Jean-Claude Gardin, a free-thinking archaeologist

Few books offer as critical an overview of the state of a discipline as Jean-Claude Gardin's Archéologie théorique, published by Hachette in 1979.

Written by

Marie-Anne Vibet

PublishedSeptember 23, 2019UpdatedSeptember 20, 20261 min read

Jean-Claude Gardin, a free-thinking archaeologist

It could have resulted in a thoroughly disillusioned assessment, yet the book also sheds light on the paths opening up for the future. The author had a particular fondness for the utopian novel The Glass Bead Game by essayist Hermann Hesse (Fretz und Wasmuth Verlag AG, 1943). In it, the monk Jacobus says: "To write history is to surrender oneself to chaos while retaining faith in order and the spirit. It is a very serious task, young man, and perhaps a tragic one."

Jean-Claude Gardin (1925–2013).

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