ABSTRACT
Archaeological cultures were grouped into culture areas, continuous stretches of terrain characterized by relatively homogeneous environments and occupied by cultures that shared similar trait inventories. Like all archaeological schools, Interpretivism developed out of broader strains of thought, in Processualists case a body of theory generally glossed as Post-modernism. Culture History remains a potent force in archaeology. The version of Culture History developed most strongly in the United States within the broader field of anthropology, which was, in turn, strongly influenced in the early 20th century by Romanticism. Anthropologists such as Franz Boas in the United States and archaeologists such as V. Gordon Childe in Britain translated these broad precepts into action within museums and universities in the first half of the 20th century. Postmodernism is manifest in archaeology through Interpretivism, also known as Postprocessualism. Ian Hodder helped pioneer the Interpretivist stance in archaeology and remains one of its most prominent and influential proponents.
