Conceptions of Time and the Development of Paleolithic Chronology

Abstract

Until recently the reflexive archaeological literature on concepts of time has been sparse. As a result, chronologies have been treated as a conceptual black box, tools about which nothing need be known except their input and output. Recent theoretical discussions have begun to pry open the lid of this black box, revealing the complexities that lie within. The historical analysis presented here highlights the importance of chronologies to the archaeological treatment of time. The 19th‐century Paleolithic chronologies of Lartet, de Mortillet, and Breuil are not simply lists of periods but rather the expression of differing conceptions of the relations between people, the archaeological record, and time.

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