First published in 1990 as the English translation of a Czech original, this book presents a radical interpretation by Czech philosophers of science of the philosophical, social and political forces shaping archaeology from antiquity onwards. The text reflects upon the divergent paths taken by Anglo-American and European archaeology in the years preceding publication, largely in ignorance of each other. It provides a theoretically sophisticated and cosmopolitan overview of modern archaeology, treating the history of both traditions in a single framework. Moreover, archaeological history is...