Overview
narrative
Quick Reference
[Th]
The creation of a historical narrative is, for many, the ultimate aim of archaeological research—developing a rounded knowledge about the past, or some aspect of it, which combines the particulars of the archaeological record with events, people, societies, and a plot. The creation of such narratives is a major theme of interest in post‐processual archaeology. Narrative is a basic human means of making sense of the world, and narratives form a basic component of self‐identity. The development of a narrative is itself a creative and intellectual process. Not surprisingly, narratives feature prominently in nationalist and heritage appropriations of the archaeological past for they provide a means of externalizing particular ways of seeing the world and projecting understandings of meaning and significance to others.
