Does form follow function? Towards a methodical interpretation of archaeological building features
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3919962 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter Trebsche (0000-0001-5258-0615, University of Vienna, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 505-519 |
| Publication date | 2009-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | World Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0043-8243 • E-ISSN: 1470-1375 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00438240903112534 |
| OpenAlex | W2011538567 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 16 |
The form of buildings does not depend only on function, but also on climate, topography, available material and techniques, on symbolism and social structures. This can even be demonstrated by the example of modern architecture, for which the maxim ‘form follows function’ was originally coined. The functional interpretation of prehistoric architecture is especially difficult, because of its fragmentary state of preservation and because possible functions are not known a priori. Therefore this paper presents and evaluates five groups of methods, which allow interpretations of archaeological building features: 1) Ad hoc interpretations: these are mostly made implicitly and should be replaced by systematic approaches; 2) equalization of building types with functions: this method has limits because functional equivalents have to be considered; 3) conclusions by analogy: they depend mostly on the choice of objects for comparison; 4) circumstantial evidence: time-consuming and expensive techniques of excavation and sampling as well as careful studies of taphonomy are necessary; 5) contextual analyses: easily run into the danger of circular arguments. In practice often only a combination of various methods provides good results; that is why a clear explanation of analytical methods is so important. Keywords: Methodssettlement archaeologyarchitecturehouse typesreconstruction Acknowledgements This article was written during post-doctoral fellowship funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research. I would like to thank Dr Janine Fries-Knoblach for help and advice and the two anonymous reviewers for their comments. Notes 1 For overviews in English see Parker Pearson and Richards (Citation1994), Steadman (Citation1996) and Cutting (Citation2006). 2 In contrast to British archaeology, where changing theoretical perspectives have significantly influenced the interpretation of buildings (e.g. functionalist vs. cosmological interpretation of Iron Age roundhouses; resuming the debate: Pope Citation2007, 204–14), in German-speaking archaeology, a social paradigm seems to have dominated interpretation of architecture from the very beginning of large-scale settlement excavation (Trebsche in press
Analogy · Archaeology · Circumstantial evidence · Epistemology · Excavation · Function (biology · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Architecture · Computer Science · History · Philosophy
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| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |