The city as a “promise of ever new discoveries” in the context of re-socialized archaeology and through the prism of second degree archaeology

Abstract

This article sketches the complex phenomenon of the city and the diverse understanding of archaeological practice within the city, both in cognitive and social terms. Three ways of approaching the city are examined – as material and semiotic cognitive phenomenon (perceived as historical and archaeological source of knowledge about the past), as the composition of past and present social interactions (that could allow archaeology to construct an inter-subjective understanding of the importance of material meaning), and as a subject conducive to establishing ethical foundations for contemporaneous social practice that produces discourses about past social processes and present social values. Ways to connect these three domains are explored – through a reconsideration of archaeological entities and archaeological practice via theoretical propositions of: re-socialized archaeology, second degree archaeology and ethics of social consequences. The author argues that urban archaeology has great potential to become the context for rethinking the nature of archaeological enquiry and the kind of history, narratives and representations based on it.