Explorations in Archaeology and Philosophy

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. The Twain Shall Meet: Themes at the Intersection of Archaeology and Philosophy

   • Anton Killin, Sean Allen-Hermanson

   Pages 1-4

3. Theory and Inference

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 5-5

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   2. “I’m Not Saying It Was Aliens”: An Archaeological and Philosophical Analysis of a Conspiracy Theory

      • Derek D. Turner, Michelle I. Turner

      Pages 7-24

   3. Mortar and Pestle or Cooking Vessel? When Archaeology Makes Progress Through Failed Analogies

      • Rune Nyrup

      Pages 25-46Open Access

   4. Scaffolding and Concept-Metaphors: Building Archaeological Knowledge in Practice

      • Bruce Routledge

      Pages 47-63

4. Interdisciplinary Connections

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 65-65

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   2. Human Curiosity Then and Now: The Anthropology, Archaeology, and Psychology of Patent Protections

      • Armin W. Schulz

      Pages 67-83

   3. Music Archaeology, Signaling Theory, Social Differentiation

      • Anton Killin

      Pages 85-100

   4. The Archaeology and Philosophy of Health: Navigating the New Normal Problem

      • Carl Brusse

      Pages 101-122

5. Cognition, Language and Normativity

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 123-123

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   2. Embodied and Extended Numerical Cognition

      • Marilynn Johnson, Caleb Everett

      Pages 125-148

   3. Late Pleistocene Dual Process Minds

      • Murray Clarke

      Pages 149-169

   4. Theory of Mind, System-2 Thinking, and the Origins of Language

      • Ronald J. Planer

      Pages 171-195

   5. The Acheulean Origins of Normativity

      • Ceri Shipton, Mark Nielsen, Fabio Di Vincenzo

      Pages 197-212

6. Ethical Issues

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 213-213

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   2. Social Archaeology as the Study of Ethical Life: Agency, Intentionality, and Responsibility

      • Artur Ribeiro

      Pages 215-233

   3. Are Archaeological Parks the New Amusement Parks? UNESCO World Heritage Status and Tourism

      • Elizabeth Scarbrough

      Pages 235-261

This volume explores various themes at the intersection of archaeology and philosophy: inference and theory; interdisciplinary connections; cognition, language and normativity; and ethical issues. Showcasing this heterogeneity, its scope ranges from the method of analogical inference to the evolution of the human mind; from conceptual issues in assessing the health of past populations to the ethics of cultural heritage tourism. It probes the archaeological record for evidence of numeracy, curiosity and creativity, and social complexity. Its contributors comprise an interdisciplinary cluster of philosophers, archaeologists, anthropologists, and psychologists, from a variety of career stages, of whom many are leading experts in their fields. 

Chapter 3 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com. 

• Mythology shamanism
• Cognition Upper Paleolithic
• Rock Art Egypt
• Experimental Data Archaeological Record
• Music archaeology, ethnography, signalling theory
• archaeological tourism
• preservation archaeological sites
• Upper Palaeolithic mythology and shamanism
• Upper Palaeolithic archaeology
• Upper Palaeolithic rock art
• Preservation of archaeological objects
• Upper Palaeolithic Mythology
• Philosophy Mythology
• Landscape Art Egypt
• Rock Art Nubia
• Landscape art Egypt
• numerical cognition archeology
• artefacts archaeology
• archaeology philosophy
• Digging Deeper Archaeological Philosophical Perspectives

• Department of Philosophy, Mount Allison University, Sackville NB, Canada, School of Philosophy and Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Acton ACT, Australia, Acton, Australia

  Anton Killin

• Department of Philosophy, Florida International University, Miami, USA

  Sean Allen-Hermanson

Anton Killin is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Philosophy and Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language at the Australian National University, and the Department of Philosophy at Mount Allison University in Sackville NB, Canada. Anton’s primary areas of research include philosophy of the sciences, philosophy of the arts (especially music), and evolutionary theory. Anton has published on the evolution of music and language, and with Adrian Currie, cognitive archaeology.


Sean Allen-Hermanson is Professor of Philosophy at Florida International University in Miami FL, USA. Sean’s primary areas of research include philosophy of mind and cognitive science. Sean has published on extended cognition, cultural evolution, comparative psychology, and implicit bias.



The editors are also the guest editors of a special issue of Topoi: An International Review of Philosophy entitled “Archaeology and Philosophy”.

Policies and ethics