ALISON WYLIE
Department of Philosophy - University of Washington

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PHILOSOPHY OF ARCHAEOLOGY

Books

Thinking From Things: Essays in the Philosophy of Archaeology, University of California Press, Berkeley CA,  (September 2002).  UCPress webpage  ABSTRACT 

Critical Traditions in Contemporary Archaeology: Essays in the Philosophy, History and Socio-Politics of Archaeology, co-edited with Valerie Pinsky, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1989.  (Reprinted in paperback by the University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque NM 1995.)


Articles

"Interdisciplinary Practice: Archaeology and Philosophy": in Archaeology in the Making: Conversations Through a Discipline, edited by William Rathje, Michael Shanks, and Christopher Witmore, Routledge, 2012, pp. 93-121.

“Critical Distance: Stabilizing Evidential Claims in Archaeology”: in Evidence, Inference and Enquiry, edited by Philip Dawid, William Twining, and Mimi Vasilaki, Oxford University press, 2011, pp. 371-394.

“Archaeological Facts in Transit: The ‘Eminent Mounds’ of Central North America”, in How Well do ‘Facts’ Travel?: The Dissemination of Reliable Knowledge, edited by Peter Howlett and Mary S. Morgan, Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp. 301-322.

“The Appropriation of Archaeological Finds,” co-authored with George Nicholas, in The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation edited by James O. Young and Conrad G. Brunk, Routledge, 2009, pp. 11-54.

“Agnotology in/of Archaeology,” Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance, edited by Robert N. Proctor and Londa Schiebinger; Stanford University Press, 2008, pp. 183-205. .

“Philosophy of Archaeology; Philosophy in Archaeology,” in The Philosophy of Anthropology and Sociology, edited by Stephen Turner and Mark Risjord; volume 14, Handbook of the Philosophy of Science, Elsevier Science, 2007, pp. 517-549.

“The Integrity of Narratives: Epistemic Constraints on Multivocality,” in Evaluating Multiple Narratives: Beyond Nationalist, Colonialist, Imperialist Archaeologies, edited by Junko Habu, Clare Fawcett, and John Matsunaga, Springer Publications, 2007, pp. 201-212.

"Moderate Relativism, Political Objectivism," in The Archaeology of Bruce Trigger: Theoretical Empiricism, edited by Ronald F. Williamson and Michael S. Bisson, McGill-Queens University Press, 2006, pp. 25-35.

"A Philosopher at Large," in Cartesian Views: Papers Presented to Richard A. Watson, edited by Thomas M. Lennon, Brill, Boston, 2003, pp. 165-178.

“Archaeology and Philosophy of Science,” International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, edited by N. J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes, Pergamon, Oxford, 2001, pp. 614-617.

“Questions of Evidence, Legitimacy, and the (Dis)Unity of Science” American Antiquity 65.2 (2000): 227-237.

“Why Should Historical Archaeologists Study Capitalism?: The Logic of Question and Answer and the Challenge of Systemic Analysis,” in Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism, edited by Mark P. Leone and Parker B. Potter, Jr., KluwerAcademic/Plenum Publishers, New York, 1999, pp. 23-50.

"Philosophy of Archaeology," Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward Craig, Routledge, New York, 1998, volume 1, pp. 354-359.

"Alternative Histories: Epistemic Disunity and Political Integrity," in Making Alternative Histories: The Practice of Archaeology and History in Non-Western Settings, edited by Peter R. Schmidt and Thomas C. Patterson, School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, 1996, pp. 255-272.

“Unification and Convergence in Archaeological Explanation: The Agricultural ‘Wave of Advance’ and the Origins of Indo-European Languages,” The Southern Journal of Philosophy 34, Supplement (1995): 1-30. (Special issue: Explanation in the Human Sciences, edited by David K. Henderson.)

"An Expanded Behavioral Archaeology: Transformation and Redefinition Twenty Years On," Expanding Archaeology: A Behavioral Approach to the Archaeological Record, edited by James M. Skibo, William H. Walker, and Axel E. Nielsen, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 1995, pp. 198-209.

"Evidential Constraints: Pragmatic Objectivism in Archaeology," Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science, edited by Michael Martin and Lee McIntyre, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass., 1994, pp. 747-765.

"'Invented Lands/Discovered Pasts': The Westward Expansion of Myth and History," Historical Archaeology 27.4 (1993): 1-19. (Keynote Address, Society for Historical Archaeology.)

"Facts and Fictions: Writing Archaeology in a Different Voice," Canadian Journal of Archaeology 17 (1993): 5-25. (Keynote Address, Canadian Archaeological Association.)  Reprinted in Archaeological Theory: Progress or Posture?, edited by Iain M. MacKenzie, Avebury, Aldershot, 1994, pp. 3-18.

"A Proliferation of New Archaeologies: Skepticism, Processualism, and Post-Processualism," in Archaeological Theory: Who Sets the Agenda?, edited by Norman Yoffee and Andrew Sherratt, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993, pp. 20-26.

"On 'Heavily Decomposing Red Herrings': Scientific Method in Archaeology and the Ladening of Evidence with Theory," in Metaarchaeology, edited by Lester Embree, Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Kluwer, Boston, 1992, pp. 269-288.

"Rethinking the Quincentennial: Consequences for Past and Present," American Antiquity 57.4 (1992): 591-594. Reprinted in Peoples of the Past and Present edited by Jean-Luc Chodkiewicz, Harcourt Brace, Toronto, 1995, pp. 138-140.

"On a Hierarchy of Purposes: Typological Theory and Practice," Current Anthropology 33.4(1992): 486-491.

“On Scepticism, Philosophy, and Archaeological Science," Current Anthropology 33.2(1992): 209-214.

"Matters of Fact and Matters of Interest" in Archaeological Approaches to Cultural Identity, edited by Steven Shennan, Unwin Hyman, London, 1989, pp. 94-109.

"'Simple' Analogy and the Role of Relevance Assumptions: Implications of Archaeological Practice," International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 2.2 (1988): 134-150.

"The Reaction Against Analogy," in Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Volume 8, edited by Michael B. Schiffer, Academic Press, New York, (1985): 63-111.

"Putting Shakertown Back Together: Critical Theory in Archaeology," Journal for Anthropological Archaeology 4 (1985): 133-147.

"Between Philosophy and Archaeology," American Antiquity 50 (1985): 478-490.

"The Demystification of the Profession," in The Socio-Politics of Archaeology, edited by Joan M. Gero, David M. Lacy, and Michael L. Blakey, University of Massachusetts, Anthropology Research Report Series #25 (1983): 119-129.

"Epistemological Issues Raised by a Structuralist Archaeology," in Symbolic and Structural Archaeology, edited Ian Hodder, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1982, pp. 39-46.

"An Analogy by Any Other Name is Just as Analogical: A Commentary on the Gould-Watson Dialogue," Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 1 (1982): 382-401.

"Review of Time and Traditions by Bruce G. Trigger," International Studies in Philosophy 11 (1979): 193-195.


Archaeological Reports

Historic and Prehistoric Site Survey: Fort Walsh National Historic Park (with contributions from J.S. Murray), Microfiche Report Series #230, Parks Canada, National Historic Parks and Sites Directorate, Ottawa Ontario, 1978.

Archaeological Investigations at a Late Nineteenth-Century Northwest Mounted Police Post, Fort Walsh, Saskatchewan, 1973-74 Field Seasons (J.V. Sciscenti, A. Campbell, B. Hromadiuk, S. MacLeod, J. S. Murray, and A. Wylie), Manuscript Report #200, Parks Canada, National Historic Parks and Sites Directorate, Ottawa Ontario, 1976.


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