The social Dimension of graves – Approaches and theories in German and British prehistoric archaeology in the second half of the 20th century

Abstract

The discussion of the social dimension of graves is one of the most important debates about the significance of a specific type of archaeological material. Until the 1960s, British and German archeology used similar approaches and ideas, but afterwards, the development went in different directions. The British discussion was entirely theoretical, involving cultural anthropological and sociological theories and became increasingly isolated. In contrast, German archaeologists mainly focused on method and material-related research in order to avoid being accused of “theorizing”. Despite this contrast and - despite some few exceptions - this mutual ignorance of each other's work, the archaeology in both countries has managed to address the same issues at the same time. Because of similar thoughts archaeologists of both countries developed similar approaches and research questions in order to analyze various social aspects with reference to the grave findings. Both strands of debate provided new perspectives on the phenomenon grave, which found their expression in different methods of analysis, and in turn led to new themes for discussions.