Materials and skills in the history of knowledge: an archaeological perspective from the 'Non-Asian' field

Abstract

This essay assesses the connections between craft, science, and technology, which I explore through the notion of skill. In particular, what we can learn from studying things and materials? Where do the properties of materials fit in the history of science and technology? Materiality, I argue, allows for a synthetic kind of thinking in line with the approach taken by Joseph Needham in his seven-volume Science and Civilisation in China (1954–84). A methodology is proposed that seeks to harmonize science and craft knowledge, and offers a potential route through which the relationship between social and material phenomena may be explored.