ABSTRACT

There is a conspicuous ‘political’ trend in archaeology which is concerned with the influence of ideology on interpretations of the past. Cutting across this kind of political consciousness-but not yet clearly integrated with itis the experience of archaeologists in dealing with issues more obviously (because more immediately) to do with allocating, exercising or resisting power in society. Monuments like Stonehenge or the Parthenon Marbles raise questions which are political in this sense-about access (to whom?), protection (from whom?) and what they represent (in whose interests?). Similarly, problems like the looting, destruction or neglect of archaeological evidence bring to the fore not just the motives of those implicated in such things, but also the system of social division and exploitation which generates the motives themselves.