ABSTRACT
The critique of scientific archaeology, the questioning of the character of archaeology as a social science, has involved realizing that archaeology is a cultural practice and not simply a neutral quest for more knowledge of the past. The demise of scientific objectivity has raised the issue of the subjective and of the aesthetic, both being neglected under a sovereignty of science. Aesthetic quality is still a focus of some traditional approaches which may also be concerned somewhat with a ‘literary’ rendition of things found. But matters are much wider and less simple after the critique of science. These are matters of appreciating the past, writing and representing it appropriately, bringing archaeologist and the past together; these are questions of archaeology and value, archaeology as cultural practice. If the archaeologist is now a cultural worker, what should be their cultural politics?
