Entangled A New Archaeology of the Relationships between Humans and Things

“Unlike the example of Theseus’s ship, Hodder’s new Entangled uses many of the same planks to create a different vessel. Things are still front and centre, but now they are radically recast as conduits through which forces flow, forces that move from past to future through a non-existent present of solid objects that is our own projection. Hodder has let his thinking flow over the shifting theoretical terrain of the last decade, revealing a new direction for archaeological interpretation.”
—Carl Knappett, Professor and Chair, Art History, University of Toronto

“In this enhanced second edition, enriched by a focus on flows and process, the master of archaeological theory demonstrates that his work remains as central to contemporary debates as ever.”
—Oliver Harris, Associate Professor of Archaeology, University of Leicester

Entangled presents a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the theory of material entrapment, exploring how archaeological evidence can provide a clearer understanding of human social and technological development. Drawing on vivid examples from early history to modern life, Ian Hodder’s innovative volume illuminates the entanglement of people and things as a defining characteristic of human history and culture.

Entangled demonstrates that the co-dependency of humans and objects is the essential, unseen driver of human development. This revised and expanded edition provides fresh perspectives on this relationality, reframing it in terms of dependency to better explore inequality and injustice. An entirely new chapter explores human dependency on other humans, and there is a new focus on object-orientated ontologies, symmetrical archaeology, and indigenous approaches to archaeology.

Entangled: A New Archaeology of the Relationships between Humans and Things, Second Edition, is essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students, lecturers, researchers, and scholars in the fields of archaeology, anthropology, material culture studies, phenomenology, and evolutionary theory.

Offers a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the theory of material entanglement and entrapment, enriched with vivid examples from everyday life

Entangled explores how archaeological evidence can help provide a better understanding of the direction of human social and technological change, demonstrating how the interrelationship of humans and things is a defining characteristic of human history and culture. Using examples drawn from both the early farming settlements of the Middle East and daily life in the modern world, Ian Hodder highlights the complex co-dependencies of humans and things—arguing that the maintenance and sustaining of material worlds are the unseen drivers of human development.

Updated and expanded, Entangled offers new perspectives on the study of the relationality between things and humans. In this edition, the author reframes relationality in terms of various forms of dependence to better explore inequality, injustice, and the ways people get entrapped in detrimental social and economic situations. An entirely new chapter focuses on human dependence on other humans, such as between colonial powers and colonized people. Increased focus is placed on object-oriented ontologies and assemblages, symmetrical archaeology, and indigenous and radical approaches in archaeology that critique relationality and posthumanism. A wide range of new examples, references, and literature are presented throughout the book.

• Argues that dependence on things forces humans down particular evolutionary pathways and social trends
• Demonstrates how long-standing entanglements can be irreversible and increase in scale and complexity over time
• Integrates archaeology, natural and biological sciences, and the social sciences
• Presents a critical review of key contemporary perspectives, including material culture studies, phenomenology, evolutionary theory, cognitive archaeology, human ecology, and complexity theory

Entangled: A New Archaeology of the Relationships between Humans and Things, Second Edition is essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students, lecturers, researchers, and scholars in the fields of archeology, anthropology, material culture studies, and related fields across the social sciences and humanities.