A Marxist Archaeology

by Randall H. McGuire

Marxism is a rich intellectual tradition that offers archaeologists a way around many of the seemingly irresolvable theoretical oppositions that beset us and as such deserves a place in the theoretical and substantive debates in archaeology. This introduction to Marxist theory as it applies to archaeology explores long-term historical change and cultural evolution, and advocates a dialectical and historical approach to the study of the past. The book was originally published by Academic Press in 1992 but this affordable paperback edition features an extensive new introduction by the author.

Genres: Archaeology, Anthropology

319 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 1997

About the author

I was born in Fort Collins, Colorado and raised on Air Force Bases across the west. My mother taught me to love books, learning and history. My grandfather never understood why I wanted to be an archaeologist. He worked for a living in northern Colorado. One afternoon in field school he found me at the bottom of a deep stratigraphic trench, swinging a pick at the face of the ditch. That next summer I got my first paying job at the Arizona State Museum. My grandfather never did share my passion for archaeology. But, he accepted it as honest work that would callous my hands and as a job that would earn me a living. I shared my grandfather’s appreciation of honest work. Archaeology’s joining of intellectual and physical labor attracted me. Classes fulfilled my love of learning and of books. I also appreciated the camaraderie of field work and the physical and emotional feeling of well-being, material accomplishment, and deserved rest after a day of excavation. During the early 1970s, I learned radical politics in the streets and later through praxis; I found a way to practice the craft of archaeology to serve the needs of archaeology’s traditional academic community and to address the interests of working families, Native Americans and undocumented migrants.