Editing Hermeneutics (section)

=== Archaeology ===
In [[archaeology]], hermeneutics means the interpretation and understanding of material through analysis of possible meanings and social uses.

Proponents argue that interpretation of artifacts is unavoidably hermeneutic because we cannot know for certain the meaning behind them. We can only apply modern values when interpreting. This is most commonly seen in [[stone tool]]s, where descriptions such as "scraper" can be highly subjective and actually unproven until the development of [[microwear analysis]] some thirty years ago.

Opponents argue that a hermeneutic approach is too [[Relativism|relativist]] and that their own interpretations are based on [[Common sense|common-sense]] evaluation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Knight |first1=Edward W.|title=Iconographic Method in New World Prehistory|date= 2013|publisher=Cambridge Press|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5IRuDi7UW7gC&pg=PA15&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false 15–18]|isbn=9781107022638}}</ref>