ABSTRACT
Introduction Contemporary archaeology is beginning to develop methods which enable the relationships between towns and their hinterlands to be explored. This paper attempts to review some of the methods used together with some results in order to illustrate their potential as a source of new evidence. To realise the scope and limitations of this archaeological work two important general points should be appreciated. First, since most archaeological evidence is the accidental byproduct of past human activity, the information it communicates is latent, passive and static, so only articulated through interpretative models imposed by the observer, whether or not these are made explicit. In this lies both the strength and weakness of archaeology, for although its evidence is ‘unbiased’ in the sense that it does not suffer from the distortions that affect written sources, it is particularly prone to echo our contemporary views of the world. This observation has sometimes been overlooked by those using archaeological data, although its recognition has equal dangers for it has blinded us to other problems. Uncritical uses of archaeological information have been based on the assumption that the evidence about the past is ‘unbiased’. In recent years an increasing awareness that this is fallacious has led archaeologists to develop methods of source criticism (analogous to those practised by historians) vital if we are to avoid naive interpretations. This has involved attempts at understanding the processes which have led to the formation of the archaeological record (Schiffer 1976). Such
methodology has wide implications for those using archaeological data: they should be aware of the dangers of accepting archaeological evidence at face value.
