Re-theorizing Interdisciplinarity, and the Relation between Archaeology, Linguistics, and Genetics

Cambridge University Press eBooks, pp. 3–10

Abstract

We are currently experiencing what could be called the “third science revolution” (Kristiansen 2014). The implications of this revolution are reshaping not only archaeological discourse, but – even more fundamentally – the nature and perception of interdisciplinarity (Stutz 2018). The current reconfiguration offers unique new opportunities for collaboration across the sciences and humanities, as we will show, but can also provoke a strong emotional response. This is apparent from the at times fierce debates about the role of science in archaeological, archaeogenetic, and perhaps especially archaeolinguistic interpretation (Gray, Atkinson, & Greenhill 2011 vs. Pereltsvaig & Lewis 2015; Ion 2017 and 2019; Ribeiro 2019; Sørensen 2016). We also see old debates about the role of historical linguistics in archaeology resurfacing (Hansen 2019).

Authors 2

1. Kristian Kristiansen

   University of Gothenburg

   Affiliation as printed

   Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden

2. Guus Kroonen Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Universiteit Leiden