TOWARD AN INTEGRATIVE HUMAN HISTORICAL SCIENCE OF THE MIND, BODY AND MATERIAL

Archaeology, which explores the past based on material evidence, and psychology, which analyses the modern human mind, have long been thought to be very different in both subject matter and research methods. Still, they share the ultimate aim of clarifying what it means to be human. This paper summarizes the history and current status of archaeological research on the mind and discusses how it leads to an integrative human historical science development. Successful cross-disciplinary collaboration requires us to transcend the dichotomous view that has been the basis of modern Western science. In order to understand how culture is produced through the interaction of mind and matter, we need to focus on the human body and behavior while falling into neither biological determinism nor extreme cultural relativism. The endeavor of an integral human historical science goes beyond dichotomous thinking to transcend the barriers between the humanities and the sciences and open up new dimensions in studying the human being and shed light on the nature of the phenomenon we call civilization.