THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF SYMBOLS

Why should archaeologists deal with symbols and how can they do so? Th is article outlines three major traditions archaeologists have followe d in conceptualizing symbols, each with its own preferred topics of st udy, understanding of power and social relations, and epistemology. Th ese include the processual view of symbols as tokens that represent re ality, the structuralist view of symbols as mental girders framing a c ultural reality, and the postmodern view of symbols as arbitrary fragm ents incorporated into phenomenological experience. The primary conclu sions are that (a) any serious consideration of ancient society requir es us to deal with its symbols; (b) human symbolism is so diverse (it includes cognitive structures; ritual icons; identities such as gender , prestige, and ethnicity; technological knowledge; and political ideo logies) that multiple approaches are needed to deal adequately with it ; and (c) a major problem in the archaeology of symbols is understandi ng how varied kinds of symbols relate to each other.