Marxist archaeology

Under Marxist archeology are different archaeological approaches to understand, treat the archaeological questions using Marxist ideas or within a Marxist framework.

Marx and Engels

Historical Materialism

Marx and Engels did not comment at length on the subject. The general approach to the study of antiquity or prehistory and early history is based on the historical materialist theory of history, according to which it would be crucial to understanding the history of mankind, not to take the ideas but the work as a starting point for the considerations, the development of the material production and reproduction of social life and thus also of the human being and his ideas themselves, the development of ideas and culture must always move on a material basis, because no society can survive even a few weeks, they would not reproduce their material economic basis. Due largely to lack of written records is the analysis of material culture (buildings, tools, art, etc. ) predominant material of the research.

The intellectual development of a society would be linked to these economic- material base and took effect retroactively on their development. Only the fact that a company is no longer their time for necessary reproductive labor (food, descendants, etc.) had to use up any time at all was free to initiate larger ideological and technological developments. Far-reaching technological and intellectual revolutions would often arise from immediate practical interests of society out. With the development of the social productive forces and the mental development would tend to unfold. The concrete struggle for survival with the counterpart financial nature and often other companies would reproduce the people based on their social development levels ideologically in their ideas, eg in religious beliefs and rituals, in works of art. These spiritual or ideological ideas would react back on the economic and cultural practices and change it.

Engels epoch classification in connection to Morgan

As a pioneer work can possibly apply Engels The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. This differs is then to Henry Lewis Morgan three stages of development of mankind: savagery, barbarism and civilization. These stages were significantly influenced by the way how people produced their social life.

Vere Gordon Childe

A native of Australia Vere Gordon Childe popularized mainly about Britain 's archaeological theories. Best known is his concept of the Neolithic Revolution. According to his theory, there were three social and economic revolutions that changed the lives of people in principle: the Neolithic, the Urban and the Industrial Revolution.

This theory is based on the historical materialism, as it based on the relations of production ( social, not about the individual practice - for example, hunter-gatherers ) the past reconstructed. It also provides an offset to racist theories of his time dar. He represents the " behavior " (behavior ) of the people neither innate nor as an environment determined dar. " behavior " results in Childe of social environments that are constantly changing.

Soviet archeology

In the 1920s in the Soviet Union came the demand for a Marxist or Soviet archeology in contrast to bourgeois archeology. In 1929 the archaeologist Vladislav I. Ravdonikas a text that outlined principles of such archaeological approach. This Soviet archeology was the dominant flow within the USSR.