temporally and geographically, with some archaeologists discussing that there should be a shift towards a more scientific form of conducting archaeological research called “macroarchaeology.” Ironically, and contradictorily, this shift towards large-scale research has involved the use of inductive approaches, which means that archaeological material needs to be converted …
The Writing of Archaeological Theory
Throughout the years there have been complaints that theory is written in a very complicated manner, relying on obscure terms and metaphors, leading the more practical archaeologists to the perception that theorists are privileged and pretentious. There is some truth to these complaints – archaeological theory could indeed be considerably simpler and more accessible. The aim of this paper is to explain what factors have influenced theorists to wr…
Archaeologies of the Future or the Future of Archaeology
In recent decades, archaeology and heritage studies have included an increasing focus on the future, revealing an underlying anxiety in relation to major societal challenges. Although this discourse regards the future as a later temporal stage, the future is often conceived in terms of present imaginaries – i.e., the future as emerging in the present. The aim of this paper is to look at these imaginaries more critically. Whether they are utopian,…
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (15 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Philosophy (14 works) · Epistemology (13 works) · History (11 works) · Archaeology (10 works) · History (9 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Law (7 works)