The Archaeology of Mesopotamia: Theories and Approaches.

• Author: Rainville, Lynn
• Position: Book Review

The Archaeology of Mesopotamia: Theories and Approaches. By ROGER MATTHEWS. Approaching the Ancient World. London: ROUTLEDGE, 2003. Pp. xiii + 253, illus. $23.95 (paper).

Roger Matthews has written a short and affordable book summarizing a selection of approaches to Near Eastern archaeology. Matthews was the Director of the British Institutes of Archaeology in both Baghdad and Ankara between 1988 and 2001 and has directed excavations and surveys in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. Thus he is well qualified to write this book, which, according to the book jacket, claims to be the "only critical guide to the theory and method of Mesopotamian archaeology."

The quirky titles of his chapters illustrate his selectivity in choosing which aspects of Mesopotamian "theories and approaches" he will discuss: "Defining a discipline," "Tools of the trade," "Tracing a transition: hunters becoming farmers," "States of mind: approaching complexity," "Archaeologies of empire," "People's pasts," and "Futures of the Mesopotamian past." In the traditions of post-processual and interpretive epistemologies, these chapters include discussions of concepts such as time, cognition, Eurocentrism, and political and social ideologies in both the present and the past.

The first chapter presents a brief overview of archaeological research in the region, mostly in Iraq, with occasional attention to Syria or Turkey. The second half of the chapter highlights two theoretical approaches that Matthews prioritizes throughout the book to understand Mesopotamian archaeology: culture history and anthropological archaeology (understood here primarily as contextual archaeology). While often considered opposite approaches, Matthews advocates the view that taken together they provide more insights.

The second chapter summarizes current archaeological practices. Here Matthews emphasizes the importance of a research design. Summarizing, Matthews enumerates three stages in planning archaeological research: "(a) research agenda, (b) nature of the evidence relevant to (a), (c) means of accessing (b)" (p. 27). Matthews, quoting Jean Bottero, likens excavations without a clearly defined research agenda to the burrowing instincts of moles. The neolithic site of Catal Hoyuk (not a Mesopotamian site, but located on the Konya plain in southwestern Turkey) is used to discuss the application of various methods, including regional survey, geoarchaeology, surface planning, and excavation.

While Matthews does...