Archives, mirrors or telescopes. Ways of doing in archaeology

The diversity in the field of archaeological theory tends to be shown and explained as a historical succession of Schools, traditions and authorships, which often emphasizes the interpretive differences and the debates raised as a consequence of these. This paper considers archaeological theory from a different perspective, defining the theoretical domain as the whole set of premises and reasonings that lay behind any archaeological practice. The archaeological process is organised through different categorial levels, whose traits and relationships allow us to sketch two ways of doing in archaeology. Metaphorically, these two logics fit well with the figures of 'archives' and 'mirrors', and describe a great deal of contemporary archaeological practice. After describing how these logics work, the final part of the paper focus on the need to depart from these 'common places' using new tools able to overcome current constraints.