To Burn the Blanket for a Flea: A Philosophical Response to Object-Oriented Archaeologies

A growing literature in archaeological theory has embraced the “material turn,” especially what is branded as “Object-Oriented Ontology” (OOO). Some archaeologists view this as an opportunity for the discipline which is, by definition, a practice of knowing objects. Others argue that the material turn may open up hitherto-unexplored ways of looking at historical processes. While this all sounds very exciting for a new generation of archaeologists, we see a genuine need to be cautious about the implications of subscribing to OOO-inspired archaeologies. These new theoretical developments have a direct impact on how archaeologists narrate, conceptualize, and interpret the past, present and future. In this article, we scrutinize the philosophical pathway behind this perspective and discuss its relation to archaeological theory. We advocate a modest, responsive version of new materialist archaeologies that can engage more thoughtfully with the past and Anthropocene social crises of systemic injustice and inequality.