Old and Novel Roads in a New Era: Archaeology of the Anthropocene in the South

Abstract

In this essay we seek to contribute to current debates on the Anthropocene, setting our reflections in a dialogue with the approaches proposed by the three papers selected by the Editorial Committee. We review these articles taking into account how they are related to the demarcation perspective, predominant in geology, and from which archeology cannot be absent. We then focus on the temporal and spatial scales involved, the theoretical and epistemological approaches proposed, and the role that archeology may play in the definition of a concept that is intended to be transdisciplinary. Finally, we consider that it is necessary to build more robust and fluid bridges between the different approaches that study the Anthropocene, including the social and historical sciences, in a transdisciplinary way. Likewise, it is necessary to build bridges between scientific perspectives and critical philosophical and political positions elaborated from and situated in the Global South. Archaeology, laying at the intersection of social, natural and historical sciences, should have a central role in this process.