ABSTRACT
This chapter examines controversies over theories proposing to explain cultural developments, including theoretical positions labeled evolutionary archaeology, processual and post-processual archaeologies, "agency", political archaeology, and realpolitik. Childe realized that Karl Marx's emphasis on political economics could assist archaeologists in inferring social conditions from material culture. Marx's relegation of religion and ideology to the "superstructure" of society the base being how resources were obtained and distributed fit the limitations of the archaeological record, especially in prehistory, where religion and ideology left few and ambiguous traces. Childe's "Marxism" was pragmatic, not doctrinaire; he combined it with close attention to detailed data he collected visiting sites and museum collections throughout Europe, working out hypotheses of intersocietal contacts and movements. His has been a hard act to follow he was totally dedicated to work, spoke a number of languages, and had a phenomenal memory for artefacts and site features. His theories of cultural development still have many adherents.
