Towards Reflexive Method in Archaeology

Book excerpt: In the early 1990s the University of Cambridge reopened excavations at the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in central Turkey, abandoned since the 1960s. This is Volume 2 in the Çatalhöyük Research Project series. Here Ian Hodder explains his vision of archaeological excavation, where careful examination of context and an awareness of human bias allows researchers exciting new insights into prehistoric cognition. The aim of the volume is to discuss some of the reflexive or postprocessual methods that have been introduced at the site in the work there since 1993. These methods involve reflexivity, interactivity, multivocality and contextuality or relationality.