Nature of and Reason for Ethnoarchaeology and Its Status among Archaeological Studies

Ethnoarchaeology has emerged in the first decade of the 20th century. The emergence of this sub-discipline as a method at the beginning of the second half of this century means put aside of the use of imposed ethnographic information without a defined framework for archeological issues. This interdisciplinary approach based on analogy, despite various vicissitudes by the tensions of different archeological schools, has always attempted to maintain its position in the archeological theory and provide scientific methods, propositions, and statements, particularly in relation with the archeological interpretations. Based on the analogical reasoning and within the framework of the middle-range theory, and considering the method of the using of ethnographic analogy, this approach has taken various concepts. Regarding the common nature of these concepts, eventually, the term "Ethnoarchaeology", as the most usable component of the middle-range theory in archeology, remained as its name. The present paper is aimed to investigate the nature, reason, and place of this sub-discipline in archeology. The position of ethnoarchaeology in archeology is defined; then, the interdisciplinary nature of this approach as well as its epistemological bases are investigated. Findings indicate that ethnoarchaeology, as an interdisciplinary, is continuing its development and,  like some other archeological approaches, not only has not failure or decline but also has been very dynamic and progressive. This sub-discipline benefits from a kind of inter-paradigm assumption flexibility, diversity, and dynamics. Besides, proportionate to its features, it’s very efficient in recognition and perception of the static context based on the dynamic context.