The Archaeological Process An Introduction lan Hodder BLACKWELL SEINTERPRETING MATERIAL CULTURE 67 ments were being made. These latter statements seem because they involve a selection of information in relation to prior knowledge. No description of anything can be exhaustive, but as the thing being described becomes more complex, more selectivity is required and more uncertainty that different people will come to the same conclusions. Tilley also gives archaeological examples. Counting the numbers of potsherds on a settlement site does not seem to involve interpretation But once I start to say that the high frequen nds is unusual for this type of site, or that the sherds can be shape, colour, temper, decoration ctc. be involved, When statements are obvious we deny that interpretation colved. But once judgement and selection ar ng together of things to make (new) sense, th cerpretation has occu is part of the aim of this book to n all areas of catalogues, doing laboratory experi- ese activities we 4 Interpreting Material Culture we accept that archaeology, ev ments and excavati contested by others. However, all and ordering information. As we increas- ion, judgemer things from particu mind. For example, w an interpretive componei Ives trying to link sense to data. I always. womous approx interpretation i always interpre description’ (Geertz 1973}. For Foucai ing an event involved a descriptioawation hess doses INTERPRETING MATERIAL CULTURE 69 Study of the excavation process at the Palaco-Indian site of Arroya Seco.in Argentina (Gero 1996) provided two examples of andro- centric ‘descriptions’ of archaeological data. | Addominant male on the site team made larger soil pedestals for areifactsto stand on than a female fieldworker. This practice led to his artifacts being noticed by the director and a special feature photograph being taken. Little special atterition was pald to the ‘male, Gero ‘argues that the construction of these data is part of the’assertion of power. 2 Mile fleldworkers tended to outline soil stains with trowels and {to draw them on maps with clear boundaries; women tended to In these examples, ‘description’ is seen as part of complex social strategies: Gero concludes that rather than being neutral, ‘objective science! fs‘actually exclusionary, divided by gendered practices. She