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Towards an archaeology of pedagogy: learning, teaching and the generation of material culture traditions

Tehrani, J.; Riede, F.

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Authors

F. Riede



Abstract

In this article we seek to build on efforts to apply the insights of social learning theory to interpret patterns of continuity and change in the archaeological record. This literature suggests that stable and often highly arbitrary material culture traditions are likely to be founded on our biologically-evolved capacity for imitation. However, it has recently been argued that the latter may be insufficient to explain the long-term maintenance of complex and difficult-to-master skills, such as those required to produce stone tools, pots, textiles and other cognitively opaque cultural forms. To ensure that these skills are accurately transferred to the next generation, adults must actively guide and control the learning activities of their children, a mode of transmission that can be labelled ‘pedagogy’. The importance of pedagogy has often been overlooked in the theoretical and empirical literature on craft learning, a fact that can probably be attributed to an unnecessarily narrow conception of teaching that equates it with explicit linguistic instruction. Using ethnographic data gathered from detailed case studies, we characterise pedagogy in the context of craft apprenticeships as involving the gradual scaffolding of skill in a novice through demonstration, intervention and collaboration. Although these processes cannot be directly observed in the archaeological record, they can sometimes be inferred through the detailed reconstruction of operational chains in past technologies. The evidence we present suggests that pedagogy has played an essential role in securing the faithful transmission of skills across generations, and should be regarded as the central mechanism through which long-term and stable material culture traditions are propagated and maintained.

Citation

Tehrani, J., & Riede, F. (2008). Towards an archaeology of pedagogy: learning, teaching and the generation of material culture traditions. World Archaeology, 40(3), 316-331. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438240802261267

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Aug 8, 2008
Deposit Date Apr 25, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal World Archaeology
Print ISSN 0043-8243
Electronic ISSN 1470-1375
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 40
Issue 3
Pages 316-331
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/00438240802261267
Keywords Cultural transmission, Tradition, Pedagogy, Teaching, Apprenticeships, Chaîne opèratoire.

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Copyright Statement
This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Jamshid J. Tehrani & Felix Riede (2008) Towards an archaeology of pedagogy: learning, teaching and the generation of material culture traditions, World Archaeology, 40:3, 316-331. 2008 © Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00438240802261267.





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