Anglo‐American archaeology

Abstract

Changing trends in the interpretation of archaeological evidence in Britain and the United States over the past 200 years are interpreted as a response to the rise and decline among the middle class of faith in a doctrine of progress being brought about by unhindered individual initiative. The unilinear evolutionism of the nineteenth century represented an optimistic expression of faith in the new economic order. It also stressed, however, the cultural pre‐eminence of peoples of European descent as a justification for their political hegemony. Growing doubts about social progress were expressed first in a culture‐historical approach and more recently by evolutionary theories that see development trending in a negative and perhaps catastrophic direction.