Western hegemony in archaeological heritage management

In 1981 and 1982 two consecutive numbers of the journal World Archaeology were devoted to the development in various parts of the world of regionally distinctive traditions of archaeological research. The editors (Trigger and Glover 1981) were sceptical of the prospects of a single theoretically and methodologically 'correct' approach, such as that advocated by the American processual school, taking hold globally. They and others of the authors showed how the modern study of archaeology had developed in Europe and been exported as part of the baggage of colonialism throughout the world in the nineteenth century. It had then been molded by the unique social conditions of the recipient countries, had been used in the service of a great many regimes and political ideologies, and had taken on the particular national and regional styles which we now see in places like India, Australasia, South America, Japan and Vietnam.